KOLKATA — A 40-year-old magician known as Mandrake,  who tried to do tricks like legendary magician of escape games Harry Houdini, drowned in river Hoogly while trying to perform an underwater live stunt Sunday.

Eyewitnesses said Chanchal Lahiri, who was lowered into the river standing in a six-foot tall cage having six locks, from Millenium Park for the underwater escape act, disappeared near pillar number 28 of the Howrah Bridge.

Lahiri, a resident of southern suburbs of Kolkata, had done the same trick in 2013 in same Hoogly river, but this time he ran out of luck and drowned. 

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Six years back, people watching his stunt show had reportedly assaulted him after seeing through his trick.

The wizard mandrake was trying to do escape act popularised by American stunt performer Harry Houdini around 100 years back.

The police along with Disaster Management Group began a search for him on Sunday after receiving information that he did not emerge from the river.

“We tried to spot him. But it seems the stream has swept him away. Our divers dived deep, but could not locate him.

“Because of darkness, we had to temporarily stop our search operation on Sunday evening. We will resume it tomorrow,” a senior police officer said.

Lahiri had taken permission from both Kolkata Police and the Kolkata Port Trust, police said.

“He had mentioned the act was to happen in a boat or vessel and there was no connection with water. Hence we allowed him permission.

“However, he vaguely mentioned an ‘extra act’ which he did not clarify. We are investigating,” a senior police officer said.

Lahiri took a ferry from Fairly Place Ghat at around noon to perform the magic, an onlooker said.

“The magic that Lahiri was to perform was very risky and complicated,” he said.

He was not only to be blindfolded, but his hands and legs were also to be tied up. He was to be picked up in that position from the boat by a crane, stationed on the Howrah Bridge, that would in turn lower him into the river. The magic was that he would come up from the water, by untying himself on his own.

Accordingly, he went to the middle of the river just underneath the bridge from where he was picked up by the crane and thrown into the river near pillar number 28 of the bridge.

The spectators who had gathered to cheer him started to panic as it was more than ten minutes and Lahiri was not coming out of water.

Some of the spectators called up the local North Port police station for help. Policemen rushed to the spot along with Disaster Management Group and started a search for Lahiri.

Four divers were looking for his body, though it could not be fished out till late evening.

“We have started an investigation into the matter and as to how a crane reached the Howrah Bridge,” the police officer said.

This was not Lahiri’s first misadventure. He had declared a decade ago that he would walk on the river, but had to beat a hasty retreat when the act went wrong.

Sound the pop star alarms: Taylor Swift and Katy Perry’s longstanding feud is over. 

Swift is putting all the bad blood behind her in the new music video for her single “You Need To Calm Down,” which arrived on Monday in an especially star-studded package. 

The song seemingly serves as Swift’s statement against the internet pitting successful women against each other and a denouncement of homophobia. It’s a bit of a leap ― but we’ll go with it ― as the singer and company, which includes Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Reynolds, Laverne Cox, RuPaul, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Billy Porter, Adam Rippon, Ciara, Hayley Kiyoko, the “Queer Eye” cast and more, live their best lives in front of a group of hateful protesters. 

But the song and its video likely will be remembered as the final nail in the coffin of Swift and Perry’s feud, which dates back to 2012 and apparently began over a disagreement about backup dancers.

The video closes with Swift dressed in an oversized French fry costume embracing hamburger Perry. Perry previously sported the good-enough-to-eat design by Moschino designer Jeremy Scott at a Met Gala after-party.

Perry earlier this month signaled a truce when she shared a photo of cookies made by Swift with the words “Peace At Last” drawn in red icing. Now it’s finally true.  

Watch the music video for “You Need To Calm Down” below. 

CHENNAI — From asking employees to work from home to reducing the number of bathrooms in offices, the Information Technology companies in Tamil Nadu are looking at ways to tackle one of the worst water crises to have affected the state in many years.

Employees from a cross-section of IT majors said their managements have turned to various ways to handle the situation, even as tankers and alternative sources are quenching the thirst, albeit at a fortune.

When contacted, industry sources told PTI that quite a few top companies along Old Mahabalipuram Road, also known as the IT Corridor, and the Siruseri IT Park have “orally” asked employees to work from home. 

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“While some teams which are required for taking up day to day operations have been asked to come to office”, many others, including software professionals, have been assigned ‘work from home duty’, an employee of an IT major located in suburban Sholinganallur said.

To meet the demands for their day to day operations, IT companies largely depend upon private water tankers.

In one of the worst years, Chennai and its neighbourhoods have been witnessing an extended summer after a deficient northeast monsoon in 2018, leading to depleted groundwater levels.

The government is managing the demand for water by opting for supply through tankers, besides identifying alternatives like quarries to meet the demand.

Meanwhile, another employee of a software firm in suburban Singaperumal Koil said the water situation has resulted in decreasing the number of bathrooms.

“For example, if there are 10 bathrooms on a floor, only two have been made available for employees due to water shortage”, he said.

Queries sent to the spokesperson of a leading IT company did not elicit any response.

The Tamil Nadu government, however, sought to play down the issue.

“The practice of work from home was already existent and the companies have only asked them (employees) to do so,” Tamil Nadu Munipal Administration and Rural development Minister SP Velumani told reporters.

When queried about alleged lack of private water tanker supply to IT companies, Velumani said the government is ready to help them out by arranging private water tanker supply if they require.

