Category: News

After his never-seen-before avatar as Shaibani Khan in the period web series ‘The Empire’, actor Dino Morea is all set to make his Telugu debut with Surender Reddy’s spy thriller ‘Agent’ again he will be seen as an antagonist.

Taking to Instagram, Dino dropped a first-look poster along with a caption, “A G E N T.”

In the poster, he aced the killer look with long braided hair and a heavy beard. He is seen carrying a rifle.

The poster showcased not only Dino’s look but also the release date.

The film is slated to release on April 28, 2023.

As soon as the poster was uploaded, the actor fans and industry friends chimed in the comment section.

Actor Aditya Seal wrote, “Ohhh damnn.”

Actress Saiyami Kher reacted with a fire emoji.

‘Agent’ is a spy thriller, helmed by Surender Reddy. The film stars superstar Mammootty, Akhil Akkeneni.

Meanwhile, Dino Morea is currently basking in the success of his roles in the latest OTT shows such as ‘The Empire’, ‘Tandav’ and ‘Hostages’, had gone through a rough patch in his acting career in the past few years.

Dino made his Bollywood debut with ‘Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi’ in 1999 and has also been a part of South cinema including ‘Kandukondain Kandukondain’, ‘Julie’ and ‘Solo’. (ANI)

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap who is all set with his new project ‘Kennedy’ on Friday unveiled the first look poster of the lead actors- Rahul Bhatt and Sunny Leone.

Taking to Instagram, Anurag treated fans with first-look posters.

The first look poster features Rahut in an intense look with minimal red lighting falling on his arms and illuminating his face. Carrying a pistol in his hand.

Sunny Leone, on the other hand, looks regal in her retro avatar, exuding grace in a saree with a printed shrug and a pair of classy shades.

Sharing the posters, he wrote, “Meet Kennedy and Charlie @itsrahulbhat @sunnyleone @zeestudiosofficial @goodbadfilmsofficial.”

‘Kennedy’ starring Sunny Leone, Rahul Bhatt and Abhilash Thapliyal. Details about the movie have been kept under wraps. And film to premiere at the Festival De Cannes 2023.

Coming from the house of Zee Studios and Good Bad Films, ‘Kennedy’ is essentially a police noir film, by Anurag Kashyap. The film revolves around an insomniac ex-cop, long thought to be dead, but still operating for the corrupt system, and looking for redemption. The film stars Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone in the lead roles and has been selected for a Midnight Screening at Cannes Film Festival 2023.

While announcing the film, Shariq Patel, CBO, Zee Studios said,” It’s always a creatively enriching experience collaborating with Anurag Kashyap. With Kennedy, we are reaffirming our commitment to conveying Indian stories globally. We are thrilled that Kennedy happens to be the only Indian film premiering at the 76th edition of Festival De Cannes.”

Director Anurag Kashyap also added, “It’s a film and genre I always wanted to explore. It’s more polar than noir, inspired by crime writing of Patrick Manchette and his comic book collaborations with Jacques Tardi, and the cinema of Melville. It’s also a deeply personal crime/police drama and am so grateful to Zee Studios, Shariq and team, Neeraj, Bhumika, my producers Ranjan, Kabir and Kavan, my whole team, my partners in crime Sylver, Kazvin, Prashant who helped me shape it. Rahul Bhat who gave 8 months of his life, Sunny Leone who took on the challenge of it, Mohit Takalkar for taking it on…am just grateful at the moment.”

Ranjan Singh, the producer from Good Bad Films, said, “It’s always fun and enriching to make a film with Anurag, especially the ones that come from his heart. Kennedy’s journey has been similar and yet different, as the film was conceived in lockdown and shot a year later. And Zee Studios has been the best partner for the film and now we’re excited for the film’s journey to begin with its Midnight Screening premiere at the Festival De Cannes.”

Kennedy is written and directed by Anurag Kashyap starring Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone. The film is produced by Zee Studios, Ranjan Singh & Kabir Ahuja. The DOP of the film is Sylvester Fonseca. The music supervisor of the film is Ashish Narula and songs are by Aamir Aziz & Boyblanck. The film’s editors are Tanya Chhabria and Deepak Kattar. (ANI)

Actor Arjun Kapoor and model Malaika Arora are one of the elegant pairs in B-town. Arjun never misses a chance of sharing beautiful updates of their relationship with his fans. As fans don’t have to wait for another update about the couple, Arjun dropped an adorable picture of the duo.

