Sunday, December 21

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Manav Vij on playing Kabir in Tanaav: ‘My father does see a hero in me now`
Entertainment, Movies

Manav Vij on playing Kabir in Tanaav: ‘My father does see a hero in me now`

Manav Vij focused on living up to audience expectations when reprising his role as special task force officer Kabir Farooqui in Tanaav Season 2. Directed by Sudhir Mishra, the political thriller returned after its successful first season in 2022. Vij admits it took time to grasp the impact his character had on viewers.  “The thing that remains in your mind is that people have liked this character, so you have to perform accordingly. You can’t play it in a completely new way. So, it takes time to understand the gravity of how much people have loved it and are attached to it. We have to live up to their expectations. But it’s not difficult because I had a strong team, who was there to guide me,” he says. Even at the script level, Vij was excited to shoot for the new season. He felt a perso...
Russia insists Ukraine war won’t end until Putin’s goals are met – as spy chief claims moment is ‘close’ | World News
Business

Russia insists Ukraine war won’t end until Putin’s goals are met – as spy chief claims moment is ‘close’ | World News

Russia has said the Ukraine war will continue until it meets its aims - either on the battlefield or via negotiations - as its spy chief claimed it was close to achieving them.President Putin wants Ukraine to fully pull out of four eastern regions it claims as its own, but Kyiv rejects that as a form of surrender. President Zelenskyy has indicated a diplomatic ceasefire is possible however, and incoming US president Donald Trump has urged both sides to agree on an immediate truce.Mr Zelenskyy told Sky's Stuart Ramsay the "hot phase of the war" could end if unoccupied parts of the country were offered NATO membership, allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest later.He has also raised the prospect of foreign troops being deployed in the free parts of Ukraine until it could join NATO. ...
Netanyahu takes stand in his corruption trial, calls charges ‘absurd’ – National
Politics

Netanyahu takes stand in his corruption trial, calls charges ‘absurd’ – National

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised defiantly on Tuesday to knock down corruption allegations against him as he began testifying in his long-running trial, becoming the first sitting Israeli leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant. The testimony is another low point for Israel’s longest-serving leader, who also faces an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza.In his opening testimony in a packed Tel Aviv courtroom, Netanyahu argued that he was a dedicated leader and a defender of Israel’s interests, swatting away the charges against him as a “drop in the sea” compared to the challenges he has faced protecting his country.But the charges have torn open divisions in Israel and complicated Netanyahu’s legacy, which has also been tain...
Brazilian President Lula da Silva recovering in intensive care after having emergency brain surgery | World News
Business

Brazilian President Lula da Silva recovering in intensive care after having emergency brain surgery | World News

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is recovering in intensive care after having emergency surgery to drain blood from his brain, a medical note published by the country's government said.The leftist politician, known as Lula, had reduced travel in recent months while doctors monitored his recovery from a trauma he suffered to the back of his head after falling at his home in late October. Mr da Silva was taken to hospital yesterday after he ended a meeting with congressional leaders due to a worsening headache, a source in the presidential office told Reuters.The 79-year-old had an MRI scan at a hospital in the capital Brasilia.He was transferred to Sao Paulo, around 620 miles away, overnight for surgery. The Brazilian president is now recovering "well, under monitoring in an IC...
Syrians in NZ: ‘We can finally taste freedom’
World News

Syrians in NZ: ‘We can finally taste freedom’

Syrian NZers gather in Wellington to celebrate the toppling of the Assad regime. Photo: RNZ / Kate Green Syrian New Zealanders and their loved ones gathered in Waitangi Park on Wellington's waterfront on Monday to celebrate the end of a decades-long dictatorship. Rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, ending his family's five decade regime after more than 13 years of civil war. Shaymaa Arif was among the crowd of about 200 in Wellington. She is Sirian Iraqi, and her family immigrated to New Zealand in 1997, but friends and extended family remain in Syria. She said one of her uncles had spent time in prison, but that was not uncommon. "Every single Syrian you talk to here probably has a family member who has been arrested and detained for God knows what reason by the Syrian r...
Watch: Luigi Mangione, suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter, after first court appearance
World News