He denied reports of some hotels and restaurants facing closure due to water shortage.

As a water-saving measure, such small and medium-sized hotels have been asked to use plantain leaves instead of plates, he said.

Actress Bella Thorne posted topless photos of herself that she said a hacker was using to taunt her, saying she wanted to take “my own power back.” 

“For the last 24 hours I have been threatened with my own nudes,” Thorne, 21, wrote on Twitter Saturday alongside screenshots of text messages with someone she said had hacked the images last week. “I feel gross. I feel watched, I feel someone has taken something from me that I only wanted one special person to see.”

She added in an apparent message to her tormentor: “I can sleep tonight better knowing I took my power back. U can’t control my life u never will.”

Thorne, a former Disney Channel star and “Famous in Love” and “Duff” actress, told the Hollywood Reporter on Sunday hat she was trying to stay calm because she believes whoever is taunting her “sounds like he’s 17.”

“As much as I’m so angry ... I don’t want some 17 year old’s whole life ruined because he wasn’t thinking straight,” she said.

Thorne said the hacker also showed her nude photos of other celebrities. 

It’s been a bad time for Thorne. She recently broke up with rapper Mod Sun and has been trading jabs with him on Twitter.

In 2014, nude photos of scores of celebrities — almost all of them women — were leaked online after they were hacked from iCloud accounts. Five hackers were nabbed and sent to prison for terms ranging from eight to 34 months.

One of the most outspoken victims was Jennifer Lawrence, who called the hacking operation a “sex crime.”

“There’s not one person in the world that’s not capable of seeing these intimate photos of me,” Lawrence told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “You can just be at a barbecue and somebody can just pull them up on their phone. That was a really impossible thing to process.”

NEW DELHI — Senior BJP leader and former Union minister JP Nadda was appointed as party’s working president during a parliamentary board meeting on Monday.

This was announced by former BJP president and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after the party’s highest decision-making body’s meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

Shah will remain party’s national president.

Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi has collapsed during a court session and died, state TV and his family said.

Morsi was democratically elected in 2012 after the 2011 Arab Spring saw the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

A top figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation which has now been outlawed, he was toppled by the military in 2013 after mass protests against this rule.

He had been serving a seven-year sentence for allegedly falsifying his candidacy application for the 2012 presidential race.

Monday’s session was part of a retrial, being held inside Cairo’s Tura Prison, on charges of espionage with the Palestinian Hamas militant group.

Morsi’s son Ahmed confirmed the death of his father in a Facebook post.

Mohammed Sudan, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in London, described Morsi’s death as “premeditated murder”, saying that the former president was banned from receiving medicine or visits and there was little information about his health condition.

“He has been placed behind a glass cage (during trials). No-one can hear him or know what is happening to him. He hasn’t received any visits for a months or nearly a year. He complained before that he doesn’t get his medicine. This is premeditated murder. This is slow death.”

The judicial official said Morsi had asked to speak to the court during the session.

The judge permitted it, and Morsi gave a speech saying he had “many secrets” that, if he told them, he would be released, but he added that he was not telling them because it would harm Egypt’s national security.

Morsi was elected in 2012 in the country’s first free presidential election, held a year after an Arab Spring uprising ousted Egypt’s longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

His Muslim Brotherhood also held a majority in parliament.

The military, led by then-defence minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, ousted Morsi after massive protests against the Brotherhood’s domination of power.

El-Sissi was subsequently elected president and has waged a massive crackdown on Islamists and other opponents since.

Since Morsi’s ousting, Egypt’s government has declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and largely crushed it with a heavy crackdown.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have been arrested since 2013, mainly Islamists but also secular activists who were behind the 2011 uprising.

GENEVA — Massive farm-support plans in the United States and India are being scrutinised by other World Trade Organization members, questions submitted to the WTO’s quarterly agriculture committee meeting showed on Monday.

The WTO has strict rules about the size and nature of payments, and member governments keep a close watch for any competitors who might be cheating. Their questions ― 62 pages for the June 25-26 meeting ― can range from requests for clarification to outright allegations of illegal handouts.

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have both made boosting farm incomes a priority. Trump is trying to offset domestic damage from a tariff war with China; Modi faces a slowdown in India’s agriculture-dominated economy.

The European Union asked India to explain how Modi proposed to spend Rs 25 trillion rupees ($357.5 billion) on agriculture and rural development, doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022 as part of a Rs 100 trillion, five-year infrastructure splurge.

“How will this be done, taking into account global market prices of produce and measures put in place to prevent excess production?” the EU asked.

The United States queried India’s 5% export subsidy for non-Basmati rice and its growing state buying of wheat at rising prices, despite back-to-back record harvests, noting that it was on track for a record wheat stockpile.

The United States and Australia also wanted details of India’s new “transport and marketing assistance” for agriculture, which Australia said was an export subsidy that should be phased out.

The United States faced questions from Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, New Zealand and Ukraine about Trump’s $16 billion “market facilitation package”, the second payout under a programme that had been described as a one-off.

China said the package appeared likely to breach the allowed “product specific” ceiling of 5% of the value of production.

The EU also queried a $19 billion disaster bill approved by Congress this month, saying it would let the US Department of Agriculture boost “the prevented planting payment factor on crop insurance to 90% instead of 55% for corn and 60% for soybeans”.

