“The Aviation Industry cannot be equated with a chips manufacturer. This is a matter of National Security. We must be very careful. His links with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the current President of Turkey, is a matter of concern and must be thoroughly checked before arriving at a decision,” SJM convenor Ashwini Mahajan told the Indian Express.
Mahajan added that the “controversial” appointment was already being talked about everywhere. “The good thing is the government is already seized of the matter and is doing a thorough scrutiny. I am not saying the Tatas have done this deliberately. It is one of those things that get overlooked,” he said even as he underlined the friendship between Erdogan’s Turkey and Pakistan.
He, however, clarified that the SJM had not made representation in this regard to the government.
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The Tata Group appointed Ilker Ayci as Air India’s MD and CEO earlier this month to be effective on or before April 1. Appointment of foreign CEOs require clearance from the government.
Ilker Ayci was chairman of Turkish Airlines since 2015, and his resignation from the post was announced by the airline on January 27 this year — the same day Tatas were handed over Air India by the Centre.
During his professional career, Ayci has been an advisor to the then Mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul, where he took part in a number of development projects in Turkey’s largest city. Erdoğan is currently the President of Turkey.
Under Erdogan, Turkey has been seen to turn more Islamic and grown closer to Pakistan. Erdogan has in the past couple of years repeatedly raised the issue of Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly. He had also raised the Kashmir issue during his visits to Pakistan.
During his visit to Pakistan in February, 2020, Erdogan while addressing a joint session of Pakistan Parliament expressed concern over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir (JK) and compared the “struggle” of the Kashmiri people with his country’s fight against foreign domination during World War I.
Following this, the government had summoned Turkey’s then Ambassador Sakir Özkan Torunlar and issued a strong demarche. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had then said Erdogan’s remarks reflected “neither an understanding of history nor of the conduct of diplomacy” and would have “strong implications” on India’s ties with Turkey.
In September last year, Erdogan in his address to the General Debate, said, “We maintain our stance in favour of solving the ongoing problem in Kashmir for 74 years, through dialogue between the parties and within the framework of relevant United Nations resolutions.”
In 2020 also, Erdogan in his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate had made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir.
India at that time termed it as “completely unacceptable”, saying Turkey should learn to respect the sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply.
Azad, 33, played Padma Patil in the final five films in the fantasy franchise, winning a legion of fans across the globe.
On Tuesday, she took to Twitter to mark two decades since “Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone” was released, writing: “When the film came out I was sucked into the magical world like every other kid. Little did I know years later I’d audition for a role that would change my entire life upside down. I owe everything to @jk_rowling, the casting agents and the Potter films.”
The tweet was liked more than 19,000 times, with followers praising Azad for recognizing Rowling — who penned the “Harry Potter” books.
However, Rowling has been under fire for controversial comments she made about the transgender community last year, with critics calling for her to be canceled.
The author has been excluded from an upcoming HBO Max special, “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts,” and the film franchise’s three main stars — Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson — have been publicly critical of Rowling’s remarks.
The three lead stars of “Harry Potter” — Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson — have all spoken out against J.K. Rowling. They are pictured in 2001.Getty Images
That has angered many, with The Telegraph releasing an article titled “J.K. Rowling made the ‘Harry Potter’ cast rich — how dare they drop her.”
Azad has been praised for recognizing Rowling, with one Twitter user responding: “Respect. You are braver and more gracious than some of your co-stars, that’s for sure.
Rowling is pictured with Radcliffe, Watson and Grint in 2010.Getty Images
Another concurred, writing: “Thank you for growing up to be a mature person not influenced by social media peer pressure. It’s important to remember to show respect where RESPECT is due and no one is more deserving for all she has accomplished than JK Rowling [for what she] did with Harry Potter.”
However, Azad is not the only one to praise the bestselling writer.
Despite being critical of her comments about trans people, Radcliffe spoke highly of Rowling in a BBC documentary marking the two-decade anniversary.
“Jo really cares about the people that she writes for. She cares about the people she writes and the people she writes for,” he stated.
“She is an immensely intelligent, funny, kind human being and I think that obviously comes across in her writing.”
A newly-filed U.S. civil suit claims Daryl Katz, the billionaire owner of the Edmonton Oilers, paid a teenage ballet dancer $75,000 in exchange for “her sexual favours.”
The unproven allegations come in response to a sexual abuse lawsuit launched by seven aspiring ballerinas in 2021 against Mitchell Taylor Button, a dance teacher, and his wife Dusty Button, once a principal member of The Boston Ballet.
