Month: November 2020

By sharing a couple of unique artworks dedicated to her by fans, actor Shraddha Kapoor who recently signed a trilogy titled ‘Nagin’ on Tuesday penned a note of gratitude.

The ‘Stree’ star took to Instagram and shared sketches made by fans across the globe. These artworks feature a painted and digitised version of Shraddha as a Nagin and the overwhelming love continues to grow as the final look and poster of the actor is being awaited by the fans.

The ‘Aashiqui 2’ star recently shared her favourite fan-made versions of Nagin on social media with the caption, “Sharing a few of the many mind-blowing artworks and edits that you all have created with so much effort and love for #NAGIN They’ve made my heart overflow with gratitude Thank you guys so much.”

The ‘Baaghi’ actor also gave credits for the hard work that each fan has put into making the artworks.

Kapoor has been on a roll with back to back releases and delivering a brand new avatar in every project she’s a part of and her upcoming film ‘Nagin’ will showcase Shraddha in a never before seen character. Besides, the ‘Saaho’ star has become the first actor in Bollywood to portray the lead in a trilogy.

From ‘Street Dancer 3D’ to ‘Baaghi 3’ to Nagin, the actor has had a busy year. During the lockdown period, Kapoor spent her time in lockdown by reading scripts and also announced her next with Ranbir Kapoor followed by ‘Nagin’ trilogy. (ANI)

An FIR was registered by the Maharashtra Cyber department against various over-the-top platforms, production houses, directors, producers, actors and crew members for allegedly transmitting obscene and sexually explicit content online, officials said on Tuesday.

According to an official statement, the FIR has been registered by the Maharashtra Cyber department under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

“After an initial inquiry, police registered an FIR against OTT platforms including, Hotshot, Flizmovies, Feneo, Kukoo, Neoflix, Ullu, Hotmasti, Chikooflix, production house Alt Balaji, Kukoo, Primeflix and some websites for hosting and transmitting pornographic content.

“An alert citizen came across news on a TV channel where Palghar Police arrested a pervert who shot pornographic videos of multiple young girls and sold them across the nation and internationally as well,” the statement said.

It said this led to the destruction of the lives of many young girls who were a part of such videos. Hence, the said alert citizen has filed an official complaint after they came across objectionable content, which is sexually explicit in nature, across various OTT apps and websites.

“Since this issue can potentially have an adverse effect on the young impressionable minds of our society, taking cognizance of this incident was necessary. Hence, on November 6, 2020, an FIR was registered at Maharashtra Cyber Department, Mumbai,” the statement said.

“The videos uploaded on the OTT platforms and websites are extremely obscene, lascivious and have not been certified by any certifying agency. It is likely that the actresses depicted in the videos in an obscene way have been exploited, lured or compelled to perform the obscene acts. It can have disastrous consequences on young minds and can lead to the erosion of the dignity of women. Hence, legal action has been taken on the perpetrators of such OTT platforms,” it added. (ANI)

As per the Election Commission trends for all 243 seats at 2:30 pm–NDA is leading on 128 seats – BJP 74, Janata Dal (United) (JDU) 47, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) 6, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM) one.

Mahagathbandhan is ahead on 104 seats – RJD 67, Congress 19, Left 18.

BSP leading on two, AIMIM on two, LJP on two and independents on five. Others have 18.5 per cent of votes.

The counting of votes polled in Bihar Assembly elections will continue till late evening on Tuesday, said Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, HR Srinivasa.

Counting of votes is underway for the three-phase Bihar Assembly elections, but the result declaration this time will be different due to the coronavirus pandemic, which is likely to cause some delay in the release of the final result.

According to reports, results might be delayed a bit this time as the number of polling stations were raised from 72,723 earlier to 1,06,515, an increase of 46.5 per cent, to ensure adherence to social distancing measures in view of the pandemic.

The fate of 3,755 candidates across 243 seats will be decided with the Election Commission setting up a total of 55 counting centres, housing 414 halls, spread across all the 38 districts of the state that voted in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for “reformed multilateralism” that reflects global realities of the present times and discussed topics such as expectations of all stakeholders, contemporary challenges and human welfare.

Addressing the 20th Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State, via video-conferencing, Prime Minister Modi said the United Nations has completed its 75 years but the basic goal of the world body is still incomplete.

