Dubai: India's leading actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won the Best Actress award after playing the magic of her lively acting in the South Indian film industry after Bollywood.

According to Indian media, the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) 2024 ceremony was held in Dubai on the night of September 15, in which Aishwarya Rai Bachchan along with her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan attended.

Aishwarya Rai and her daughter walked the red carpet of the award show and then took selfies with their fans gathered outside the venue.

At the South Indian International Movie Awards 2024, Aishwarya also won the Best Actress (Critics) Award for her performance in the film 'Puniyan Selvan 2'.

 

 

 

 

 

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The pictures of Aishwarya Rai receiving the video are going viral on social media, in which it can be seen that as soon as the actress reached the stage to receive her award, her daughter captured the beautiful moment of her mother's success on her mobile phone camera.

 

 

 

 

 

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It is pertinent to note that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played two roles in the film 'Puniyaan Selvaan 2', directed by Mani Ratnam and based on the famous five-part novel series by Kalki Krishnamurthy.

The other cast of the film 'Punyan Selvan 2' included Trisha Krishnan, Vikram, Karthi and Jayaram among others.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the reduction in the prices of petroleum products.

The Federal Ministry of Finance has issued a notification to reduce the prices of petroleum products.

According to the notification, the new petrol price has been fixed at Rs249.10 per litre.

The new price of diesel has been fixed at Rs249.69 per litre.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the new price of kerosene has been set at Rs158.47 per litre.

The new price of light diesel oil has been fixed at Rs141.93 per litre.

The new prices of petroleum products have been implemented since 12:00am on Monday.

It is also reported that the Prime Minister was advised not to transfer the complete relief of petroleum products, but only partial, to which he did not agree saying that the common man has already been under inflation for a few years.

Shehbaz Sharif directed to transfer the entire relief to the people in the prices of petroleum products, reportedly.

Islamabad: JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri has expressed his concerns over government's proposed constitutional amendments, saying government has not yet provided us with the draft of the amendments.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad, Maulana Haideri emphasized, "We cannot make a decision on supporting the amendments until we have reviewed the draft."

He questioned the urgency with which the government is presenting these amendments, stating, "Why is there such haste in presenting these amendments?"

Haideri added that he will present his party stance in the meeting of parliamentary parties.

He asked, "The government should provide adequate time for us to read and consider the draft." 

He also warned that if the government proceeds hastily, "There is a possibility that our party may choose not to participate in the amendment process."

Gilgit: Gilgit-Baltistan government has increased the permit fee of two highest peaks.

The notification stated that the fee per climber has been increased by up to $5,000, while the permit fee for other mountains above 8,000 meters has also been increased from $9,000 to $28,000.

The permit fee for mountain climbing has been fixed at $2500 in autumn and $1500 in winter, while the permit fee for Pakistani climbers has been increased from Rs30,000 to Rs100,000 and the trekking fee for foreigners has been increased from $100 to $300.

A climber will be able to undertake only one mountain adventure on one permit. Separate permits will be required to undertake more than one mountain adventure.

According to the notification, the number of group members should not exceed 20 and the insurance amount for high-altitude porters has been fixed at Rs2 million.

MIAMI -- Roughly 12 hours after Tua Tagovailoa was diagnosed with his third concussion in two years, Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel pleaded with fans and media members to allow his quarterback to focus on his health before discussing his career.

Speaking to local media Friday morning, McDaniel said he "totally understands" people's concern about Tagovailoa's health, but insisted that placing pressure and anxiety on the quarterback to make a decision about retiring is not what's best for him right now.

"I think it would be so wrong of me to even sniff that subject, and it's more in line of actually caring about the human being," McDaniel said. "You're talking about his career -- his career is his ... I just wish that people would for a second hear what I'm saying, that bringing up his future is not in the best interest of him. So, I'm going to plead with everybody that does genuinely care that that should be the last thing on your mind because you don't, what do you think?"

Tagovailoa suffered a hit to the head during Thursday night's loss to the Buffalo Bills when he lowered his shoulder into Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa's helmet made forcible contact with Hamlin's arm, prompting a fencing response -- a term used to describe a person's arms going into an unnatural position -- as a stunned crowd at Hard Rock Stadium let out a collective gasp. Tagovailoa remained on the field for several minutes, but was able to walk off the field and into the locker room under his own power.

He was almost immediately ruled out for the remainder of the game with a concussion.

McDaniel said Tagovailoa was still asleep when he tried to call him roughly an hour before speaking with the media at 10 a.m. E.T. and had not yet undergone further testing and evaluation. When asked about the severity of Tagovailoa's injury, McDaniel again insisted that he is not focused on any sort of return to participation timeline.

"I'm not assessing the injury through the lens of like, 'Alright, so what does this mean for him playing?'" McDaniel said. "I'm not trying to even look at, okay, well how serious is this relative to his past ones? I know the facts are that it's important that he gets healthy day by day ... the best thing I can do is not try to assess what this even means from a football standpoint."