Earlier this month, Taylor Button and his wife filed a third-party counterclaim in U.S. District Court in Nevada, admitting to a consensual “throuple sexual relationship” with Sage Humphries, the lead plaintiff in the suit. The cross-claim says their “loving and supportive” affair began in 2017, when Humphries was 18, but alleges she had been involved in three prior sexual relationships as an underage teen with much older men, including Katz.
The third-party claim seeks to hold those men liable for any damages, with the filing stating that if there’s a price to be paid, “it should be paid by those who actually engaged in illegal acts with her.”
A lawyer representing Katz denied the allegations.
Screen shots of alleged texts
The lawsuit makes a number of unsubstantiated allegations about Katz, Humphries, and her family.
“Humphries was literally a child prostitute to a billionaire,” the claim says, “and her mother assisted her in laundering the money she was paid and in trafficking her to Katz.”
Among the exhibits attached to the filing are screen shots of texts allegedly exchanged between Humphries and Katz, as well as an iPhone contact under the billionaire’s name, listing a number with a 780 area code, most commonly associated with the Edmonton area.
A text exchange, allegedly between Katz and teenage ballerina Sage Humphries, filed as part of a U.S. civil suit. (U.S. District Court, Nevada)
“If my guys send u funds will u spend it on/keep it for yourself?” Katz allegedly wrote. “And just between us? Even though u r wise beyond your years given our respective ages it would be taken the wrong way.”
“Yes .. Just between us,” Humphries purportedly replies.
“OK will have one of my guys email u. He will send you 50K,” says the message attributed to Katz.
The court filing says Katz was 53 at the time, while the dancer was 17.
A ‘distraction and a shakedown’
Robert Klieger, the lawyer representing Katz, told CBC News that his client never had a sexual relationship with Humphries. But the pair did meet on two occasions in the spring of 2016 with regards to a project that the 17-year-old was pitching to Katz’s film company, Silver Pictures.
“One of Daryl’s friends connected him with Sage because Sage was working with some producing partners on shopping a motion picture project that they had put together, basically, and it was based in the ballet world,” said Klieger.
Klieger said he was unable to verify the authenticity of the texts in the court filing, but confirmed that the Edmonton Oilers owner did arrange for $75,000 to be sent to Humphries as part of their business dealings.
“They ultimately decided to pass on the project. But during the period of time that the project was under consideration, they asked for some help to keep with the funding of the project to keep it going. And that’s the $75,000 that is at issue,” said Klieger.
A March 2016 self-portrait of ballerina Sage Humphries from her Instagram account. She was 17 at the time, and pitching Canadian billionaire Daryl Katz on a Hollywood movie. (Sage Humphries/Instagram)
Klieger said Katz will vigorously defend his reputation against the “baseless and scurrilous” claims in the suit.
“It’s designed to be a distraction and a shakedown,” he said.
A ‘meaningless sideshow’
The third-party action doesn’t explain how or when the screen shots were obtained, but the time and battery levels displayed suggests they were accessed on multiple occasions. The original civil suit filed by Humphries states that she handed over her iPhone and passwords to Taylor Button so that he might assist her in building a social media following.
To date, no responses have been filed to the third-party motion. In a statement to CBC News, the lawyer representing Humphries and the other dancers dismissed the action as a “meaningless sideshow.”
“As is typical of abusers facing serious litigation, the Buttons have filed counterclaims that distract from and distort the truth and weaponize the serious allegations of abuse that have been brought against them,” wrote Sigrid McCawley, managing partner at Boies Schiller LLP.
“Their counterclaims falsely implicate others and are an unfounded attempt to portray the women they abused as liars.”
Marc Randazza, the Las Vegas attorney representing Taylor Button and his wife, declined to comment on the filing.
“We are not trying this case in the press,” he wrote in an email.
Randazza describes himself as a “First Amendment lawyer,” and his website highlights a number of areas of expertise, including civil rights, defamation, the adult entertainment business and the “protection of erotic expression.”
He has attracted media attention for some of his controversial clients, including Alex Jones, the Infowars conspiracy theorist, and Andrew Anglin, publisher of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website. He has faced disciplinary proceedings from the Florida, California and Nevada State bar associations
Prior sex-for-money allegations
This is not the first time that Katz has been the subject of sex-for-money allegations.
In 2017, R.J. Cipriani, a professional gambler, filed a defamation suit against G.F. Bunting+Co, a public relations crisis management firm that was then representing Katz.
The suit alleged that Katz propositioned Cipriani’s wife, model and actress Greice Santo, during a Hawaii photo shoot, offering her $20,000 a day for sex. Katz allegedly wired Santo a total of $35,000 — money she later donated to charity after rejecting the arrangement.
