Maidaan , featuring actor Ajay Devgn in the lead, will now hit the theatres on August 13 next year .
Based on the golden years of Indian football, “Maidaan”, was initially scheduled to release on November 27, but earlier this year the makers pushed the film to December 11.
Devgn took to Twitter on Saturday to announce the new release date of the movie.
“2021 Independence week. An untold story that will make every Indian proud. 13th August mark the date. #Maidaan2021 (sic),” he wrote alongside the poster of the film.
Owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the shoot of the film has got affected and it is likely to begin post monsoon.
In “Maidaan”, the 51-year-old actor will portray the role of Syed Abdul Rahim, who served as a coach and manager of Indian football team from 1950 until his death in 1963.
The movie is directed by Amit Ravinder Nath Sharma of “Badhaai Ho!” fame, Saiwyn Quadros has written the screenplay, while Ritesh Shah has penned the dialogues.
Also starring Priyamani, Gajraj Rao and Bengali actor Rudranil Ghosh,”Maidaan” is presented by Zee Studios and Boney Kapoor.
Kapoor who is also serving as the producer along with Akash Chawla and Arunava Joy Sengupta.
Devgn recently announced his film “Bhuj: The Pride of India” is headed for a direct release on streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar as theatres remain closed due to the pandemic.
Air France and regional subsidiary Hop announced 7,500 job cuts Friday after the virus pandemic grounded most flights and darkened prospects for future air travel.
Activists from multiple unions protested at Air France headquarters at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport as talks began Friday morning about future job prospects at France’s flagship airline.
They’re particularly angry that the French government didn’t require Air France to protect jobs when it won 7 billion euros ( 8 billion) in state bailout funds in May.
Workers warned that the job cuts will ripple across the French economy, and said bailout funds should be used to rebuild the company instead of pushing people into unemployment.
After a day of talks with personnel representatives, company management announced Friday night that it will cut about 6,500 of 41,000 jobs at Air France and 1,000 of the 2,400 jobs at Hop by 2022.
The company said most of the losses will come through not replacing retiring and departing workers and that it would encourage voluntary departures and early retirements before imposing layoffs.
Airlines around the world are forecast to lose 84 billion this year, with revenue halved. Some have filed for bankruptcy or sought bailouts to survive the near-shutdown in their activity, and officials predict the industry will take years to recover.
It’s too easy to take COVID-19 as an excuse, said Julien Lemarie, a 35-year-old Hop mechanic demonstrating at the airport.
The scale of this plan it’s enormous, it’s an absolute sledgehammer blow. Air France said its traffic sank 95% over the worst three months of the coroavirus pandemic and it was losing 15 million euros a day and that it doesn’t expect to recover until 2024.
The airline argued that the state bailout would allow it to withstand the short-term crisis and help it focus on changing its domestic business model and becoming more environmentally responsible.
The 7 billion euros in state aid for Air France is in the form of loans and loan guarantees and part of a broader 15 billion euro rescue plan from the government for the aviation sector.
The Air France meetings come days after European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, based in France, said that it must eliminate 15,000 jobs to safeguard its future.PTI
Heavy rain in southern Japan triggered flooding and mudslides on Saturday, leaving more than a dozen missing and others stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued.
More than 75,000 residents in the southern prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima were asked to evacuate following pounding rains overnight.
NHK television footage showed large areas of Hitoyoshi town in Kumamoto inundated in muddy waters that gushed out from the Kuma River. Many cars were submerged up to their windows.
Mudslides smashed into houses and floodwaters carried trunks from uprooted trees. Several people were standing atop a convenience store as they waited for rescuers.
NHK said about 13 people were reported missing. Kumamoto officials say they were still assessing the extent of damage.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set up a task force, vowing to do utmost to rescue the missing.
The Japan Meteorological Agency earlier issued warnings of extraordinary rain in parts of Kumamoto, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Tokyo, but later downgraded them as the rainfall estimated at 100 milimeters (4 inches) per hour subsided.
Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima said he requested help from the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
As the world fights extraordinary challenges, their lasting solutions can come from the ideals of Lord Buddha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.
Addressing the Dhamma Chakra Day event, the prime minister said the eight-fold path of Lord Buddha shows the way towards the well-being of many societies and nations.
