New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has reclaimed the number one position in the ICC Test Rankings for batsmen after leading his side to the World Test Championship title in Southampton last week.
The 30-year-old's knocks of 49 and 52 not out in the low-scoring final against India helped him move above the 900-point mark and he now enjoys a 10-point lead over Steve Smith (891 rating points).
India skipper Virat Kohli remains in fourth position while Rohit Sharma has moved up to the sixth spot. India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is seventh.
Williamson, who conceded the top spot to Smith two weeks ago, is back in the position he had first grabbed in November 2015 during a series against Australia.
Ross Taylor, who scored an unbeaten 47 and partnered in an unbroken 96-run stand with Williamson, has advanced three places to 14th position while left-hander Devon Conway has gained 18 slots to reach 42nd place after top-scoring with 52 in the first innings.
New Zealand's fast bowlers too have gained after thriving in the seaming conditions with a player of the match Kyle Jamieson continuing the stupendous start to his Test career.
His figures of five for 31 and two for 30 have pushed him up to a career-best 13th position, not surprising since no bowler has taken more Test wickets at a better average than him since 1900.
Left-armer Trent Boult's figures of two for 48 and three for 39 have lifted him two places to 11th position while for India, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane's progress of three places to 13th position after scores of 49 and 15, was the only notable gain.
Ravindra Jadeja has slipped behind West Indian Jason Holder to the second position after a week at the top of the rankings for all-rounders.
In the T20 Rankings, West Indies' left-handed opener Evin Lewis has moved from 13th to 10th position after a player of the match effort of 71 off 35 balls in the first of the two matches of their ongoing five-match series that counted for this week's rankings.
Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen has progressed 23 places to 20th position.
South Africa's Quinton de Kock (up one place to 22nd), Reeza Hendricks (up three places to 24th) and Temba Bavuma (up 24 places to 64th) are among the others to move up.
England's 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka, which should come as a morale booster for the 50-over World champions ahead of this year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup, sees several of their players move up too.
Chris Jordan (up five places to 11th), Mark Wood (up 11 places to 14th), Sam Curran (up 62 places to 39th) and David Willey (up 23 places to 51st) have progressed in the bowlers' list while for Sri Lanka, Wanindu Hasaranga has moved up five places to fifth and Dushmantha Chameera 41 places to 43rd.
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Due to the coronavirus pandemic that hit the world in 2020, there has been a drastic impact on the International Dance Music industry. As per the recent International Dance Music Summit report, for business, culture, and education in global electronic music; there has been a decrease in the value by 54 percent resulting decline to $3.4 billion.
This big decline in business has occurred after almost ten years of steady growth. As per Variety, the overall earnings are from four main sectors of the industry including music sales and streaming, software and hardware sales, Disc Jockey (DJ), and artist earnings along with clubs and festivals.
Also, this year’s annual report emphasises the global impact of the pandemic on electronic dance music in 2020. According to the report, the business produced less than half of 2019’s $7.3 billion in earnings and lower than that of the industry in 2012.
Due to lockdowns across the world, the biggest drop was expected in clubs and festivals where the earnings had fallen by 78 percent. While DJ and artist earnings also down by 68 percent last year. As people stayed at home, the music sales and streaming had grossed up by 4 percent or $48 million. Meanwhile, software and hardware sales were also up by 23 percent for a record high of $203 million.
For their fundraising efforts, there were also live streams from the electronic dance music industry, which was hosted by French DJ, record producer, and songwriter David Guetta that benefitted a variety of pandemic-related causes, including World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response fund and UNICEF.
Further in the detailed report, the electronic dance music’s Spotify also shared a decline in 16 of the 18 countries as fans spent more than $52 million on Bandcamp. It is an internet music company by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt, and Neal Tucker in California.
The report also highlighted new ways and methods of monetisation that has emerged during the pandemic like getting involved in the metaverse.
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A cold case is defined as a crime that remains unresolved for a length of time and for which investigations have been put on hold indefinitely due to insufficient evidence, or a crime discovered much after it was committed. The latter circumstance is the starting point of director Tanu Balak’sCold Case.
This new Malayalam film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran as ACP M Sathyajith in whose jurisdiction a human skull is fished out of a water body by an unsuspecting local. The remains have degraded over time and the police’s first challenge is to identify the dead person.
In another part of Thiruvananthapuram, the journalist Medha (Aditi Balan) shifts into a rented accommodation with her daughter and domestic help. Medha is divorcing her husband and is bracing herself for a custody battle over their child. She works with a TV channel on a programme dealing with paranormal occurrences. When she is compelled to probe the steady stream of scares in her own house, her inquiries throw up a link between Sathyajith’s case and the spooky presence in her home.
Cold Caseis about the parallel investigations conducted by the two leads.
One of the nicer aspects of this film is that the director is clearly not intimidated by his superstar leading man and that Prithviraj himself has not used his clout to force his character into a position where he overpowers the narrative. When he is on screen inCold Case, he is the centre of the proceedings but his arresting screen presence is not drummed up with low-angle shots and over-underlined music that are an inextricable part of old-style men-centric out-and-out commercial Malayalam cinema.
Prithviraj’s willingness to subordinate himself to the requirements of the screenplay is also evident from the fact that unlike in most mainstream Indian films featuring a major male star, here the female lead gets equal space, she is not in the story merely to give the hero someone to fall in love with and/or protect, she is not defined by her association with him and the writing does full justice to her role in the action.
As with the lovely Kannada filmPinki Elli?that has been selected for a string of film festivals since 2020, it is also good to see Sreenath V Nath’s script forCold Caseacknowledging divorce as a reality of present-day Indian society while not passing judgement on women for asserting their independence within marriage, demanding respect in a relationship and seeking freedom from one that is not working out.
(Aside: A Christian character in the film, we are told, “married a Hindu boy” but for some reason the subtitles at that point read “north Indian” instead of “Hindu”.)
(Minor spoiler ahead in this paragraph) How unconventionalCold Caseis in the arena of commercial cinema is best explained by the fact that ultimately, neither lead is allocated a romantic partner or song. In fact, we are not drawn into Sathyajith’s personal life at all, beyond some time spent in his flat. (Spoiler alert ends)
The depth and refinement in these elements of the writing are not, unfortunately, carried into the rest of the film.Cold Caseis let down by a self-conscious storytelling style when it deals with police procedures, awkwardly constructed dialogues assigned to Sathyajith when he is discussing the investigation with his colleagues, Prithviraj’s stilted delivery of those lines, a couple of coincidences in the detective work that ask for too much of a suspension of disbelief and an uninteresting antagonist. The conversations between Sathyajith and his fellow police personnel are often so elementary that it feels as if they were written as explainers for an audience presumed to be unaccustomed to crime thrillers. As for Sathyajith’s note-taking and the matter put up on the pin board in his home, they are both pointless.
Some scenes involving the ghostly being inCold Caseare genuinely unnerving, plus the immediate run-up to the discovery of who committed the crime and why are suspenseful, but the truth when uncovered leads us to a rather insipid criminal. Besides, a long-drawn-out effort to focus the viewers’ suspicion on a particular character becomes glaring to the point of being irritating. In the end too, the attempt to balance rationalism with belief in the supernatural is weak and predictable.
Aditi Balan is completely at ease before the camera and pleasant to watch. The supporting cast is largely unremarkable though, barring Suchitra Pillai who tries to be menacing as a visually challenged clairvoyant but turns out to be unwittingly funny instead. The scene in which she fervently chants “Mirror black, dark as night,grant me vision, give me sight” comes off looking almost ridiculous.
While on the subject of cringe-worthy lines, when will Malayalam directors stop using English and Hindi songs with embarrassingly poor lyrics in their films? I thought it was hard to topLove Action Dramain that department, but the number that plays over the closing credits inCold Caseis just as strange:
Bury all your lies
Down beneath the sky
Let it rot alive
Hidden and disguised
Tear it out
Let it bleed down from the sky
Far beyond the line
Confession is the crime
(Pause)
What?!
Criminal investigations are not Malayalam cinema’s forte but the team ofCold Casedid have a solid reference point in the form of last year’s excellentAnjaam Paathiraa, which managed to be both clever and emotionally resonant. The recent Nayanthara-Kunchacko Boban starrerNizhaltoo had more substance.Ezra(2017) starring Prithviraj himself could have served as a guide. Instead of evolving further,Cold Casetakes a few steps back in this genre.