At the time, a spokesman for Katz denied the allegations, calling them “false, malicious and entirely without merit.”
Asked about the 2017 case, Katz’s lawyer, Robert Klieger, said “there was nothing to that,” offering to put CBC News in touch with Cipriani.
“There’s no continuing animosity or anything between them,” said Klieger. “But I can’t go into details of exactly how they resolved that.”
St. Vincent sets out to make a documentary about her music, but when she hires a close friend to direct, notions of reality, identity, and authenticity grow increasingly distorted and bizarre.
Director:
Bill Benz |
Stars:
St. Vincent,
Ezra Buzzington,
Toko Yasuda,
Chris Aquilino
After months of anticipation, HBO Max has finally dropped the first official photo from the set of the highly anticipated “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” special.
“Like they never left,” the streaming platform wrote alongside the nostalgic Twitter pic, which depicts stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson conversing in the iconic Gryffindor common room.
The photo marks the first time three fantasy stars have been photographed together since the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part Two” premiere in 2011.
HBO have yet to announce the special’s official length. However, “Return To Hogwarts” will provide a behind-the-scenes look at making of the eight films through “in-depth interviews” and “cast conversations,” Variety reported. A teaser for the retrospective aired Sunday night on TBS and Cartoon Network, featuring cameos from Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley).
Along with the aforementioned stars, the reunion will feature cast and crew from previous films, including “Sorcerer’s Stone” director Chris Columbus, and actors Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps and more.
Absent from the “Return To Hogwarts” roster will be the late great Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), who passed away in 2016 at 69 after a short battle with Pancreatic cancer.
A shot from the “Return To Hogwarts” trailer.HBO Max
Meanwhile, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling also won’t be giving interviews in the special, but will appear in archival footage. However, it’s unclear if this decision was based on the viral controversy that was spawned last summer, when the fantasy scribe fired off a series of Tweets that were deemed “transphobic” by some Harry Potter fans and actors.
“There’s magic in the air here with this incredible cast, as they all return home to the original sets of Hogwarts, where they began 20 years ago,” Casey Patterson, “RTH’s” executive producer at Warner Bros., said in November.
The nostalgic special premieres on HBO Max on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2022.
The iconic Platform Nine and Three Quarters from the books.HBO Max
The Minions movie franchise, which began with 2010’s Despicable Me, follows reformed supervillain Gru and his army of small, yellow henchmen, who quickly became the subject of endless online memes.
Supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker, and a collection of nutty cons at Belle Reve prison join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X as they are dropped off at the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.
Director:
James Gunn |
Stars:
Margot Robbie,
Idris Elba,
John Cena,
Joel Kinnaman
Let’s take a look at some of the items you can buy this week.
Aldi Specialbuys
This Sunday at Aldi you can treat the kids to some new toys of their favourite characters from Harry Potter to Disney and you can find some DIY must-haves too.
Lightyear Sox Interactive Pet Toy (Aldi)
Get a furry fuss-free friend with the Lightyear Sox Interactive Pet Toy by Disney. Sox is Buzz Lightyears’ best companion and the adorable interactive toy is perfect for anyone that loves the Toy Story franchise. Plus it’s super cuddly and you can get it now for £22.99 via Aldi.
Treat the little astronaut in your life to the Lightyear XL-07 Spacecraft from the hit Disney film ‘Lightyear’. This toy will let their imaginations run wild as they imagine going to hyperspace as they embark on an unlimited space adventure with the Buzz Lightyear. You can get it now for £9.99 via Aldi.
Chainsaw 20/40V Battery Charger (Aldi)
If you’re in need of some new tools then Aldi has some great bargains for you with the Chainsaw 20/40V Battery Charger at the top of the list. You’ll be able to tame your garden, cut back bushes, and trim trees to have the perfect garden with this premium chainsaw. You can get it now for £101.97 via Aldi.
Keep the lawn looking its best with the Ferrex Cordless Lawn Mower. The battery-operated tool is hassle-free with a 45 litres collection box and makes cutting grass easy peasy. You can get it now for just £99.99 via Aldi.
Lidl Middle Aisle:
This weekend at Lidl you can grab all must-have toys from Lego to remote control cars.
The Batman LEGO set. (Lidl)
If you have someone in your life that loves Lego then look no further as Lidl has three sets to choose from. With the choice of Frozen, Batman or Fantasy Forest creatures to choose from. The suitable age does depend on the product but you can get them now for £11.99 per set via Lidl.
