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☆ Bollywood and Indian politics: Influence of Modi and BJP on world’s largest film industry
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Jessie Yeung | Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

And most of these are Hindi films, meaning Bollywood holds an outsized influence on the country’s culture, identity and economy. A screengrab from the 2022 Bollywood film "The Kashmir Files." CNN reached out to several people from the film industry for this story, some of whom declined to be interviewed due to sensitivities around the topic. It encouraged some Bollywood filmmakers to “(lean) into the caricature of the Muslim villain,” he says. These films are growing fast; outside Bollywood, earnings from the South Indian media and entertainment industry have nearly doubled year on year, according to a 2023 report by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Persons: India’s, Narendra Modi, Indranil Mukherjee, ”, Raja Sen, “ It’s, Modi, Tanul Thakur, …, Veer Savarkar, –, ” Adah Sharma, Pandits, Vivek Agnihotri, ” Sudipto Sen, Debashree Mukherjee, it’s, Thakur, Sen, Darab Farooqui, Sonu Mehta, Farooqui, “, she’s, Aamir Khan, ” Farooqui, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mukherjee, Yash Chopra, ” That’s, ” Thakur, ” Sen, “ We’ve, ’, Dharmendra, Noemi Cassanelli, “ Something’s Organizations: India CNN —, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Observers, Hollywood, Republican, Modi’s, Getty, CNN, Ministry of Culture, of, Netflix, Columbia, Social Democratic Party of India, Hindustan Times, Columbia University, Journalists, Confederation of Indian Industry Locations: Mumbai, India, Kerala, Kashmir, Jammu, Columbia University’s, Middle Eastern, South, Jaipur, New Delhi, Pakistan, United States, Tamil Nadu

☆ Anant Ambani pre-wedding photos: Rihanna, Mark Zuckerberg among stars at Indian billionaire heir’s celebrations
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Ambani is the youngest son of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, who has an estimated fortune of $117 billion, according to Forbes. Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and their daughter Arabella pose with the groom's father, billionaire Mukesh Ambani. On Wednesday, the Ambani family hosted a communal dinner for more than 50,000 villagers. Reliance Industries/Handout/ReutersActors Salman Khan, Ram Charan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan perform during the pre-wedding celebrations. Reliance Industries/Handout/ReutersBillionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani with his son Anant and wife Nita.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ivanka Trump, jetted, Anant Ambani’s, Rihanna, David Blaine, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Ambani, Mukesh Ambani, Radhika Merchant, Jared Kushner, Arabella, ”, Paula Hurd, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Salman Khan, Ram Charan, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Taimur Ali, Anant, Nita, Anjali Organizations: CNN, Forbes, Reliance, Reuters, Reliance Foundation, Microsoft, Reliance Industries, Reuters Billionaire, AP Former India Locations: India, Silicon Valley, Jamnagar, Gujarat, New Delhi, Mumbai

☆ Scientists identify molten layer deep within interior of Mars
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"The importance of the far side impact was to produce seismic waves that traversed the deep interior of the planet, including the core. Previously, we had not observed any seismic waves that had transited the core. Unlike Mars, Earth has no molten layer around its core. One of the two studies published on Wednesday indicates this layer is fully molten, with the other indicating that most of it is fully molten, with the top portion partially molten. "We have learned a lot about Mars by studying the unique seismic record provided by the InSight mission," Samuel said.

Persons: Amir Khan, Henri Samuel, Khan, Samuel, Will Dunham, Daniel Wallis Organizations: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Handout, REUTERS, Rights, Tempe Terra, ETH, CNRS, Institut, Physique, Globe, Thomson Locations: Mars, Tempe, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, Paris

PARIS (AP) — Police arrested a man climbing Thursday on the Eiffel Tower, leading to visitors being temporarily stranded at the summit — including a reporter for The Associated Press and a Washington, D.C., couple who decided during the wait to get married. But when the lifts were temporarily shut down because of the climber, stranding the couple and others at the top, Khan decided to spring his surprise. “I figured we might be here longer than I imagined," Khan told the AP reporter. "So I didn’t want to miss dinner and she always wanted to be proposed to on or under the Eiffel Tower. Besides, when trapped at the top of a 1,083-foot (330-meter) tower, how can anyone say “No?”Had that happened, “somebody else would be climbing the Eiffel Tower today possibly,” she joked.

