Month: May 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday defended the country’s military action in Ukraine in his speech at a Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square on Monday.

Speaking at the Red Square marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, he said, “We (Russia) will never give up our love for the country, faith, traditional values, ancestral customs and respect for all peoples and cultures. As for the West, it seems to be determined to cancel these millennia-old values.”
“This moral degradation paved the way for cynical falsifications of the history of World War II, attempts to incite Russophobia, glorify traitors, mock the memory of their victims and wipe out the bravery of those who fought and suffered for the Victory,” he added.

Putin pointed out that the US, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, “started talking about its exceptionalism, which is humiliating for the entire world.”

He also addressed Russian forces fighting in Ukraine and said they are fighting for the “Motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of World War II.”

Over the situation concerning NATO presence in Europe, Putin said: “Everything indicated that a clash with neo-Nazis, Banderites [Ukrainian nationalists], on whom the United States and their younger partners counted on, would be inevitable.”

“Danger was increasing every day. Russia repelled this aggression in a preventative way. This was the only correct decision, and it was a timely decision. The decision of an independent, sovereign and powerful nation,” the Russian President was quoted as saying by CNN.

The military parade commemorating the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II began on the Red Square in Moscow.

As many as 11,000 military personnel will march across the square, and 131 units of military equipment will be observed during the parade, Sputnik news agency reported.

The parade also includes an aviation part, but it was decided to cancel it this year due to weather conditions. (ANI)

Star couple Katrina Kaif-Vicky Kaushal started their Monday on a love-filled note.

Taking to Instagram, Vicky and Katrina, who are currently holidaying in New York, dropped a string of images from their trip.
Vicky dropped an adorable picture in which he is seen crossing the road with his arm around Katrina.

“Sugar rush,” he captioned the post.

On the other hand, Katrina uploaded three pictures on her Instagram handle.

The first one features Katrina flashing her million-dollar smile inside a diner.

The next one shows her cuddling with Vicky at her favourite place ‘Bubby’s’ .

And with the last picture, Katrina showed a plate of pancakes loaded with cream and syrup.

“The Home of Everything, my favourite place ever Bubby’s,” she wrote alongside the pictures.

For their day out in New York, Katrina opted for a bright green shirt, blue jeans and a beige coat. Vicky chose to wear a white T-shirt paired with blue jeans and a denim jacket.

The couple’s pictures from their vacation have left netizens in awe of them.

“You both are so cute,” a social media user commented.

“You both may my day. Couple goals,” another one wrote.

Vicky and Katrina tied the knot at Six Senses Fort Barwara in Rajasthan on December 9, 2021. (ANI)

Superstar Aamir Khan and his first wife Reena Dutta were all smiles at their daughter Ira Khan’s birthday bash.

Several pictures have surfaced online in which the former couple is seen celebrating Ira’s birthday together.
One of the images features Aamir and Reena beaming with joy as their firstborn is busy blowing out the candles before cutting a cake.

Aamir’s son Azad from his second wife Kiran Rao also marked his presence in the particular snap.

For the unversed, Aamir married Reena Dutta in 1986. The two, who share daughter Ira and son Junaid Khan, divorced after 16 years of marriage.

He later married filmmaker Kiran Rao and they have a son, Azad Rao Khan. They announced their separation last year, after 15 years of marriage. (ANI)

Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor have started shooting for their film ‘Mr and Mrs Mahi’.

On Monday, producer Karan Johar took to Instagram Story to wish the whole team a luck.
“Best of luck to the entire team of Mr and Mrs Mahi for starting the first innings! Knock it out of the park,” he wrote, adding a picture of the film’s clapperboard.

Being helmed by Sharan Sharma of ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’, ”Mr and Mrs Mahi’ is a cricket drama.

Rajkummar and Janhvi will play characters named Mahendra and Mahima, respectively, in the film, which is marking their second collaboration after ‘Roohi’. (ANI)

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are on cloud nine as their newborn daughter Malti Marie is “finally home.”