Store your Lego in one handy space with the Lego Storage Brick that comes in a range of colours. The box keeps the traditional look of a Lego square and is the perfect way to brighten up any room. You can buy a set of two now for £22.99.
Playtive Remote Controlled Car (Lidl)
Have hours of fun with the Playtive Remote Controlled Car that has a powerful electric motor for speed. Plus it can even be driven upside down. The remote control has a 30-metre range with a three-year warranty. You can get it now for £17.99 via Lidl.
Run around the garden enjoying some fun with the Nerf Super Soakers with a choice of the Torrent or Piranha. The Torrent creates vertical floods so you can soak your opponents. Whilst the Piranha is great for surprise attacks with its compact design. You can get them for £6.99 each now via Lidl.
As many as 1,284 representatives of the sangh all across India have arrived for the Akhil Bharatiya Pratnidhi Sabha, which is being held at Shree Nishkalanki Narayan Tirthdham Prernapith.
These also include representatives from 36 sister organisations of the RSS including Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, Mazdoor Sangh among others. Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda and general secretary BL Santhosh are also part of the meet.
The sangh functionaries and representatives will participate in several closed door meetings with Bhagwat and sarkaryavah (general secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale to decide on the organisation’s future course of action.
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According to Sangh leaders, the organization plans to expand 1 lakh shakhas from its current 66,000 shakhas active across the country.
In a press conference organized at the venue on Friday morning, Manmohan Vaid, joint general secretary, RSS said, “The activities of the sangh had slowed down after Covid-19 lockdown and since March 2020, we have resumed our work in 98.6% of the places where we were active. A total of 60,000 shakhas are running currently out of which more than 60 per cent are being run by school and college students. We intend to reach to one lakh shakhas by 2025 which will mark 100 years of RSS foundation. We have seen particular interest shown by youth aged between 20 to 35 years of age who want to join the sangh but are not aware of the procedure. From 2017 to 2022, every year 1.25 lakh youth have filled details on our website.”
Vaid further said that of the 1,284 representatives, 414 are volunteers of Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal, 178 are Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi elected from 3.5 lakh active workers, 51 are sangathan mantris and 540 are prachar pramukh.
Vaid said that the three-day meet will see Sangh leaders discuss key issues in contemporary times including promoting social harmony to bridge caste divide.
“Several swayamsevaks are working in the area of societal change where social harmony is a key issue. A message is to be given against the caste divide and the ongoing practise of discrimination of higher and lower in order to divide the society. That all of us are one sons of Bharat Mata in the society,” said Vaid.
Vaid also lauded praises on RSS volunteers for their relief work during the pandemic.”It was only in India that a civil society showed such awareness against the pandemic. In other countries, only the administrative machinery worked,” he said.
They needed an actor to play a younger version of Albus Dumbledore.
It sounds as if the folks making 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” — the second Wizarding World adventure set decades before author J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” saga — didn’t exactly have to beg Jude Law to take on the role of the powerful wizard.
“I mean, it was kind of a no-brainer: ‘Would you like to play Albus Dumbledore?’ ‘Yes, I would,’” Law says during a virtual news conference for the follow-up to “Grindelwald,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which lands in U.S. theaters this week. “I felt like I’d been in preparation, subconsciously, from the minute I started reading the (“Potter”) books to my children.
“Gosh, there’s just so much in the character to mine and to investigate as an actor — that’s before you even get into this extraordinary world of magic.”
“The Secrets of Dumbledore,” co-written by Rowling, continues the story launched with 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” It features series mainstays Eddie Redmayne, as magizoologist Newt Scamander; Dan Fogler, as baker and Muggle Jacob Kowalski; Alison Sudol, as mindreader Queenie Goldstein; and Ezra Miller, as Credence Barebone, a powerful but disturbed wizard who was revealed in “Grindelwald” to be a member of the Dumbledore family.
Dan Fogler, who portrays Muggle baker Jacob Kowalski,, shares a meal with some young witches and wizards in a scene from “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.” (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
(The movie also features Katherine Waterson, an Auror from America and Newt’s love interest, but only briefly. The actress did not take part in the news conference.)
It sees Mads Mikkelsen in the role of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, the actor taking over from the departed Johnny Depp. Grindelwald continues to build support in the magical world for a war against the Muggles, whom he finds quite distasteful.
Early on in the movie, viewers will begin to learn more about these “Secrets of Dumbledore,” starting with just how intertwined his past is with Grindelwald’s.
“I always imagined that being Dumbledore was always quite a lonely place, being that he was brilliant and outstanding at a very young age — to the point that he probably felt somewhat isolated,” Law says. “Then, suddenly, he meets someone who is as brilliant and matches him and inspires him, and that kind of connection is very, very, very powerful — more so when you’re at a young age.