India criticised the US 2018 Farm Bill, saying it benefited not only farmers, but also their first cousins, nieces and nephews, with children and spouses qualifying for $125,000 of payments.

Among other questions, Canada and Australia asked about the impact of Brexit, and the United States was concerned Pakistan’s wheat subsidies were creating “huge surpluses” and said China appeared to be exporting state-owned rice below cost.

Gloria Vanderbilt, an artist, author, actress and fashion icon, died Monday. She was 95.

Vanderbilt was diagnosed with stomach cancer several weeks ago. 

Her son, Anderson Cooper, announced her death in an obituary that aired on CNN. 

She was born into the wealthy Vanderbilt family on Feb. 20, 1924, and she became the subject of a high-profile custody case during the Great Depression. She was sent to live with her aunt after her mother — the only family Vanderbilt had known ― lost custody. 

She left the house at 17, marrying a Hollywood agent against her aunt’s wishes.

“She was determined to make something of her life,” Cooper said in the CNN obituary. “Determined to make a name for herself and find the love and family that she so desperately craved.” 

Vanderbilt was married four times, including to conductor Leopold Stokowski and writer Wyatt Emory Cooper.

“I think we should always be in love,” she once told Cooper in an interview.

As an actress, she appeared in numerous TV programs and dramas. She started her career in the fashion industry as a model, then designed her own clothing lines. Her artwork appeared in several exhibitions and was met with critical success. She wrote novels and memoirs, as well as books on art and home decor, and she contributed regularly to national publications.

Vanderbilt was a Renaissance woman of the 20th and 21st centuries, and a constant figure in the public eye.

“Her private self — her real self — that was more fascinating and more lovely than anything she showed the public,” Cooper said. “I always thought of her as a visitor from another world, a traveler stranded here who’d come from a distant star that burned out long ago.”

She was silent for a while when she was first diagnosed with cancer, according to Cooper. 

“Well, it’s like that old song,” she said. “‘Show me the way to get out of this world, because that’s where everything is.’”

The MTV Movie & TV Awards are like the much younger, messier distant cousin of the Oscars with only a sliver of the acclaim, but we’d be hard-pressed to find another awards show where the stars slay the red carpet harder. 

While the 28th annual ceremony was held on Saturday night at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, the awards show airs Monday on the network, honoring movies and television with some uniquely MTV categories like Best Meme-able Moment and Best Frightened Performance. 

Everyone from reigning box office queens Tessa Thompson and Elisabeth Moss to the chart-topping singer Lizzo hit the red carpet with bold fashions that likely wouldn’t fly anywhere but the MTV Movie & TV Awards. 

The ceremony’s host, “Shazam” star Zachary Levi, was also in attendance in a coordinated teal number, while honoree Jada Pinkett Smith, who’s receiving the Trailblazer Award, rocked the arrivals with a sparkly silver blazer and matching pants. 

Check out all the best looks from the ceremony below.  

Tessa Thompson

Elisabeth Moss

Jada Pinkett Smith

Zachary Levi

Lizzo

Aubrey Plaza

Mischa Barton

Nico Tortorella

Tiffany Haddish 

Melissa McCarthy

Jameela Jamil

Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag

Mj Rodriguez

Noah Centineo

Audrina Patridge 

Tana Mongeau

Trixie Mattel, Katya Zamolodchikova and Alyssa Edwards

Taylor Swift promised a star-studded affair for her You Need To Calm Down music video, and she definitely hasn’t disappointed.

Four years (four years!!) after debuting her celebrity-heavy Bad Blood music video, Taylor has once again recruited a load of famous faces for her new song, the majority of whom are either from the LGBTQ+ community or are known allies for it, in keeping with the song’s lyrics.

In case there were a few that passed you by, here’s our guide to all of the celebrities Taylor managed to sneak into the clip, in order of appearance...

Taylor Swift

You know who she is. It’s her song.

Hanna Hart and Dexter Mayfield 

Internet personality Hanna is known for hosting the YouTube series My Drunk Kitchen (the name of which is pretty self-explanatory), while Dexter is a plus-size model who won plaudits online when his La Fashion Week runway walk went viral.

Laverne Cox 

Groundbreaking actress and transgender rights activist, Laverne is best known for playing Sophia Burset in Orange Is The New Black.

Her role made her the first trans star to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy in any acting category.

Chester Lockhart

Another star best known for his work on YouTube, Chester is also an actor and dancer, who has worked on several of Todrick Hall’s past projects. He’s seen clutching a scarf adorned with the trans flag colours as he swoons over Laverne.

Todrick Hall 

Multi-talented YouTube star, choreographer, musician and Broadway performer Todrick frequently crops up during creative challenges on RuPaul’s Drag Race, to offer the queens his critiques.

He’s also the executive producer of the You Need To Calm Down video, and previously appeared in the background of Taylor’s Look What You Made Me Do clip.

Hayley Kiyoko 

Singer/songwriter, known to her fans as the “lesbian Jesus”. Hayley released her debut album Expectations in 2018, and is a friend of Taylor’s, performing on stage with her during the Reputation world tour last year.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson 

You probably know him for his role as Mitch in Modern Family, here he is with his husband Justin Mikita. Shortly before the You Need To Calm Down video debuted, Taylor made a guest appearance during Jesse’s cabaret show at the Stonewall inn. 