Arjun took to his Instagram on Friday to post a picture with Malaika from the lift.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CrA93ERouTE/

He wrote a creative caption that read, “Lift Kara De” which is clearly a funny take on the image which the couple took in the lift itself.

Malaika can be seen dressed in a completely white outfit. She posed in a white blazer, high neck and boots. On the other hand, the “Ki & Ka” actor wore a leather black jacket paired with black jeans and a white shirt. The actor also added a beanie cap and black shades to add up to the look.

Adding up to the aww moment Malaika also shared the same photograph on her Insta story and wrote “liftie’ with a red heart emoji. She also mentioned Berlin, Germany as the location that refers to the place couple is travelling currently.

Malaika and Arjun have been dating for quite some time now. However, it was not until a couple of years ago that both decided to make their relationship public. Even after all the trolling because of the 12-year age gap between them, Malaika and Arjun never fail to shower on each other on social media.

On the professional front, Arjun was recently seen in director Aasmaan Bhardwaj’s dark comedy film ‘Kuttey’ alongside actors Tabu, Radhika Madaan, and Konkona Sen Sharma. He will be next seen in an upcoming action thriller film ‘The Ladykiller’ along with Bhumi Pednekar and an untitled romantic comedy film opposite Bhumi Pednekar and Rakul Preet Singh

Malaika recently featured in the song ‘Tera Ki Khayal’ with Guru Randhawa. (ANI)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath chaired a review meeting of the cyber wing of the State Police and directed to prepare a blueprint to fill the vacant posts of the wing.

Along with this, the Cybercrime Department is all set to get its own administrative building.
After having its own administrative building, cases related to cybercrime and their investigation proceedings will be better monitored.

In the recently held meeting with officials of the cyber wing, the Chief Minister was informed that in the year 2020, 11770 cases of cybercrime were registered, while in the year 2022, about 7,000 cases were registered.

In the year 2023, till March only 1500 cases have been registered. On this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that under the zero-tolerance policy, the department should prepare a blueprint of the resources needed to curb cyber crime up to 100 per cent, so that the action can be expedited.

“In such a situation, work will be done to fulfil the requirements such as having an administrative building to curb cybercrime. Along with this, vacant posts will be filled and work will be done for vehicles, state-of-the-art equipment related to cybercrime, an advanced cyber forensic lab at the headquarters level, an introductory cyber forensic lab at regional cyber crime stations, and the establishment of cyber crime stations in each district,” CM directed.

CM Yogi also instructed the officers to prepare all the details and hand them over to the government. He assured the department that soon all their needs would be met.

In the review meeting, officials informed CM Yogi that at present about 373 posts are vacant in the wing, ranging from Additional Superintendent of Police to Computer Operator.

It was informed in the meeting that 3 posts of Additional Superintendent of Police, 7 posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police, 75 posts of Inspector, 75 posts of Sub-Inspector, 23 posts of head constable, 128 posts of constable, 23 posts of constable driver, 7 posts of follower and 32 posts of computer operator are vacant in the department.

On this, CM Yogi has instructed the officials to prepare details for all the posts and hand them over to the government as soon as possible so that the recruitment process for these posts can be started. (ANI)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 16 in the excise policy case.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh said, ” A notice has been served by CBI. On 16th April, Arvind Kejriwal will appear before them.”
The CBI has summoned Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on April 16 to question him in the excise policy case.

This development comes as former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia continues to languish in judicial custody in the same case.

Hitting out at BJP, the AAP said, “The centre wants to put AAP under pressure after it has become a national party. Under this, Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by CBI. He will appear for questioning on April 16”.

“Arvind Kejriwal has been sent a CBI summon. I’d like to tell the PM – you and your Govt are covered in corruption from head to toe and Arvind Kejriwal’s fight will not stop with this CBI summon. The conspiracy hatched by you to arrest, jail and take action against Arvind Kejriwal on 16th April will not stifle his voice,” Sanjay Singh said.

Notably, on April 10, the Election Commission of India recognised AAP as a national party, after it was able to fulfil the required criteria.

Sisodia was arrested by ED and CBI in the ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of GNCTD.

The CBI arrested Sisodia in the liquor policy case on February 26, 2023. Later on March 9, the ED arrested him, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.

In October, the ED had raided nearly three dozen locations in Delhi and Punjab following the arrest of Sameer Mahendru, Managing Director of Delhi’s Jor Bagh-based liquor distributor Indospirit Group, in the case and arrested him later. The CBI too filed its first charge sheet in the case early this week.