To its credit, this film is wisely controlled when it dips into paranormal horror clichés such as sudden loud sounds, ominous music and abrupt movement. The director deploys Girish Gangadharan’s restrained camerawork effectively for this purpose, and especially well in the climactic scene with the villain of the piece.Cold Casethen is a reasonably engaging thriller. It had the potential to be so much more.
Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)
Cold Case is streaming on Amazon Prime Video India.
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The much-awaited sequel to the blockbuster 2018 movie Black Panther has officially begun. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has started its production on Tuesday, 29 June at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta.
The sequel will have director Ryan Coogler behind the camera along with the whole crew and cast only without its titular hero Chadwick Boseman, who passed away battling colon cancer for four years in August last year.
At the Black Widow Global Fan Event in Los Angeles, Feige informed that it's going to be very emotional for all. “It’s clearly very emotional without Chad. But everyone is also excited to bring the world of Wakanda back to the public and back to the fans. We’re going to do it in a way that would make Chad proud,” Feige said at the event on Tuesday night as per Variety.
So far, Marvel Studios is keeping the Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverplot details and new characters under wraps. But actors including Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba, and Angela Bassett are likely to reprise their previous roles.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will hit screens on 8 July, 2022. This is one of the 26 upcoming movies on Marvel Studios’ list which is slated to release in theatres and streaming platform Disney Plus. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Marvel Studios still has four new films to release this year alone.
The first instalment of Black Panther series was a massive hit when it was released in February 2018. The feature broke most of its records after hitting theatres and earned $1.34 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing non-Avengers movie of all time.
The movie also grabbed seven Academy Award nominations and won Oscars for the score, costume design, and production design to its credit.
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Thomas Mueller admits his crucial miss at Wembley for a late equaliser in the 2-0 defeat to England which knocked Germany out of Euro 2020 "hurts like hell".
With England 1-0 up in Tuesday's last 16 clash thanks to a Raheem Sterling goal, Mueller managed to break clear of the England defence with nine minutes left, but fired agonisingly wide with the goal at his mercy.
"To get that opportunity and then have it go to waste, it hurts like hell," Mueller wrote on Instagram Wednesday under a picture with his head in his hands on the Wembley turf.
"There it was, that one moment that stays in your memory at the end, that keeps you awake at night.
"The moment you work, train and live for as a footballer.
"That moment when you alone have it in your hands to bring your team back into a tight knockout game and send an entire football nation into ecstasy."
With the Germans ruing Mueller's miss, England doubled their lead moments later when Harry Kane scored to put the Three Lions in the quarter-finals and send Germany out.
"It hurts me for the whole @dfb_team (German FA), my teammates and our coach who all put their trust in me to be there right then," added Mueller, as Joachim Loew had his final game as Germany coach after 15 years in charge.
"But most of all, it hurts because of all the Germany fans out there who have stood by us and supported us during this European Championship. Thank you for your support."
The 31-year-old was recalled from a two-year international football exile to play at the Euro finals.
Had he scored at Wembley, Mueller would have claimed his 40th goal in 107 internationals, but he has now failed to hit the net at three consecutive European Championships.
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Cuban screenwriter Delia Fiallo, widely seen as "the mother of the telenovela" and the writer behind international hits like the soap opera Cristal, died Tuesday in Miami at the age of 96, her daughter-in-law confirmed to AFP.
A pioneer of the wildly popular romantic soap operas in Latin America, Fiallo, whose career began in the middle of the last century, told AFP in an interview in 2018 that she wanted to be remembered "as a person who loved a lot and who was very loved."
Her daughter-in-law, Odalis Baez, confirmed her death.
Adored by her fans, Fiallo left her mark on US Hispanic popular culture in the second half of the 20th century. She started her career in Cuba in 1950 with radio soap operas before writing her first television screenplay in 1957.
She then worked with Venezuelan television stations after leaving Communist Cuba for Miami in 1966, scripting popular shows like Lucecita in 1967, or global hits like Esmeralda, Leonela, Cristal and Kassandra.
In all, she wrote more than 40 works for radio and television during her long career.
The cause of her death was not immediately made public.
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Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min was not included in South Korea's 18-man Olympic football squad named on Wednesday, avoiding a potential club-versus-country dilemma.
Son's new English Premier League campaign with Tottenham is due to begin on Sunday 15 August against champions Manchester City, just a week after the Olympic final in Tokyo.
Hwang Ui-jo of FC Girondins de Bordeaux was named in the under-24 squad as an over-age player, while Valencia midfielder Lee Kang-in, the youngest member of the squad at 20, can avoid military service by winning an Olympic medal.
South Korea requires all able-bodied men to serve for 18 months. But Olympic medallists or gold medallists at the Asian Games are awarded exemptions from service.
Spurs striker Son was excused an 18-month stint in the armed forces after winning a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, as was Hwang, who scored 12 goals for Bordeaux last season.
"I did not take into consideration the issue of military service," said head coach Kim Hak-bum on naming his squad.
"I only focused on finding those who were most competitive," he told reporters. "We will aim for the best."
The Taeguk Warriors won bronze at London 2012, and start their quest for a second Olympic medal against New Zealand on 22 July.
Romania and Honduras are also in Group B, with the two top teams from each of the four groups advancing to the quarter-finals.
South Korea squad:
Goalkeepers: Song Bum-keun (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Ahn Joon-soo (Busan IPark)
Defenders: Lee You-hyeon (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), Jeong Tae-wook (Daegu FC), Kim Jae-woo (Daegu FC), Kim Jin-ya (FC Seoul), Seol Young-woo (Ulsan FC), Kim Min-jae (Beijing Guoan)
Midfielders: Lee Kang-in (Valencia CF), Kim Dong-hyun (Gangwon FC), Won Du-jae (Ulsan FC), Lee Dong-gyeong (Ulsan FC), Jeong Seung-won (Daegu FC),
Forwards: Hwang Ui-jo (FC Girondins de Bordeaux), Kwon Chang-hoon (Suwon Bluewings), Song Min-kyu (Pohang Steelers), Lee Dong-jun (Ulsan FC), Um Won-sang (Gwangju FC).
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Presented by Amazon Prime Video in association with Excel Entertainment and ROMP Pictures. Toofaan is produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akthar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
The film stars Farhan Akhtar, alongside Mrunal Thakur, Paresh Rawal, Supriya Pathak Shah and Hussain Dalal in pivotal roles and is directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Toofaan to be the first film to simultaneously premiere on Amazon Prime Video in Hindi and English.
Amazon Prime Video today unveiled the trailer of the year’s most awaited summer blockbuster, Toofaan. Presented by Amazon Prime Video in association with Excel Entertainment and ROMP Pictures, Toofaan is an inspiring sports drama produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Farhan Akhtar.
The film features an all-star cast, lead by Farhan Akhtar in the lead role along with Mrunal Thakur, Paresh Rawal, Supriya Pathak Kapur, Hussain Dalal, Dr Mohan Agashe, Darshan Kumaar and Vijay Raaz.
Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the film’s high-octane trailer takes us through the journey of a local goon, Ajju Bhai becoming a professional boxer, Aziz Ali. Toofaan is a tale of hope, faith and inner strength fuelled by passion and perseverance.
Watch the trailer here
Toofaan will also be the first film to simultaneously premiere on Amazon Prime Video in Hindi and English starting 16 July across 240 countries and territories.
Lead actor and co-producer Farhan Akhtar revealed how challenging it was to get under the skin of his character. Talking about his role and preparation behind it, the actor said in a statement, “Toofaan is a true labour of love and no matter how physically strong one is, stepping into the shoes of a boxer is a whole new ball game. It took 8 to 9 months of rigorous training for me to get into the skin character and it made me realize how physically, mentally and emotionally demanding the sport actually is.”
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Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has been diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to a Mumbai hospital, actor-wife Ratna Pathak Shah said on Wednesday.
Naseeruddin Shah, 70, was admitted to Khar Hinduja hospital on Tuesday. The actor has a "small patch" of pneumonia in his lungs and is currently undergoing treatment.
"Yes (he has a) small patch and all under control. (He is) Responding well to treatment so hope he'll be discharged soon," Ratna Pathak Shah told PTI.