Ciara

And yes, that’s Ciara officiating. Ciara released her seventh album Beauty Marks earlier this year, and previously won a Grammy for her Lose Control music video. In 2004, she topped the UK singles chart with her debut single Goodies. 

Tan France

Queer Eye’s resident Brit, Tan is one of the new Fab Five, offering fashion advice in the Netflix lifestyle series. Here he is repping the UK by... drinking tea straight from the teapot.

Bobby Berk 

Another of the Queer Eye Fab Five, best known for essentially remodelling an entire house in the time it takes the others to make an avocado salad and dish out a bit of moisturising advice.

Karamo Brown 

The culture expert on Queer Eye, he’s also been refreshingly honest about his own history with addiction and mental health issues struggles away from the show. Karamo also looks brilliant in a neckerchief.

Adam Rippon

Bronze medal-winning Olympian Adam is a world famous figure skater and fashion icon, who constantly speaks out about issues relating to the LGBTQ+ community.

Antoni Porowski 

Another star from Queer Eye, Antoni offers food and nutrition advice, and apparently loves a biscuit.

Jonathan Van Ness 

The final of the Fab Five to be featured, Jonathan is the show’s grooming expert. A week before the music video’s debut, he came out as non-binary in an interview with Out magazine.

Adam Lambert and Ellen Degeneres

Adam shot to fame on American Idol and has since launched a successful solo career, as well as serving Queen frontman on their recent tours. Ellen Degeneres is quite literally Ellen Degeneres, the stand-up comedian, actress and talk show host. The tattoo she’s receiving says ‘Cruel Summer’, which we can only assume is a reference to a track on Taylor’s upcoming album Lover.

Billy Porter

Truly the man of the hour, Billy rose to global fame playing Praytell in Pose, but has also caused many a stir on the red carpet in 2019, with everything from his stunning tuxedo dress at the Oscars to his all-out approach at the camp-themed Met Gala.

Jade Jolie 

A contestant on the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Jade portrayed Taylor in the Snatch Game challenge. More recently, she appeared as Reputation-era Taylor in fellow Drag Race star Alaska Thunderfuck’s Snaked music video.

Portraying Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Adele, Cardi B, Katy Perry, Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj respectively, they appear as Taylor sings the line about not pitting female artists against one another.

The vast majority of these artists have been swept up in some fan war or another over the years, and several have beefed with Taylor herself. 

RuPaul

Drag queen extraordinaire and host of the multiple Emmy-winning reality series RuPaul’s Drag Race. Here she is presiding over a crowning, before ultimately throwing the headpiece in the air, declaring that everyone’s a winner (a mindset she’s grumbled about plenty of times in the past, but we’ll let that slide on this occasion).

Katy Perry

A very, very famous pop singer that Taylor was involved in a very, very famous feud with.

The whole beef became public when Taylor released the track Bad Blood, written about Katy, the music video for which saw her recruiting an A-list squad together to take into battle. It seems fitting, then, that now their feud is over, Taylor has marked the reconciliation with yet another cameo-heavy music video, this time with much more positive undertones. 

Ryan Reynolds

The star of Deadpool and Detective Pikachu, Ryan’s wife Blake Liveley is a close friend of Taylor’s. In fact, her song Gorgeous opens with a sample of Blake and Ryan’s daughter James’ voice.

Watch the You Need To Calm Down music video in full below:

The world’s population is getting older and growing at a slower pace but is still expected to increase from 7.7 billion now to 9.7 billion in 2050, the United Nations has said.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division said in a report that world population could reach a peak of nearly 11 billion around the end of the century.

But Population Division director John Wilmoth cautioned that because 2100 is many decades away this outcome “is not certain, and in the end the peak could come earlier or later, at a lower or higher level of total population”.

The new projections indicate that nine countries will be responsible for more than half the projected growth between now and 2050: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Egypt and the US.

In sub-Saharan Africa, population is projected to nearly double by 2050, the report said.

Under-secretary general for economic and social affairs Lu Zhenmin said: “Many of the fastest growing populations are in the poorest countries, where population growth brings additional challenges in the effort to eradicate poverty,” promote gender equality and improve health care and education. 

The report confirmed the world’s population is growing older due to increasing life expectancy and falling fertility levels.

The global fertility rate fell from 3.2 births per woman in 1990 to 2.5 in 2019 and is projected to decline further to 2.2 by 2050.

A fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman is need to ensure population replacement and avoid declines, according to the report.

In 2019, the fertility rate in sub-Saharan Africa was the highest at 4.6 births per woman, with Pacific islands, northern Africa, and western, central and southern Asia above the replacement level, the report said.

But since 2010, it said 27 countries or areas have lost 1% or more of their population.

“Between 2019 and 2050 populations are projected to decrease by 1% or more in 55 countries or areas, of which 26 may see a reduction of at least 10%,” the UN said.

“In China, for example, the population is projected to decrease by 31.4 million, or around 2.2%, between 2019 and 2050.”

Mr Wilmoth said the growth rate is slowing as the fertility level gradually decreases. That decrease usually follows a reduction in the mortality level that initially instigated growth, he said.

He stressed that multiple factors lead to lower fertility including increasing education and employment, especially for women, and more jobs in urban than rural areas, which motivate people away from costly large families to smaller families.

To achieve this, he said, people also need access to modern contraception.

According to the World Population Prospects 2019 report, migration is also a major component of population growth or loss in some countries.

