Rihanna covers baby bump for a dinner date with A$AP Rocky 2
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, who are currently expecting their first baby together, on Friday evening, enjoyed a date night in New York City. According to People magazine, the couple, both 33, dined at Italian restaurant Carbone, where they were joined by the ‘Umbrella’ hitmaker’s younger brother, Rorrey Fenty.
For the night out, Rihanna wore a New York Mets t-shirt, which covered her growing baby bump. She kept the look casual and cool with bedazzled faded jeans and an orange jacket. Meanwhile, A$AP Rocky attended the evening outing wearing a matching all-white ensemble featuring colorful, bejeweled accents. He stuck to a theme with a pair of white sneakers.
Rihanna has been putting her bare baby bump on display since she and A$AP Rocky announced they were expecting in late January. The singer recently told People magazine that she has embraced the good and the bad with her newfound curves. Noting that “it’s fun,” but also “a challenge” to play with fashion while pregnant, Rihanna explained at the Fenty Beauty Universe Event in Los Angeles earlier this month, “I like it. I’m enjoying it.”
Rihanna also explained that fashion helps her feel most confident these days, despite some general malaise and discomfort. Her evening out in New York City came after the music superstar continued to showcase her chic maternity style the day before.
The ‘Diamonds’ singer was photographed out and about on Thursday afternoon, showing off her growing baby bump in a baggy leopard-print jacket that was left partially unzipped near her belly. As per People magazine, Rihanna paired the animal-print outerwear with black sweatpants, furry brown heels, and a black hat over her hair, which fell behind her shoulders in loose waves.
Shiv Sena leader and Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut
Till 2019, Raut was one of the tallest leaders for the BJP alliance. All of sudden, the picture changed and he was under constant attack by then the alliance and now the opposition. In November 2019, following the Maharashtra Assembly Elections, there was a dispute between the BJP and the Shiv Sena regarding the seat-sharing formula, the formation of Government in Maharashtra, and who will be the Chief Minister of state. Sanjay Raut was one of the loudest voices from the Shiv Sena to demand their party Chief Minister for Maharashtra. He was not only firm on his stand but made it difficult for the BJP to play their typical tricks and traits. The engagement ended with the abolition of the opposition forces, and a tactical victory for the Shiv Sena to concur the power alliance with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Indian National Congress (INC).
Sanjay Raut stood like a protector to the Thackeray family and their political interest, he battled it out by blocking the path of the pursuers and made a determined defence against them. Maybe this is the reason Sanjay Raut was severely offended by the opposition by peddling all lies. BJP in opposition repeatedly tried to break through the barricades but were constantly disgusted. One needs to realise Raut is Shiv Sainik, mentored by his father who was ardent Shiv Sainik and Late Balasaheb Thackeray the founder of Shiv Sena, he is Thackeray’s mavla (worrier) in a true sense.
Narayan Rane mocking Raut
Narayan Rane is an old Shiv Sainik who tried his luck with almost all other political parties before finding a place in the BJP in 2019. Rane was given entry in BJP with the sole motive to demoralize the Thackeray leadership and Shiv Sena at large. However, his hatred for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was evident in his attacks. Rane has been a biting critic of Sanjay Raut too and has been unsparingly harsh on Thackeray Raut family and friends. He is often taking digs at Rashmi and Aaditya Thackeray. Uddhav Thackeray did not spare Rane and Sons and from time to time answered them back. Whereas Sanjay Raut known as Brat of Shiv Sena locked horns with them each time, they tried to mess with the Thackeray family.
Rane said, Balasaheb praised him on several occasions, but the fact is that there are hundreds of YouTube videos where Balasaheb mocked Narayan Rane. Rane was never respected or regarded by senior Thackeray. When Narayan Rane was expelled from the Sena, not only did he remain in the public eye but also paraded his grievances before the TV cameras. While Thackeray announced Rane’s eviction at a meeting of Sena corporators and MLAs at the Rang Sharda a hall in Bandra, Rane reacted by addressing a press conference barely a stone’s throw away from the Mumbai suburb where he accused the Sena chief of putra prem (blind love for his son, Uddhav). Balasaheb never skipped any chance of taking a dig at Narayan Rane, he humiliated Rane by calling him Narya and whatnot.