Taking over the role from Johnny Depp, Mads Mikkelsen portrays dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.” (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
“I think it’s important, then, to also remember what their time together would have been like — incredibly dynamic, incredibly cherished and special,” he continues. “And then this awful moment (arrives) where you realize you’re on a different path; you’re actually moving away from each other. But that doesn’t necessarily take away from the explosive kernel, the firework that went off initially.”
The Wizarding World last year celebrated its 20th anniversary — Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (titled “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in this country) was released in 2001 — and “Dumbledore” director David Yates now has been at the helm of the last seven films, dating to 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
Yates says he values the ever-expanding collective of talented folks that has grown out of the continuing endeavor.
“When you make a movie, it’s a huge logistical enterprise, and it’s tough creatively, logistically, technically,” Yates says. “So going into that experience with people you respect and admire but who also can take the strain of it with some real dignity and some real humor is essential. And (those are) the qualities I’ve found in many of the people I’ve worked with in front of the camera and behind the camera.”
There’s a real sense of family, he says.
“We use that word quite a bit, but it’s important because that doesn’t (always) happen in our industry because it’s a tough business.”
Actor Jude Law, left, works with director David Yates on the set of “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.” (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
Yates is then asked why, in his view, the movies are so enduring.
“They’ve become a safe place to go for lots of people,” he says. “They celebrate certain values — loyalty, love, friendship, empowering the outsider/the person you always underestimate — things that resonate for a lot of people in the real world, as they do in this magical space. It’s a beautiful thing to be part of stories that create a safe space for some people when they go to the movie theater to watch them. I’m very proud of that.”
“The Secrets of Dumbledore” reveals the magical sides to previously unseen locations, including a forest in China and Germany’s Ministry of Magic.
Says producer Tim Lewis, “One of the exciting things — certainly for the audience and certainly for us filmmakers — is we get to open up the magical world and go to completely new areas.”
However, he acknowledged the movie also returns fans to some favorite spots, none more beloved than the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Its future headmaster, Dumbledore is a professor there at the moment, as is Jessica Williams’ Charms Professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks, a newcomer to the franchise.
The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is seen in the distance in a scene from “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.” (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Oh yeah, I got chills,” she says of being on the Hogwarts set. “I started reading those books in the third grade, and a lot of those books hadn’t come out yet.”
Jessica Williams’ Charms Professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks appears in a scene in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.” (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
She found being in the Great Hall especially meaningful.
“And then seeing the kids in their robes, their wizarding uniforms … I wanted to cry,” she says. “You know the sensation of wanting to squeeze something cute? I wanted to just squeeze a lot of the kids and just shake them.
“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” takes fans to some new magical locations. (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment)
“But then I realized I was an actor, and it’s a liability, so I didn’t squeeze the kids. But the sensation was there,” Williams adds. “It was totally a pinch-me moment, and it was really surreal.”
Returning to the subject of his portrayal of Dumbledore, Law is asked whether he needed to rewatch the “Harry Potter” movies to match up the portrayals of the character as an older wizard, first by Richard Harris and then by Michael Gambon.
“The major lure was to fill in gaps and go back and explore themes and sides of his character that were hinted at in the books and suggested in the films,” he says. “Yeah, any excuse to go back and rewatch — I was probably caught rewatching them over and over saying, ‘I’m doing research! I’m studying!’
“Honestly,” he continues, “It was kind of important, we felt, to free ourselves from the Dumbledore we knew because he wasn’t quite that man yet. But, at the same time, there were definite qualities that both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon gave the character that I wanted to steal, I suppose — the humor and the relish of life and impish behavior. Both of them have a sort of gravitas, a soulfulness, that I thought was really beautiful and complicated.”
Speaking of “complicated” things, Yates uses that word, with a laugh, to describe the plot of “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” and he says it took the filmmakers a while put all the pieces together.
“So with this story in particular, we wanted it not only to be emotional, but we wanted it to be enjoyable and for it to be a real treat — and for it to lean into the values of some of the earlier ‘Potter’ films that had whimsy and charm, humor and humanity.”
To that last quality, Yates recalls a private screening a few weeks earlier in which a single youth was among the select few in attendance.
“Everyone turned to him when the lights went out and said, ‘What do you think?’” Yates says. “And he looked at me, and he said, ‘I liked it. It’s really human.’ And I thought, ‘We’ll take that.’ We made a film with all this extraordinary stuff in it, and the one thing he takes away from it: ‘It’s really human.’ That’s a testament to the performances and the story and everything.”