Between 2010 and 2020, it said 14 countries or areas will see a net inflow of more than a million migrants while 10 countries will experience a similar loss.

For example, some of the largest outflows of people — including from Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines — are driven by the demand for migrant workers, the report said. But some migrants are driven from their home countries by violence, insecurity and conflict, including from Burma, Syria and Venezuela.

The UN said countries experiencing a net inflow of migrants over the decade include Belarus, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.

KOLKATA — Doctors in West Bengal called off their week-long strike on Monday night after meeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who assured them of steps to scale up security at government hospitals in the state.

The breakthrough came on a day health services especially Outpatient Departments (OPDs) were crippled across the country as doctors held protests and boycotted work to show solidarity with their colleagues in West Bengal who were on strike since Tuesday protesting assault on their two colleagues by kin of a patient who died in NRS Hospital and Medical College.

At an hour-long televised meeting with representatives of doctors, Banerjee announced a number of steps, including asking police to appoint nodal officers for security of doctors at all government hospitals in the state, following which the doctors agreed to end the stir.

The formal announcement was made after a general body meeting of the joint forum of doctors at the NRS Hospital, the epicentre of the agitation.

A spokesperson of the joint forum told reporters here that the doctors will return to work as they want to give the state government some time to act on its promises, but they will review the implementation of the steps.

“Our meeting and discussion with the CM met a logical end. We temporarily withdraw from our ceasework. Considering everything we expect the government to solve the issues as discussed in due time,” he said. 

Earlier, the protesting doctors had rebuffed the chief minister’s offer for talks expressing apprehension about their security after she proposed a “closed door” meeting at state secretariat Nabanna. 

Banerjee had visited the SSKM hospital here on Thursday and had warned of strict action against the striking doctors. She had alleged that the BJP and CPI(M) were instigating the protesters and giving it communal colour.

However, the two sides softened their stands over the weekend.

The end of the strike came as a big relief to hundreds of patients as health services have been disrupted across the state for seven days.

The West Bengal doctors received support from across the country. On the call of Indian Medical Association, medicos in Delhi and other states withdrew from non-emergency healthcare services.

Doctors struck work in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other parts of the country.

Though Banerjee had agreed to the protestors’ demand of holding discussion with them in an “open session” in the presence of media, the state government allowed only two regional news channels to cover the meeting. Other media representatives stayed outside the venue.

West Bengal health secretary, Minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya and other state officials were present at the meeting, besides 31 junior doctors.

The doctors apprised the chief minister of their concerns and said that they they fear for their safety while on duty.

Banerjee directed formation of grievance redressal units in all state-run hospitals as proposed by the junior doctors.

“We have decided in our governing body meeting that we will be returning to work as soon as possible,” the spokesperson for doctors’ forum said.

“We want to thank the chief minister for giving us some time. We want to give the state government some time to implement the promises they made to us. We also thank the common people.... We also seek forgiveness from them who have suffered the most,” he said.

The representatives of the joint forum of junior doctors also sought exemplary punishment for those involved in the assault on doctors at NRS Medical College and Hospital on June 11.

Banerjee said the state government has taken adequate measures and arrested five people involved in NRS incident.

The chief minister visited Paribaha Mukhopadhyay, one of the two injured, at the private hospital where he is under treatment. It was one of the demands of the agitating doctors.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi expressed happiness over withdrawal of strike. The agitating doctors had earlier met the Governor and urged him to direct the state government to provide security to doctors.

Opposition parties in West Bengal also welcomed the decision by the doctors and urged the state government to ensure conducive working atmosphere and infrastructure for the doctors working in government hospitals.

The doctors strike in Bengal had triggered a political slugfest between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, which has intensified its attacks on Banerjee after winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in the state, only four less than TMC.

The Union Home Ministry too had stepped in, issuing an advisory to West Bengal government on doctors strike.

Banerjee, however, dismissed them and accused “outsiders” for fanning the agitation.

NEW DELHI — BJP MP from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur created a controversy on the first day of the 17th Lok Sabha Monday when she suffixed the name of her spiritual guru with hers while taking oath, drawing sharp reaction from the Opposition.

Amid protests and shouting, Thakur asserted that it was her full name and the same was mentioned in the form filled by her for taking oath. 

The mention of Swami Purna Chetnanand Avdheshanand Giri as suffix to her name Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur drew strong objection from the Opposition members who said it was not permitted.

The BJP MP, however, insisted that the suffix was part of her full name, resulting in an uproar from Opposition and slogan-shouting in her favour from the ruling benches.

Pro tem Speaker Virendra Kumar sought to know from the Lok Sabha Secretary General the parliamentarian’s full name.

Amid the din, the Speaker ruled that only the name written in one’s election certificate issued by the returning officer would go on record.

After the ruling from the chair, she continued her oath. 

The Malegaon blast accused took oath in Sanskrit and ended it with ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogan.

Thakur routed Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh to enter the Lok Sabha for the first time.

Later, BJP members continued to raise ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogan, teasing the Opposition. They started raising the slogan after oath-taking by every BJP member. 

After Ganjendra Umarao Singh Patel (BJP) completed his oath with ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, N K Premchandran (RSP) urged the Pro tem Speaker to maintain the prescribed format of the oath.

The Pro tem speaker ruled that the members stick to the format provided.

After this, the BJP members started adding ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ at the end of every oath.