The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.

As per the allegations, the Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19.

This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. (ANI)

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday said Russia’s oil exports reached the highest level since April 2020 in physical terms in March 2023 due to an increase in supplies of oil products, while export revenues rose by USD 1 billion compared with February to USD 12.7 billion, according to TASS, a Russian news agency.

Russia’s supplies by sea grew by 0.6 million barrels per day to 8.1 mn barrels per day, the agency said, adding that deliveries of petroleum products rose by 450,000 barrels per day month-on-month to 3.1 million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, Russia’s revenues from oil exports added USD 1 billion in March, but decreased by 43 per cent in annual terms, the IEA noted.

The agency said Russia reduced crude production (excluding gas condensate) by 270,000 barrels per day to 9.58 million barrels per day in March, with output 900,000 barrels per day below the plan. That said, Moscow announced a reduction in output by 500,000 barrels per day from the February average starting March, according to TASS.

On December 5, 2022, an embargo on maritime Russian oil shipments to the European Union came into force, according to TASS. G7 nations, the EU and Australia agreed on a price cap for Russian oil delivered by sea, setting the ceiling at USD 60 a barrel.

Moreover, starting February 5, 2023, similar restrictions on deliveries of petroleum products from Russia were enforced as the EU Council officially greenlighted the decision, in conjunction with the G7, to introduce a price ceiling on Russian petroleum products supplied by sea at USD 100 for premium oil and at USD 45 for discount, according to TASS. (ANI)

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar paid tribute to the leaders of Mozambique’s freedom struggle at the Heroes Square on Friday morning.

“Paid homage to the leaders of Mozambique’s freedom struggle at the Heroes Square this morning. Remembering them brings the Global South together,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.
Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to Mozambique, arrived in the country’s capital Maputo on Thursday. He was welcomed with an energetic Mozambican welcome.

Mozambique is a country in southeastern Africa.

“Arrived in Maputo to an energetic Mozambican welcome. Thank Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Jose Goncalves for the warm reception,” Jaishankar tweeted on Thursday, adding, “Look forward to productive discussions,” he further wrote.

Earlier, on Thursday, Jaishankar visited a temple in Maputo and interacted with the Indian community there. “Offered my prayers at the Shree Vishvambhar Mahadev Mandir in Maputo this evening. So glad to interact with the Indian community there,” the EAM wrote on Twitter.

While meeting the Indian community representatives and friends of India at the reception hosted by High Commissioner in Maputo on Thursday evening, Jaishankar underlined the significance of the time-tested and historic relationship that is expanding between the two nations.

The EAM, during a press conference in Maputo on Thursday, recalled the Speaker of the Assembly of Mozambique, Esperanca Bias’ visit to India last year. He said the two “reviewed their political cooperation and economic cooperation. She urged me towards a greater expansion of our bilateral partnership. That is what I will be doing over the next two days.”

Jaishankar said that it is important for India, and Mozambique to have “regular parliamentary exchanges and it is appropriate that I begin my visit by coming to the National Assembly.”

“It’s a very good start to the visit and I am sure that over the next few days, there will be many more important conversations,” he said.

Asked if BRICS is looking at trading in its own currencies, the EAM said: “Trade settlement is something which different countries are discussing. It is not something we are discussing within the BRICS. Individual countries have different positions on this matter.”

He also took a ride in a ‘Made in India’ train with Mozambican Transport Minister Mateus Magala.

Jaishankar appreciated the chief managing director of the infrastructure company, Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), Rahul Mithal, for joining him on the journey.

Sharing his experience, Jaishankar wrote on Twitter, “Took a ride in a ‘Made in India’ train from Maputo to Machava with Mozambican Transport Minister Mateus Magala. Appreciate CMD RITES Rahul Mithal joining us on the journey.”

The External Affairs Minister also had a press conference on the moving train alongside Mozambican Transport Minister Mateus Magala.

“A novel experience: conducting a Press Conference in a moving train,” Jaishankar tweeted. (ANI)

Intensifying its war against the narco nexus in the state, the Uttar Pradesh Government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has approved the transfer policy within the Police department for the smooth functioning of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF), an official statement said on Friday.

Under the new policy, the government will now post 450 police personnel on deputations within ANTF.
The personnel will be deputed as inspectors, sub-inspectors, head constables, constables, constable drivers, sub-inspectors (Confidential), sub-inspectors/assistant sub-inspectors (clerk), sub-inspectors/assistant sub-inspectors (Accounts) and computer operators.