The multiple National Award-winning actor was last seen in the 2020 drama Mee Raqsam and the acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series Bandish Bandits.
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Scarlett Johansson-starrer Black Widow is all set to hit the US theatres and streaming platform Disney+ on 9 July. The much-awaited MCU film is set after the events of Captain America: Civil War which released in 2016. The latest movie sees Natasha Romanoff on the run after helping Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers and is forced to confront her past. This is going to be the first Marvel film hitting the big screens after coronavirus breakdown.
Along with Johansson, the film also features Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz in pivotal roles. Ahead of the release, the early reviews of Black Widow are out and the movie is receiving a majorly positive response from critics. Also, Johansson is being praised for her portrayal once again.
Here are some of the reviews of Black Widow
Variety: [It’s] Scarlett Johansson who holds the film together and gives it its touch of soul. Natasha’s desire for vengeance is pulsating, but so are her inner wounds, and Johansson, unusual for the comic-book genre, makes the most vulnerable emotions part of the humanity of her strength.
The Guardian: For fans of Black Widow and everyone else, this episode is great fun and Harbour could well ascend to spinoff greatness of his own.
The Hollywood Reporter: The production represents a huge leap in scale for director Cate Shortland, who made her name with the intimately observed Somersault before segueing to the Holocaust drama Lore and the psychological abduction thriller Berlin Syndrome. Those features all explored the lives of young women with sensitivity and genuine curiosity, something the Australian director continues to do here, adding unexpectedly rich dimensions to a genre that often shows too little interest in character.
The Verge: As an action movie, it’s solid, with lots of fun set pieces to gawk at and a particularly menacing villain. While there are a handful of references to other movies, and fans will likely enjoy delving deeper into Romanoff’s backstory, you can mostly ignore all that if you want, and you’re still left with an entertaining spy thriller.
Slash Film: Black Widow is at its best when it’s a wacky family drama between Natasha, Yelena, Alexei, and Melina, with dashes of a spy thriller. But Marvel films can’t content themselves with staying small, and Black Widow falls victim to the big bombast characteristic of the studio. The result is a disappointing solo movie that ends up burying Natasha Romanoff once again.
The Independent: For all of Black Widow’s flaws, the things that it does right build a more hopeful future for the women of the MCU – one with stories that not only invoke real and relatable experiences, but are actually being told by women behind the camera. It’s just a shame that Natasha never had this from the very start.
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New Delhi: The BCCI has decided to recommend women's cricket legend Mithali Raj and premier spinner R Ashwin for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, country's highest sporting honour.
For Arjuna Award, the Board will send the names of senior batsman Shikhar Dhawan, who was ignored last year, KL Rahul and pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
"No women cricketer has been nominated for Arjuna. Mithali's name has been recommended for Khel Ratna," a BCCI official told PTI on Wednesday.
It remains to be seen if Mithali is chosen by the Sports ministry-appointed panel in an Olympic year.
She completed 22 years in international cricket last week. The 38 year-old is also the leading run getter in ODIs with more than 7,000 runs.
Ashwin, who is already an Arjuna awardee like Mithali, has also been a consistent performer for India in Test cricket. He has taken 413 wickets in 79 Tests besides 150 and 42 scalps in ODIs and T20s though he doesn't play for India in the shorter formats.
Dhawan, who will be captaining India in the upcoming limited overs series in Sri Lanka, is a frontrunner for Arjuna.
The 35-year-old southpaw has scored 5977 runs in 142 ODIs besides 2315 and 1673 Test and T20 runs respectively.
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The group of death teams, which included the likes of France, Germany and Portugal have perished. Switzerland, Czech Republic and Ukraine have deservingly qualified for the quarter-finals. Belgium, Spain and England had it tough but not tough enough to get knocked out. Italy lived up to their pre-tournament reputation and Denmark were simply outstanding.
The Euro 2020 Round of 16 matches provided the thrills not often seen at international tournaments. It's not only about the goals but the overall quality was top-notch. It's difficult to put into words but here's a brief review of the round:
A night to remember
By now, a lot has been written about those two extraordinary Round of 16 matches. Of course, extraordinary things have happened on football fields. We are talking about the world's most popular game with a history of more than 200 years, but what happened on 28 June 2021 was indeed special because of the simple reason that two matches produced great football, something which usually goes missing or doesn't happen often in prestigious multi-nation tournaments. Tournament football, especially in the bigger ones like the World Cup or the Euros, tends to be conservative in nature. Or to put it more bluntly – boring.
And it’s understandable. Club football is more regular, players spend years playing together, with enough time to acclimatise to their team’s philosophy, thereby ensuring better football. In many cases, fans demand a certain type of football because they say it’s in the DNA of the club. But international tournaments happen once in four years and national team managers do not have enough time with the players to implement a well-rounded style. The idea is not about creating an identity but winning the trophy by the best means possible. The games do not make great viewing but there are hardly any complaints. As always, there are notable exceptions, like the Dutch side of the total football fame or Brazilian teams over the years.
Croatia vs Spain and France vs Switzerland had all the drama which made them instant blockbusters. Incredible goals, silly mistakes, penalty shootout, penalty save, underdog beating a world champion, but most of all, four teams entertained millions with a great display of football. They made ‘international football’ beautiful.
Denmark can repeat history
Denmark have won two matches in the Euro 2020 and suffered two defeats. They will play the Czech Republic in the quarter-final. The Netherlands won three matches in the Euro 2020 and lost just once. They have flown back home with broken hearts. Knockout rounds can prove to be magical but equally brutal.
Kasper Hjulmand’s Denmark were the deserving winners against Wales. Kasper Dolberg netted twice while Joakim Maehle and Martin Braithwaite also added their names to the scoresheet. It has been a remarkable turnaround for the Danes, who had witnessed their teammate and friend collapse on the field and then went on to lose their games against Finland and Belgium. They scored four against Russia to book a spot in the Round of 16 and scored four again to qualify for the quarter-finals.
When Denmark became European champions in 1992, it was dubbed a fairytale. If Denmark go on to lift the trophy in 2021, it will be much more than a simple fairytale. The players showed tremendous strength while forming a huddle around Christian Eriksen and they are showing tremendous collective strength while kicking the ball during the games. Above all, the head coach Hjulmand has been able to extract the best out of his squad. He didn’t change his positive approach after what happened in the first two games and now his team are hitting the form at the right time.
Italy show power of quality and depth
Pre-tournament favourites Italy knew exactly what to expect against Austria in their Round of 16 fixture. David Alaba and Co will sit back, soak in the pressure and will counter-attack in numbers. It worked for Austria for more than 90 minutes. In fact, the team improved as the game progressed and Marko Arnautovic even scored a goal but it was disallowed due to offside.
Roberto Mancini though had the power of a quality bench strength. Andrea Belotti, Matteo Pessina, Fedrico Chiesa and Manuel Locatelli came on and made significant contributions. Chiesa scored the first goal in the 95th minute and Pessina found the net in the 105th minute. Later, Italy conceded a goal, their first since October 2020, but they did enough to win the contest. While in the group stage, Italy blew away their opponents, their first fixture in the knockout round proved to be a tougher challenge. They had to dig deep and eventually came through. It's good news for Mancini that Italy can do both.
Sterling and Forsberg the best so far
Raheem Sterling has been the best player for England in Euro 2020. Three goals in four matches, two of them turned out to be match-winners and the third one came against Germany at a crucial juncture in their Round of 16 clash. He opened the scoring in the 75th minute and Harry Kane sealed the win against the Germans with a strike in the 86th minute.
At his best, Sterling can be hugely influential but at his worst, he can be the most frustrating man on the pitch. But let’s not focus on the negative things because Sterling’s influence on England in this tournament has only been positive. Sterling is world class and he has done enough with Manchester City over the years to earn the tag. This English side can get stuck during the matches and it was seen in this tournament as well but Sterling is making them work. He’s always finding the right spaces with his movements and being clinical in front of the goal. Gareth Southgate and his team might still have issues but they will be glad that they have somebody like Sterling in their ranks who can actually change the game.