Some of the prominent names who took oath from Madhya Pradesh included K P Yadav who defeated Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rakesh Singh, Ramakant Bhargava and Nakul Nath.

Indore MP Shankar Lalwani took oath in Sindhi. 

A woman was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, on Saturday after she was seen “jabbing” at a protected sea turtle nest with a wooden stake and “stomping all over” it with her bare feet, according to police.

Yaqun Lu, a 41-year-old Chinese national, was reportedly seen committing the offense by bystanders and police officers. She’d allegedly entered a protected area of the beach and had ― despite a “Do Not Disturb” warning ― prodded at and stepped on a sea turtle nest she found there.

“Thankfully, it appears the eggs were not damaged,” Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez told the Miami Herald.

As the paper noted, it’s illegal under Florida law to harm or harass sea turtles  ― which are federally protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act ― or their nests and hatchlings.  

Miami Beach, the Herald said, is the nesting habitat for three species of protected sea turtles: the Loggerhead, Green and Leatherback. 

Their nesting season runs from around April through early November, according to a website run by the city.

“It is important not to disturb [sea turtle] hatchlings, eggs or nests since hatchlings need to crawl to the sea unimpeded,” the website said. “Touching nesting females, taking flash pictures of nesting females or hatchlings, or digging into nests is prohibited by law.”

Lu, who provided police with a Michigan address, is facing a felony charge of harassing marine turtles or eggs. She’s reportedly being held on a $5,000 bond and is being represented by a public defender.

Steven Spielberg’s movie adaptation of “West Side Story” hopes to be a very big deal in America.

On Monday, the director’s production company released a first look at the rival gangs, the Jets and Sharks. They’re ready to rumble ― and to dance.

The “Romeo and Juliet”-like lovers gazing at each other below, Tony and Maria, are played by Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler.

The film has been adapted from the original 1957 Broadway stage musical. Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar as Anita in the 1961 film version, returns in a new role.

Other cast members include Ariana DeBose (Anita), David Alvarez (Bernardo), Mike Faist (Riff), Josh Andrés Rivera (Chino), Corey Stoll (Lieutenant Schrank) and Brian d’Arcy James (Sergeant Krupke).

The production has been filming in Harlem, the New York Post reported.

Spielberg, who reportedly worked for years to secure the rights to “WSS,” has never directed a screen musical before. Guess he has to start somewhere.

“West Side Story” is scheduled to open Dec. 18, 2020

MUZAFFARPUR, Bihar — As the death toll of children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar shows no sign of abating, Muzaffarpur’s overworked doctors and nurses are struggling with another malaise — VIP visitors, whose presence demands a full-kitted out ambulance accompany their entourage at all times — even when convoy protocol does not allow for it.

Over the past week, Bihar’s health minister Mangal Pandey and the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan — both from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — have both visited Shree Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), which has witnessed at least 83 of the 103 recorded fatalities.

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When Pandey visited Muzaffarpur on 14 June, HuffPost India learnt that an ambulance managed by a doctor, a nurse, a blood bank technician, an emergency medical technician and a driver, was sent to accompany his convoy.

The ambulance met Pandey’s convoy at Fakuli, which is near the Muzaffarpur-Patna border, and stayed with him almost four hours, which included his visit to the SKMCH hospital.

At the hospital, an ambulance with a patient was stopped to make way for Pandey’s convoy.

Prior to Harsh Vardhan’s visit to Muzaffarpur on Sunday, an order for an ambulance was issued, but it was canceled as the AES situation had spiralled out of control and every ambulance was needed to ferry sick children.

The order for the ambulance is passed down from the District Magistrate to the Civil Surgeon to the District Programme Manager, who is in charge of the District Health Society.

This convoy protocol is extended to the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and the Governor of the state, Alok Ranjan Ghosh, the District Magistrate of the Muzaffarpur, told HuffPost India.

It is unclear why the protocol was extended to the state and union health ministers at a time when doctors and ambulances are in short supply.

Ghosh denied that ambulances were ordered for the ministers.

Of the 47 ambulances in Muzaffarpur, seven are being used by SKHMC, which is handling the bulk of the AES cases in the district. Two ambulances, one from the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Saraiya and the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Sahebganj have been called to SKHMC to share the heavy load of AES patients.

A doctor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the AES crisis made it necessary for the ambulance to be deployed at the panchayat level in order to reach people living in the hinterlands as quickly as possible.

Earlier, HuffPost India reported on how a shortage of trained doctors in Bihar had meant that fully equipped AES wards in government hospitals and clinics were lying empty, even as the few places with enough staff were forced to squeeze two or three children onto each bed to accommodate the influx of patients. At least 800 children have lost their lives to the disease in Bihar since 2013.

HuffPost India spoke with doctors who said that deploying ambulances to accompany VIPs was a matter of routine in Bihar, even when trained medical staff are stretched to breaking point.

One doctor, who had accompanied Jatin Ram Manjhi when he was chief minister of Bihar, said that he had to taste his food to make sure it was not poisoned.   

“This is India,” he said, seeking anonymity as he feared reprisals from the state government. “They behave like Maharajas.”

To be sure, “convoy duty” is an established part of VIP security protocols, where an emergency team of medical and security personnel accompany ministerial convoys. Yet in his inaugural address to his freshly-inducted cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had instructed his ministers to shun “VIP Culture”.