“The United Nations has completed its 75 years. But despite many successes, the basic goal of the United Nations is still incomplete. The world struggling with the economic and social suffering of the epidemic is expected to bring radical changes in the system of the UN,” PM Modi said.

“A reformed multilateralism that will reflect today’s global realities and discuss topics such as expectations of all stakeholders, contemporary challenges and human welfare. We expect full support from SCO member nations in this endeavour,” he added.

Member states of the SCO was convened at the highest level on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Russia. It was attended by all member states including China and Pakistan.

Major leaders that are attending the SCO meet are Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and leaders of four Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

This is the third meeting, in which New Delhi is participating as a full member.

It was granted the observer status of the SCO in 2005 and in June 2017 it became a full member.

The summit is expected to conclude with the release of a Moscow declaration, which will reflect the broad agenda of the bloc for 2021. (ANI)

Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order, which refused to grant him interim relief in the 2018 abetment to suicide case.

Goswami, in his plea moved through advocate Nirnimesh Dube, made the Maharashtra government, Mumbai Police, Central government and other respondents in the matter.

The Bombay High Court had on Monday refused to grant interim relief to Arnab Goswami and two others in connection with the case and directed him to approach a lower court to seek bail.

A division bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice MS Karnik observed that no case is made out to exercise the extraordinary jurisdiction of the High Court. Earlier yesterday, Goswami had also filed a bail before a Raigad Sessions court.

The High Court was hearing the bail applications of Goswami and two other persons accused in the death case of interior designer Anvay Naik, who allegedly died by suicide in Alibaug in May 2018. A suicide note purportedly written by Naik alleged that Goswami had not paid him his dues.

The Bombay High Court had on November 7 reserved its order on Arnab Goswami’s plea challenging his arrest and seeking relief in the matter. Last week, Goswami and two others were arrested in connection with the case. He, along with the other two accused, was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a lower court later that day.

Goswami had alleged that he along with his mother-in-law, father-in-law, son and wife were physically assaulted by the officers of the Mumbai Police, who entered Goswami’s residence, to arrest him at the early hours of November 4.

The suicide case, in which a closure report was filed in 2019, was reopened after Naik’s wife Akshata approached a court. In September this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had ordered a re-investigation into the case after a fresh complaint by Naik’s daughter. (ANI)

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) of the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme on Tuesday signed a Letter of Agreement to work together to eradicate polio from the country.

As per a statement issued by the PCB, through this partnership, PCB and NEOC will conduct a wide range of activities to raise awareness on the importance of polio vaccination.

Under the partnership, to achieve the shared goal of polio eradication, various visibility campaigns will be organised during cricket events for raising awareness of vaccine acceptance in the country through active involvement of cricketers across Pakistan.

Pakistan is one of the two polio endemic countries in the world along with its neighbour Afghanistan.

“Pakistan is currently facing a challenging situation in polio eradication with the upsurge of number of polio cases. So far this year, a total of 80 (November 6, 2020) polio cases have been reported including 23 from Balochistan, 22 each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and 13 from Punjab,” the statement read.

PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan is delighted to play their part as an organisation in the betterment of the nation.

“The PCB is excited to play its role in the aspiration to have a polio-free Pakistan. We, as an organisation, are always ready to step-up and use the platform of cricket to help reach out to the population by raising greater awareness of national causes. The fight against polio starts with greater awareness and promoting a culture of vaccine acceptance. Protecting our society and keeping our children safe from polio remains our collective responsibility,” Khan said. (ANI)

Maria Iqbal Tarana, a former head of the women’s commission of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) has alleged harassment against an official at Pakistan’s President House, adding that she has been working in “misogynist society for the last 10 years”.

Maria Tarana, in a Twitter post, narrated the incident which happened during an event at the President House. She accused the Protocol officer of harassment and called for an investigation in the matter.

In a video posted on Tuesday, she asked, “If the men from the second-highest office in Pakistan don’t know how to behave with women, then who does?”

“Today I was harassed in the President House Pakistan. I was invited for an event where after refusing the uncomfortable physical proximity of a responsible, I was told that I did not belong there,” Iqbal Tarana tweeted on Monday.

“Working in misogynist society for the last 10 years, I have lost my most beautiful asset ‘smile’, she said in a subsequent tweet on Tuesday.

