MUMBAI, India — Director-producer, Aanand L Rai celebrated his birthday yesterday, doing what he loves the most — making films. The “Tanu Weds Manu” filmmaker was on-set for his upcoming film “Raksha Bandhan” yesterday. The film’s story revolves around the indelible bond between a brother and his sisters, starring Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar. “If given a choice for my birthday, I like to be on a shoot, or else I love spending the day with family with good food and music of my choice,” said Rai. Rai is widely known for directing and producing romantic comedies. His films have garnered attention due to the themes…
Author: zenger.news
Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands scored a meager 17 out of 100 on a new 2021 Gender Benchmark index published Tuesday, despite the underwear retailer’s high-profile abandonment of its Angels catwalk show and new slate of diverse models. The research from the World Benchmarking Alliance evaluated how 35 of the world’s largest apparel companies addressed the U.N.’s fifth Sustainable Development Goal: increasing gender equality and empowering women. L Brands ranked 27 out of the 35, with a score of 17, some 12 points below the industry average. Victoria’s Secret model Jill Kortleve models a cotton seersucker pyjama set (Victoria’s…
SYDNEY — Small businesses struggling through Sydney’s lockdown will be eligible for grants and the state’s voucher program will be extended under a rescue package from the New South Wales government. “Our message today to every business and every person right across New South Wales is that we have got your back,” Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said on June 29. Announcing the package on Twitter, Perrottet tweeted “Announcement on our support package to help businesses through this period.” Small businesses where revenue is down 70 percent from their 2019 position will be able to apply to Service New South Wales for an…
NEW DELHI — Bollywood star Alia Bhatt, who is currently prepping for her role in her and Shah Rukh Khan’s home production film “Darlings,” shared a glimpse of the upcoming movie’s script with fans on June 28. The “Kapoor and Sons” actor took to her Instagram handle and shared a story that featured the first page of the movie’s script. “My Date Today <3,” she wrote. “Darlings” is a unique story of a quirky mother-daughter duo navigating through crazy circumstances as they try to find their place in the world. The dark comedy is set in Mumbai against the backdrop of a conservative…
SYDNEY — Actors Claudia Karvan and Michael Caton are among 60 prominent Australians who have signed an open letter trying to prevent a controversial development on Australia’s New South Wales south coast. More than 20 hectares of forest would need to be cleared at Manyana in the Shoalhaven for the development by Ozy Homes, which wants to build 180 houses on the land. The letter, published in a newspaper Herald on June 29, calls on federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley to withhold approval for the development under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The signatories want the New South Wales…
HOBART, Australia — Tasmania, the island state of Australia, has closed its border to Perth and the Western Australia region of Peel after new coronavirus cases sent the two areas into lockdown. Premier Peter Gutwein announced the regions would be considered high risk from 10 am on June 29. It means no one from the areas can enter Tasmania unless they have special permission from the deputy state controller. “I would stress to Tasmanians, if you don’t need to travel interstate, don’t travel,” Gutwein told reporters. “Right now we have a number of states scrambling to get on top of the Delta…
SYDNEY — Just when the mood among Australians appeared to be improving after a jittery few weeks, confidence looks set to be hit again by the Covid-19 lockdown in the nation’s biggest city. Virus infections in Sydney, which is in the first few days of a 14-day lockdown, have ballooned to 130, while there are also restrictions in Darwin and Western Australia, and the nation’s capital has moved to mandatory mask-wearing. All of which suggests consumer confidence is likely to take a renewed hit. The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index – a pointer to future household spending — is due…
SYDNEY — An Australian judge ruled against the allegations that the New South Wales government and the owner of its largest container port struck an anti-competitive deal stymying any chance of a new player entering the fray. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the competition watchdog alleged the owner of Port Botany and Port Kembla — New South Wales Ports — signed the “illegal” agreements with the Liberal-National government in 2014. Judge Jayne Jagot ruled against it on June 29 morning. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a statement on the same. The statement read that the judgment has been made available…
When LeBron James won his first NBA championship with the Miami Heat in 2012, a reporter asked, “How do you feel?” James answered, “It’s about damn time.” Those same words could well have been uttered more recently by Bob “The Greyhound” Dandridge. The former Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Bullets [now Wizards] great had to wait three decades before finally being elected last month to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. His resume was sterling: He won NBA titles in Milwaukee and Washington, and he played with four previous greats whom he helped earn their first or only championships. “It’s a shame…
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Even though the United States is the only country amongst the developed nations that does not guarantee paid leave to parents after childbirth, recent findings suggest that it does endorse providing paid leaves to them nearly as much as people from other countries. The findings published in the International Journal of Comparative Sociology found that about 82 percent of Americans support paid maternity leave, just slightly less than the 86 percent who support it in 26 wealthy nations. Americans differ from the rest of the world because they are less supportive of government funding for paid leaves, prefer shorter leave…