Service Doctors and PG Association, a Tamil Nadu-based organisation, which protects the rights of doctors, has called for ending the practice of sending trained medical staff on convoy duty.  

In Tamil Nadu, the practice was restricted to the President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister and Governor, said P. Saminathan, Gen Secretary of the organisation, adding, “never for a state minister.”

In Tamil Nadu, 1,40,000 doctors, including 21,500 government doctors, are registered with the Tamil Nadu Medical Council. In Bihar, almost 40,000 doctors are registered with the Bihar Medical Council.

Commenting on the ambulance and medics deployed for Mandal on Friday, Saminathan said, “When a 100 children have died, and there is a shortage of doctors, it should be avoided.”

WASHINGTON — A 44-year-old Indian-American IT professional shot dead his wife and two minor sons before killing himself with a gun inside their home in the US state of Iowa, according to the police.

The West Des Moines Police Department, which is probing the case, came to this conclusion after forensic autopsies were conducted on Sunday.

The family of four was found dead under mysterious circumstances with gunshot wounds, shocking the community.

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The bodies of Chandrasekhar Sunkara, Lavanya Sunkara, 41, their 15-year-old and a 10-year-old sons were found in their home on Saturday morning.

“The manners of death for Lavanya Sunkara and the two boys are homicide. The manner of death for Chandrasekhar Sunkara is suicide,” the police said in a statement.

“The State Medical Examiner’s Office has determined the causes of death for all four family members to be gunshot wounds,” they said.

The State Medical Examiner’s Office has determined the causes of death for all four family members to be gunshot wounds.

“Officials are working with surviving family members to provide support. Investigators are continuing to review evidence and conduct interviews,” the police added.

Chandrasekhar, known as Chandra, hailed from Andhra Pradesh.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) said he was an IT professional in the Technology Services Bureau for the department.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the Sunkaras,” the DPS said in a statement.

Officers with the West Des Moines Police Department were sent on Saturday morning to the 900 block of 65th Street, where they found the bodies.

“This tragedy will impact family, friends, co-workers, anyone that knew this family,” Sergeant Dan Wade said in statement.

“We are continuing to work through this investigation. We will follow through until we have answered as many questions as the evidence allows. We are confident, though, that there is no continuing threat to the community,” Wade said.

Police said other family members, two adults and two children, were staying in the home as guests. When the bodies were discovered, one of the relatives ran outside looking for help and found a passerby, who called 911.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting in the investigation.

“You don’t see something like this happen in the Indian community, let alone a heinous act like this,” said Shrikar Somayajula who has known the Sunkaras for over a decade.

“The family was a very friendly family and so it is really painful,” said Somayajula.

“We have more questions than answers now as to why this happened and we will probably never find out why this happened,” he said.

UNITED NATIONS — India, projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country around 2027, is expected to add nearly 273 million people between now and 2050 and will remain the most populated country through the end of the current century, a UN report said on Monday.

‘The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights’, published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said the world’s population is expected to increase by two billion people in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050.

The world’s population could reach its peak around the end of the current century, at a level of nearly 11 billion, according to the study, which presents the main results of the 26th round of the UN’s global population estimates, projections and global demographic patterns.

The new report released said that more than half of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just nine countries, led by India and followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Egypt and the US. 

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The report highlighted that “disparate population growth rates among the world’s largest countries will re-order their ranking by size.

India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country around 2027, according to current projections made in the report.

“India is expected to add nearly 273 million people between 2019 and 2050, while the population of Nigeria is projected to grow by 200 million. Together, these two countries could account for 23 percent of the global population increase to 2050,” the report said.

Previous UN projections had estimated that India will surpass China as the world’s most populous country as early as 2022. The 2017 world population report, released by the UN two years ago, had estimated that the population of India will surpass that of China’s by around 2024. In its 24th round of estimates released in 2015, the UN had projected that India will become more populous than China by 2022.

China, with 1.43 billion people in 2019, and India, with 1.37 billion, have long been the two most populous countries of the world, comprising 19 and 18 percent, respectively, of the global total in 2019. They are followed by the United States of America, with 329 million in 2019, and Indonesia, with 271 million, the 2019 report said. 

The report said that after this re-ordering between 2019 and 2050, the ranking of the five largest countries is projected to be preserved through the end of the century, when India could remain the world’s most populous country with nearly 1.5 billion inhabitants, followed by China with just under 1.1 billion, Nigeria with 733 million, the US with 434 million, and Pakistan with 403 million inhabitants.

It further said that in 2019, around 40 percent of the world’s population lives in intermediate-fertility countries, where women have on average between 2.1 and four births over a lifetime.

Average lifetime fertility of 2.1 live births per woman is roughly the level required for populations with low mortality to have a growth rate of zero in the long run. Intermediate-fertility countries are found in many regions, with the largest being India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt.

The report also confirmed that the world’s population is growing older due to increasing life expectancy and falling fertility levels, and that the number of countries experiencing a reduction in population size is growing.

By 2050, one in six people in the world will be over age 65 (16 percent), up from one in 11 in 2019 (9 percent). The number of persons aged 80 years or over is projected to triple, from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million in 2050.

Global fertility rate, which fell from 3.2 births per woman in 1990 to 2.5 in 2019, is projected to decline further to 2.2 in 2050. A fertility level of 2.1 births per woman is needed to ensure replacement of generations and avoid population decline over the long run in the absence of immigration.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin said the report offers a roadmap indicating where to target action and interventions.

