Sony has unveiled a high-tech gadget- a futuristic body air conditioner that can be tucked into the back of your shirt. This innovative technology offers a potential alternative to traditional hand fans.
Sony's "smart wearable thermo device kit" dubbed Reon Pocket 5 was released on April 23. The device is a wearable climate control system that promises personalized comfort on the go. Worn on the back of your neck, this innovative device utilizes a thermos module and a suite of sensors (temperature, humidity, and motion) to determine your ideal temperature.
The Reon Pocket 5 offers five cooling levels for hot days and four warming levels for cooler environments, making it adaptable to various situations, from crowded trains to chilly airplane cabins. For optimal performance, the device can be paired with the included Reon Pocket Tag. This small, wearable tag functions like a remote sensor, detecting your surrounding conditions and sending that information to the neck unit for proactive temperature adjustments. While the Reon Pocket 5 works independently, focusing solely on your body temperature, the tag provides a more comprehensive approach to personalized comfort.
Prefer a hands-on approach? The Reon Pocket 5 can be controlled through the new Reon Pocket App, available for both iOS and Android devices. This app allows you to adjust the five cooling and four warming levels via Bluetooth, making it perfect for on-the-go adjustments. Hikers, rejoice! The Reon Pocket 5 boasts a generous 17 hours of battery life on a single charge, according to Tech Radar.
Sony's innovative personal climate control isn't entirely new. The Reon Pocket series debuted in Japan back in 2019, with later versions finding success in Asian markets like Hong Kong. The Reon Pocket 5, however, marks a global expansion, with the UK market receiving the first wave.
Pre-orders for the Reon Pocket 5 are now open on Sony's website, priced at 139 pounds (roughly $170 USD or AU$260). These pre-orders will start shipping on May 15th. The base package, "Reon 5T," includes the device itself, a Reon Pocket Tag, and a white neckband. For those wanting a touch more style, Sony offers a beige neckband for an additional 25 pounds.
Sporting two types of air vent covers, the REON POCKET 5 goes well with both business and casual styles. The air vent for business style extends up to the height of the collar, matching the shape of the neck and back, while the other is shorter for casual style to match the low collar, both of which allow for efficient airflow, Sony said in a press release.
The new REON POCKET 5 will be available in Singapore from May 2024 and available in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam at a later date.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made a significant move on Sunday as they announced the appointment of World Cup-winning Gary Kirsten as their head coach for ODIs and T20Is, while former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie will take over that role in Test cricket. Kirsten has had successful stints with India and South Africa before, with his 2011 OD World Cup triumph with the MS Dhoni-led side arguably being the highlight. Along with them, former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood was appointed as the assistant coach of the team across the formats.
Speaking of his decision to coach the Pakistan team, Kirsten said that his primary aim remains to unite the Pakistan white-ball team.
"It's a tremendous honour to be entrusted with the responsibility of coaching the Pakistan men's national team in white-ball cricket and to rejoin the international cricket arena after some time. I eagerly anticipate this opportunity and aim to contribute positively to the Pakistan men's national team in limited-overs cricket. Kirsten's strategy focuses on prioritizing continuity in team selections, aiming to create a stable and consistent environment that allows players to perform at their best. He believes that maintaining a cohesive unit and building strong team dynamics are essential for the team's success in international competitions.
"One of the beautiful aspects of cricket is its universality. Across cultures, there's a shared understanding when we discuss the game. My goal is to unite the Pakistan men's white-ball team, harnessing their considerable talents towards a common objective, and achieving success together on the field," he said.
Kirsten, who is currently the mentor of IPL side Gujarat Titans, is expected to take over from Pakistan's tour of England from May 22.
Pakistan will play four T20Is and from there the team will travel for the T20 World Cup in June.
Pakistan have been on the search for a full-time head coach since the end of the 50-over World Cup last year where they failed to enter the knockout stages.
After their shambolic effort in the marquee event held in India, Pakistan had sacked the entire set of coaching staff – head coach Grant Bradburn, team director Mickey Arthur, bowling coach Morne Morkel and batting coach Andrew Puttick.
Premier batter Babar Azam was also removed from captaincy post the ICC showpiece with Pakistan opting to appoint pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi as their white-ball leader and Shan Masood doing that duty in Tests.
Along with that, Pakistan had also turned to former cricketer Muhammad Hafeez for the guiding role during their tour to Australia.
But Hafeez lost the job after Pakistan lost 0-3 in the Test series and 1-4 in the T20Is.
While Masood was retained as Test captain, Afridi was relieved from leadership and Babar was reinstated in the last week of March.
However, Pakistan could not find a full-time head coach despite them approaching some top names such Matthew Hayden and Shane Watson.
Eventually, they zeroed in on Kirsten, who had led India to the World Cup triumph in 2011, and Gillespie, who comes with a bagful of coaching experience with English county side Sussex.
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson once again proved his merit in the shortest format of the game, playing a match-winning knock of 71 runs off 33 balls, guiding his team to a victory against Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Saturday. Samson, who also has the leadership responsibility of the franchise on his shoulders, has done a phenomenal job in this campaign so far, with the Royals riding at the top of the points table. While the win against LSG has all but secured RR's position in the playoffs, it's the T20 World Cup spot as a wicket-keeper that Samson is being talked about the most these days.
For international greats like Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Hayden, there's no debate over Samson's position in the 15-man squad. The Kerala batter "has to be" on the plane for the T20 World Cup for them.
“He has to go. There's no doubt in my mind that he has to be on that aeroplane to the Caribbean and the USA in a couple of weeks. He is doing a lot with the pressure that he is also under as a captain and not being given higher honours. The way he scores runs and the situation he bats in, if I was the selector, he is one of my first picks,” Pietersen said on Star Sports after the conclusion of the RR vs LSG match.
Hayden, who is also working as a pundit on Star Sports for the IPL, said that it's a sad affair that Samson tends to always get overlooked for national honours. For him too, there's no doubting that the wicket-keeper batter deserves to be picked for the T20 World Cup.
“With Sanju, he always seems to get overlooked for national honours. I honestly been saying this for a decade, I don't know why because he is a serious hitter of the ball and if you put him up top, he does the damage through the phases. Tonight was the perfect captain's knock and guess what, he did it in the end,” Hayden said.
Officers of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) at Tiruchirappalli airport in Tamil Nadu seized a total of 977 grams of 24 carat gold valued at Rs 70.58 lakh from a passenger arriving from Dubai.
According to the officials, the gold was concealed in the three packets consisting of 1081 grams of paste like material in the rectum of the passenger.
The passenger was travelling from Dubai to Trichy on the Air India Express. The passenger has been arrested and further investigation is underway.