England made it to the next round but Sweden didn’t. Janne Andersson’s team made significant improvements since their first match of Euro 2020 against Spain but were knocked out of the tournament after Artem Dovbyk’s strike deep into extra time. The 2-1 result wasn’t necessarily cruel on the Swedish side because Ukraine did play well to win the game but it was certainly cruel on Emil Forsberg. The RB Leipzig playmaker has scored four goals in the tournament and could’ve added two more if not for his two shots hitting the post against Ukraine. The sublime skills, the way he used to create space for himself in tight spaces, executing the passes and the ability to hit the ball cleanly, were very evident. Especially against Ukraine, it was a masterful performance. Nobody came close to his level but such is the nature of the game that the result didn’t go his way.
For those who do not see RB Leipzig matches on a regular basis, Forsberg has been a revelation and despite Sweden faltering in the last 16, he could still be named the player of the tournament.
Belgium rattled in win
Belgium beat defending champions Portugal thanks to Thorgan Hazard’s wonder strike but there was little to celebrate. Portugal’s second-half performance almost took the win away and two of their best players – Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard had to be taken off due to injury concerns. Although nothing serious, Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said there is a 50-50 chance they will feature in the quarter-final against Italy. It could be a great knockout match between two quality teams and it deserves players like De Bruyne and Hazard to be a part of it. It will be a pity if both miss out.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic can afford to smile after humbling the flamboyant but ultimately flawed Netherlands. For all their all-attacking pedigree, the Dutch collapsed against the better-organised opponents. They registered zero shots on target while the Czechs had five on goal and scored two. It feels great to know that either Denmark or Czech Republic can reach the semi-final of Euro 2020.
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New York: Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a knee injury as the Milwaukee Bucks slumped to a series-levelling defeat against the Atlanta Hawks in their NBA Eastern Conference finals clash on Tuesday.
An all-round offensive effort from the Hawks secured a 110-88 victory at the State Farm Arena to square the best-of-seven series at 2-2.
Lou Williams, starting in place of the injured Trae Young, led the scoring with 21 points for Atlanta while Bogdan Bogdanovic had 20 points. Six Atlanta players finished in double digits.
"We had great and great ball movement – all the things we needed, we got that," said Hawks coach Nate McMillan.
"It started with our guys. It was a total team effort and guys continue to step in and take advantage of opportunities when they get them."
Jrue Holiday led the Bucks scorers with 19 points while Khris Middleton finished with 16 points.
But the main talking point from a comprehensive Atlanta victory was the injury to Antetokounmpo in the third quarter.
The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player collapsed to the court in agony after landing awkwardly following a tussle near the basket with Clint Capela.
Replays showed Antetokounmpo's left knee buckle and a hushed silence descended as the 26-year-old Greek star received treatment on the court.
He was later led off the court and back to the locker room.
He returned unassisted shortly afterwards before eventually being ruled out of the game with what the Bucks said was a hyper-extended left knee.
The incident appeared to rattle the Bucks, who trailed by 10 points 62-52 when the injury occurred.
With Antetokounmpo off the court, the Hawks sought to ram home their advantage and surged into a 25-point lead at 87-62 by the end of the third quarter.
The Hawks kept the throttle down in the fourth quarter, maintaining a comfortable lead to close out a convincing win.
A somber Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer had no further information about Antetokounmpo, describing the injured star as "part of our soul, our fiber."
"He's in the locker room with the guys and just addressed the group," Budenholzer said. "But nothing above and beyond that. We'll see how he is tomorrow."
Budenholzer however backed his team to respond in game five on Thursday when the series heads back to Milwaukee while paying tribute to the Hawks all-round performance.
"They had a lot of guys play well tonight for really the whole game so credit to Atlanta," he said. "We've got to be better at both ends. We'll get better. The character of our group will come through. We're going back to Milwaukee and it's 2-2."
Budenholzer also backed the Bucks to be competitive with or without Giannis.
"We've got a heck of a team, a heck of a roster," he said. "The guys will be ready to compete and play – that's what it's about."
Atlanta had dominated from the outset, surging into an early 25-22 lead in the first quarter and then outscoring Milwaukee by 10 points in the second to lead 51-38 at the half.
A miserable night for Antetokounmpo saw him once again struggle from the free throw line to the delight of a merciless Atlanta crowd.
Hawks fans repeatedly counted down loudly in order to throw Antetokounmpo off his rhythm, and jeers rang out as the Bucks star aimed multiple airshots at the basket from the free throw line in the first half.
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New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) will award standardised 12 points for every match won during the second World Test Championships cycle which kicks off with the five-match series between India and England in August.
Teams will get six points in case of a tie and four points if the match ends in a draw.
That there would be changes to the points system was first declared by ICC interim CEO Geoff Allardice during a media interaction earlier this month.
"Instead of each series being worth the same number of points, 120, irrespective of whether the series is played over two Tests or five Tests, the next cycle will see each match being worth the same number of points - a maximum of 12 per match," an ICC board member told PTI.
"Teams will be ranked on the percentage of available points they won from the matches they have played."
The changes in the points system will have to be ratified by the ICC chief executives committee in the coming weeks.
"The aim was to try and simplify the points system and to allow teams to be meaningfully compared on the table at any point, though they may have played differing numbers of matches and series," the Board member added.
Apart from the India-England series, the Ashes later this year will be the only other five-match affair in the second cycle which will end in June 2023.
Australia's tour of India next year is the only four-Test series in the upcoming cycle.
The nine Test teams will play a total of six series: three home and three away just like the previous edition.
In the inaugural edition, which New Zealand won after defeating India in the final earlier this month, the ICC had changed the qualification criteria for the World Test Championship from maximum points earned to percentage points earned from the matches contested after many scheduled series were cancelled due to COVID-19.
During the last cycle, the value for each series was 120 points where a two-match India-Bangladesh series had 60 points for a win while a four-match India-Australia Test series had 30 points in store per victory.
"England will play the most Tests (21) in WTC-2 followed by India (19), Australia (18) and South Africa (15). The inaugural WTC winners New Zealand will play only 13 matches, similar to that of West Indies and Sri Lanka, but one less than Pakistan (14)," ESPNcricinfo reported.
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New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India has nominated Olympic-bound and World Championship medal-winning wrestlers Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia for the Arjuna award along with fast-rising Anshu Malik.
Deepak had won a silver medal at the 2019 World Championship in Nur Sultan while Ravi had bagged a bronze along with a ticket to Tokyo.
Dahiya has emerged as a strong medal contender in the 57kg category at the Games, where he is seeded fourth.
He had recently defended his Asian title in Almaty before winning a silver medal at the Poland Open.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) also nominated the 19-year-old Malik, who has won five medals in six tournaments including the Asian title since starting her stint in the senior circuit last year.
Sarita Mor, who missed out on Olympic qualification but won the Asian title in 59kg in Almaty, has also been nominated for the Arjuna.
"All four wrestlers have done well and deserve recognition, so we have sent their application," WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar told PTI.
"We have also nominated coaches Vikram, Kuldeep Malik and Sujeet Maan for the Dronacharya award.
It may be noted that national women's coach Kuldeep Malik is already a recipient of Dhyanchand award, so his application may not be considered for Dronacharya.
Sujeet had won four Asian medals in his wrestling career before he joined Railways as a coach.
He was also associated with the Indian men's freestyle team as national coach between 2011 to 2019.
In the life-time achievement category (Dronacharya), the WFI has nominated Jagroop Rathi, RK Hooda and RS Kundu.
Hooda is secretary of Haryana wrestling association.
For the Dhyanchand award, WFI has sent names of Sajjan Singh, Jai Prakash and Dushyant Sharma.
The 89-year-old Sajjan Singh had competed in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
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Chris Pratt may be a loyal star of two of the biggest movie franchises of the moment, between Marvel and Jurassic World, but even he craves something different sometimes.
“I heard the grumblings that people were getting tired of those things,” said Pratt in a recent interview. “I felt inclined to try to do something original.”
That’s when Zach Dean’s script for what would become The Tomorrow War, which debuts on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, ended up in his hands. It wasn’t based on a toy or a comic book or a theme park ride. There was no “brand” attached to it or even a bestseller sticker.
Then titled Ghost Draft, it was a dark and emotional sci-fi action epic about a generation of people who get drafted to go 30 years in the future to fight a losing war against aliens. And the production company Skydance was already on board.
But they needed a name, and Pratt has found himself in a rare position in Hollywood where his involvement alone can get a movie off the ground. So, he attached himself to star as Dan Forester, a scientist and father of a young daughter, who gets drafted for the dangerous mission. Pratt also decided he’d serve as an executive producer for the first time, too, meaning he got to be involved in casting, script notes and some creative decisions.