Persons: Amir Khan, Kat Warren, Khan, Pat Eaton, Robb, ’, ” Warren, ”, Alice Beunardeau, Beunardeau, she’d, Billie Eilish, “, ’ ”, “ I’m, AP's Eaton, Kathleen, ___ John Leicester, Le Organizations: PARIS, — Police, Eiffel, Associated Press, D.C Locations: Washington, Paris, Connecticut, Versailles, Le Pecq, France

PESHAWAR/KABUL, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The main Afghanistan-Pakistan land border crossing reopened on Friday after being closed for nine days following firing between guards on both sides, a senior Pakistani official told Reuters. Thousands of travellers and hundreds of trucks laden with goods were left stranded last week by the closure the Torkham border crossing, at the western end of the fabled Khyber Pass. Spokespersons for Pakistan's foreign ministry and the Afghan authorities in Nangarhar province confirmed the reopening of the crossing. "The border closure was causing huge losses to traders and common people of the two neighbouring countries," Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. The Taliban foreign ministry criticised the closure of the crossing and said Pakistan security forces had fired on its border guards as they fixed an old security outpost.

Persons: It's, Abdul Nasir Khan, Torkham, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mushtaq Ali, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Gibran Peshimam, Tom Hogue, Gerry Doyle, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Reuters, Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Thomson Locations: PESHAWAR, KABUL, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pakistan's Khyber, Nangarhar province, Pakistani, Peshawar, Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Kabul, Torkham

☆ A deep tech investor predicts these 3 AI startups will become the decacorns of this decade with valuations of over $100 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Amir Khan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amir Khan is a deep tech investor who's known about ChatGPT for 10 years. OwkinA health tech startup called Owkin, based in Paris, France, is working to build an AI model in partnership with top academic researchers and data scientists. MotionalMotional is a Boston-based autonomous tech startup that is gaining traction by successfully running the world's first robotaxi pilot program. If you've seen the old Batman movies, you would know self-driving vehicles were promised to us in the early 2000s. NexarNexar, a New York-based startup, is also a company working to realize our self-driving car dreams.

☆ UN says Taliban envoy can meet Pakistan, China ministers next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee on Monday agreed to allow the Taliban administration's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan from Afghanistan next week to meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, diplomats said. Muttaqi has long been subjected to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo under Security Council sanctions. According to a letter to the 15-member Security Council Taliban sanctions committee, Pakistan's U.N. mission requested an exemption for Muttaqi was to travel between May 6-9 "for a meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China." The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war. The Security Council committee allowed Muttaqi to travel to Uzbekistan last month for a meeting of the foreign ministers of neighboring countries of Afghanistan to discuss urgent peace, security, and stability matters.

UNITED NATIONS/KABUL, April 5 (Reuters) - U.N. chief Antonio Guterres condemned on Wednesday a ban by Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on Afghan women working for the United Nations, calling it "an intolerable violation of the most basic human rights" that should be immediately revoked. The United Nations has told some 3,300 Afghan staff - of which about 400 are female - not to report to their offices until further notice for security reasons. "Banning Afghan women from working with the U.N. in Afghanistan is an intolerable violation of the most basic human rights," Guterres posted on Twitter. Top U.N. officials in Kabul met with the Acting Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi on Wednesday after the Taliban authorities signaled on Tuesday that they would enforce a ban on Afghan women working for the world body. So far it is only 5% funded and the United Nations says nearly three-quarters of the country's 40 million people need help.