Despite the overdramatic backbiting this so-called rebellion could not manage to seek attention. He then pursued Sharad Pawar to join NCP, Pawar being a friend to senior Thackeray, refused Rane a fortune in his party. Then he bowed down to Congress leadership and somehow managed to get entry, but within no time, he took a press conference attacking Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders. Finally, he had no option but to float his own party, but that party did not give him the existence he was expecting. Knowing his weaknesses BJP hired him to open Morcha (verbal fight) against Thackeray and Shiv Sena, assuming that being old Shiv Sainik he might be knowing some inside weaknesses of Both. But the efforts went futile with father and son’s arrests.
BJP is wooing Rane and sons to increase their vote base in the Konkan region. But so far Rane has committed himself to attacks against ruling Maha Vika Aghadi. In several press conferences, Rane tried to tarnish Sena’s image by calling it a violent party, by stating it Uddhav lacks his father’s commendable instinct and recently taking deceits about Sanjay Raut. Whereas Sanjay Raut has grown slow and steady in Shiv Sena, he is a three-time Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra. He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra in 2004, and he has been a member of the house since then. Point to be noted, Raut’s elevation has come from Balasaheb and that’s why I call him a blue-eyed boy of Balasaheb Thackeray.
Raut was picked by Balasaheb when he started his Marathi daily Saamana. He was made executive editor of the Shiv Sena political mouthpiece. He has been writing articles for Saamana for more than three decades now. He was appointed as a Member of the Committee on Home Affairs and a Member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation from October 2005 to May 2009 with the consent of Balasaheb.
He was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra in 2010. Appointed as a Member of the Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, and the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Power in 2010. Again, with the knowledge of Balasaheb. Raut not only earned the confidence of Shiv Sena supremo but also earned goodwill. Today whatever Narayan Rane is saying makes no sense. Raut was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra in 2016, his tenure will finish this year.
Allegations on Sanjay Raut
After Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide in 2020, BJP inclined media channels and celebrities ran a campaign against Thackeray father and Son on a very humiliating note. They were hell-bent on proving the suicide as political murder linking it to Disha Salian another Bollywood entities suicide. Maharashtra government and Mumbai police had to take the brunt, during those days only one man was vocal by defending his party and state police. There were a series of trials against him too for using some unparliamentary words against the hired celebrity activist of BJP. She went to the extent of calling Maharashtra Pakistan, which irked Shiv Sena leader and he called her “Haramkhor” which means, one who wants things for free or with some ill act and doesn’t want to pay efforts to earn them. By calling Kangana Ranaut a “HaramKhor” Raut stoked controversy. To which Raut naively translated as “naughty”, but in actual sense, Kangana was making all baseless accusations for her greed to be in the good books of the central government.
In 2021, a Marathi film producer, revealed in a series of tweets that Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut threatened her mother of dire consequences, tortured her family and trapped her friend who is the brother of recently arrested Pravin Raut in bogus cases. a woman took to Twitter narrating various incidences of harassment. She alleged Mumbai police for doing injustice to her, and all this saga settled when she was expelled from a renowned hospital for submitting fake certificates to obtain the job. She was in jail for a month, and somehow the attacks against Raut were diminished with time.
Recently Palghar police arrested her male friend in a cheating case, later on, she was released on bail. The same person was arrested and booked for allegedly attempts to murder Sujit Patker, the name that is taken by Rane and Somaiya in their press conference repeatedly. When film producers made allegations against Raut, there were a series of media trials by YouTubers and again most of the BJP inclined media portals, but all these attacks went futile because Raut was not much affected. Opposition thought of baking their agendas on this but somehow looking at the merits of allegations they refrained in personal matters.
Recently, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who is a chartered accountant by profession, is a two-time MP known for his political activism, and his proclivity for being the BJP’s private investigator, filing Right to Information requests and accessing official records to take on political rivals. Somaiya would constantly target the Shiv Sena-run BMC for alleged lack of transparency in the civic body’s dealings, and dared Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to publicly disclose his assets. Through the poll campaign, Somaiya kept alleging that the BMC was run by a “mafia of Bandra” in a covert reference to Thackeray, whose house, Matoshree, is located in the suburb. On the Dussehra of 2016, Shiv Sena workers allegedly assaulted Somaiya for his comments.