Earlier, this March, the Air Intelligence Unit officials at Tiruchirappalli airport seized 410 grams of gold valued at Rs. 26.62 lakh from a passenger arriving from Singapore.
According to the officials, the seized gold consisted of 330 grams of 24 carat gold extracted from paste-like material and 80 grams of 22 carat gold concealed inside the vest of a passenger travelling from Singapore to Trichy.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
A man and woman dressed as superheroes, Spiderman and Spider-Woman, were arrested for performing stunts on a motorcycle in South West Delhi's Dwarka, police said on Friday. The "Spiderman couple", as police described them, were riding on a bike with no number plate or mirrors.
"Spiderman" Aditya, 20, and his friend "Spider-Woman" Anjali, 19, recorded an Instagram reel of themselves riding on the bike, titled "Spiderman Najafgarh Part 5". In the video, "Spider-Woman" walks up to the friendly-neighborhood superhero and the two shake hands. She climbs on his bike and off they go riding on the streets of Delhi. As they zoom through, the "Spiderman couple" are seen talking to each other as they strike a pose for the camera and even throw in a dance move.
After the reel went viral, the Delhi traffic police arrested the two and issued a challan under Motor Vehicle Act.
But this wasn't the first time the self-styled "Najafgarh Spiderman" has taken to the streets of Delhi while donning his superhero attire. The 20-year-old Najafgarh resident runs an Instagram account called Indian Spidey Official, where he posts videos of his stunts. His bio reads "Your Friendly Neighbourhood Indian Spidey" and the account has nearly 10,000 followers, with some videos getting over 70,000 likes. A quick scroll through his Instagram page shows the "Indian Spidey" playing badminton, riding a tractor and dancing on trending songs.
He has also been spotted performing at college fests, cosplay events and gathering of anime fans. His Instagram shows the wanna-be superhero has visited a Delhi school to pose with school children and was even in the audience of the National Film Awards, albeit without a costume.
Deepak Baghel, an IIT Bombay alumnus turned motivational speaker, recently took to LinkedIn to share his profound personal journey. In his post, Mr Baghel recounted his battle with suicidal thoughts during a challenging period in his life and shared what helped him overcome it. He also detailed the three major problems that he faced during his college days. "As an IITian, today I'm a successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker, but in the past I've grappled with mental health challenges, even contemplating suicide once.. Suicidal thoughts and mental health struggles take various forms," Mr Baghel wrote.
In his post, the IIT alumnus recounted the distressing experience of having his hostel room locked due to financial constraints, a situation that left him deeply humiliated among his peers. "With no money in my account and my mother's salary delayed due to the financial year closing in 2015-16, I also had to arrange funds for my sister's medical college fees," he recalled.
Take a look at his post below:
The motivational speaker also shared the blow to his confidence upon failing a first-year course and having to repeat it in his fifth year. "A professor at IIT Bombay publicly criticized me, questioning how I could fail such a basic course when I came from a Govt. Hindi Medium school in M.P. I struggled to understand English questions for a year at IIT-B. The professor's words embarrassed me in front of over 200+ first-year students, leaving me holding back tears," he wrote.
Mr Baghel also talked about the hurdles he encountered due to institutional rigidity, citing an instance where a professor failed him due to a stringent Academic Reinforcement Program rule. "My Moodle Account was disabled for six months, forcing me to handle all tasks offline, including course registration. Every professor I approached for physical signatures to enroll in courses questioned why I had previously failed. This constant embarrassment compounded my struggles," he said.
In his post, Mr Baghel recalled contemplating suicide, only to be reminded of his father's enduring struggle and eventual tragic demise. "Then, in a fleeting 2-5 second moment, all problems vanished as I contemplated jumping off the 5th floor. But then, I saw my father's photo and remembered his struggle till he was brutally murdered by society in 2004," he wrote at the end of his post.
Mr Baghel shared the post a week back. Since then, it has garnered over 800 reactions and several comments. Reacting to the post, one user wrote, "Bhai, appreciate you sharing so candidly! Must have taken a lot of courage!"
"Hi Deepak thanks for sharing. Truly inspiring. It takes courage to share the vulnerability. I"m sure this post will serve as motivation to a number of people going thru life situations. God speed to you," commented another.
Astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan on Wednesday spoke about being named in TIME's '100 Most Influential People of 2024' list and said that she thought it was "spam mail".
Speaking to NDTV, she said that as a scientist, this was not something you anticipate at all.
"When I heard from them (TIME Magazine), I thought something was wrong. Although I wrote to them saying that 'I am super grateful and really stunned' but thought is this for real," she said.
Ms Natarajan, who featured in the list alongside World Bank President Ajay Banga, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, actor Alia Bhatt, and Olympian wrestler Sakshi Malik, also spoke about her childhood.
"I was obsessed with maps since I was a young kid so I would devour any atlases of any kind that were around," she told NDTV.
Ms Natarajan, who was born in Tamil Nadu and raised in Delhi, also said that she was quite bookish.
Saying that she won a "birth lottery" with her parents and family, Ms Nataranjan said, "I grew up in a house full of books and got enormous support and encouragement from my parents."
Priyamvada Natarajan On Her Research
Priyamvada Natarajan, a Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics at Yale University, spoke about her research and said that some of the dominant components of our universe are actually invisible as if they don't emit light directly.
Ms Natarajan, a Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics at Yale University, has interests in cosmology, gravitational lensing, and black hole physics.
"You can't actually see them and study them like stars and galaxies that have visible light. These entities are dark matter, dark energy, and black holes. So you infer their presence indirectly from their gravitational effects that they actually exert around their vicinity," she told NDTV.
"Over the past 10-15 years, we have got fantastic data from space," Ms Natarajan added.
Why Priyamvada Natarajan Left India
Priyamvada Natarajan said that she had a "wonderful education" experience during her schooling in India and then left the country for higher studies.
She said that she left India as it was not possible to do research as an undergraduate student at that time.
"I left India in the late 1980s when it was hard to get full scholarships. I left India to do research as I was hooked on research," she said.
"As a high school student, I had started doing research at the Nehru Planetarium in Delhi," she added.
She also shared inspiring words for women at work and asked them to "persist", no matter what the odds are.
Marcus Stoinis put in one of the finest performances for a batter in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Lucknow Super Giants chased down the target of 211 runs against Chennai Super Kings. It isn't easy for any team to breach CSK's fortress Chepauk but Stoinis brave effort paid rich dividends as LSG moved into the playoffs spot with a victory against the Super Kings. After the match, Stoinis explained how he used MS Dhoni's teachings to undo his own team, CSK, in the match at Chepauk on Tuesday.
