Monday, April 6

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Sumeet Vyas on directing the show Raat Jawaan Hai
Entertainment, Movies

Sumeet Vyas on directing the show Raat Jawaan Hai

It had been actor-writer Sumeet Vyas’ long-time dream to start directing. The opportunity presented itself when he met writer Khyati Anand Puthran at their kids’ playgroup. Their collaboration, Raat Jawaan Hai, is a story about three best friends who are new to parenthood. To Vyas, the Barun Sobti, Priya Bapat and Anjali Anand-starrer is about the smaller things in life. In conversation with mid-day, the first-time director talks about the SonyLIV show, his own experiences with parenthood, the interesting casting and more. Director Sumeet Vyas. Pics/Instagram, AFP Edited excerpt from the interview. After writing and fronting road trip shows and dark shows, what prompted you to direct something on parenthood and friendship?The show’s writer is Khyati Anand [Puthran]. It was a coincidence...
What you need to know about trachoma, a highly contagious bacterial infection
Health

What you need to know about trachoma, a highly contagious bacterial infection

Strong public health and community support has helped India to be free from trachoma -- a highly contagious bacterial infection that has been a major cause of preventable blindness worldwide, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.  From being the leading cause of blindness during the 1950s and 1960s, the World Health Organization (WHO) last week declared India “officially free from trachoma”. “This milestone comes after years of dedicated efforts by the government to protect the vision of millions, emphasising the importance of healthy eyesight for every individual,” the ministry said. According to the WHO, an estimated 150 million people worldwide are affected by trachoma and 6 million of them are blind or at risk of visually disabling complications. What is Trachom...
Paris Motor Show 2024 unveils swimming cars, rectangular steering wheels
Business

Paris Motor Show 2024 unveils swimming cars, rectangular steering wheels

A Peugeot Inception concept car at the Paris Motor Show on October 14, 2024.Riccardo Milani | Afp | Getty ImagesPARIS, France — Auto giants have descended on the Paris Motor Show to showcase their latest concepts and production models, jostling to capture the public's attention with eye-catching designs and futuristic technologies.The biennial trade show, which opened on Monday and runs through to Sunday, comes as European carmakers contend with some hard truths on the road to full electrification.Manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW and Stellantis have all issued profit warnings in recent weeks, citing challenges including faltering demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and intense competition from abroad.The pressure on European automakers is poised to ratchet up even further next year whe...
Donald Trump’s extreme vision for America hikes pressure on Kamala Harris
World News

Donald Trump’s extreme vision for America hikes pressure on Kamala Harris

By Stephen Collinson, CNN Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB Analysis - Donald Trump is invoking a vision of an extreme new White House term that would transform America and rock the world. And Vice President Kamala Harris has only three weeks to avert it, as she struggles to restore momentum in a neck-and-neck race to Election Day. The Republican nominee is escalating the most toxic anti-immigrant rhetoric in modern US history, warning outsiders with "bad genes" have "invaded" the country after falsely claiming that Haitian migrants here legally were eating pets in Ohio. At a rally in Arizona on Sunday, Trump baselessly suggested that if Harris were elected, "the entire country will be turned into a migrant camp". In Colorado two days earlier, he again vowed to "begin the largest deportation o...
Honeywell’s CEO says the big AI payoff won’t come from productivity
Business

Honeywell’s CEO says the big AI payoff won’t come from productivity

As CEO of one of the world's largest industrial conglomerates, Honeywell's Vimal Kapur doesn't think about AI like most individuals. It's not about the threatened office worker. "There is always a trend which makes your skills obsolete, every five years," Kapur said at the recent CNBC Evolve: AI Opportunity Summit in New York City. "The churn in white collar is a continuous evolution." And he said it's not about the cool features that can be offered to the consumer, who "gets excited by the writing of a resume or restaurant recommendation." The biggest problems AI can solve at Honeywell start with a generational labor shortage that it and client companies are facing. From pilots to technicians, declining birth rates in the industrialized world have led to less people available to do jobs t...
Manawanui sinking: Acting Defence Minister Chris Penk gives details of ‘Operation Resolution’, commits to transparency
World News

