Author: Rahul M

“Municipal panels, projects, ward maps… the fight is over these. Not over Delhi or Mumbai alliances,” says a Shiv Sena worker in Thane, asking how the party could concede its ground, even if it is to its ally BJP.That holds especially true for Thane near Mumbai – a district that has been a long-time turf of Shiv Sena chief and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and where his son and MP Shrikant Shinde and BJP Maharashtra chief Ravindra Chavan have now crossed swords. The tensions following allegations of poaching and counter-poaching in Thane reached such a pitch recently that Shinde…

Thiruvananthapuram: Nearly six years, multiple court dates and a long political battle later, the CMRL-Exalogic case, allegedly involving fraudulent payments to a firm owned by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T., came to a standstill when the Kerala High Court stayed further proceedings in April.However, the matter continues to be a political hot potato with the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) repeatedly alleging that the crawling probe reflects an alleged nexus between the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the BJP-led Centre, and the state BJP in turn alleging that LDF is trying to stall the probe until after…

Vince Gilligan devotees are watching his new Apple TV sci-fi drama “Pluribus” like eager children on an Easter egg hunt, intent on finding signs that the show shares its Albuquerque-set universe with “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” Gilligan created all three series and last worked with star Rhea Seehorn on the 2022 finale of “Better Call Saul.” Seehorn anchors “Pluribus” as crankypants author Carol Sturka, who lives on a cul-de-sac that evokes the familiar street of “Breaking Bad” character Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt).  Carol’s house looks nothing like Marie’s inside, although there is…

A day after the Bihar government issued a letter allotting RJD leader Rabri Devi a different house, the party said the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council would not move out of her current address — 10, Circular Road, Patna — and claimed the decision seemed “politically motivated”.“Rabri Devi won’t vacate the house because it has a lift for Lalu Prasad ji, who needs it because of health reasons, and there are security reasons for retaining the house. The house, unlike the one allotted, has adequate space to keep the combined security of her and Lalu Prasad. And…

As the Karnataka power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar threatens to spiral out of control, the Congress central leadership stepped in on Wednesday, saying it will intervene to broker peace between the two leaders.Even as Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said he would discuss the matter with senior leaders Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Parliamentary Party chief, and Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, and “mediate accordingly”, sources indicated that the party was keen on kicking the can down the road, at least till the next round of Assembly elections. However, there is a growing…

20th Century Studios When it comes to “Dune” and “Star Wars,” they’re both considered peak science fiction. In terms of which came first, it was the former, which was published in the ’60s by author Frank Herbert (who would write six “Dune” books). George Lucas’ “Star Wars” arrived in the ’70s; however, many people pointed out the striking similarities between the two works, including Herbert himself. Before the release of “Star Wars” in 1977, Herbert was approached for comment about the film’s similarities to his book, and if there was…

PARIS (AP) — The leaders of a pro-Russia group in France behind a poster campaign declaring “Russia is not my enemy” have been taken into custody and are being held on suspicion of intelligence-gathering for a foreign power.The SOS Donbass group confirmed the arrest of its founder, Anna Novikova, in a Telegram post. The group’s president, Vincent Perfetti, is also facing charges, his lawyer said. The Paris prosecutor’s office identified them on Wednesday only as Anna N. and Vincent P., saying that both are in detention. The breakup of the alleged intelligence-gathering operation came as French President Emmanuel Macron warned…

After The New York Times story was published, Guss, Ozair, and about three dozen other people updated their LinkedIn profiles to list their affiliation with the Bezos venture. Several of those people also work at Foresite Labs.Details about Prometheus remain limited. Its founding date, formal name, and headquarters haven’t been publicly identified. But the dinner Bajaj hosted in June provided other clues.At least two other featured guests that night, including former Nvidia senior research scientist Kamyar Azizzadenesheli, quietly joined Prometheus early this year, their newly updated LinkedIn profiles show.Ashish Vaswani and Jakob Uszkoreit, two former Google researchers who coauthored a…

Over 1,000 Amazon employees have anonymously signed an open letter warning that the company’s allegedly “all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development” could cause “staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth,” an internal advocacy group announced on Wednesday.Four members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice tell WIRED that they began asking workers to sign the letter last month. After reaching their initial goal, the group published on Wednesday the job titles of the Amazon employees who signed and disclosed that more than 2,400 supporters from other organizations, including Google and Apple, have also joined in.Backers inside Amazon…

Bettmann/Getty Images We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. After the New Hollywood revolution of the mid-1960s and 1970s, the 1980s saw studios strip control from auteurs and hand it to executives. While the ’70s was a downbeat decade, the ’80s were all about fun, with escapist entertainment dominating multiplexes. The decade was a boon for the box office, with films racking up massive returns by catering to audiences hungry for thrills. Stars like Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, and Sylvester Stallone cashed in major paydays, while filmmakers like Steven Spielberg,…