In a video shared by LSG on social media, Stoinis revealed the message Dhoni once gave him about chasing big totals. The Australian all-rounder made good use of Dhoni's mantra at Chepauk.
"MS Dhoni told this one thing to me. He said in big games, everyone thinks that I've got to do something extra. I've got to do something different. His mantra and how he speaks to himself is he stays there, he stands still and he says everyone else is going to change. I'm going to be the only one here that doesn't change and that holds him ahead of everyone else.," Stoinis said in the video.
Stoinis' knock went into the IPL history books as the highest individual score in a successful run-chase. Stoinis went past former Punjab Kings' batter Paul Valthaty's record of 120* that he made against Chennai in 2011 during a run-chase of 189. In his knock, Stoinis made an unbeaten 124 in 63 balls, with 13 fours and six sixes. His strike rate stood at a whopping 196.83.
After the match, Stoinis said: "In these competitions, there are plenty of better opening batters better than me so I'll leave it to them. It's not just go go go, there were some bowlers we wanted to target and some bowlers we wanted to be more cautious against. There was a phase where I wasn't able to hit the boundaries so it was great Pooran could come in and take the pressure off.
"Lots of ebbs and flows, just tried to keep it in control. You're planning and structuring, you're not liking certain bowlers and you're liking others more. I do think T20 cricket is changing, the scores that have been scored, the impact player role and how teams are taking on the bowlers."
A disturbing incident has come to light in Delhi, where a man was allegedly forced to pose with a naked woman, slapped and extorted for money inside a hotel room in Delhi's Paharganj. X user Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj shared the incident on the microblogging site on Tuesday. She alleged that "4-5 goons" entered the man's hotel room forcefully, hit him and demanded money. They also reportedly forced him to stand next to a naked woman, took pictures and threatened that if he said anything, they would make the photos public.
"Got a frantic call from a friend. Her colleague who was in Delhi for a conference near Paharganj booked a cheap hotel because he had to just keep his luggage and go for a conference. After his work, when he came back to the hotel to pick up luggage, within minutes, some 4-5 goons entered his room along with a woman who stripped immediately. Before he could understand anything, he was slapped and hit by these men," Ms Bhardwaj wrote.
DO NOT BOOK CHEAP HOTELS IN PAHARGANJ, DELHI
Got a frantic call from a friend. Her colleague who was in Delhi for a conference near Paharganj booked a cheap hotel because he had to just keep his luggage and go for a conference
After his work when he came back to hotel to pick…
— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) April 23, 2024
The X user added, "They then took his pics with the woman and threatened that if he said anything, these photos would be made public. He was asked to pay 15,000 rupees to leave. He hasn't lodged a complaint because it seems that the police were also involved. He paid up and ran from there".
In the following tweet, Ms Bhardwaj said that she has been contacted by the Delhi Police on the matter. "They've extended all support & taking it seriously. Whether cop who was with the goons is a real cop or not is a matter of investigation. Have connected the victim with senior officers," she said.
Update : I have been contacted by @DelhiPolice@DCPCentralDelhi on this matter. They've extended all support & taking it seriously. Whether cop who was with goons is a real cop or not is a matter of investigation. Have connected the victim with senior officers.
— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) April 23, 2024
Ms Bhardwaj shared the post on Tuesday. Since then, it has accumulated more than 1.4 million views and several comments.
"Paharganj is a known notorious area for such scenarios. All of its hotels look shady ..it's location outside NDLS railway station helps to attract visitors, which these hotels use it to their advantage," wrote one user.
"Paharganj is filled with thieves and pickpocket. I got surrounded by four guys trying to steal my phone and wallet. I was alert so attempt thwarted, but many people get robbed.. If you can afford to, then always book a proper name brand hotel in Delhi," shared another.
"It's better to book hotels online via brands like Expedia, Easemytrip etc. instead of going directly to the hotel. At least this way, online companies will take some responsibility," suggested a third user.
Vidya Malavade is currently awaiting the release of her upcoming actioner Ruslaan. The film will be released on April 26. Recently, the actress opened up about facing rejections in the industry. The Chak De! India star, in a conversation with Bollywood Bubble, revealed that Imtiaz Ali rejected her as she looked “too glamorous”. Vidya added that she had to convince the filmmaker to not “take the part away from” her because of her looks. Talking about Imtiaz Ali being unsure of casting her as Vaishali in Dr. Arora, Vidya said, “When Imtiaz's casting team – when they were casting, he kept saying, ‘No she can't do it. She's too glamorous for this part.' He wanted somebody to look like a housewife from the heartland of the country. He was like, ‘How will she carry it off? I don't think she will.'”
Vidya Malavade added, “I remember Mukesh Chabbra's team was casting and he's like do you have any photos like the character they want so I can show it to the team and show. And I sent pictures. He was like, ‘Not these, I want something more.' I was at a shoot. I packed up early, called my house help and told her I needed a saree and blouse of hers. I wore that saree, wore some kajal and styled my hair. I made her only take pictures.”
The actress also spoke about the detailed note she had written for Imtiaz Ali. Vidya continued, “I sent the picture and a message to Imtiaz Ali sir telling him, ‘Sir, please don't take a part away from me because of the way I look. Because I know I can transform and do what it takes to be Vaishali. And he said just give me a few days. A couple of days later I got a call saying that you're on. For me, that was a transformation.”
Talking about facing rejections, Vidya Malavade added, “Too young, too old, too pretty, not so pretty… too whatever, everything I've been rejected for.”
During the same conversation, Vidya Malavade, without disclosing the name of the film, also recalled being once approached to play Sidharth Malhotra's mother in a movie.
Meanwhile, Vidya Malavade is all set to impress her fans as an officer in Ruslaan. The Karan Lalit Butani directorial features Ayush Sharma and Sushrii Mishraa in lead roles.
Ruslaan, which will hit the theatres on April 26, is backed by Sri Sathya Sai Arts.
A man, Damon Tingay, 30, faces jail after confessing to a grave sexual offence involving a corpse. Tingay was apprehended following a break-in at the mortuary of Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby on March 17. Initially suspected of burglary, Tingay later confessed to engaging in sexual penetration with the dead, Metro reported.
Appearing at Hull Crown Court on Monday, the man, who is of no fixed address, also pleaded guilty to trespassing with the intent to commit sexual offences.
GrimsbyLive reported that the crime was captured on CCTV but it will not be shown in a public courtroom. It will either be shown to the judge in private, or the prosecution will provide a detailed description of it.
The media outlet reported that a decision will be made at the next hearing.
Tingay attended the plea and trial preparation hearing wearing a grey sweatshirt featuring white striped sleeves, anticipating a substantial prison term. However, the exact duration remains uncertain until June 27. Judge John Thackray QC has mandated a psychiatric evaluation before sentencing.
