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Tom Cruise is back with ‘Top Gun’

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San Diego: Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise is back as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell after 34 years in “Top Gun: Maverick”, and the anticipated film’s first sneak peek shows him soaring high in the sky.

Cruise made a surprise appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday to launch the first trailer of the long-awaited sequel, calling it “a love letter to aviation”. 

“I was always asked ‘When are you going to do another one?’ Well, you’ve been very patient with me. I felt like it was my responsibility to really deliver for you,” Cruise is seen saying at the event in a video, which has gone viral on the Internet. 

“I really wanted to give you all an experience of what it is to be inside that aircraft. It’s a love letter to aviation,” the 57-year-old said, adding that for him “Top Gun” is about competition, sacrifice, family, heroism and aviation”. 

Released in 1986, “Top Gun” was apparently inspired by a magazine article on Navy pilots. The film followed life of a fighter pilot and launched Cruise’s career as a global action star. 

In the trailer, the actor looks charming and is as devoted to his duty as he was in the original movie. 

The sequel picks up decades after the 1986 box-office hit. It also features Miles Teller as the son of Goose, Maverick’s partner who died in the original film. 

The trailer opens with a jet flying over a desert, very close to the ground. 

In the trailer, a high-ranking official played by Ed Harris, tells Maverick: “Thirty-plus years of service. Combat metals, citations — only man to shoot down three enemy planes in the last 40 years. Yet you can’t get a promotion, you won’t retire and despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. You should be at least a 2-star admiral by now but here you are a captain, what is that?”

To this, Cruise as Maverick responds: “It’s one of life’s mysteries, sir.”

Although fans were elated with peek into Maverick’s world, the film’s story still remains a mystery.

The trailer doesn’t let one inside the plot but promises lots of thrilling sequences, breathtaking fighter jet action and a nostalgia-induced ride. 

There are glimpses of Cruise’s iconic bomber jacket, Ray-Ban sunglasses and his character racing with a jet on a bike. 

“Everything you see in this film is for real,” Cruise told fans at the event, and the gleaming smile that one witnesses when he is driving a bike or flying a jet in the trailer, makes one trust his words, and buckle up for the film. 

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the movie also stars Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell and Lewis Pullman. It is slated to release in June or July 2020. 

Agencies.

Kumble hopes to see more Indians like Yuvraj in T20 leagues

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NEW DELHI: With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) making an exception for Yuvraj Singh and giving him permission to play in the Global T20, the doors have been opened and former India skipper and coach Anil Kumble believes that having Indian players in the new T20 leagues is an immense boost not just for the growth of the leagues, but also for the youngsters who ply their trade in those leagues.


Kumble — a board member of the advisory committee — said that Yuvraj getting permission was a big boost and hopefully more players would get NOC from the board to play in various T20 leagues apart from the Indian Premier League.


“Yes, I feel that is something the BCCI will look at, but currently there are certain restrictions. But having said that, you know people like Yuvi have got the permission to go and play (in Global T20). So, I don’t see any issue if some of these players want to go and play, but the BCCI will have to give them NOC. At this point in time, it is good to have someone like Yuvi play in the leagues and in the future you will perhaps see more players from India participating in the leagues,” he said.


Asked how having experienced Indian players would help the leagues, Kumble said: “One is to get the experience of the player in the league and the second is the following that the Indian player has back home and that is massive. Any player from India gets massive support, the Indian team gets massive support across the world. So, the following of the league and their heroes is massive. And in that sense it is a big moment if any Indian player plays in these leagues. Yuvi playing in different leagues apart from the IPL will be followed as well.”


Kumble says the reason why he decided to be associated with the Euro T20 Slam is the fact that Ireland is a Full Member now and has Test status and this league would help develop the game in the Europe region.
“For me the development of cricket in this region is what attracted me. I know there are a lot of T20 leagues that have cropped up, but I feel the development of Europe and Ireland being a Full Member now and having Test status is something that attracted me,” he explained.


Kumble feels T20 is the format that helps bring in new people to the game. “I think that is something people want to see, we have seen over different competitions. Also, the closeness of competing against the tougher teams so to speak is a lot narrower and the difference between teams is very narrow. So, you will also see the odd result that doesn’t go as per expectation. That is why I feel this format is something that helps in growing the game.


“It is a great platform for exchange of ideas and talent. For any youngster across the globe to get to interact with the icons is a blessing and to rub shoulders with them. Also for teams like Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands, it is as good as gold. The youngsters will benefit from playing against and with the icons. To know how the experienced campaigners adapt to certain situations, you cannot learn that from coaches,” he pointed.

Priyanka Gandhi remains under detention in UP

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Mirzapur, July 20 Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi remained in detention here on Saturday as she refused to fill the bail bond, 19 hours after she was driven to a guest house after she insisted on proceeding to Sonebhadra district in Uttar Pradesh where 10 people were killed in clashes over a land dispute on Wednesday.