As soon as the transfer policy was approved by the Yogi government, the department also fixed the qualification for these posts, the statement read.

ANTF DIG Abdul Hameed said that “a letter was written to the government seeking appointments to about 450 posts for the smooth operation of ANTF, following which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved the transfer policy, allowing the deputation of officers and policemen to these posts.”

“The department has vacant positions for 16 inspectors, 38 sub-inspectors, 84 head constables, 162 constables, 5 SIM (Steno), 8 SI (M), 35 constable drivers, 2 SI (M), 8 ASI (M), 1 SI (M) Accounts, 44 Class IV, 1 ASI (M) Accounts, 8 drug inspectors, 8 pharmacists and 28 computer operators in the headquarters, 8 operational units and 6 Police Stations. The department has started the process of appointment on deputation to these posts as per the prescribed qualification, “added the DIG.

At the ANTF Headquarters level, a committee will be constituted for the selection of experienced, efficient and skilled personnel who fit into the prescribed qualification for the posts ranging from inspector to constable, headed by the Inspector General of Police, ANTF or Deputy Inspector General of Police (Head of Office), while Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) or Additional Superintendent of Police and Superintendent of Police Operation or Additional Superintendent of Police Operation will be members.

The maximum age for a constable to become part of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force is 40 years. While the head constable, it is 45 years. For the sub-inspector, the age limit is 50 years; and for the inspector, it is 55 years.

There will be no age limit for confidential assistants/clerks/accounts and computer operators. The affiliation period of the said police personnel will normally be 3 years, which can be extended a maximum of two times for a time period of 2 years as per requirement, the official statement said.

If an employee has a special qualification, he can also be deputed at ANTF for a short period. The employee’s integrity should not have been questioned during his employment, or in the three years prior, and there should not have been any negative entries made against him or any major, or minor punishments given to him, it said.

Criminal charges or departmental proceedings should not be prevalent against the personnel. Preference will be given to such personnel who have done remarkable work in connection with the recovery of narcotics/drugs/liquor/weapons in the last 3 years, the statement said.

In relation to the above qualification and relaxation can be done only after the approval of the Director General of Police, UP, it added. (ANI)

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday came down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government and urged the public to give 35 seats out of 42 to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the State in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Union Home Minister, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, asked the public to vote for the BJP in the next year’s general elections and help Prime Minister Narendra Modi to become PM for the third consecutive term in 2024.
Addressing a ‘Jan Sampark Samavesh’ rally in Birbhum district, Shah said that BJP will not allow this Hitler-like rule of Mamata Didi to continue.

“Mamata didi, you might be dreaming that your nephew will become the Chief Minister after you. From here in Birbhum, I say that the next Chief Minister is going to be from BJP. The trailer has to be shown in 2024 [general elections]. By helping us to win 35 seats in the State, Modi ji has to be made the Prime Minister again,” Shah said.

Taking on the Mamata government, he said that the TMC government would collapse prior to the next State Assembly elections that are scheduled in 2025.

Referring to the State Assembly elections in 2020, Shah said, “You gave us 38 per cent votes with 77 seats, today I have come to tell the people of West Bengal to complete the rest of the work in the 2024 elections. Make Modi the Prime Minister by giving more than 35 seats out of 42 to the BJP in West Bengal,” he added.

He said that the BJP is the only way to end infiltration in the State.

“In Assam, infiltration and cow smuggling have been stopped since the BJP government was formed. Once the BJP’s lotus will bloom in the State, there will be no bomb blasts, no attacks on Ram Navami, no atrocities, no infiltration and no cow smuggling,” Shah added.

Sharpening his attack further he said that the Mamata Banerjee government has made the State a centre of bomb blasts.

“Bengal has become the centre of bomb blasts under the rule of Didi (Mamata). Recently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seized more than 80,000 detonators and 27,000 kg of ammonium nitrate in Birbhum. If the NIA had not seized this, how many lives could have been lost in the bomb blasts, no one would have known,” he added.

Attacking the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo over alleged recruitment scams in the State, the Home Minister said that the youth wants a reply from the chief minister.

“Mamata Banerjee had promised to give three lakh jobs. Mamata Didi, you had promised to give allowance to the youth. The youth is asking you for an account of it, what happened,” he said while slamming chief minister Mamata Banerjee for not fulfilling the promises made by her party.

“You did so many scams in the recruitment process, that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had to take away the money in two trucks,” he added. (ANI)

A group named “Hactivist Indonesia” has claimed to have issued a list of 12,000 Indian government websites, including Central and States, which it may attack in the coming days, an alert circulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) points.