Additionally, the probation service will compile a report gauging Tingay's potential risk to the public. Humberside Police clarified that the investigation concerning Tingay is distinct from the widely publicized inquiry into Legacy Funeral Directors."
Det Ch Insp Nicole Elliott said, "We are working incredibly closely with our partners at the NHS and the coroner, to ensure all family members of the deceased who were inside the mortuary have been contacted, and our specially trained officers are continuing to support the families of those who have been affected."
Two Pakistani terrorists shot dead a government employee in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri in a targeted attack on Monday evening, the police said, adding that a case has been registered under anti-terror laws.
Mohammad Razak, an employee at the social welfare department, was shot outside his home in the district's Shahdra Sharief. He died of his injuries in a hospital.
His brother, a soldier in the territorial army, was also with him when the terrorists opened fire. They tried to kidnap him but he managed to escape unhurt, a senior officer said.
According to the police, the terrorists used a US-made M4 rifle and a pistol in the attack. “We have recovered bullets of M4 rifle used in the attack. A cordon and search operation has been jointly launched by the army and police to track down attackers," a senior police officer said.
Over 20 years ago, Mr Razaq's father was also killed by terrorists in the same area.
The attack comes after two non-locals were targeted in Anantnag and Herpora area of Shopian district. A migrant worker from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in a targeted attack in Anantnag on Wednesday just a week after a resident of Dehradun was shot at by terrorists in south Kashmir's Herpora.
Last year, Rajouri and Poonch witnessed a series of terrorist attacks in the region, in which 20 army soldiers were killed. Following the attacks, the army inducted at least three more brigades in the region to prevent attacks and safeguard the strategically important region bordering Pakistan.
Both areas are part of the Anantnag constituency which will go to polls on May 7.
One of the finest spinners India have ever produced, Harbhajan Singh minced no words as he gave his verdict on the wicket-keeper's role in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2024. While the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Dinesh Karthik are fighting for the spot behind the stumps, Harbhajan feels the Rajasthan Royals captain is ahead of the rest in the race. (IPL 2024 Points Table)
After seeing Samson play crucial role in the Royals' victory against the Mumbai Indians, Harbhajan didn't just advocate his name for the wicket-keeper's role but also backed him to succeed Rohit Sharma as India's T20I skipper.
At present, it's Hardik Pandya who has been designated as the vice-captain in the Indian team for the shortest format. He has also been tipped by many to become India's full-time white-ball captain after Rohit. But, Harbhaajn has some other ideas.
"Yashasvi Jaiswal's knock is a proof of class is permanent. Form is temporary @ybj_19 and there shouldn't be any debate about Keeper batsman. @IamSanjuSamson should walk in to the Indian team for T20 world cup and also groomed as a next T20 captain for India after Rohit . koi shak???", Bhajji wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after RR's 9-wicket win over MI on Monday.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's knock is a proof of class is permanent . Form is temporary @ybj_19 and there shouldn't be any debate about Keepar batsman . @IamSanjuSamson should walks in to the Indian team for T20 worldcup and also groomed as a next T20 captain for india after rohit . koi…
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 22, 2024
Samson has been in splendid form for the Royals this season while also leading the franchise to the top of the IPL 2024 standings after 8 games. The wicket-keeper batter is currently the second-highest run-scorer for his franchise this term, having accumulated a total of 314 runs from 8 games at an average of 62.80 and a strike-rate of 152.42. He has also scored 3 half-centuries this campaign.
Hardik, in comparison, hasn't done well in the season so far, be it as a batter, bowler or captain.
The Customs department has seized diamonds concealed in packets of noodles and gold hidden in the body parts of passengers and baggage, collectively valued at Rs 6.46 crore, at the Mumbai airport, an official said.
Four passengers were arrested after the seizure of more than 6.8 kg of gold valued at Rs 4.44 crore and diamonds of Rs 2.02 crore over the weekend, the Customs official said in a release issued late Monday night.
An Indian national travelling from Mumbai to Bangkok was intercepted and found smuggling the diamonds concealed in packets of noodles inside his trolley bag.
The passenger was later arrested, the official said.
A foreign national travelling from Colombo to Mumbai was intercepted and found carrying gold bars and a cut piece, with a net weight of 321 grams, concealed inside her undergarments, he said.
Besides, 10 Indian nationals - two each travelling from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and one each from Bahrain, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat, Bangkok and Singapore - were also intercepted and found carrying 6.199 kg gold, valued at Rs 4.04 crore, "concealed in the rectum, on body and inside the baggage," the release said without providing further details.
Three of them were subsequently arrested, it said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
TikTok star Eva Evans, known for creating the web comedy series 'Club Rat' on Amazon Prime Video, has died at 29, NBC New York reported. Ms Evans' sister Lila Joy announced her death on Instagram on Sunday and posted a photo of her alongside a heartfelt caption. No cause of death was given.
''Yesterday my family received news that our sweet, fabulous, creative, caring, hilarious Eva, my beautiful sister, has died. after 24 hours, I still find myself in a constant cycle of denial and acceptance, so I know how unbelievable and hard to process this news will be,'' the post read.
Lila continued, "I wish I had Eva here now to refer to because she would have better words and know how to say what I don't. I am keeping this brief, so we can plan for the next few days, but you'll be hearing a lot more from me on how much Eva means to me and just how different the world will be without her."
Her family is currently planning a “celebration of Eva” on Tuesday, April 23, in lower Manhattan.
Notably, Eva's five-episode series Club Rat, which she co-wrote and directed, debuted in 2023 and streamed on Amazon Prime Video. She played an influencer who tries her hand at dating again in New York City after a video of her breakup went viral.
On TikTok, she had over 300K followers and on Instagram, more than 28,000 people followed her. She posted videos of her life as a filmmaker and other lifestyle content about her life in New York.
Several people and fans of the influencer posted tributes on Instagram. One user wrote, ''The loss is unfathomable, to those of us lucky enough to have known her brilliance and goodness, but also to the world, which is not the place it was meant to be without her. Godspeed, Lila, and love.''
Another commented, ''This doesn't feel real and is hard to accept - she's a brilliant human - she felt like a sister, I don't want to be saying these things right now.''
A third said, ''I have no words. Just finding out the news now. She was an incredibly bright light in this world. A really gifted artist and had such a creative that we all loved and cherished.''
A fourth added, ''She was so fabulous and Iconic. Was always the sweetest to me. A huge loss.''
The aspiring filmmaker is survived by her sisters, Lila, Zoe and Sofi and her mother.