Another of Somaiya’s allegations was that Shiv Sena leaders were using a web of shell companies, listing the names of seven such firms, to launder money earned as kickbacks in BMC contracts. Ever since the two parties split after the 2019 assembly polls, Somaiya has intensified his attacks, questioning allegedly illegal landholdings and constructed properties of a host of Shiv Sena leaders — from Ravindra Waikar to Anil Parab, CM Thackeray’s personal assistant Milind Narvekar and the CM himself.
Earlier this month, Somaiya had made allegations of graft in the awarding of contracts regarding Covid Care Centres to a company owned by Raut’s aide Sujit Patker. The ED had also conducted searches at Patker’s residence and offices this month, in connection with the Patra Chawl land case, in which Pravin Raut, another side of Sanjay Raut, has been arrested and Sanjay Raut’s wife’s name has surfaced.
Sanjay Raut, wrote to Vice President Venkaiah Naidu alleging that the BJP was misusing central investigating agencies to target Shiv Sena leaders and their kin, attempting to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. Over the past two years, the Enforcement Directorate has taken action directly or indirectly against at least half a dozen leaders belonging to MVA parties. In several of these cases, Somaiya had publicly made allegations of graft against the leaders.
Amid a massive show of strength at Dadar’s Shiv Sena Bhavan, Sanjay Raut then addressed a press conference, where he slammed Somaiya as “an agent of ED” and the “mastermind of the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) scam”.
To be continued…
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Telangana CM KCR to meet Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar in Mumbai 5
On Sunday, ruling TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will be in Mumbai to meet his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar as part of his campaign against the BJP’s alleged “anti-people” policies.
Rao, also known as KCR, left for Mumbai from Begumpet airport here along with his party leaders to meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai and have lunch with him, TRS sources said.
After the meeting with Thackeray, Rao would go to Pawar’s residence and discuss national political issues, the sources said.
Rao would return to Hyderabad in the evening.
Thackeray, Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena president, telephoned Rao last week and invited him to Mumbai.
Thackeray announced “complete support” to Rao’s “fight” against the BJP’s alleged anti-people policies and to uphold the federal spirit.
Posters welcoming Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao to Maharashtra seen at various places in Mumbai
During his one-day visit to the state today, he will meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar pic.twitter.com/FibZCExxFA
The Maharashtra CM proposed that the future course of action on the issue be discussed when Rao meets him.
Appreciating Rao’s efforts, Thackeray pointed out that the former has “raised his voice at the right time to protect the nation from divisive forces”, the release said.
Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president H D Deve Gowda had recently called up Rao and extended support to the latter’s “fight”.
Rao had told Gowda he would visit Bengaluru and meet him on the issue.
The Telangana Chief Minister, who has been critical of the BJP and the central government on several issues, had said he will soon have meetings with his Maharashtra and West Bengal counterparts, Thackeray and Mamata Banerjee, respectively, as part of efforts to unite various political parties against the saffron party and the NDA government.
Holding that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government should be dumped for its alleged “anti-people” policies, Rao had said he would play a major role in uniting anti-BJP political parties.
TRS and BJP in Telangana have been engaged in a bitter war of words over different issues for several months now.
Convinced that Russia would invade Ukraine: US Prez Joe Biden 7
US President Joe Biden has said that he is convinced and has reason to believe that Russian forces will attack Ukraine, including its capital Kyiv, in the coming week, warning that Russia will be responsible for a ”catastrophic and needless war of choice” if it pursues its plans.
Biden’s comments came amid heightened tensions between Russia and the US, fuelled by fears that Moscow plans to invade Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied that it has plans to attack Ukraine.
Giving an update to reporters from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Biden on Friday said the US is doing everything in its power to remove any reason that Russia may give to justify invading Ukraine and prevent them from moving.
“Look, we have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week — in the coming days. We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people,” Biden said.
“Make no mistake: If Russia pursues its plans, it will be responsible for a catastrophic and needless war of choice. The United States and our allies are prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory from any threat to our collective security as well,” he said.
Biden said that he is convinced that Russia is going to invade Ukraine.
He ruled out sending troops in to fight in Ukraine but said the US will continue to support the Ukrainian people.