And there was a problem they needed to deal with immediately: Ghost Draft was way too dark.
“It was Children of Men and then some,” said director Chris McKay.
“It made Children of Men look like a comedy,” Pratt added.
If they were going to get more than $20 million to make it and feasibly attract the whole family to a theatre, they’d need to lighten it up a little: Less hopeless dystopia, more Independence Day.
It’s part of the reason Robot Chicken alum McKay, who also directed The LEGO Batman Movie, cast people like Veep’s Sam Richardson, Mr Show’s Mary Lynn Rajskub and The Birthday Boys’ Mike Mitchell in supporting roles. They are, he said, “comedy generators.”
“I like movies like Aliens where you’ve got suspense, you’ve got action, but you’ve also got people who are having real human reactions to things and there’s situational or character-based humour,” McKay said.
And there’s the dramatic element of the family stakes with an estranged father (JK Simmons) and a loving family (Betty Gilpin and Ryan Kiera Armstrong) he’s leaving behind unwillingly. For McKay, who is making his live-action directorial debut, the opportunity to blend scope and heart was a dream.
“I was a genre kid. I grew up on John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, George Miller, Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron. Those are the movies that made me want to be a filmmaker,” he said. “(This) has it has a scale of the kinds of things that I loved as a kid.”
And he and Pratt got to go all-out, having their “Star Wars in Tunisia” moment, shooting on location on oil rigs and glaciers instead of primarily on studio lots in front of green screens. It didn’t make things any easier on them: In Iceland, they got the distinction of being the first people ever to put a crane on one of the glaciers, only feet away from a particularly harrowing cliff’s edge with a 3,000 foot drop. But they hope it gives the film a different feel than something entirely generated on the computer.
If it seems a little epic for a streaming service, it’s because it is (or at least an outlier). The Tomorrow War was, up until the postproduction phase, going to be a big theatrical release from Paramount Pictures. But like many studio films during the pandemic, it was sold to Amazon (this one in a deal worth a reported $200 million). McKay said great pains were taken to ensure that the sound mix and colouring would feel as close to a theatrical release as possible. He likes that Amazon subscribers all over the world will have immediate access to it Friday.
Pratt is back in Los Angeles with his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, and 10-month-old daughter after spending much of last year shooting Jurassic World: Dominion in the UK And he’s proud of The Tomorrow War and being in a position to help films that he wants to see get made.
“I feel a little bit more like it’s my baby in a way than I do on other films,” he said.
“For so long, any role that I got was the result of someone else saying yes to me. Now I’m in this rare space where if I’m doing a role, it’s because I’ve said yes. And that is really cool. And I don’t know how long that will last or when it will end, but until it does I’m going to do the things that I want to do. And this is a perfect example of the kind of thing that I wanted to do. It’s big and commercial. And it’s fun and it’s moving,” Pratt added. “We want to make big a big splash and we want people to think that this is the coolest movie they’ve seen in years. And I think that’s what we did.”
By AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
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Wonder Woman actor Gal Gadot and husband Jaron Varsano welcomed their third child on Tuesday, 29 June. Announcing the happy news of the new addition to her family, Gadot shared an photo on social media. Along with the photo, the popular DC superhero also revealed that the newborn baby girl has been named Daniella.
“My sweet family I couldn’t be more grateful and happy (and tired) we are all so excited to welcome Daniella into our family. I’m sending all of you love and health. GG,” Gadot wrote in the caption.
Even her husband Varsano shared the same photo on his personal Instagram handle and said now they are a family of five. He also feels happy and grateful. Further in the post, he calls his wife "a lioness."
Gadot and Varsano are already parents to nine-year-old daughter Alma Versano and four-year-old daughter Maya Versano. In the photo, the couple is seen along with Alma and Maya. While Alma is cradling the newborn sister, Daniella.
Minutes after Gadot’s post went viral, congratulatory messages poured in for the couple from close friends and industry personalities, including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, January Jones, and Kate Hudson.
Initially in March this year, Gadot had announced her pregnancy on social media. Informing fans she wrote, ‘Here we go again’ with a photo featuring her husband and two daughters cradling her baby bump.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Gadot was last seen in Wonder Woman 1984, which was released last year. It was produced under Warner Bros that simultaneously released in theaters and over-the-top (OTT) media platforms. Gadot will next be seen in the Netflix film Red Notice which also features Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds in the lead.
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TV actor Allison Mack, who played a key role in a scandal-ridden, cult-like upstate New York group, is facing sentencing Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group’s spiritual leader.
Mack — best known for her role as a young Superman’s close friend on the series Smallville — is set to appear Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court. She’s expected to seek credit for cooperating against NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and taking responsibility for helping him create a secret society of brainwashed women who were branded with his initials.
Devoting herself to the self-improvement guru “was the biggest mistake and greatest regret of my life,” she wrote in a letter filed with the court last week.
“I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM,” she wrote. “I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man.”
Under advisory sentencing guidelines, Mack would face between 14 and 17 1/2 years behind bars. Her defence team has argued in court papers that probation or a sentence to home confinement is more appropriate, and prosecutors have agreed that any prison term should be below the guidelines range because of her cooperation.
“The NXIVM saga and the story of Ms Mack’s descent have been a tragedy for all involved. But that need not, and should not, be the end of the story for Allison Mack,” her lawyers wrote in court papers.
Mack, 38, was once part of the inner circle of Raniere, whose group attracted millionaires and actors among its adherents. Prosecutors said she became a “master” for “slaves” she ordered “to perform labor, take nude photographs, and in some cases, to engage in sex acts with Raniere.”
As authorities closed in on Raniere, he fled to Mexico with Mack and others to try to reconstitute the group there. He was arrested and sent to the United States in March 2018; Mack was arrested a few days later.
“Ms. Mack now understands that this was the best thing that could have happened to her at that time,” the defense papers say.
Mack provided information to prosecutors about how Raniere encouraged “the use of demeaning and derogatory language, including racial slurs, to humiliate ‘slaves,’” the government papers said. More importantly, she provided a recording of a conversation she had with Raniere about the branding, they added.
The branding should involve “a vulnerable position type of a thing” with “hands probably above the head being held, almost like being tied down, like sacrificial, whatever,” Raniere told her. The women, he added, “should say, ‘Please brand me. It would be an honor.’ Or something like that.”
Raniere was sentenced last year to 120 years in prison for his conviction on sex-trafficking charges.
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New Delhi: In a setback to India's medal chances in the tennis event of the Tokyo Olympics, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan are set to miss the cut for men's doubles, which would also rule out the country's presence in the mixed team competition, its best chance for a podium finish.
It was expected that with a low combined ranking of 113, Bopanna (38) and left-handed Sharan's (75) entry would depend only on large scale withdrawals.
"The ITF has confirmed that Bopanna and Divij could not be entered as a team in the men's doubles team. However, things might change till 16 July (if there are more withdrawals)," an AITA source told PTI.
When All India Tennis Association (AITA) Secretary General Anil Dhupar was contacted, he said he will be able to give a clear picture only when he has the complete entry list in his hands.
Despite some withdrawals, the cut for 22 teams out of 24 direct acceptances was as high as in mid-60s, according to sources but the final cut-off could not be confirmed.
Even if there are more withdrawals, it will be extremely difficult for India to have a team in men's doubles.
The priority would first be given to singles ranked players, then the singles-doubles combination and then the doubles-doubles ranking combination.
Since many top players are not part of the singles draw, the lower-ranked players, who consistently compete in doubles also, would not miss the chance to play two events at the Olympics.
Each player is allowed to be in two events.
As per rules, only those players can be a part of the mixed team event who are already in one of the main draws (either singles our doubles).
In India's case, it was imperative for Bopanna to be in men's doubles so that he can be paired with Sania Mirza, who is set to compete in her fourth Olympics with Ankita Raina in the women's doubles event.
Sania and Rohan came close to winning a bronze in 2016 but they lost the bronze play-off to Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek and Lucie Hradecka in straight sets.
The limited number of opportunities in terms of tournaments due to the COVID-19 lockdown and travel restrictions made it tough for both Bopanna and Sharan to improve their rankings.
Bopanna was ranked 38th at the start of the year while Sharan's ranking only got worse after starting at number 63.