Microsoft recently introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) model that can generate hyper-realistic videos of talking human faces. Dubbed VASA-1, the AI image-to-video model can transform still photos of people's faces into lively animations. The company says the created videos will have synchronised lip movements to match the audio as well as facial expressions and head movement to make it appear natural.
Recently, a video demonstrating the app's capabilities went viral on social media, leaving people amazed. The AI-generated video shows Mona Lisa, the iconic painting by Leonardo da Vinci, lip-syncing to Anne Hathaway's 'Paparazzi'.
''Microsoft just dropped VASA-1. This AI can make a single image sing and talk from audio reference expressively. Similar to EMO from Alibaba. 10 wild examples: 1. Mona Lisa rapping Paparazzi,'' the caption of the thread shared by Min Choi reads.
Watch the video here:
Microsoft just dropped VASA-1.
This AI can make single image sing and talk from audio reference expressively. Similar to EMO from Alibaba
The video has gone viral, with some being amused by the funny clip. One user wrote, ''The Mona Lisa clip had me rolling on the floor laughing.'' Another commented, ''Oh, man. If only Da Vinci could witness this.''
Some also expressed their concerns about its unethical usage, especially to create deep fakes.
A third wrote, ''Creepy? Fascinating? For one thing, deepfake potential just grew exponentially…but opens up some interesting creative possibilities as well.''
A fourth added, ''Deepfake Tech Just Took a Terrifying Leap Forward and it's more convincingly deceptive than we ever imagined.''
According to Microsoft, VASA is a framework for generating lifelike talking faces of virtual characters with appealing visual affective skills (VAS).
''VASA-1, is capable of not only producing lip movements that are exquisitely synchronized with the audio, but also capturing a large spectrum of facial nuances and natural head motions that contribute to the perception of authenticity and liveliness. The core innovations include a holistic facial dynamics and head movement generation model that works in a face latent space, and the development of such an expressive and disentangled face latent space using videos,'' the company wrote.
''We have no plans to release an online demo, API, product, additional implementation details, or any related offerings until we are certain that the technology will be used responsibly and by proper regulations,'' Microsoft added.
Amid the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is expected to announce the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup later this month. According to a report in Dainik Jagran, India captain Rohit Sharma will meet the chairman of selection committee Ajit Agarkar and the rest of the office bearers to discuss the 15-man probables. The meeting will reportedly take place on either April 27 or 28 in Delhi.
The report claimed that Rohit will be in the national capital during that time for the IPL 2024 match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians, which will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, April 27.
Agarkar is currently in Spain for a vacation, but will return in time for the meeting in Delhi.
As per ICC, the deadline to submit the 15-man squad list is May 1.
However, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya's place in the team isn't a certainity, claimed the report. His selection will depend on his performance in IPL 2024.
Hardik, who is currently leading Mumbai Indians, hasn't been bowling in full tilt this season, while his batting has also been pretty average.
Meanwhile, the selectors are also monitoring the situation between Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal for the openers slot.
Gill currently has the edge over Jaiswal, who has struggled in the first seven games for Rajasthan Royals. However, his performances in the past might force the selectors to think otherwise.
As far India's second wicketkeeper is concerned, the selectors are keeping a close eye on the likes of Sanju Samson, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, who is currently out of a central contract.
Dubai recently experienced an unprecedented weather event as severe thunderstorms swept through the city. It affected air travel and caused flooding on the streets throughout the United Arab Emirates, halting normal activities. The state-run weather agency said it was a "historic weather event" and Dubai had not seen such rain in 75 years. Many videos from the rain-battered city are doing rounds on social media. Now a time-lapse video that shows the massive storm is going viral online.
This ominous-looking clip appears to be straight out of a sci-fi film. An X user shared the video on the microblogging site on Wednesday. "Dubai: Timelapse of the massive storm that caused a historic flood," the caption of the post read.
Since being shared, the video has accumulated more than 3.8 million views and several comments.
"Wow, Mother Nature sure knows how to make a grand entrance in Dubai! Nature's power is truly awe-inspiring," wrote one user. "Insane! The beauty and pain of nature," expressed another.
"Have stayed in Dubai for many years in Bur Dubai. Never experienced such a cloudburst as we had seen in Mumbai. This was exceptional. In Fujairah we had a stormy situation. The actual cloudburst came only a year or two back. Entire emirate was flooded. Cars were floating on water," shared a third user.
"Looks like they have no drains there hence all the water collects on asphalt and concrete roads and becomes an artificial lake. If they had a good way harvest all that precious water it would have been so good," wrote one user.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the storm not only hit UAE but Oman as well. At least 20 people were reported to have died in the deluge in Oman while another person was said to have died in floods in the UAE that closed government offices and schools for days.
The storm had initially hit Oman on Sunday before it pounded the UAE on Tuesday, knocking out power and causing huge disruptions to flights as runways were turned into rivers.
In the UAE, a record 254 millimetres (10 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Al Ain, a city bordering Oman. It was the largest ever in a 24-hour period since records started in 1949.
In recent months, there has been a growing perception that the challengers to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have struggled to unite effectively. The Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance, or the INDIA bloc, initially proposed as a grand coalition to oppose the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seemed to be fragmenting. This was largely due to its key initiator, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, defecting to the opposition camp.
Since then, there have been widespread disagreements among parties opposed to the BJP regarding seat-sharing arrangements, with many pointing fingers at the Congress for the discord. However, the focus has shifted from divergences to convergences, indicating a more unified stance among the opposition. Rifts such as the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress conflict in Punjab, the Congress-All India Trinamool Congress rivalry in West Bengal, and the Congress-led United Democratic Front vs. the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala have highlighted the challenges within the opposition.
BJP's Strong Narrative
On the contrary, the BJP, with its early and vigorous Abki Baar 400 Paar campaign slogan, has set a narrative that is gaining traction. Recognising its strength, the party, led by PM Modi, is determined to maintain its dominant position in national politics. Employing an aggressive approach akin to being on the front foot in cricket, the party and its leadership are in an attack mode. With a robust election machinery, substantial financial resources, a dedicated cadre base, and the silent support of numerous Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers, the BJP's momentum appears unshakeable.
As the first phase of voting approaches on Friday, April 19, a clear picture emerges of a nearly direct contest between the two major political formations. In the 102 Lok Sabha constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories where voting will take place, the contest in nearly 90 seats will be between NDA constituents and INDIA partners.
While other candidates from various national/state parties, smaller factions, and independent contenders are also in the fray, a large part of the electoral battleground will be defined by the clash between these two broad coalitions.
Taking stock of the emerging landscape of the first phase, key battleground states such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Manipur, as well as single constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Puducherry, account for over 90 seats. In these constituencies, candidates are predominantly aligned with either of the two competing alliances.