She also described the killings of the members of the Gond tribe as “massacre”.

Late on Friday, some government officials also arrived at the Chunar guest house to ask the Congress leader to return to Delhi. However, she remained adamant.

“The Uttar Pradesh government has sent ADG Varanasi Brij Bhushan, Varanasi Commissioner Deepak Agarwal, Commissioner Mirzapur and DIG Mirzapur to tell me that I should return without meeting the victims” families. They have not given me any reason or documents for detaining me,” Gandhi said in a tweet.

“I have made it clear to them that I have not come here to break any law but to meet the families and I won”t return without meeting them,” she said.

The officials then left the guest house at around 1.30 a.m.

Earlier on Friday, Priyanka Gandhi refused to fill the bail bond of Rs 50,000.

“I have not done anything wrong and so I will not fill the bail bond. District administration and the government is free to send me to jail if they want,” she said.

She has said that the administration informed her that she was detained under section 107/116 of the CrPC.

Gandhi was detained at the Chunar Guest House here after she was stopped from going to Murtiya village in Sonebhadra district. The police denied that she had been arrested.

The Congress leader arrived in Varanasi on Friday morning and met the injured persons admitted to the Trauma Centre of the Banaras Hindu University. When she proceeded towards Sonebhadra, her convoy was stopped on the Mirzapur border.

A defiant Gandhi then squatted on the ground with the Congress workers and was later taken away in a government vehicle to Chunar.

At least 10 people, including three women, died and over 24 were injured in a clash between Gond and Gujjar communities over a land dispute in Sonebhadra on Wednesday.

Even while she remained under detention, scores of Congress workers and locals gathered at the guest house to meet her with whom she held discussions on several issues.

The police have arrested 29 people, including the kingpin Yogesh Dutt, in connection with the violence in Sonebhadra. A case has been filed against 78 people.

–IANS

10 Islamic State militants killed in Iraq

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Baghdad, July 20 A total of 10 Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed in an airstrike by the US-led coalition aircraft in Iraq”s northern province of Nineveh, the Iraqi military said.

Acting on intelligence reports, the coalition aircraft on Friday attacked an IS hideout at a desert in al-Baaj area near the border with Syria, the media office of the Joint Operations Command said in a brief statement, Xinhua reported.

The airstrike resulted in the killing of 10 extremist IS militants and the destruction of their hideout and their vehicle, the statement added.

The security situation in Iraq was dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

IS remnants, however, have since melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas as safe havens, carrying out frequent guerrilla attacks against security forces and civilians.

–IANS

Maharaja Hari Singh’s Birthday To Be Holiday In J&K

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In a rare move, the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) has passed a resolution to declare the birth anniversary of Dogra monarch Maharaja Hari Singh on September 23 as State holiday, days after the State paid tributes to people killed during his rule in 1931 in the Valley.

Jammu-based BJP corporator Narotam Sharma moved the resolution on Thursday. It was passed without any opposition from the Congress or independent candidates in the general house meeting, where out of 75 corporators BJP has 43 members.

“The sentiments of people of Jammu are associated with Maharaja Hari Singh and the Governor must declare (a State) holiday on his birth anniversary,” said Mr. Sharma.

The resolution has been sent to Governor Satya Pal Malik for his consent.

Several right-wing parties in the past made similar demands but was rejected by the previous regimes in the State.

The JMC’s move comes days after the State observed a holiday and paid tributes to J&K’s 22 “martrys” who fell to the bullets in Srinagar on July 13, 1931 to the Maharaja’s forces.

Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh was first to stoke a controversy. He tweeted that “plunder, loot and rape by criminals and jail breakers in Srinagar city was put to an end in 1931”. “It is a blot on J&K that this is glorified as State Martyrs Day,” he added.

These remarks attracted strong reactions from the Congress as well as the regional parties, including National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Congress leader Saifuddin Soz termed it “obnoxious” and, in a letter Rahul Gandhi, demanded Mr. Singh’s explusion.

NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the day marked “an open revolt against a despotic, pitiless and tyrant autocratic government”.

“Such brutish assertions against the martyrs who laid their lives for the dignity and self-respect shows the disdain the scions of erstwhile autocrats hold for the cherished values of democracy,” he said.

He said the worst feature of the Dogra rule was its communal outlook. “It discriminated Muslims on the basis of their religion and also interfered in their religious affairs. The coming generations will continue to draw inspiration from the martyrs of 1931,” said Mr. Imran.(The Hindu)

No let-up in stray dog attacks in Uri as 2 more bitten

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Suhail Khan

Baramulla, July 19 : The stray dog menace continues to unleash terror among the people in this border town of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district as two persons became fresh victims to the canine bite on Friday morning.

Last week, six persons sustained injuries in a dog bite incident in the area.

Reports reaching said that a pack of dogs attacked two persons including a woman near Salamabad village of Uri in the district.