On the occasion of Mother’s Day, Priyanka took to Instagram and shared the first photo of her baby, revealing that the little one had to be kept in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for 100 days under observation.

“On this Mother’s Day we can’t help but reflect on these last few months and the rollercoaster we’ve been on, which we now know, so many people have also experienced. After 100 plus days in the NICU, our little girl is finally home. Every family’s journey is unique and requires a certain level of faith, and while ours was a challenging few months, what becomes abundantly clear, in retrospect, is how precious and perfect every moment is,” she wrote.

Priyanka also thanked doctors for taking proper care of Malti.

“We are overjoyed that our little girl is finally home, and just want to thank every doctor, nurse and specialist at Rady Children’s La Jolla and Cedar Sinai, Los Angeles, who were there selflessly every step of the way. Our next chapter begins now, and our baby is truly a badass. Let’s get it MM! Mommy and Daddy love you. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and caretakers in my life and out there. You make it look so easy. Thank you,” she added.

Priyanka did not forget to thank her hubby Nick for making her a mom.

“Also.. there is no one I’d rather do this with than you. Thank you for making me a mama @nickjonas I love you. Ps- thx @divya_jyoti masi for the picture and @akarikalai masi for MMs fit,” she concluded.

Speaking of the picture, it’s definitely a feast for the eyes. In the image, Priyanka is seen holding the baby girl in her arms while Nick looks at the little one. However, the mommy chose to hide the baby’s face by putting a white heart emoticon on the family picture.

Nick also shared the same photograph on his Instagram account and captioned it by thanking his wife Priyanka.

“Babe, you inspire me and every way, and you are taking to this new role with such ease and steadiness. I am so grateful to be on this journey with you. You are already an incredible mother. Happy Mother’s Day. I love you,” Nick wrote.

Priyanka and Nick, who tied the knot in 2018, had in January 2022 shared that they had welcomed a baby through surrogacy. (ANI)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday predicted a heatwave for three days in Delhi and adjoining areas this week, adding that ‘April like situation’ may not arise in the month of May as a western disturbance is likely to bring down the temperature from May 13.

Speaking to ANI, Senior Scientist of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) RK Jenamani said, ‘As of May 9, Delhi’s temperature has been within 40-42 degrees Celsius for the last seven days. So, there is a good wind condition. So, not much heatwave in the month of May month till now. There is a forecast that on the 11th, 12th and maybe 13th, for around three days we may have a heatwave at some places over Delhi. The temperature may reach 43-44 degrees on May 11-12.”
“Presently, most parts of north India is not having a heatwave and in the first 10 days of May, we do not have a heatwave over the national capital, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. For Rajasthan, we will continue to see temperature around 44-45 degrees Celsius,” added Jenamani.

The IMD scientist predicted that Delhi, Haryana and Punjab will be hit by a western disturbance on May 13 which will keep the rising temperatures under control.

“From May 13, a western disturbance is advancing. It will not give rain but will keep the temperature under control, particularly in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. The situation in the Western Himalayan region will be better. Around May 18, another western disturbance is set to advance. So, the April type of situation will not be there in May,” he added.

The national capital recorded the second-hottest April in the last 27 years with the temperature remaining above 40 degrees celsius. (ANI)

Under the garb of environmental protection, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Tibet is carrying out the oppression of the local nomads, and damming the numerous rivers that originate on the roof of the world, a media report said, calling the actions as ‘greenwashing’.

The term greenwashing, coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld is the “practice of construing an activity as more environmentally friendly than it really is,” Global Order reported.
Since 2006, CCP has implemented large-scale programs to accelerate the relocation and sedentarization of the nomadic population, viewed by the authorities as ignorant, backward and irrational, whose ‘overgrazing’ caused significant damage to the Tibetan grassland ecosystem, the report said.