A Few Divergences
While the broader picture suggests a united approach, there are divergences in a few constituencies. This is particularly evident in West Bengal, where the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) faces challenges from INDIA in three out of 42 constituencies. In these areas, which include Jalpaiguri [CPI (M)], Alipurduar (Revolutionary Social Party) and Cooch Behar (All India Forward Bloc), INDIA partners will be contesting the polls.
A similar situation arises in Meghalaya's Tura seat, where the National People's Party will confront the Congress and the Trinamool. In the lone Andaman and Nicobar seat, it's Congress vs. BJP, with a CPI(M) candidate also in the mix. In another island territory, Lakshadweep, the Congress faces a challenge from Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Congress Becomes More Accommodating
Having faced criticism for delaying seat-sharing talks and squandering its first-mover advantage, the Congress has ultimately yielded ground to others. As the election schedule for the seven-phase polls progresses, the Congress aims to limit its candidates to around 330, compared to the over 400 seats contested in 2004 when it formed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition.
The party acknowledges that it has reduced its numbers to accommodate allies in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, a decision partly influenced by the setbacks in assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states last November. The revised strategy is clearly geared towards mounting an effective challenge to the BJP-led alliance and avoiding the fragmentation of votes.
Considering the inherent political differences among some INDIA partners and their competing interests, it could be argued that mere cooperation among parties may not necessarily lead to the consolidation of opposition votes. However, it may be worth recalling a quip by former Congress Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi in 2004. When asked to explain the dichotomy of the Left supporting the Congress, he had likened it to a situation in football, where players from West Bengal football clubs compete against each other in Maidan but unite when wearing the India jersey. Politics, as they say, is the art of the possible.
(K.V. Prasad is a senior Delhi-based journalist)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
Veteran actor Anupam Kher on Tuesday shared a news article of an interview of his actor wife and sitting BJP MP from Chandigarh, Kirron Kher, in which she revealed why she was not running for a fresh term in the Lok Sabha this year.
In a recent interview with Times Now, Kirron clarified that she was not "dropped" from candidacy; rather, she herself requested to be exempted from contesting this time. Instead of Kirron, Sanjay Tandon will run in for elections for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat this year.
Kirron, who recently battled cancer and underwent treatment for the same, said, "Two months ago, I met our party president JP Nadda and Union Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah and requested that they let me sit out this time. When I fell ill... I had multiple myeloma... I had to be in Mumbai for about a year for my treatment. By the grace of God, I am completely fine now. But I missed out on that year in Chandigarh. And I don't want my party to suffer because of my absence."
During the conversation, Kirron also shared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi contacted her when she fell ill.
""He (PM Modi) was so kind to me and called me when I fell ill. He told me not to worry about anything and urged me to relax since I was so worried about missing Parliament sessions. I never missed the sessions (prior to that) and had very good attendance and participation," she mentioned.
Kirron also talked about her participation in India's Got Talent this year and last year. She hoped to continue contributing to her party in the future.
"I am eager to work in so many other fields and do so many other things. I did India's Got Talent this year and last year. I hope that I'll be able to work for my party again," she added.
Kirron Kher also remembered the encouraging words from Amit Shah, acknowledging her efforts as a party worker in Chandigarh.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
A Chinese marathon runner's victory at an event has become a talking point on internet after users claimed that he was allowed to win. The event (Beijing Half Marathon) was held on Sunday and He Jie emerged victorious but organisers launched an investigation after questions were raised, as per The Guardian. A video of race, posted on X, shows Kenya's Willy Mnangat turn toward He and gesture him to move ahead as the four men run neck and neck just metres from the finish line.
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The four athletes - Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat of Kenya Dejene Hailu Bikila from Ethiopia and He Jie - had run together for the whole race.
Mnangat told the BBC that they were running as pacemakers for He, who is the Chinese national champion in the full marathon distance. "I was not there to compete. It was not a competitive race for me," the runner said.
After completing the race, Mnangat said he allowed He to win "because he in my friend".
"I don't know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker. My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record," the Kenyan further said.
Winning in a time of 1:03.44, He fell short of the record by one minute and 11 seconds, while Mnangat, Keter and Bikila tied for second place.
But Chinese social media users were not happy with the result.
"The so-called 'ways of the world' should not taint the fairness of competition in sports. Fairness is always at the core of sporting spirit," one user said on Weibo. "I support an investigation, and fair play is vital. I hope authorities can give a clear explanation to maintain fairness of competition and respect athletes' efforts," said another.
Six months ago, He was praised as the first Chinese national to snag gold in the Men's Marathon event of the Asian Games, which were held in October in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard is "sick and fed up" of people pinpointing particular individuals for the team's losses as he urged fans not to "nitpick" struggling captain Hardik Pandya after MI lost to Chennai Super Kings by 20 runs in their Indian Premier League match. CSK legend MS Dhoni took 26 runs off Pandya's final over with the help of three consecutive sixes as the MI skipper struggled for right line and length while also bowling two wides at a crucial time. (IPL 2024 Points Table)
Pandya finished with figures of 2 for 43 from his four overs and also had a tough time with the bat, managing a mere two runs off six balls at a crucial juncture of the game.
“You're going to have those days. I'm sick and fed up of just looking to pinpoint at individuals. Cricket is a team sport at the end of the day," Pollard said at the post-match press conference Sunday night.
“He (Pandya) is a confident guy. He has been great around the group. In cricket, you have good days and you have bad days. I'm seeing an individual who's working bloody hard to continue his skill and to ply his trade.” Pollard reminded fans about the possibility of Pandya being picked for India's T20 World Cup campaign, saying if that happens everyone would be ‘singing his praises'.
"This is an individual that's going to represent the country in less than six weeks' time. We're all going to be cheering for him and want him to do well," said the West Indian who himself is a MI legend.
"It's about high time that we try to encourage and try to stop nitpick. See if we can get the best out of one of the great all-rounders India could ever produce.
“He can bat, he can bowl, he can field. He has an X factor about him. I hope very well deep down within my heart that when he comes out on top, I'll sit back and I'll watch everyone sing his praises.” The match witnessed intermittent booing of Pandya who struggled with both bat and ball and also received criticism from former England captain Kevin Pietersen who claimed that the MI skipper has been ‘smiling too much'.
Pollard said he is seeing Pandya evolving and backed him to turn things around.
“As an individual, you have to evolve as well. When you're young and there's that youthful exuberance, you go out and you do things in a certain manner. But the older that you get, at times, responsibility sort of kicks in, accountability to teams sort of kicks in,” he said.