Responding to a question if he thinks it is wise for the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to leave Ukraine if an invasion is as imminent as the US, Biden said, “that’s a judgment for him to make and a determination as to whether or not. I’ve spoken with Zelenskyy a dozen times — maybe more, I don’t know.” Biden said that the US and its allies and partners will support the Ukrainian people. “We will hold Russia accountable for its actions. The West is united and resolved. We’re ready to impose severe sanctions on Russia if it further invades Ukraine,” he said.
“But I say again: Russia can still choose diplomacy. It is not too late to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table,” he said.
Noting that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have agreed to meet on February 24, Biden said if Russia takes military action before that date, it will be clear that they have slammed the door shut on diplomacy.
“They will have chosen war, and they will pay a steep price for doing so — not only from the sanctions that we and our allies will impose on Russia, but the moral outrage that the rest of the world will visit upon them,” he said.
On Friday, Russia announced nuclear drills, even as leaders of nations from the West looked for ways to ease the tensions.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned that it would be “catastrophic” if the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated into a war, while underlining that there was “no alternative to diplomacy.” Biden on Thursday said that the threat of Russian invasion of Ukraine is very high right now.
“It’s very high because they (Russia) have not moved out troops, number one. Number two, we’re briefed that they are engaged in false flag operations,” he had said.
The US on Thursday told the UN Security Council that its information indicates clearly that over 150,000 Russian forces amassed around Ukraine’s borders are preparing to attack Ukraine “in the coming days” and Moscow “plans to manufacture a pretext” for its strike.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his address to the Security Council, said over the past months, without “provocation or justification”, Russia has amassed more than 150,000 troops around Ukraine’s borders.
According to US estimates, Russia has amassed between 169,000 and 190,000 personnel in and near Ukraine, up from about 100,000 on January 30.
BCCI gives Virat Kohli break from bio-bubble before the third T20I against WI, batter to skip Lanka T20Is 9
The BCCI has given senior batter Virat Kohli a 10-day break from the Indian team’s bio-bubble as he left for home before the third T20 International against the West Indies scheduled in Kolkata on Sunday.
As reported by PTI on Friday, Kohli will not be playing in the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka beginning on February 24 in Lucknow followed by two more games at Dharamsala on February 26 and 27.
”Yes, Kohli has left home on Saturday morning as India have already won the series. As it has been decided by BCCI, it will be a policy to give all the regular all-format players periodic breaks from the bubble to ensure that their workload management and mental health is taken care of,” a senior BCCI official privy to the development told PTI on the condition of anonymity. The Indian team for the Sri Lanka series will be picked later in the day.
The nation wants to know who the Invisible Baba is? 11
Chitra Ramkrishna, the former head of the country’s largest stock exchange, is being questioned by the CBI over the infamous ‘tick by tick’ market manipulation case. This invisible Baba from the Himalayas was used to run the NSE (National Stock Exchange).
Congress has made allegations that Ms Ramkrishna, who was CEO and Managing Director of the National Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2016 before she quit for “personal reasons”, is also under investigation for an alleged “glaring breach” of regulations – sharing confidential financial data with a ‘yogi’ living in the Himalayas.
The ‘tick by tick’ case was registered against OPG Securities; its Managing Director, Sanjay Gupta; Ajay Shah, who helped develop the software; and unknown officials from the NSE and regulatory body SEBI for alleged stock market manipulation from 2010 to 2014.
An FIR, or first information report, was registered in the case earlier but new facts have come to light which is why Ms Ramkrishna is being questioned. The central agency has also posted notices against madam Ramkrishna, former COO Anand Subramaniam, and her predecessor Ravi Narayan, to stop them from leaving the country. For the period of investigation (2010-2014), information was sent in a sequential manner from the stock exchange’s servers to the brokers’ through the ‘tick by the tick’ based system architecture.
This meant the broker who connected first to the stock exchange’s server received ‘ticks’, or the market feed, before the broker who connected later, giving him/her valuable information. The case has to do with the alleged unfair dissemination of information from the market exchange’s computer server to those of stockbrokers. Both were set up in the same area – a scenario called co-location – offering the brokers a 10:1 (approximate) speed advantage over their competitors.