Watch: Luigi Mangione, suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter, after first court appearance

The 26-year-old named as a "strong person of interest" in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson has made his first court appearance. Luigi Mangione was ordered held without bail and did not enter a plea when he appeared in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, CNN reported. He faces five charges, including one felony count of forgery and one felony count of carrying a firearm without a licence, according to the criminal complaint. Mangione was arrested after a McDonald's employee recognised him in Pennsylvania. He was reportedly acting suspiciously, had firearms and fraudulent items - believed to be fake IDs - on his person. He was also found with a suppressor "consistent with the weapon used in the murder". His next court appearance will be on 23 December in Pennsylvania ...
Ontario court dismisses Michael Chan’s 2015 lawsuit against the Globe and Mail – National
Politics

Ontario court dismisses Michael Chan’s 2015 lawsuit against the Globe and Mail – National

An Ontario court has tossed out Michael Chan’s nearly decade-old libel lawsuit against the Globe and Mail over reporting on the former provincial cabinet minister’s alleged ties to Chinese diplomats. The Ontario Superior Court dismissed Chan’s case in August, Global News has learned, after Chan failed to submit documentation in a timely matter.The case has dragged on since 2015, when the Globe reported the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) was concerned about what it believed were Chan’s “unusually close” ties to the Chinese consulate in Toronto and worried he was under the influence of Beijing. Chan said at the time the allegations were unfounded.Globe and Mail editor-in-chief, David Walmsley, and the publisher at the time, Phillip Crawley, were named in the suit, as was repor...
Abbie Humphries, snatched from UK hospital as a baby, dies of brain tumour age 30 in NZ
World News

Abbie Humphries, snatched from UK hospital as a baby, dies of brain tumour age 30 in NZ

Abbie Humphries and Karl Sundgren on their wedding day. Photo: Supplied A woman who was snatched from an English hospital ward when she was a baby by a woman posing as a nurse, but who later shifted to New Zealand, has died of a brain tumour aged 30. Abbie Humphries was taken from her cot at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham in July 1994 when she was just three hours old, The Sun reported. She had walked into Karen Humphries' room and taken Abbie from her father Roger's arms, saying the baby had to have a hearing test, the AFP reported. Police found her just over a fortnight later in the Nottingham suburb of Wollaton - not far from the hospital. They had been tipped off that a former dental nurse called Julie Kelley, 22 at the time, who had been pregnant and was expecting a boy, ...
China sends largest naval fleet in decades to region, threat level severe, Taiwan says
World News

China sends largest naval fleet in decades to region, threat level severe, Taiwan says

By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard, Reuters Sun Li-fang (C), spokesperson of Taiwan's Defence Ministry, speaks to the media at an airforce base during an inspection of the troops as part of Taiwan's annual Han Kuang military drills in Hualien on 23 July 2024. Photo: AFP / Sam Yeh China has deployed its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades, posing a threat to Taiwan that is more pronounced than previous Chinese war games, the Taiwanese defence ministry have said. Speaking in Taipei, defence ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said the scale of the current Chinese naval deployment in an area running from the southern Japanese islands down into the South China Sea was the largest since China held war games around Taiwan ahead of 1996 Taiwanese presidential elections. ...
Princess Catherine, Donald Trump and Joe Rogan among Time magazine Person of the Year 2024 shortlist
World News

Princess Catherine, Donald Trump and Joe Rogan among Time magazine Person of the Year 2024 shortlist

By Jessica Riga, ABC Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on 6 November 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / Getty Images via AFP Time magazine's shortlist for their annual Person of the Year honour features royalty, political power players and podcasting chart-toppers. Catherine, Princess of Wales, is among the 10 figures selected by the publication, along with US president elect-Donald Trump, who was bestowed with the title back in 2016. Since 1927, Time magazine has named a person, group or concept that it argues "had the biggest impact - for good or for ill - on the world over the previous 12 months". Last year, superstar Taylor Swift was named T...