India have never missed out on fielding a men's doubles team at the Olympics ever since a young Leander Paes and Ramesh Krishnan competed at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
In editions after that, Paes was there mostly with Mahesh Bhupathi. In 2016 Paes and Bopanna competed and lost in the first round.
With inputs from PTI
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Legendary actor Dilip Kumar has been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a city hospital here following complaints of breathlessness as a "precautionary measure", ten days after he was discharged, according to hospital sources.
The 98-year-old screen icon - who was taken to the suburban Khar-based Hinduja Hospital, a non-COVID-19 facility - was admitted to the medical facility yesterday and is doing fine, they added.
"He was admitted yesterday during the day due to breathlessness. Given his age and recent hospitalisation, the family decided to take him to the hospital as a precautionary measure. He is fine. He is in the ICU so that the doctors can monitor him," the hospital insider told PTI.
Kumar was earlier admitted to the same hospital on 6 June due to episodes of breathlessness.
The Hindi cinema veteran was then diagnosed with bilateral pleural effusion - a build-up of excess fluid between the layers of the pleura outside the lungs and underwent a successful pleural aspiration procedure. He was discharged after five days.
Kumar's career spans over five decades with hits like Mughal-e-Azam, Devdas, Naya Daur, and Ram Aur Shyam. His last big-screen appearance was the 1998 film Qila.
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For years, late-night television host James Corden has played a food-based truth or dare with celebrities called “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts.” Participants choose to either answer personal questions or take a bite of a food deemed disgusting to eat, like ghost pepper hot sauce, a sardine smoothie or dried caterpillars.
“Wow, it all looks so terrible,” Jimmy Kimmel, host of late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! said as he appeared on Corden’s segment in 2016. “I know people can’t smell it, but it doesn’t smell good, either.”
Corden responded, “It’s really disgusting, it’s horrific,” as he spun a table with Asian ingredients and snacks like chicken feet, balut, pig’s blood and 1,000-year eggs.
While the segment has received scrutiny in the past, an online petition posted this month has brought renewed criticism that its portrayal of Asian foods as disgusting is harmful. More than 46,000 people have signed the petition, asking Corden to change the food options on the segment or end its run.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion on food,” said Kim Saira, 24, a Los Angeles activist who organised the petition and set up a protest last Thursday near Corden’s studio, posing behind a sign that said “Delicious, Not Disgusting.” “My whole point is that James Corden is a white person and is actively using ingredients from Asian cultures and profiting from it and showing it in such a negative light. There’s a way to not like foods and still be respectful about it.”
Saira said she was confused when she first watched the segment featuring balut about two years ago.
Balut, a fertilised duck egg, is a late-night snack Saira grew up eating when she visited relatives in the Philippines every year. She has memories of sitting around a table with her family during power blackouts, which were common, eating the balut by candlelight while they told stories.
“I didn’t know why they were calling a food that was so sentimental ‘disgusting,’” said Saira, who is Filipina and Chinese American.
Corden has been doing the bit for years. A YouTube playlist created by his program has videos as far back as 2016. Speaking to Howard Stern on his radio show 16 June, Corden addressed the controversy.
“The next time we do that bit, we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods,” Corden said. “Our show is a show about joy and light and love. We don’t want to make a show to upset anybody.”
Corden’s staff did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
“We’re in a kind of cultural moment where bits like this one exist with this increasing acceptance of cultural foods,” said Alison Alkon, professor at the University of the Pacific. “We’re kind of in this Ping-Pong dialectic.”
Using food to prompt a response of disgust, for entertainment, has a long history, said Merry White, anthropology professor at Boston University. In the United States, the game show Fear Factor challenged contestants to eat foods with ingredients like fish eyes, cow bile and coagulated blood paste. Reactistan, a YouTube reaction channel, has had Pakistani people try foods that were strange to them, like American hamburgers, doughnuts and candies such as Ring Pops and Airheads.
Even Corden, who is British, hosted a segment using foods from his homeland, such as haggis and a smoothie with fish, chips and mushy peas.
Lok Siu, associate professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said the practice disrespects people’s cultures. The choice of Asian foods has made Asian Americans feel more vulnerable or marginalised during a time of rising violence against them.
The perception of Asians in the United States has historically been defined through food, Siu said.
“You use food as a metaphor to describe that distance, the kind of strangeness between a group of people that you don’t understand and their habits, the way they’re eating, the smell that comes with the spices,” she said. “There’s something around the way we discuss food, the way we think about food in our acceptance or rejection of it, it’s a rejection of a culture and the people that’s associated with it.”
She added that Corden’s use of Asian foods on the segment defines which foods are considered mainstream, delicious or disgusting; food is a metaphor for what is considered normal.
“Why is this not seen as racist immediately?” Siu said. “If he made fun of any other group, would there be a much more broader understanding that that’s racist? It’s not immediately thought of as being racist and damaging because it’s Asian food. There is such a denial of anti-Asian racism in the US, and this is a prime example of it.”
In Corden’s most recent episodes, he has served up blood and pork jelly, scorpion-dusted plantains, a 1,000-year egg nog (made with 1,000-year eggs), cow tongue, turkey testicles, an ant-covered corn dog and a salmon, tuna and fish-eye milkshake.
For some Filipino chefs, who grew up eating some of the ingredients that have been mocked on Corden’s show, the renewed focus on the segment has stirred up memories.
Lou Boquila, chef and owner of Perla, in Philadelphia, said he remembers questioning why he ate balut — which tastes of duck broth, and other ingredients like intestines, tongues or blood — when he was growing up in the United States.
“It’s actually very delicious, nothing out of the ordinary for us, but it put us in a different light,” Boquila said. “If you look at all the great chefs, they use every part of the animal.”
“You try American food, speak American, it made you not proud of what you ate growing up, and I was totally stupid for not standing up for it,” he added. “It steers you toward being more Americanised and turning back on your culture.”
Javier Fernandez, chef and owner at Kuya Ja’s Lechon Belly, in Rockville, Maryland, said “Spill Your Guts” presents an opportunity for him to educate people about Filipino food, the culture and ingredients like pig’s head and pork blood (also featured on Corden’s show).
“When people talk about Filipino food or these non-American ingredients where they feel it’s gross to see, it does better for the culture,” he said. “It helps promote what the cuisine is like. My job is to promote the cuisine itself.”
Christina Morales c.2021 The New York Times Company
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There were some people who asked Ila Arun why she took up a small part in Sherni, headlined by Vidya Balan. But the veteran Rajasthani folk singer-actor says the length of a role is immaterial to her in an important film, like the recently-released satirical thriller on conservation.
The movie revolves around Balan's Vidya Vincent, an upright forest officer who is tasked to resolve the man-animal conflict.
Written by Aastha Tiku, Sherni has garnered praise for its nuanced narrative set around the challenges faced by Vidya in her professional and personal life.
The 67-year-old, best known for songs like Choli Ke Peeche, Morni Baaga Ma Bole, and Ringa Ringa, said she was happy to be director Amit Masurkar''s first choice to play the character of Vidya's mother-in-law.
“He (Amit) told me ‘I want you’ and that he has faith in me. I have a small role to play but the way the director thought and imagined this character is great. He wanted that effect, sensitiveness. And I tried to keep the director’s faith intact by doing what was required of me,” Arun told PTI in a Zoom interview.
"There were some who did tell me why I did such a small role... But as an artiste I am very greedy for good work," she added.
Arun said she is happy with the way the film has been received by the audience and critics.
"Looking at the reaction, I am proud it has been successful and has made an impact. Everybody is looking real and that’s the biggest achievement. To be part of Sherni is a feather in my cap because there are a lot of people complimenting the film and me."
Her character — a woman who is proud of Vidya's professional achievements but expects her to be a "dutiful" daughter-in-law in her personal life — drives home an important point about patriarchy, an important theme in the movie.
“My role has been kept here to show that this officer (Balan) can have many pressures like personal and family to the forest and political pressures, like (from family standpoint) the daughter-in-law is expected to be a certain way.”
Though there are many layers in the film, Arun said, Sherni is a film made "straight from the heart".
“This is a very important film and to be part of it in a very small way is a great achievement. This film is handled sensitively by the writer and director, especially the nexus of politicians, officers or poachers, local people,” she said.