It is alleged that Sanjay Gupta had unfair access to this feed and this enabled his company, OPG Security Pvt Ltd, to access financial data a split second faster than his competitors. And in the cutthroat world of stock markets, this is a massive advantage for any trader. Yesterday, premises in Mumbai and other locations owned by Ms Ramkrishna and others were searched by the Income Tax Department in connection with the allegations that she shared the bourse’s financial projections, business plans and board agenda with a spiritual guru.
The guru was running the exchange and Ms Ramkrishna was “a puppet”, SEBI has claimed. Ms Ramkrishna has claimed the information-sharing did not compromise NSE operations. The NSE, Ms Ramkrishna and senior official Anand Subramanian have raised Rs 2 crores each, and the exchange has been barred from launching new products for at least six months.
These days’ self-styled spiritual folks are well-written plots. They all have one known-unknown guru, then they have some storyboard to tell you about what made them adopt such practices, then they want celebrities, politicians and people who can pump in money as their tool to the business. A disciple who pays from his pocket to reach such entities to seek something is indirectly spending their hard-earned money in the forms of donation and goodwill, in turn, what they are receiving is an enthralled hoax.
The sacred land of Bharatvarsha has been sanctified by many spiritually attained people, since time immemorial. It is on the people whether they could recognize them or not. If anyone looks for Guru and spiritual solace outside them then looking for it within, has opted for a fake choice. These so-called Gurus, Babas, religious heads, and these typical cults are a market of hypocrites to serve those who opted for false choices. Everyone in this trade has his own business module and selling point.
Aasaram Babu and his son like spiritual leaders used to call themselves “Sakha” a friend, they always emphasized to their believers that they are not Guru or Babas. They are friends and father figures, that’s why people used to call him Bapu (in Gujarati Bapu means father). He always advocated staying in the marriage and married life producing children; one can still be a spiritual practice. Controlling one’s sexual cravings needs big scarifies, see how they have landed in jail. The family keens, wife and children are enjoying what they have earned from their spiritual business but not the needy disciples.
Bhaiyyu Maharaj was one horrific example of, a married spiritual leader, as a human he was one of the best humans I have ever witnessed but his married life was a big challenge to his spiritual survival, look how he had to commit suicide. Today his daughter, wife and family members are enjoying the wealth that he accumulated but not his followers.
A similar example is married Jaggi Vasudev, his wife took Samadhi (wishfully ended her life), there are many arguments on her death. Well, my point is that he has his daughter as a legal hare to what he accumulated so far. Maybe some part of it leaves it for the so-called trust or organization they run and people who work for him. Maharashtra has examples like Gora Kumbhar, Tukaram Dyaneswar, Gadde Maharaj but none of them ever indulged in brand making, people remember and worship them even today. But modern day’s babas are like products, once Shri Shri was a big brand, now Sadguru took the market and many are in the line to spring in this industry.
Nevertheless, there are few who are applying gains from business ventures to other social beneficial causes. Actually, spiritual and religious organizations in India have not become businesses/ shops, people have just become customers and consumers, so when they look for spirituality, they look for a shop and find one. These are NOT spiritual or religious organizations, they are, as you guessed, shops answering the popular demand. One finds what one is looking for!
However, and thankfully, not everyone is a shopper, there are seekers too. They are looking for light and wisdom; they first make themselves worthy, bring about necessary changes in their being and then set out on their quest. And believe me, they are blessed; they continue to find true religion and spirituality in India abundantly even today. Religious organizations are one of most profitable businesses on Earth, this religious business is not only in India, it’s all over the world. Many innocent people are simply influenced by those religious people, so call a Priest, friend, a Guru, Babas or any other religious leader, and people simply have faith in them.
I have witnessed many innocent people being lured by those spiritual business tycoons. So people wake up, God is not only with these gurus and they are not the custodians of spirituality, it is all within you. Do you think these people will move mountains for you? Remember you have to slog for yourself and if the time comes you have to give your precious time to make your guru a brand and collect riches for him at the cost of your sweat. You are the giver; you are the creator and you are the one who has brand value and that is the reason held by these so-called spiritual leeches.
Most people are brainwashed by so-called practices of spirituality. They will never be friends to you because they don’t sit with you on the floor, hug you in need, wipe your tears in pain or touch your feet considering you are a good human who has visited him. It’s you who makes choices and prefers to surrender. The one who needs brand value and money is nothing but a product and business.