Tagovailoa was diagnosed with two concussions during the 2022 season and took a third hit to the head that led to the NFL altering its concussion protocol, specifically with how they're reported and evaluated.

He is currently in the NFL's return to participation protocol, although McDaniel said his message to Tagovailoa was that everyone was "counting on him to be a dad" this weekend, and that they'd figure the rest out later.

The Dolphins don't play for another 10 days when they face the Seattle Seahawks in their first road game of the season. McDaniel declined to speculate as to whether Tagovailoa would be placed on injured reserve but did say the team had begun the process of bringing in another quarterback.

McDaniel suggested that third-year quarterback Skylar Thompson would be the Dolphins' starter without a healthy Tagovailoa -- who he said is a safe bet not to play against the Seahawks, although his opinion will not be the driving force in the decision.

"The only two opinions that really matter that are the absolute driving force for what we're doing at that position: Tua and the doctors," McDaniel said. "If I am a betting man, I'm guessing that those two people -- I don't see how he would play in the next game. I don't see it, but who am I to know or judge? But I think it's a fair assessment to be prepared to have three quarterbacks on a roster for the next game, that we'll need to add one for that game.

"But again, I have no idea, and I'm not going to all of a sudden start making decisions. I don't even see myself involved in the most important parts of those."

Multiple former NFL players expressed on social media their opinion that Tagovailoa should retire, including Dez Bryant, Ben Watson and Tony Gonzalez.

While he didn't address anyone specifically, McDaniel explained why he will refrain from voicing his opinion on Tagovailoa's future.

"If I were to answer that question, I'd be like, 'Alright, this is my thoughts on his career,'" he said. "And he reads it -- if he agreed with it or he disagreed with it, either way I've just made him worse ... I don't think it's appropriate simply because of my caring and regard. And I don't think those types of conversations when you're talking about somebody's career, I think it probably is only fair that their career should be set by them."

On the evening of June 9, as hundreds of high-profile guests gathered in Delhi to watch Narendra Modi sworn in as Indian prime minister for the third time, a bloody massacre unfolded 400 miles (640km) north in the mountains of Kashmir.

A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims was ambushed by militants in the southern Reasi area of Indian-administered Kashmir, killing nine and injuring 33. “A masked militant appeared on the road and started firing towards us, hitting the driver in his forehead,” said Santosh Kumar Verma, 44, a pilgrim from the state of Uttar Pradesh, who was sitting on the front seat of the bus.

Even after the bus had rolled down into a deep gorge, militants continued to fire on it for half an hour. “The aim was clearly to kill all of us and send a message to Modi,” said Verma, who was hospitalised by his injuries.

The Reasi attack was not an isolated incident but part of a mounting number of militant ambushes in Kashmir that have killed almost 200 security personnel and over 350 civilians since 2020. While Indian-administered Kashmir has been in the grip of an insurgency by militants loyal to Pakistan since the 1990s, experts say this new wave of attacks is more concerning and technologically advanced than anything the region has faced in decades and has left the military and intelligence agencies scrambling to bring it under control.

Members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) protested against the land eviction drive in Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, on 7 February 2023.

Regional elections will be held in Kashmir this week for the first time in a decade, with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party’s manifesto boasting of transforming the region from a “terrorist hotspot to a tourist spot”. Yet the recent rise in attacks appears to contradict the Modi government’s claims to have brought peace to Kashmir.

Since independence in 1947, both India and Pakistan have claimed the entire region as their own while controlling only parts of it. Three wars have resulted. In the 1990s, the independence movement in Indian-administered Kashmir took a violent turn, with the backing of Pakistan. Thousands of Kashmiris took up arms to fight against Indian rule and were joined by militants from Pakistan, as well as some veteran mujahideen of the Soviet-Afghan war. India launched a heavy-handed military operation in response, reducing the influence of militants but also bringing accusations of grave human rights violations.

The separatist insurgency, however, could never be crushed completely. Waves of terrorist attacks and the rise of new militant figures ensured that Kashmir remains one of the most heavily militarised zones in the world.

In August 2019, the Modi government unilaterally stripped Kashmir of the partial autonomy it had enjoyed since independence and brought it under the full control of New Delhi.

In the aftermath, Modi sent thousands of additional troops to Kashmir, imposed a harsh communication blackout and put severe restrictions on the physical movement of millions of Kashmiris. Hundreds were jailed and local journalists were routinely detained and harassed.

Many in the Indian establishment celebrated the move but it was met with widespread fury within Kashmir and over the border in Pakistan.

The Modi government justified its decision to take control of Kashmir on the basis of ensuring safety and security for the region. Yet according to India’s security establishment, Kashmir’s insurgency has far from disappeared, and some experts believe this latest wave of attacks is directly linked to the actions of the Modi government.