The actor, whose film credits include Mandi, Welcome To Sajjanpur, Jodhaa Akbar, and Raat Akeli Hai, said for her it has always been about staying true to the character she plays on screen.
“My journey has been special, be it in parallel or meaningful or in any other cinema. I always respected the character that has been given to me. It was clear that I was not (going to be) the heroine of the films I act in. Length has never been my issue. For me, it is about how effectively and honestly I can play my characters.”
Also starring Sharat Saxena, Neeraj Kabi, Vijay Raaz, Brijendra Kala and Mukul Chadda, Sherni is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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Filmmaker Raj Kaushal, who directed movies like Shaadi Ka Laddoo and Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, passed away early Wednesday morning following a heart attack, family friend and actor Rohit Roy said. He was in his 50s.
Kaushal was married to actor-TV presenter Mandira Bedi. The couple has two children, son Vir and daughter Tara.
"He passed away today morning, at around 4.30 am at his home. He had a heart attack," Roy told PTI.
Apart from direction, Kaushal had also produced filmmaker Onir's 2005 acclaimed drama My Brother… Nikhil, starring Sanjay Suri and Juhi Chawla.
Onir paid tributes to Kaushal on Twitter.
"Gone too soon. We lost filmmaker and producer @rajkaushal1 this morning. Very Sad. He was one of the producers of my first film #MyBrotherNikhil.
"One of those few who believed in our vision and supported us. Prayers for his soul," Onir wrote.
Kaushal's last directorial was the 2006 thriller, Anthony Kaun Hai?, starring Arshad Warsi and Sanjay Dutt.
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Chennai: Two-time Indian Super League (ISL) champions Chennaiyin FC on Tuesday announced the roping in of experienced defender Narayan Das on a two-year contract.
The 27-year old left-sided defender joins CFC after a season-long stint with SC East Bengal and is currently the second highest capped player in the ISL with 107 appearances till date, a press release said.
"I am really happy to join a champion team like Chennaiyin FC. It is every player's dream to help his team win, and I am no different. I aspire to prove my worth, play every single game and help the club in fulfilling the quest for a third ISL title," Das was quoted as saying in the release.
"Even as an opponent I have always enjoyed the atmosphere at the Marina Arena, and I want to tell our brilliant fans to keep supporting us, because it is their backing that gives us the extra motivation.
Das is also capable of operating in central defence. And with over 200 senior career appearances for club and country, the Tata Football Academy graduate will fortify CFC's ranks greatly.
Chennaiyin FC co-owner Vita Dani welcomed Das' arrival and said, "We are really happy to welcome Narayan (Das) to the Chennaiyin family. All of us at the club are aware of his consistent performances over the years in Indian football, and we are excited to see him bring those qualities to CFC."
🗣️ "I am really happy to join a champion team like Chennaiyin FC. I aspire to help the club in fulfilling the quest for a third ISL title."@narayandas21 can't wait to get started after putting pen to paper until 2023 🙌🏻
After taking his first steps in professional football with All India Football Federation's (AIFF) developmental side Pailan Arrows, Das signed for Dempo SC in the I-League. He was then picked by FC Goa ahead of the inaugural ISL season, and incidentally made his debut in a 2-1 defeat to CFC in both teams' first ever game.
Das then plied his trade at FC Pune City during ISL 2016, sandwiched between his stay at East Bengal in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 I-League campaigns, respectively.
He returned to FC Goa following the 2017-18 ISL draft and helped them reach the semi-finals. He then turned out for Delhi Dynamos FC and Odisha FC before featuring again for his hometown club SC East Bengal in their debut ISL season last time out.
Das also has seven assists to his name in the ISL.
Having played for India at the youth level, Das received his first senior national team call-up in 2013, making his debut against Nepal. He was a member of the 2015 SAFF Cup and 2018 Intercontinental Cup-winning Indian teams.
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Former Olympic Games gold medallist Stan Wawrinka on Tuesday joined the growing list of players withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics.
Three-time Grand Slam title winner Wawrinka, who won an Olympic title in men's doubles alongside Roger Federer at Beijing in 2008, has undergone surgery on his left foot.
The 36-year-old hasn't played on the tour since Doha in March.
"He is very disappointed not to be able to play in the Games and represent Switzerland in Tokyo," said a statement by his management team.
"But he is working hard on his recovery and towards his goal of getting back on court as soon as possible."
Wawrinka joins Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Simona Halep and Dominic Thiem in withdrawing from the Games which start in Tokyo on 23 July.
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Manchester City captain Fernandinho has signed a one-year contract extension at the Premier League champions, saying he has unfinished business at the club.
The deal keeps the 36-year-old Brazilian at the Etihad Stadium until 2022 and he is targeting another shot at the Champions League after City lost to Chelsea in their first final in the competition last month.
"In my head and my mind, the job is not done yet and so that's why I decided to stay here another year and try to help the team and the club to achieve the goals that they're looking for," said Fernandinho.
"In my point of view, we can do that, there's still places to improve and to get those targets."
He added: "If I can keep doing the same way, leading them inside the pitch, off the pitch, to help them to improve and get better and to perform better during the games, I would be the most happy person there."
Fernandinho joined City from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013 and has made 350 appearances and won 12 domestic trophies during that time.
"Fernandinho's contribution to Manchester City cannot be overstated," said director of football Txiki Begiristain. "He is an outstanding footballer -- one of the best in the world in his position -- and an exemplary professional.
"Since he arrived in 2013, his attitude and consistency have been exceptional, and he has developed into one of our most influential players."
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Just like Bollywood, the production and shooting of various films have resumed in Hollywood as the COVID-19 restrictions have now been eased. The filming of four major projects including Aquaman 2, Knives Out 2, and John Wick 4 started on Monday, 28 June leaving fans excited.
Here is all you need to know about the movies that are going on floors
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Aquaman helmer James Wan took to social media and announced that the production of his 2018 film's sequel Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom has started. He posted a photo of a clapboard seen in an icy cave. The caption reads, "Day One. #aquaman2".
Jason Momoa, who played the titular role in Aquaman, is returning in the sequel as the half-human and half-Atlantean superhero Arthur Curry. Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, and Yahya Abdul Mateen II will also be reprising their characters from the first installment. Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom is slated to release in theatres on 16 December, 2022.
Knives Out 2
Knives Out 2 director Rian Johnson too shared the news with fans on social media that the film's shooting has begun in Greece. Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "Aaaaaaaand WE’RE OFF! Day one of filming on the next Benoit Blanc mystery. Thanks to all the lovely patient people here in Greece for letting us do all this murdering on their peaceful shores".
In the project, Daniel Craig will be seen reprising his popular character of a private investigator named Benoit Blanc. While Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, among others also a part of Knives Out 2. Netflix has acquired the rights to Knives Out 2 as well as Knives Out 3 in March this year. The streaming giant is yet to announce the release date.
John Wick: Chapter 4
The fourth instalment of the John Wick franchise also entered production on Monday. The production house Lionsgate shared the development on social media.
John Wick: Chapter 4 was announced during the opening week of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. The fourth and fifth instalments of the series were supposed to be shot back-to-back, however, the production got delayed by a year due to the coronavirus crisis.
Directed by Chad Stahelski, the film features Keanu Reeves in lead along with Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Shamier Anderson, Skarsgård, and Rina Sawayama. It is slated to hit the theatres on 27 May next year.
White Noise
The production of the upcoming Netflix film titled White Noise has begun in the US, one of the producers, Uri Singer, shared on Twitter. It features Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, and Jodie Turner-Smith.
Noah Baumbach is directing the upcoming comedy-disaster which marks his third collaboration with the streaming giant after The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Marriage Story.
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Toss update: England have won the toss in the first ODI against Sri Lanka and have opted to bowl first.
1st ODI preview: After completing a T20I series clean sweep in which England won 3-0, the hosts turn their focus to capturing the ODIs, with the first of the three matches being held at Chester-Le-Street on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka, led by Kusal Perera, have named three debutants for the series-opener —Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya Lakshan and Praveen Jayawickrama.
The visitors, however, have off-field woes. The trio of Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella were suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for a bio-bubble breach, with the trio having been seen roaming on the streets of Durham after the third T20 on Sunday.
Skipper Kusal Perera remains Sri Lanka’s most experienced campaigner in ODIs, having played over 100 matches.