The traditional grazing practised by Tibetan nomads is crucial for Tibetan rangelands; their technique of moving their herd from summer pasture to winter pasture in a rotational fashion helps avoid overgrazing. This renews grasslands, improves wildlife habitats and helps sustain the Tibetan plateau, the report added.

The case of Pika is another related issue that hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Pika is a native small mammal, widely regarded as the keystone species for grassland biodiversity. However, a campaign that characterized pikas as a pest for their habits of eating vegetation and digging burrows underground and deteriorating grassland quality has been underway in the Tibetan plateau for the last 30 years.

Recently, China mobilized 10,000 people in the Ngapa area to poison and exterminate marmots from the grassland, claiming that they are causing grassland degradation. The truth is that this pika poisoning project has the potential to poison all the mammals and birds in the ecosystem that the Tibetan plateau sustains.

Another supposedly “green” policy that China is pursuing in Tibet has been of building a number of dams on the plateau, to reduce the country’s dependence on coal. However, the cost of the CCP’s megaprojects is being paid by the local Tibetans, in the form of disruption of their habitats as well as dislocation of people.

Lianghekou hydropower station, for instance, which is located in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture was estimated to help reduce raw coal consumption by 13.3 million tons and carbon dioxide emission by 21.3 million tons per year, the report said.

However, beneath the veil of “green energy”, about 6,000 people across four counties were relocated and once it is fully completed by 2023, the Lianghekou dam will reportedly drown ancestral homes, Buddhist monasteries and sacred mountains.

China is also pursuing a policy of turning vast areas of Tibet into national parks, which is expected to be used as a pretext to remove even more Tibetans from their ancestral lands, the report said.

China announced the displacement of more than 1,000 Tibetans from a nature reserve in northern Tibet in 2018, which it called “high-altitude ecological migration”.

This act of driving away nomads from their lands involuntarily to “help degraded landscapes to recover and to improve the living standards of local people” is ironic given that these nomads have been the traditional land managers for thousands of years, the report said, adding, these moves are meant only to displace them to give way for mining and damming activities.

Unless the world comes together to hold China accountable for its environmental destruction in the plateau, the rhetoric of greenwashing will continue to wash away the environmental crimes it is committing in the world’s Third Pole, the report concluded. (ANI)

Local residents of Shaheen Bagh in the national capital protested as bulldozers rolled into the area for an anti-encroachment drive conducted by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).

Locals were seen sitting on the roads and stopping the bulldozers as the demolition drive began with assistance provided by Delhi Police.

“We have gathered here to stop the bulldozers. If the government is talking about encroachment, were they not able to see the encroachment for 15 years? Why was the MCD and government sleeping for so long? Now when the MCD tenure is ending on May 18, they recall that there is encroachment,” said a social worker.

The Chairman of the SDMC’s standing committee (central zone) said that the municipality will do its work and the bulldozers have been organised for the purpose.

“Our workers and officials are ready. Teams and bulldozers have been organised. Encroachments will be removed wherever they are be it in Tughlakabad, Sangam Vihar, New Friends Colony or Shaheen Bagh,” the chairman said. (ANI)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, on Monday, set social media abuzz with his latest Twitter post, where he talked about “dying under mysterious circumstances.”

This trademark cryptic tweet from the world’s richest man not only confused the entire Internet but also received a stern response from his mother, Maye Musk.
“If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya,” tweeted Musk.

Elon’s mother Maye responded with a stern warning for her son, quoting the tweet and saying, “That’s not funny!” To which, Elon Musk replied, “Sorry! I will do my best to stay alive.”

Shortly after his mysterious tweet, Musk shared a post that seemed to be a communication stating that he is involved in aiding the ‘fascist forces in Ukraine’ with communication equipment from his Starlink satellite company.

Elon’s tweets have always attracted lots of responses from the netizens, including this one.

Here are some reactions.

Elon Musk recently bought out Twitter for USD 44 Billion. (ANI)