Manawanui sinking: Acting Defence Minister Chris Penk gives details of ‘Operation Resolution’, commits to transparency

Chris Penk: "the only 'clause' that you'll have to deal with for a while is Santa!" Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Acting Defence Minister Chris Penk has made a statement in Parliament about the HMNZS Manawanui's sinking, and answered questions from other politicians - but rejected some as being "premature". He has rejected suggestions Defence Minister Judith Collins' response had been "dismissive" or that relations with Samoa had been damaged, committed to making the court of inquiry process public "to the greatest extent possible", and shut down questions about the overall cost. Penk stood to make the statement on Tuesday, the first sitting day in Parliament since the ship listed on Saturday 5 October and went beneath the waves the following day, opening the matter for questions and statemen...
Lilly Ledbetter, equal pay and women’s rights activist, dies at 86
Business

Lilly Ledbetter, equal pay and women’s rights activist, dies at 86

FILE - In this April 30, 2012 file photo, Lilly Ledbetter, left, speaks in Concord, N.H. President Barack Obama and his allies in the Senate pushed Tuesday for a bill that calls for equal pay in the workplace, an election-year effort to merge political appeals to women with the No. 1 concern for all voters: the cash in their wallets on the heels of recession. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)Jim ColeWomen's rights activist Lilly Ledbetter has died, according to a family representative. She was 86.Ledbetter, best known for advocating for equal pay for women, died as a result of respiratory failure on Saturday night. She was in Alabama, where she was born and raised."She was surrounded by her family and loved ones," her family said in a statement on Sunday. "Our mother lived an extraordinary life."L...
PNG security forces shoot 6 people, kill 1, near lawless Porgera gold mine
World News

PNG security forces shoot 6 people, kill 1, near lawless Porgera gold mine

By Harry Pearl and Harlyne Joku, BenarNews Local villagers hold a placard as they participate in a gathering near the Porgera Gold Mine in Enga province, Papua New Guinea on 23 September 2024, almost one week after police reinforcements were rushed to the area in a bid to quell tribal violence that shuttered the key gold mine Photo: AFP Papua New Guinea security personnel shot six people - one fatally - and arrested dozens of illegal miners in an operation to crackdown on lawlessness in the country's volatile highlands region, police said. Authorities deployed additional officers and authorised the use of lethal force last month to quell fighting between illegal miners and landowners in the area surrounding the Porgera gold mine in Enga province. Chairman of the Porgera Landowners As...
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway hikes SiriusXM stake to 32%
Business

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway hikes SiriusXM stake to 32%

Warren Buffett walks the floor and meets with Berkshire Hathaway shareholders ahead of their annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3rd, 2024. David A. GroganWarren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway continued to increase its stake in SiriusXM, now owning 32% of the New York-based satellite radio company.The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate purchased roughly 3.6 million shares for about $87 million in separate transactions Wednesday through Friday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday.Berkshire hiked its bet after billionaire John Malone's Liberty Media completed its deal in early September to combine its tracking stocks with the rest of the audio entertainment company. It was part of Malone's reshuffling of his sprawling media empire that also includ...
China’s newest panda diplomats headed for US
World News

China’s newest panda diplomats headed for US

By Nectar Gan, CNN Qing Bao in her habitat at Dujiangyan Base in Sichuan, China. Photo: AFP - Roshan Patel / Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Two giant pandas are on their way from China to Washington's National Zoo, kicking off a much-awaited return of the beloved bears to the American capital. Bao Li and Qing Bao, both 3-years-old, have left the giant panda research base in Dujiangyan, a city near the bears' native habitat in the mountains of southwest China. They boarded a specially chartered FedEx Boeing 777 cargo jet dubbed the "Panda Express" early Tuesday morning (local time) and took off for Washington. "We have prepared corn buns, bamboo shoots, carrots, water, and medicine to ensure the pandas' needs are met during the flight," the China Wildli...