Confirming the incident, a doctor at sub-district hospital Uri told GNS that they have received two persons with dog bite injuries.

He identified the injured as Shakila Begum and Altaf Ahmed Awan and said both are undergoing treatment.

The fresh attack has caused panic among the whole populace especially school going children, women and old-aged persons.

The locals have urged the authorities to take measures to contain the menace.

“We appeal district administration to take measures to contain the dog menace as our normal life has been badly hit due to the terror created by these freely roaming canines,” a group of locals while talking to GNS said. (GNS)

ACB to tighten screws on tainted PSU officials

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Ishtyaq Ahmad 

Ishtyaq Ahmad 

Srinagar, Jul 19 : The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has decided to widen its ambit to check rampant corruption and to “crack whip” on big fish enjoying prime posts in various government owned corporations.

Reliable sources told news agency, that feeling upbeat over the recent directions and praises from the Union Home Minister, the ACB has decided to put on its radar, the prime institutions of Jammu and Kashmir to check the rampant corruption, nepotism, favouritism and illegal appointments.

“Yes, we are going to cast our net in the coming days on various government owned corporations where there are reports of corruption and mass bungling of government funds besides strong reports of fake appointments and favouritism,” sources privy to the ACB’s plan told.

Sources said that the ACB is set to catch-hold of big fish involved in malpractices, mass bungling, illegal appointments and mis-use of official appointments.

Sources said that the ACB is also planning to crackdown on various boards in the state.

At present the ACB officials revealed that they are busy with collaborating various evidences with regard to the case of J&K Bank. “Questioning of various Bank officials have been completed and evidences are being put in order to find out the reality in the complaints filed before the ACB,” an official in the ACB said.

J&K government had sacked the former Bank chairman Pervez Ahmed Nengroo and appointed R K Chibber as an interim chairman of the Bank after raiding the Corporate office of the Bank twice a day.

The ACB officials had questioned the former chairman Pervez and also some official of the Human Resources division of the Bank.

There were allegations that during Pervez’s tenure at least 1200 illegal appointments had taken place, while as mass bungling and favouritism besides huge loans against small mortgages were also witnessed in the Bank.

It is to mention here that the central government has taken a serious note of prevailing corruption in Jammu and Kashmir.

Since the day Bharatiya Janata Party has returned to power for the second term at the Centre, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Jammu and Kashmir have got more teeth.

In the recent past the ACB sleuths have raided the residences and office premises of top leaders. “This is for the first time that the noose is being tightened around them. During the past thirty years none of the governments dared to act against these leaders,” said one of the social activists.

He said that on many occasions the elected regimes did make a beginning to catch the big fishes but these fishes were spared for one or other reason. (KNS) 

Rehab policy for KPs in process: Governor Malik

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Srinagar, Jul 19 : Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik Friday said that the rehabilitation policy for Kashmiri Pandits is in process.

Governor Malik while talking to reporters here after flagging off the electric buses for Srinagar said that the government was devising a plan for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri pandits.

According to news agency he was reacting to the question about the reports regarding the rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants. However, the Governor said that it is not the talk of this place but the “government is devising a policy and you will come to know soon.”

Asked about the launching of electric buses, the Governor termed it as a good step and said that it will change the face of the town.

Meanwhile, Governor Malik also threatened to cancel the licenses of hoteliers and houseboat owners in case they fail to install Sewage Treatment Plants (STP).

He said hoteliers as well as the houseboat owners were dumping the sewage into the Dal Lake, adding that all those failing to install the STPs will face the cancellation of their licenses. (KNS) 

Kifayat Rizvi Appointed Honorary Gen Secy., IRCS, JK Branch

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SRINAGAR, JULY 19: Former Commissioner-Secretary, Syed Kifayat Hussain Rizvi has been appointed as Honorary General Secretary to J&K State Branch of Indian Red Cross Society.

An order to this effect was issued by the Governor, S P Malik here, who is the President of Indian Red Cross Society, J&K State Branch. As per the order, the tenure of Mr. Rizvi would be for a period of three years from the date he assumes charge of his office.

Mr. Rizvi comes with a rich and varied administrative experience. He has held the positions of Administrative Secretary of Rural Development, Tribal Affairs, Labour & Employment Departments besides, Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Managing Director, SIDCO and several stints of Deputy Commissioner with impeccable track record.

Disposal Of Grievances During Governor’s Rule

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SRINAGAR, JULY 19: Since the imposition of Governor’s Rule, during 20th June 2018 – 19 July 2019, the Grievance Cell (including Governor’s Secretariat) received 78784 complaints/grievances of which 78204 have been dealt with / forwarded to the concerned quarters for timely redressal while as 580 complaints / grievances are under process.

Similarly, on the directions of Governor, all Advisors to the Governor have been regularly meeting and hearing the grievances of delegations / deputations and individuals both at Srinagar and in Jammu as per the schedule and are regularly reviewing the disposal of the grievances pertaining to their respective departments.