☆ British boxer Khan handed two-year ban over failed drug test
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The UKAD website states that ostarine is a drug designed to have similar effects to testosterone. It is present on the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list as an anabolic agent and is prohibited in sport at all times. Khan, who had expressed concerns over a lack of drug testing before his fight against Brook, accepted that he broke anti-doping rules but said it was not intentional. "Strict liability means Athletes are ultimately responsible for what they ingest and for the presence of any prohibited substances in a sample," UKAD chief executive Jane Rumble said. Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens/Mitch PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.N. aid chief raises women's rights concerns with Taliban in Afghan capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations' aid chief visited Kabul on Monday and raised concerns over women's education and work with the Taliban administration's acting minister of foreign affairs, an Afghan ministry statement said. U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths raised the issue of women's education and work and how this affected the U.N.'s operations, according to a ministry of foreign affairs statement. He said Griffiths would "underscore the message that humanitarian aid cannot be delivered without women." No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban administration since it seized power, with some diplomats saying it must change course on women's rights. Enforcement of sanctions and a cut in development aid have contributed to the country falling into an economic crisis which has left more than half the population dependent on humanitarian aid, aimed at meeting urgent needs.

☆ Deputy U.N. chief has talks in Afghanistan on women's rights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The United Nations deputy secretary-general discussed women's rights with Afghanistan's acting foreign minister on Wednesday after the Taliban authorities banned most female aid workers and stopped women and girls from attending high school and university. Amina Mohammed has also met with U.N. staff, aid groups and Afghan women "to take stock of the situation, convey solidarity, and discuss ways to promote and protect women's and girls rights," deputy U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York. In those talks, Mohammed "stressed the need to uphold human rights, especially for women and girls" and was "encouraged by exemptions" to the ban on female aid workers, Haq said. The Taliban administration on Dec. 24 ordered local and foreign aid organisations to stop female staff from working until further notice, days after it banned women from universities. Many aid groups, some of whom carry out humanitarian work under contracts with the United Nations, stopped operations following the ban.

Pharmacists and parents across the country are contending with empty shelves as they search for children’s pain relief medications amid the ongoing spread of RSV, flu and Covid. CVS and Walgreens each announced on Monday that they are limiting the number of children's pain relief medications customers can buy: CVS to two, and Walgreens to six. Courtesy Chantel JablonskiCaswell said shortages of children’s Tylenol and ibuprofen and their generic versions started a month or two ago. Johnson & Johnson Motrin brand children's pain relievers at a Stop & Shop store in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., on Jan. 23, 2022. Khan said “this is probably the worst” shortage of children’s medicine he’s seen, surpassing even peak Covid.

New Delhi CNN —Movie theaters in Indian-controlled Kashmir have reopened their doors, more than two decades after they were forced shut during an armed rebellion that saw multiple threats and attacks on crowded public places. The lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, inaugurated the disputed region’s newest cinema on Tuesday, in a ceremony marked with much hype and fanfare. The movie theater will open to the public on September 30, according to businessman, Vijay Dhar, who has partnered with Indian cinema chain Inox Leisure Ltd., to open the theater in Srinagar. In the late 1980s, a violent insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir claimed the lives of more than 9,000 civilians according to the Indian government, though estimates vary. Last year, the government implemented a policy aimed to promote Indian-controlled Kashmir as a popular filming destination.

☆ Taliban release American engineer Frerichs in prisoner swap
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Mohammad Yunus Yawar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Noorzai was detained by the United States on suspicion of smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and Europe. Frerichs is an engineer and U.S. Navy veteran from Lombard, Illinois, who worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. The United States has no official representation in Afghanistan and U.S. government officials elsewhere were not immediately available for comment. The United States has been pushing for the release of Frerichs, including after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, as U.S.-led foreign forces were withdrawing. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ US government free Taliban drug lord in return for release of kidnapped US citizen
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Taliban has freed kidnapped US citizen Mark Frerichs after two and a half years' captivity. In return, the US has freed Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban warlord convicted of drug trafficking. In exchange, the US has released Bashir Noorzai. Frerichs was working as a civil engineer in Afghanistan for 10 years "for the benefit of the Afghan people," according to the US State Department. In January, President Joe Biden said: "The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy.

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