It highlights the importance of compassion and kindness, he said adding that the teachings of Lord Buddha celebrate simplicity both in thought and action.
“Today the world fights extraordinary challenges. To these challenges, lasting solutions can come from the ideals of Lord Buddha. They were relevant in the past. They are relevant in the present. And, they will remain relevant in the future,” Modi said at the event.
The day is observed on Asadha Poornima.PTI
China under President Xi Jinping has stepped up its “aggressive” foreign policy toward India and “resisted” efforts to clarify the Line of Actual Control that prevented a lasting peace from being realised, according to a report released by a US Congress appointed commission.
The armies of India and China have been locked in a bitter standoff at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last seven weeks, and the tension escalated after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a violent clash in the Galwan Valley on June 15.
Under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, Beijing has stepped up its aggressive foreign policy toward New Delhi. Since 2013, China has engaged in five major altercations with India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), said a brief issued by US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
“Beijing and New Delhi have signed a series of agreements and committed to confidence-building measures to stabilise their border, but China has resisted efforts to clarify the LAC, preventing a lasting peace from being realised, said the report and was prepared at the request of the Commission to support its deliberations.
Authored by Will Green, a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs Team at the Commission, the report says that the Chinese government is particularly fearful of India’s growing relationship with the United States and its allies and partners.
The latest border clash is part of a broader pattern in which Beijing seeks to warn New Delhi against aligning with Washington, it said.
After Xi assumed power in 2012, there was a significant increase in clashes, despite the fact that he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times and Beijing and New Delhi have agreed to a series of confidence-building mechanisms designed to mitigate tensions.
Prior to 2013, the last major border clash was in 1987. The 1950s and 1960s were a particularly tense period, culminating in 1962 with a war that left thousands of soldiers dead on both sides, according to the records of China’s People’s Liberation Army, the report said.
The 2020 skirmish is in line with Beijing’s increasingly assertive foreign policy. The clash came as Beijing was aggressively pressing its other expansive sovereignty claims in the Indo-Pacific region, such as over Taiwan and in the South and East China seas, it said.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are vital to global trade.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the area.
Several weeks before the clash in the Galwan Valley, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe called on Beijing to use fighting to promote stability as the country’s external security environment worsened, a potential indication of China’s intent to proactively initiate military tensions with its neighbours to project an image of strength, the report said.PTI
Vuln!! Path it now!!
At least eight Uttar Pradesh police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police, were killed in an encounter with criminals in Kanpur, officials said on Friday.
The encounter took place when the police team was approaching to arrest Vikas Dubey, a history sheeter facing 60 criminal cases, in Dikru village under Chaubeypur police station on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, police said.
As the police team was about to reach the hideout of the dreaded criminal, a hail of bullets was showered on them from a building rooftop, leaving Deputy SP Devendra Mishra, three sub-inspectors and four constables dead, officials said.
Giving details of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police H C Awasthi said the notorious criminal might have got an inkling of the impending raid.
He and his henchmen put up massive roadblocks to prevent the police personnel from proceeding towards their hideout. As the police team was caught unawares, the criminals fried at them from a building rooftop leading to the deaths, Awasthi said.
On getting information about the incident, additional DG (Law and Order), IG (Kanpur) and the senior SP of Kanpur rushed to the spot, where a forensic team has started investigations. The forensic team will be joined by another team from Lucknow.
The Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police has also been pressed into action, the DGP said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath paid tributes to the slain policemen and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to their family members.
According to a spokesperson, he directed the police chief to take stringent action against the culprits and collect detailed report from the spot immediately.PTI
Delhi recorded 2,442 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the infection tally in the city to over 89,000, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 2,803, the authorities said.
Recently, Delhi had eclipsed Mumbai as the city worst-hit by the pandemic in the country.
Sixty-one fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours, the Delhi health department bulletin said on Wednesday.
The death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi stood at 2,742 on Tuesday.
The bulletin said the death toll due to the infection has risen to 2,803 and the total number of cases mounted to 89,802.
Besides, Mahesh Verma, the head of a Delhi government committee tasked with strengthening the preparedness of hospitals to battle coronavirus, has said the city’s COVID-19 tally may not reach 5.5 lakh cases by July-end as estimated earlier, but one needs to see how the virus behaves during the monsoon.