However, Indian government websites are “updated” and “capable” to handle such threats and narratives being spread by ill elements possibly operating within or outside the country, the alert has been circulated to all agencies, Central and State government wings.
Issued on Thursday, the alert was circulated by the I4C based on the inputs received by its Cyber Threat Intelligence wing following its open-source intelligence. The narrative was detected by the Cyber Threat Intelligence wing of I4C about the ‘Hacktivist Indonesia’ group which has been involved in an illegal operation to hack Indian websites as well as those in some foreign countries too.

The input was first shared with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert.In), a nodal agency under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, who had requested to share the information with the nodal cyber-crime units in the States about the “potential threat”.

“A group named ‘Hacktivist Indonesia’ has been targetting India, and it has created a narrative that it will attack 12,0000 Indian government websites that include Central and those linked to States,” said sources citing the alert circulated, adding “it is, however, not necessarily whether the group belongs to Indonesia.”

The group ‘Hacktivist Indonesia’ might be from “Malaysia or a set of different Islamic countries” because similar mindsets of people are trying to attack (India) using cyberspace, said the source.

“The hacktivist group can also attack China or Ukraine. They also attack different countries,” said the source, pointing “people from different countries are attacking in the ongoing illegal cyber operation and ‘Hacktivist Indonesia’ is among those group planning attack by using means of open source.

“The ‘Hacktivist Indonesia’ has been attacking not only Indian websites but also the websites of other countries. They have circulated a list of 12,000 Indian government websites which they want to target. I4C unit through its open source intelligence alerted the Cert.In about such ongoing activities, suggesting to be aware.”

As per cyber experts in MHA, “this narrative has been going on since last year”.

“Such hackers attack government websites and try to slow down these websites using different means. However, government websites are updated. This is not a new thing. Last year too, similar attempts were made by such hackers to attack several websites in Gujarat. The hackers try to send heavy internet traffic to slow down the websites so that users get affected and they could not access or connected online services and sites,” said the experts.

“The hackers used to check government websites through Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack which is a cybercrime in which the attacker floods a server with internet traffic to prevent users from accessing connected online services and sites.”

If a person or organisation faces any cyber-attack, the matter can be reported on the cybercrime.gov.in website, they said, adding “a focussed work is being done with the help of I4C to curb such cyber menace in the Central agencies”.

Considering the threat perspective, the Central government has already informed the states through cyber-crime and cyber security how to protect their websites, a senior MHA official told ANI requesting anonymity, and informed that “there is also a GIGW guideline which helps in keeping control on such illegal activities of the hackers”.

Making government websites more secure from cyber-attacks, National Informatics Centre (NIC) formulated the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) in 2009 which aims to ensure the quality and accessibility of government guidelines, by offering guidance on desirable practices covering the entire lifecycle of websites, web portals and web applications, right from conceptualisation and design to their development, maintenance and management.

The second version of the GIGW was developed in 2019. The third version of GIGW (GIGW 3.0) has also been introduced. The key thrust of GIGW 3.0 is on offering specific guidance to government organisations on how to improve the user interface and user experience (UI and UX), by incorporating features such as intuitive page loading (using AI and analytics) based on the user journey and user profile, using state-of-the-art content management system (CMS), user-centric information architecture (IA), centralised monitoring dashboard to identify and provide alerts on non-conformity and technical enablement of all content creators and publishers.

GIGW 3.0 also significantly enhances the guidance on the accessibility and usability of mobile apps, especially by offering specific guidance to government organisations on how to leverage public digital infrastructure devised for whole-of-government delivery of services, benefits and information. These cover aspects such as API level integration for use of integration with social media, India Portal, DigiLocker, Aadhaar-based identity, single sign-on, data sharing in open formats on the government’s data platform, government’s scheme discovery platform, government’s citizen engagement platform MyGov, AI-based Indian language translation tools, seamless content/data access across web-based solutions of government organisations. GIGW 3.0 offers upgraded guidelines on the accessibility of websites and apps, with a view to making access to cyberspace more inclusive.

It also guides on the prevention of leakage of sensitive information like passwords, email addresses and credit card details, which cause both personal embarrassment and financial risks. It deals with all aspects of security starting from design, coding and implementation to testing and deployment, which prevent malfunctioning, phishing, cyber-crimes or cyberattacks to avoid data loss of the organisations or users. (ANI)