“What I'm seeing is a guy that is evolving. Obviously, we as individuals, we want to see certain things, but sometimes the game does not demand certain things.” Pollard said while Mumbai Indians would revisit their plans on Dhoni but added that anyone could have been at the receiving end of the former CSK skipper's onslaught, like Pandya experienced Sunday night.
“Yes, he hit three sixes, 20 runs, some runs in the last over, but anyone could have gone for 20 runs in the last over as well. MS has been world-class for years upon years. We love to see him on the cricket field, walking out into stadiums. We're all in awe of what he has accomplished.
"The scoreline (20 runs), that's the difference. But cricket is much more than what we see at the end. For us, it's much deeper than that. We're going to dissect and we have done before throughout the tournament and do our homework and try to come back better as a team,” Pollard said.
“MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya… you have plans of how you want to bowl to them, and you go back and you look to see if it was executed or not,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met with a select group of Indian gamers. Seven gamers, including Animesh Agrawal, Naman Mathur, Mithilesh Patankar, Payal Dhare, Tirth Mehta, Ganesh Gangadhar, and Anshu Bisht, met with the Prime Minister, and discussed the growth of the gaming industry in India.
Topics ranged from the increasing number of games based on Indian mythology to the government's recognition of gaming creativity.
After the discussion, PM Modi tried his hand at various games across different platforms, including VR-based, mobile, and PC/console games. One such game was "Raji: An Ancient Epic”.
Raji: An Ancient Epic
"Raji: An Ancient Epic" is an action-adventure video game developed by Nodding Heads Games, an independent game studio based in India.
The game draws inspiration from Indian mythology and culture, set in the backdrop of ancient India, as per the official website.
"Raji: An Ancient Epic" was released in 2020 on various platforms, including PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. They have won three awards at the Taipei Game Show 2021: Best Narration, Grand Prix, and Winners Circle Award.
As per the official website of Raji: An Ancient Epic, gamers get a chance to “experience a dramatic story of young siblings. Raji and Golu are sister and brother who have been separated by the attacking demonic hordes and now find themselves in the middle of the great war. Raji has taken it upon herself to find her brother and put an end to this reckless war. However, this can only happen if she manages to break down the might and stratagem devised by the great lord of demons, Mahabalasura.”
Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila, a lively, deftly crafted ode to the power of song and performance as tools of rebellion, opens with a violent death. The bullets end a music career and birth an undying legend.
The film embraces a range of contradictions. And why not? Amar Singh Chamkila is about a man whose art was dichotomous: entertaining and provocative, immensely popular and unapologetically profane.
The film is mournful and festive, animated and pensive, consciously crafted and seemingly spontaneous. It is an elegy to and a celebration of a songster who revelled in lyrics that frequently objectified women but was always delivered in the form of a male-female duet.
Amar Singh Chamkila mourns the loss of a young life but talks up the defiant spirit of a driven man whose music, no matter how lowbrow it was by orthodox and politically correct reckoning, broke the boundaries of mortality.
The film's soundtrack is studded with Chamkila's own songs (rendered by lead actors Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra, among several others) and a complement of original compositions by A.R. Rahman ranging from the ballad-like and the romantic to the forcefully feminist.
Chamkila (played brilliantly by Dosanjh), his wife and co-singer Amarjot Kaur (Parineeti Chopra) and two troupe members were gunned down by unidentified assailants in Mehsampur, Jalandhar district, 36 years ago. That is where the Netflix film begins.
It then moves back and forth between the immediate aftermath of the singer's daylight murder and the career signposts that see him and Amarjot blaze a trail in Punjab's akhada (open-air folk music recital) landscape.
Scripted by the director with Sajid Ali, Amar Singh Chamkila captures a brief life and an eventful career that teetered on a razor's edge and drew strength from the ruffling of feathers.
The high-spirited music he created and the strains of his tumbi contained his message of liberation from societal shackles, a statement of intent that seared itself permanently on people's minds and kickstarted an exciting new phase of Punjabi pop.
The film tracks Chamkila's life and explores his unprecedented stardom. Dhani Ram alias Amar Singh was born in the family of a poor alcoholic Dalit labourer. The two names that he bore turned out to be prophetic.
By the time he was 17, he earned both riches and immortality. In the next ten years, he toured the length and breadth of Punjab with his repertoire of songs. There wasn't a day when the sought-after singer was not on the road.
The biopic spans from the point Chamkila acquires his nom de plume by accident and his initial struggles to find a suitable female singing partner to his quick and dramatic eclipsing of his mentor Jatinder Jinda (modelled on the real-life Surinder Shinda).
Chamkila's runaway success riles his rivals and irks Punjab's guardians of morality. His inter-caste marriage with Amarjot - she is a Jat, he a Ramdasia - puts him on a collision course with the village council.
Amid the peaking of militancy in the 1980s, his bawdy, no-holds-barred, double entendre-laden lyrics helped his fans escape the worries of a violence-ridden world. He sang of sexual desire, the female body, drugs, social taboos and illicit liaisons.
A journalist accuses him, and not unjustifiably, of being disrespectful to women. He defends himself. I am an ordinary man, he says, who does not have the option of weighing the pros and cons.
The film has a sequence that culminates in Chamkila mentioning his caste and asserting that no matter where he has emerged from, he is not going back there. I will not starve to death, he asserts. The film, however, shies away from making his social identity the principal narrative axis, opting to focus instead on his run-ins with the hypocrisies of polite society.
The Chamkila-Amarjot marriage crosses two lines - one denoted by the caste divide and the other by his marital status. The singer has a first wife, a fact that he hides from Tikki and Amarjot.
The tale is told principally by two of Chamkila's surviving associates. His former dholak player and manager Kesar Singh Tikki (Anjum Batra) who, over cheap alcohol in a seedy bar after he receives news of Chamkila's death, throws light on the singer's early breakthroughs.
The latter half of the story is pieced together by group member and singer Kikar Dalewala (Robbie Johal). Kikar's recollections are in response to questions from DSP Balbir Singh (Anuraag Arora). The latter scoffs at Kikar when asked if he has ever heard Chamkila's songs. The police officer shoots back angrily: Am I a truck driver or a country bumpkin?
The film blends a vibrant palette, visual flourishes and playful tropes to transport the audience to the terrain where Chamkila appeared like a meteor in the sky and lit up the world around him with a sparkle so intense that it was never ever going to dim, let alone die.
The jaunty narrative rhythm serves as a counterpoint to the grim realities of 1980s Punjab. One admirer in an audience waiting to hear him sing shouts: Other artistes are great but you are our own man. He is a people's singer as an introductory song, Baaja (lyrics by Irshad Kamil), early in the film underscores.