“The threat India faces on its border is totally unprecedented,” said Pravin Sawhney, a former Indian army officer and a defence expert.

After an ambush killed five soldiers last November, India’s army chief, Gen Upendra Dwivedi, who was then head of its Northern Command, said these new militants were “highly trained”, possibly in “Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries”. He also alleged that some of them were retired Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan has not responded to the allegation.

Shesh Paul Vaid, former director general of Jammu and Kashmir police, said that, as well as being highly skilled, these militants were also using sophisticated weapons such as M4 assault rifles that the US military left behind in Afghanistan and steel-cased bullets.

“The way they have been ambushing our forces in the last two years reveals a totally new phenomenon,” said Vaid. “I have decades of experience in dealing with the insurgency, but I can tell you that we have never faced anything like this – certainly not in the past two decades.”

Five officers from the Indian military, and local police and intelligence, who requested to remain anonymous, described how these recent attacks were no longer carried out by radicalised young men who had little combat training and would often post their activities on the internet.

Instead, they described a new batch of militants who appeared to be highly trained to military standards and were coming over the border from Pakistan, equipped with hi-tech equipment, including drones, and were using virtually untraceable Chinese applications to communicate.

“The attacks over the last two years have stunned us,” said one army official. “These people have received extensive guerrilla warfare training and their goal is to cause the maximum casualties possible.”

Instead of getting killed in the ambushes, as was previously the norm – either from suicide attacks or in gunfights with police – these militants have tended to lay in wait, sometimes for days, and then hit their Indian army targets with precision.

They have then disappeared back into the forests and taken advantage of the rough mountainous terrain to stay hidden, making them difficult to track. They have also been using drones to ensure a supply of weapons and cash as far as nine miles within the Indian border.

“We are having difficulty gathering intelligence on these militants,” said the army officer. “We lack understanding of who they are and how damaging they could be to us.”

According to police and Indian military officers, there are about 150 militants active in the region. Security officials described how Indian soldiers were ambushed by militants who wore body cameras and then released the videos online in the aftermath. In July, after an attack in the region’s Doda area, militants released a gruesome video online of an Indian army officer being beheaded.

“Now there is a change in tactics. They [militants] ambush soldiers, then disappear and later show up in some other place and attack there,” said former Northern Command chief Deependra Singh Hooda.

Those who have taken responsibility for the attacks claim to be from newer militant groups such as People’s Anti-Fascist Front, the Resistance Front and the Kashmir Tigers, which all emerged after Modi’s cancellation of Kashmir’s special status in 2019. However, the Indian army claims these groups are simply a rebranding of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist outfits historically responsible for driving the insurgency.

Another source of concern is where these ambushes have been taking place. The region’s Jammu province, the only Hindu majority area, had largely escaped militant attacks. However, after new networks were established, Jammu has now emerged as one of the focal points of ambushes against the Indian military. Experts believe it is part of a well-thought-out strategy to target places where Indian forces have been pulled out and deployed in other troubled border areas, particularly along the India-China border.

Fear of the insurgency has become so potent in the Jammu region that it has led to the revival of a controversial local civilian militia, which is now being armed with automatic and semi-automatic rifles by the state. This militia, known as the Village Defence Guards, also existed back in the 1990s when it became notorious for committing human rights violations such as rape, murder and extortion.

Among those who recently volunteered was Raj Kumar, 45, who lives in Garkhal village in Jammu. “There is an increase in militancy activities so we patrol the village day and night and keep an eye out for the militants,” said Kumar, adding that the government had promised them even more weapons and training.

“The militants have sophisticated weapons and training – that is why we are asking for additional support from the government,” he added. “This time we are more afraid.”

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Islamabad: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday dispelled concerns about any “person-specific” legislation, saying the government is committed to deliver speedy justice for the people of Pakistan.

While talking to media in Islamabad, Tarar stated, "Reforms are overdue to ensure that the people of Pakistan have access to swift justice," 

In response to a query, he maintained that the government would secure the necessary numbers in both Houses for the new legislation. "It is incorrect to believe that there is any person-specific legislation. Our focus is solely on the greater good of the masses," he reiterated.

Tarar stated that all political parties are united in their goal to provide speedy justice at the doorstep of the people. He also mentioned that a special committee, consisting of allied parties, is currently in session.

"Cabinet would convene shortly to discuss the matter," he maintained while giving the importance to these reforms.

Speaking to journalists, the minister assured that any proposed legislation would be in the collective interest of the nation.

He surther said that the judiciary has faced delays in resolving cases for many decades, making it imperative to implement measures for quicker justice.

Tarar highlighted that all coalition parties are represented on the special committee formed to address this issue. He also mentioned that Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar had discussed the Charter of Democracy as a framework for judicial reforms.

“Any amendment on matters of national concern should benefit the entire Pakistani nation,” he stated. He pointed out that legal gaps have often led to issues such as unissued cause lists, unserved notices, and delayed orders.