For England, batsman Dawid Malan has left the English camp due to personal reasons, which means Liam Livingstone will take the openers' slot.
Given the overall inexperience of the Lankan side, England start as favourites to win the ODI series.
England playing XI: Eoin Morgan(Captain), Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Sam Billings, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
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Alvaro Morata earned redemption with a key role in Spain's dramatic passage to the Euro 2020 quarter-finals after a difficult time with the national team which led to fans savaging him and his family with abuse.
Juventus forward Morata lashed home a brilliant goal in the 100th minute of an epic match at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen to put Spain 4-3 ahead after La Roja had thrown away a two-goal lead in the final seven minutes of normal time.
Morata calmed Spanish nerves with the sort of composure which he had lacked in the tournament up to that point, cushioning Dani Olmo's cross with his right foot before arrowing in a left-footed shot that Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic could barely see, let alone save.
Mikel Oyarzabal made sure of the win that Spain's performance deserved three minutes later but it was Morata who coach Luis Enrique singled out for plaudits after the match.
"I've been telling you this for months, we do not depend on a single player to score goals," Luis Enrique told reporters after the match.
"I don't think there is a single coach in the world who wouldn't admire or heap praise on a player like Alvaro Morata."
Morata raised his fist to the Spain fans gathered in the southern corner of the Parken and was greeted by rapturous applause, a stark contrast to the abuse he received after his side's 1-1 draw with Poland which he said he had kept him up for nine hours in the night.
Spain coach Luis Enrique, who said on Sunday that the police should investigate the abuse, was full of praise for the centre-forward's qualities.
"He is able to give you superiority, he can defend as if he were a centre-back, he dominates in the air, he scores goals and he is physically powerful," he said.
"We should be grateful that he is Spanish and that we have Alvaro in our team."
Spain will now face Switzerland in the last eight in Saint Petersburg after France's shock exit on penalties, giving Spain a theoretically easier path to the final.
However, they will need to cut out the silly mistakes if they are to get past the Swiss, who showed on Monday that they are as capable as Croatia at punishing complacency. And if they get past Croatia, Spain will have no margin for error against either Italy or Belgium who would await them in the semi-finals.
Not only did Spain let a 3-1 advantage slip after dominating in normal time, but they also gifted Croatia the lead midway through the first half thanks to a bizarre own goal eventually credited to Pedri.
The 18-year-old's backpass somehow rolled over Unai Simon's foot and into his own net as the goalkeeper failed to control the ball.
However, Luis Enrique refused to dwell on the error by Simon, who also made some great saves.
"The only mistake that we made in this game was the final 10 minutes of the game, when we were winning 3-1," insisted the coach.
"We should have continued playing the way we had been playing beforehand and not decide to go to long balls and playing a defensive game because that's not the way I want to play.
"But I'm pleased we got a second chance and were able to win, and we played out the end of the game the way we need to, which is playing and defending with the ball."
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Hello, my name is Sanjeevani Gaadi. I travel to different villages across India. My job is to visit villages across the country while providing communities with valuable information on COVID-19 that could help protect them from the virus.
Looking back at how the world changed in January 2020 was something no one could have prepared me for. Watching the virus travel from country to country, infiltrating homes, has left people with more questions than answers. Fortunately, this is something that I can help with.
On my current route, I visit 5 districts across the country which has led to some interesting conversations. Each day, I have the pleasure of interacting with hundreds of community members as I travel between villages. My journey takes me to both, urban and rural localities which provides me with the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of people. The profile of these individuals spans across age groups, socio-economic backgrounds and genders. Even though we are at a crucial point in the pandemic where vaccines are now available, my job as the Sanjeevani Gaadi is as important as ever. For instance, on my last visit to Indore, I was asked many questions about the vaccine. The most common one being “Agar tika lagaya to COVID-19 infection hoga kya?” (If we take the vaccine, can we still get infected with COVID?). Some people also ask “Tika kaha milega?”(Where can we get vaccinated?). I always make sure I travel with plenty of informative leaflets, messages and a team that answers everyone’s questions. Often, small children run up to me, announcing my arrival to their families. “Gaadi aa gayi!”(The van has come!). To maximize outreach, it is important to adopt an inclusive approach to ensure that my messages reach everyone without having literacy as a barrier. For this, my audio-visual screen projects “how-to” videos on key points such as registering for the vaccine, following covid appropriate behavior etc. This way, people can use me as a visual guide when they need help. Some also register themselves while watching my videos which shows the benefits of using multiple forms of communication to create awareness. Positive responses mean more people are practicing COVID-19 appropriate behavior, which in turn, will make their communities a safer place to live.
My job also entails addressing vaccine hesitancy. Myths and misconceptions have scared people into forgoing vaccinations entirely, but these are the people that I am most eager to interact with. In stark contrast to the questions mentioned previously, some of the responses include statements such as “People are dying even after being vaccinated, why should I take the risk?’ and “I don’t believe in foreign substances going into my body”. Such individuals could have been directly impacted by COVID-19 and/or have deep-rooted thoughts that contradict what modern science has to offer. These are the villages that I spend more time in, attempting to undo what could possibly be years of misconception. By highlighting the importance of getting vaccinated to protecting oneself, one’s family and breaking the chain of infection, I have had the pleasure of witnessing people slowly discover the wonder that is scientific facts and evidence that supports the benefits of being vaccinated. I also talk to them about other individuals, just like them, who have registered themselves because of the information-based support that I have been able to provide.
Additionally, there is strength in numbers. By following this ideology, I try and interact with village officials such as the Sarpanch, Gram Panchayat etc. during each visit. By doing so I can reach a wider audience and enlist their support to promote COVID-19 appropriate behavior and reduce vaccine hesitancy. They also help spread positive messages about me, Sanjeevani. This often reaches leaders in other villages who then welcome me into their communities. By being able to travel across state lines, I also have the opportunity to share my learnings which enables my team to provide targeted support in the selected districts. By understanding where reservations come from and linking beneficiaries to the assistance they require, I, Sanjeevani Gaadi, play a key role in breaking the chain of infection by improving knowledge levels, attitudes and practices amongst members of society. By staying up to date with current, relevant information, I am also seen as a trustworthy source, which, in today’s climate, can go a long way in helping reduce the risk of being infected with COVID-19. Over the next few months, my goal is to reach out to over 3200000 individuals and provide them with the knowledge-based support they need to feel safer.
To the selected villages in Indore, Guntur, Dakshina Kannada, Nashik and Amritsar – I look forward to seeing you soon.
Tara Raghunath, Coordinator, Community Investment, United Way Mumbai
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Berlin: German interior minister Horst Seehofer on Tuesday urged the British government to reduce the number of fans allowed into Wembley stadium for the final Euro 2020 matches, as fears grow over the spread of the Delta variant.
"I think it's irresponsible for tens of thousands to gather in close proximity" in countries where the "highly contagious" Delta variant is spreading, Seehofer told Germany's Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
The appeal comes just hours before a last-16 clash between England and longtime rivals Germany at London's Wembley stadium.
UEFA and the British authorities have said some 45,000 supporters will be allowed to attend the game, equivalent to 50 percent of capacity.
Attendance will be increased to 75 percent of capacity, or more than 60,000 fans, for the semi-finals and final at Wembley, in what will be the largest crowds at a sports event in Britain since the start of the pandemic.
In Germany, where Munich's Allianz Arena has hosted several Euro 2020 matches, the capacity cap has been set at a strict 20 percent — or around 14,000 spectators.
Seehofer said the 20-percent rule could serve as "a benchmark" to other Euro 2020 venues as well.
Britain are experiencing a surge in new coronavirus cases blamed on the Delta variant that was first detected in India.
Germany have designated Britain as a virus variant risk area, meaning only German nationals or residents are allowed to enter from the UK, barring a few exceptions.
All UK arrivals, including vaccinated people, have to quarantine for 14 days once in Germany.
Strict travel curbs imposed by both countries are expected to dissuade many German fans from making the trip to England.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has in recent days repeatedly expressed concern about the Euro championship fuelling the spread of the Delta variant on the continent.
She has also criticised a lack of European-wide coordination on entry restrictions for travellers from risk areas.
In Germany, the Delta strain now accounts for around half of all new coronavirus cases, the head of the country's Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases told a meeting attended by Health Minister Jens Spahn on Monday.
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