While narrating the whole story, she named the accused official on her social media handle, asking for him to be punished. She also tagged the official handles of various people including President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“If I do not let you stand extremely close to me, doesn’t mean I don’t have a standing! The person in question was Afaaq Ahmed Protocol officer, the matter needs to be investigated and the responsible be punished,” she said.

Officials from the President House are yet to respond to the allegations. (ANI)

Ahead of the release of the Rajkummar Rao starrer, creators of ‘Chhalaang,’ on Tuesday unveiled yet another exciting soundtrack ‘Deedar De’ to get the nation groove along.

The latest track is a remake of musician duo Vishal and Shekhar’s peppy track of the same name from the 2005 released movie ‘Dus.’

The new version of the song has also been composed by Vishal and Shekhar, and has been written by Panchhi Jalonvi. It sees new-age singers Asees Kaur and Dev Negi at the vocals.

The original ‘Deedar De’ song was sung by acclaimed singer Sunidhi Chauhan.

The visuals of the new track features lead actors of the film — Rajkummar Rao and Nushrat Bharuccha dancing to the tune.

‘Chhalaang’ is a hilarious, yet inspirational journey of a PT master from a semi government funded school in northern India.

Directed by Hansal Mehta, the film is a Luv Films production and is presented by Gulshan Kumar and Bhushan Kumar.

Produced by Ajay Devgn, Luv Ranjan, Ankur Garg the film also stars Saurabh Shukla, Satish Kaushik, Zeeshan Ayyub, Ila Arun and Jatin Sarna in pivotal roles.

The inspirational flick is all set to release on Amazon Prime Video on November 13. (ANI)

In the midst of rising air pollution in several states of India, a student of class 11 from Kanpur has developed a unique robot that soaks up pollutants from the air and acts as a purifier.

Pranjal invented an ‘Air Purifier Robot’ along with his classmate Aarendra. The robot comes with an air purifier machine installed within it.

“With rising air pollution, I thought of building a robot that could purify the air in the environment and soak pollutants at the same time. We have installed a purifier within the device for this purpose,” Pranjal told ANI.

“When operational, the robot can filter the polluted air and clean air would be released in the atmosphere whereas the polluted particles will remain behind in the air filter inside,” he added.

When Pranjal demonstrated the robot in front of his school principal Pooja Awasthi, she was pleasantly surprised. “Pranjal is our future scientist, he has also helped a lot in the school lab. I am incredibly proud of the boy and the robot that he has built. Air pollution is a major concern of recent times and therefore, his invention seems more worthy than ever,” Pooja Awasthi said. (ANI)

Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed Alia Zafar as one of the four independent members in the Board of Governors, making her the first female to hold the post.

Besides Zafar, the three independent members are Javed Kurieshi, Asim Wajid Jawad and Arif Saeed. Kurieshi and Saeed are appointed for three years while Alia and Wajid retain the position for two years.

PCB’s Board of Governors held their 59th meeting at the National High-Performance Centre in Lahore on Monday.

“Following the appointment of the four independent members, the new BoG has been formed. The remaining three members on the BoG will be appointed following completion of the election process at the Cricket Association level,” PCB said.

PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani said Zafar’s inclusion is a ‘giant step forward’ in improving the board’s governance structure.

“I welcome the newly-appointed independent members to the BoG, especially Alia Zafar, the first female independent member, which is a giant step forward in enhancing the PCB’s governance structure,” Khan said.

“The four new members bring with them a wealth of diverse knowledge that will only improve the professional outlook and working of the PCB. These four individuals are highly respected and proven performers in their respective professional lives and we aim to benefit from their knowledge in our efforts to improve our governance,” he added.

The BoG also expressed its delight that the remaining four PSL 2020 matches will be played from November 14-17 and the foreign cricketers had already started to arrive in Karachi while South Africa’s tour for two Tests and three T20Is in January/February 2021 was also on track.

The BoG welcomed the England and Wales Cricket Board’s statement that it was considering a short tour to Pakistan in January 2021 and congratulated the PCB for its efforts in convincing a leading cricket nation like England to consider touring ahead of their expected full tour in 2022. It was acknowledged that this will prove to be the catalyst for New Zealand, Australia and England’s tours in 2021 and 2022. (ANI)