Meanwhile, a Delhi government panel has recommended roping in postgraduate students, pooling of resources and cash incentives to address the problem of staff shortage in hospitals amid a surge in coronavirus cases, sources said.
The two-member committee, comprising Verma and Dr BL Sherwal, director, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH), was formed last week.
According to the bulletin, 59,992 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far, while the number of active cases stood at 27,007, adding that 5,51,708 tests have been conducted.
The number of containment zones in the city on Wednesday stood at 437.PTI
Actor Vaani Kapoor will play the female lead opposite Akshay Kumar in the high-end espionage thriller “Bellbottom”, producer Jackky Bhagnani announced on Thursday.
The project marks Vaani’s first onscreen pairing with Akshay.
Bhagnani said the “War” star has a “meaty” role in the much-anticipated movie.
“Vaani is an intelligent and an effective actor and I have loved all her performances. The female lead in ‘Bellbottom’ has to be in sync with Akshay Sir’s screen persona.
“The role is meaty and I am confident that Vaani will ace this one,” Bhagnani said in a statement.
Vaani said she is excited to share the screen space with Akshay.
“I am thrilled to partner with Pooja Entertainment who have already made me feel at home at this initial stage of our film. Hoping that this excitement will translate beautifully on screen,” the 31-year-old actor said.
Directed by Ranjit M Tewari, the story is set in the 1980s and is about one of India’s forgotten heroes.
It is written by Aseem Arrora and Parveez Shaikh, and will go on floors later this year.
“Vaani’s character in the film is extremely intriguing. She has a certain flair and we’re all very excited to have her on board,” Tewari said.
Pooja Entertainment presents in association with Emmay Entertainment, “Bellbottom” is produced by Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani, Deepshikha Deshmukh, Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Nikhil Advani.
“Bellbottom” is scheduled to release on April 2, 2021.PTI
A 10-day complete lockdown has
been enforced from Thursday in Thane and two other civic administration limits adjoining Mumbai city to contain the spread of coronavirus, officials said.
Essential services and medical emergencies are exempted from the lockdown, while inter-city buses, autorickshaws and taxis will not be allowed to operate in these civic limits, they said.
The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, all part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), jointly decided on the complete lockdown for next 10 days in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in these areas, the officials said.
The lockdown came into force from 7 am on Thursday and will continue till 7 am on July 12, they said.
The municipal corporations of Navi Mumbai and Panvel will enforce complete lockdown from July 3 midnight.
“We want to break the chain of coronavirus infection.
People working in essential services will be exempted from the lockdown and will be allowed to move out for work,” KDMC Commissioner Vijay Suryavanshi said.
A TMC official said inter-city bus services, auto- rickshaws, taxis and app-based cabs will not be allowed to operate.
“Medical emergencies are exempted. A patient can be accompanied by only one person in a cab or auto-rickshaw, he said.
Banks, ATMs, IT, ITeS, India Post, internet and data services and medical shops will be exempted from the lockdown, he said.
TMC Commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma, in an order issued on Tuesday, said the city will observe a total lockdown for 10 days from Thursday.
Non-essential services will not operate during this period, and nor would movement of vehicles for proposes other than medical and essential travel be allowed, the order said.
Movement of all essential goods as well as perishable items will be allowed during this period, it added.
Thane Collector Rajesh Narvekar on Wednesday said roads, market areas and other public places are becoming increasingly congested with the introduction of various concessions as per the ‘Mission Begin Again’ order.
Also, there is a lot of stress on the health system, police department and district administration. Against this backdrop, lockdown restrictions need to be re-enforced, he said.
Similar orders are applicable in Mira-Bhayandar.
Thane district on Wednesday registered 1,322 new coronavirus cases, pushing its overall tally to 34,646, the administration said.
Out of the total cases, Thane city reported 9,138 cases, Navi Mumbai reported 6,823 cases, while the tally in Kalyan was nearing 7,000.
The death toll in Thane district due to the viral infection has reached 1,094, including 340 in Thane, 217 in Navi Mumbai, 120 in Kalyan and 145 in Mira Bhayandar township.
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