For a semblance of balance, the film stages a trippy number devoted entirely to female desire, Naram Kaalja, sung and performed with gusto by village women who are denied seats in front of the stage on which Chamkila performs. They stand on the terrace behind the arena and watch the performance.
The full-bodied and occasionally frolicsome style - it combines archival footage, family album images, freeze frames, animation, split screens, tinted frames and visual caesuras - seeks to approximate the wildness at the heart of Chamkila's world even as it slows down occasionally to reflect upon the singer's mild-mannered, non-confrontationist ways with people around him.
Diljit Dosanjh is at his very best as Chamkila. That, as his fans will vouch, should be enough to make the film a treat. But there is more to Amar Singh Chamkila, including Parineeti Chopra and Anuraag Arora's modulated interpretations and Imtiaz Ali's grasp on the material.
Amar Singh Chamkila is a transfixing viewing experience. Its music is the biggest draw but every little bit in the rest of the film is just as rewarding.
A Malaysian beauty queen was stripped of her title after a video of her dancing on a holiday to Thailand went viral on social media. Viru Nikah Terinsip, who won the Unduk Ngadau Johor title in 2023, shared a video of herself dancing suggestively with scantily clad male dancers while on holiday in Thailand, Independent reported.
The video soon sparked criticism, leading to her title being dethroned by the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA). While some called her video ''inappropriate'', others defended her.
As per South China Morning Post, KDCA President Joseph Pairin Kitingan said such behaviour was uncalled for in a beauty queen who supposedly represents the spirit of Huminodun. Huminodun refers to a maiden in the mythology of the ethnic Dusun people of Sabah state who is renowned for her beauty and wisdom.
''This would not be an issue if she was just an ordinary person, but she is an Unduk Ngadau (beauty queen) and a public figure. Some saw the humour in her video, some sympathised with her, and others were unhappy and complained about it. We (KDCA) do not want to be a target and attract unnecessary attention,” Mr Kitingan said.
''We were made to understand that she went on a private holiday with her family to Thailand. We do silly things and get carried away when holidaying. If the video did not go viral, no one would know it happened,'' he added. He also said the incident should serve as a warning to all Unduk Ngadau in future to not repeat the mistake.
Mr Terinsip accepted the decision and apologised for her carelessness in posting the footage.
''I joined the Unduk Ngadau competition by my own will and returned this title without coercion. I respect my decision. The title is not everything. It is about believing and valuing myself. The title does not determine one's perfection or success. I am not perfect,'' she said according to The New Strait Times.
The 24-year-old added everyone should ''focus on other issues and move forward'' from this incident.
''I am thankful for all the beautiful words coming from netizens, and let's focus on other issues and move forward. Most importantly, please leave my family and friends out as they are not involved in this matter. It is up to you whether you would accept [my explanation] or not, but this comes sincerely from my heart. Thank you for listening,'' she said.
The T20 World Cup 2024 begins just a few days after the Indian Premier League 2024 concludes, and it provides another opportunity for India to end their ICC trophy drought. Plenty of players will be hoping to make the cut for India's 15-member squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA. With the ongoing IPL season seen as auditions for the marquee ICC event, India's think tank will be carefully analysing player performances with some spots in the squad still up for grabs.
India's batting though will still revolve around Virat Kohli, who is wearing the Orange Cap after smashing 316 runs in five innings at an average of 105.33 and a strike rate of 146.30 this season.
The right-hander has hit three 50-plus scores in IPL 2024, including the highest score of an unbeaten 113 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Rajasthan Royals.
Opening the batting for RCB this season, Kohli's strike rate has been significantly higher than his overall IPL strike rate of 130.63. However, it it will be interesting to see how Kohli will be utilised by the Men in Blue in the T20 World Cup.
While he has donned the role of aggressor as an opener for RCB this season, Kohli has also shown that he's still capable of anchoring an innings if the situation demands him to. His unbeaten 113 against Rajasthan and 83 not out against Kolkata Knight Riders are a testament to that.
With that in mind, let's take a look at what type of role Kohli can be tasked to undertake in the T20 World Cup in June.
Kohli in T20 World Cups
The former India skipper has been a true match-winner for India since his international debut. In T20 World Cups, he has scored 1,141 runs in 25 innings at an outstanding average of 81.50 with a strike rate over 130.
Apart from his astonishing numbers, he was named the Player of the Tournament consecutively in the 2014 and 2016 editions of the T20 World Cups.
His match-winning knocks in crucial outings - 72* vs South Africa (2014), 82* vs Australia (2016), and the iconic 82* vs Pakistan (2022) - are unmatched and remains special for Indian fans. Interestingly, all these knocks came with Kohli holding up one end, while wickets fell at the other.
What do the pitches in the West Indies offer?
The change in soil composition and moisture levels has affected the pace and bounce of the pitches in the West Indies. These days, the venues in the Caribbean tend to be slow tracks which are quite similar to the ones in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and a few other venues in the subcontinent.
Kohli has been ruthless in slow pitches where the ball doesn't get pace from the pitch which makes him a dangerman to any side.
His T20I numbers in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are also exceptional, where he averages 55.83 and 94.40, respectively.
Does "Anchor" Kohli fit into India's T20 schemes?
Overall, Kohli has scored 4,037 runs in 117 matches at an average of 51.75 and he is India's highest run-scorer in the format. He has smashed 37 fifties along with a jaw-dropping 122* against Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2022. His strike rate of 138.15 may have room for improvement, but he's already shown that he can go hard at bowlers from the start should he deem it necessary.
In 2023, India played 20 T20Is apart from the three Asian Games matches in China. Kohli didn't feature in any of them and batters like Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Shreyas Iyer were given the nod over him.
After a long spell on the sidelines following the T20 WC 2022, Kohli played his first T20 international match in February 2024 against Afghanistan. He scored only 29 runs in the two-match series but at a strike rate of 170.58.
That said, one must also note that Kohli's recent 67-ball century against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024 was the slowest ton in the league's history.
Considering that the T20 dynamics have changed drastically over the years, batters have become more aggressive from the outset these days. IPL 2024, in fact, has witnessed two record-breaking team scores this year - SRH's 277 vs MI and KKR's 272 vs DC.
Having said that, since the pitches in West Indies might not make it possible for many high-scoring games to take place, Kohli's presence in India's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup is a no-brainer choice. His presence in the middle order as an anchor will provide balance alongside the swashbuckling and aggressive styles of Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Rohit Sharma, and Shivam Dube.
India has given the world many great cricketers but Virat Kohli finds himself in a league of his own in the modern era. With opening batting candidates like Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill all in the fray for a T20 World Cup spot, making Kohli the anchor of the team makes perfect sense given his ability to play according to match situations as well as his extensive experience in the high stakes pressure situations which are synonymous with ICC events.