Since they are all tax-free, they are already at least 30% better than the rest of us. On top of that, India is a country of diverse beliefs. Most people are scared, restless and can pay you to listen to comforting words and advice. Some of the time this helps (come to think of it, some of the things these spiritual gurus say make sense too, but what they say is not unique, is said by many like them), but it’s the hypocrisy that makes you yield to them.
Please understand, they are in a lucrative business with an almost unlimited market share of customers that can be influenced pretty easily. The income arises from various aspects – donations, selling books, printed material/paintings, Ayurveda products etc. In the question, you say that it is impossible to create such a huge empire solely based on donations, but I disagree. They receive huge sums as donations, and often these figures are unbelievable. Obviously, we don’t know whether they are in any other business (they might be), but even their apparent sources of income will accumulate more wealth than what you see in public.
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Withdrawn 274 recovery notices against anti-CAA protesters: UP govt; SC directs refund 15
The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday told the Supreme Court that it has withdrawn 274 recovery notices and proceedings initiated against anti-CAA protestors in 2019 for damages caused to public and private properties.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant said the state government will refund the entire amount worth crores of rupees, recovered from the alleged protestors due to the proceedings initiated in 2019.
It granted liberty to the UP government to proceed against alleged anti-CAA protestors under the new law — Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Act notified on August 31, 2020.
The bench refused to accept the submission of Additional Advocate General Garima Prashad that the protestors and the state government be allowed to move the claim tribunal instead of directing refunds.
On February 11, the top court had pulled up the UP government for acting on the recovery notices issued to the alleged anti-CAA protestors in December 2019 and gave one final opportunity to it to withdraw the proceedings and warned that it will quash the proceedings for being in violation of the law.
It had said that the proceedings initiated in December 2019 were contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court and cannot be sustained.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by one Parwaiz Arif Titu seeking quashing of notices sent to alleged protestors by the district administration for recovering losses caused by damage to public properties during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) agitations in UP and asked the state to respond to it.
The plea has alleged that such notices have been sent in an ”arbitrary manner” against a person who had died six years ago at the age of 94 and also to several others including two people who are aged above 90.
Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead set to direct season 2 of Marvel's 'Loki' 17
Following a first season that saw strong reviews and record viewing numbers, Marvel has gotten the wheels in motion for the second season of its Disney Plus series ‘Loki’. According to Deadline Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have come on board to co-direct a majority of the episodes for the upcoming season, which will see Tom Hiddleston returning to star.
Hiddleston and Michael Waldron, who wrote and served as showrunner in Season 1, will executive produce Season 2. Eric Martin is penning all six episodes. While plot details are being kept under wraps for now, the news is significant as it marks the first show in the Marvel series line-up to get a second season; every other show that premiered in 2021 ran as a limited series.
Marvel announced the second season would be on its way in the end credits of the season finale. As for the cast, as of now Hiddleston is the only one set to return. Benson and Moorhead have become go-to directors when it comes to high-priority event series, having previously worked on such tentpole series as ‘The Twilight Zone’ and ‘Archive 81’.
Marvel was so impressed with their early work it brought them on to direct a couple of episodes of ‘Moon Knight’, which stars Oscar Isaac and bows next month. As per Deadline, sources close to that production say the shoot went so smoothly that Marvel was looking over projects they wanted to put Benson and Moorhead on immediately. Season 2 of ‘Loki’ quickly jumped to the top of that list.
2008 Ahmedabad blast case: Court sentences death penalty to 38 convicts; 11 get life term 19
A special court on Friday awarded death sentence to 38 convicts in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case, which claimed 56 lives and leftover 200 injured.
The court sentenced 38 of the 49 convicts to death under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The 11 others were sentenced to life in jail till death.
Judge A R Patel also awarded compensation of Rs one lakh each to those killed in the blasts, Rs 50,000 for each victim with serious injuries and Rs 25,000 each for those with minor ones.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.85 lakh each on the 48 convicts.
Patel had on February 8 declared 49 of the total 78 accused as guilty under various offences of the Indian Penal Code, including for murder, sedition and waging war against the state, as well as under offences of the UAPA and Explosive Substances Act.
Bombs went off in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, at various spots including the state government-run civil hospital, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run LG Hospital, on buses, parked bicycles, in cars and other places, killing 56 persons.