“Many of the fastest growing populations are in the poorest countries, where population growth brings additional challenges in the effort to eradicate poverty, achieve greater equality, combat hunger and malnutrition and strengthen the coverage and quality of health and education systems to ensure that no one is left behind.”

A growing number of countries are experiencing a reduction in population size. Since 2010, 27 countries or areas have experienced a reduction of one percent or more in the size of their populations, caused by sustained low levels of fertility.

In China, the population is projected to decrease by 31.4 million, or around 2.2 percent, between 2019 and 2050.

Further, life expectancy at birth for the world, which increased from 64.2 years in 1990 to 72.6 years in 2019, is expected to increase further to 77.1 years in 2050.

The report added that migration has become a major component of population change in some countries. Between 2010 and 2020, 14 countries or areas will see a net inflow of more than one million migrants, while 10 countries will see a net outflow of similar magnitude.

US President Donald Trump, in a Monday night tweet, appeared to tease a massive  Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that he said was poised to begin next week. 

Trump said ICE would soon “begin the process of removing ... millions of illegal aliens” from U.S. soil. “They will be removed as fast as they come in,” he said.

The president did not elaborate on what operation, if any, he was referring to — but Washington Post reporter Nick Miroff suggested Trump was alluding to an earlier White House scheme to arrest and deport thousands of families.

The Post and The Associated Press reported last month that officials at the Department of Homeland Security had secretly mulled a plan to arrest thousands of undocumented migrant parents and children in coordinated raids conducted across the U.S. The idea, however, was reportedly shelved due to a lack of resources and concerns about public outrage.

“Usually major operations of this sort are considered ’law enforcement sensitive’ and a closely held secret, not telegraphed by the president,” Miroff said. 

In his Tuesday tweet, Trump also praised Mexico for “using their strong immigration laws” to stop undocumented migrants from reaching the U.S. border.

Guatemala, the president added, was “getting ready” to sign a safe third-country agreement with the United States. The pending agreement would require that people fleeing persecution in El Salvador and Honduras seek asylum in Guatemala.

If Guatemala does sign the protocol, it will be the first Latin American country to enter into such an agreement with the U.S. 

Activists have lambasted the proposed agreement. New York-based rights group Human Rights First said in a statement last week that it was “simply ludicrous” for the U.S. to suggest that Guatemala ― which also suffers high levels of violence ― would be capable of protecting refugees. 

“The Trump administration is doubling down on its efforts to block, bar and punish refugees for attempting to seek asylum in the United States,” a spokeswoman for the group said, Reuters reported. “These policies put the lives of refugees in great danger.”

Shayla Maas is disabled. No, she doesn’t mind if you call her that.

“I am actually disabled. I have multiple disability conditions, including Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, so it’s OK,” said Maas, who hosts the podcast “Tips and Tricks on How to Be Sick.” “I am equally fine with you calling me ‘person with a disability,’ but don’t be afraid to say the word ’disabled.”

In fact, Maas said it only gets weird when people dance around the word “disabled” with euphemisms like “handicapable” or “differently abled.” As she put it, “If someone feels like labeling me as ‘disabled’ makes me less of a person in some way, that’s really saying a lot about them, isn’t it?”

The way Maas chooses to identify herself as a disabled woman despite other people’s discomfort with the word highlights an interesting cultural divide: While more and more disabled people are embracing the word “disability” and urging others to do the same with viral social media campaigns like #SayTheWord, nondisabled people are slow to catch on.

That’s in part because schools, medical professionals and human resources trainings have long advocated for “person-first language,” in which you identify the person before their disability, such as “student with autism or person with cerebral palsy. Person-first language is meant to emphasize that the person isn’t defined by their disability.

But as actually disabled people will you, their disabilities are a vital part of who they are. That’s why many prefer “identity-first language,” in which the disability is put front and center in the terms we use. Examples include terms like “disabled people” or “Deaf person” rather than “person with a disability.”

By leading with the disability rather than tacking it onto the end, you’re affirming and validating the person and their disability. 

“I use identity-first language because disability is inextricably linked to who I am,” said Emily Ladau, a disabled writer from Long Island, New York. “Disability is part of what makes me me, and you shouldn’t have to go out of your way to emphasize that I’m a person first in order be reminded of my humanity.”

That said, there are some obvious common-sense exceptions. “I absolutely would not be OK with anyone calling me a ‘Larsen syndrome woman’ or a ‘wheelchair person,’” Ladau said. “I’m a woman who has Larsen syndrome. I’m a wheelchair user. I’m not a diagnosis or a piece of mobility equipment. But I am disabled.”

Where Person-First Language Comes From

Person-first language was born out of empathy. In the 1980s, health advocates and people with disabilities championed terminology that put the person before their condition or disability. After years of enduring so-called “neutral,” clinical terms like “mental defective” or “afflicted,” person-first language was a way to reclaim humanity and personhood, according to Lydia X. Z. Brown, a disability justice community organizer and lawyer. 

“Person-first language is still widely used by people with intellectual disabilities and many other communities of people with disabilities,” Brown said.

Today, the loudest proponents of person-first language are non-disabled people, including parents of disabled children, teachers and medical practitioners who may have been taught to “treat the patient, not the disease.”

“It’s a problem because they frequently shout over and dismiss actual disabled people who prefer identity-first language by insisting that the only respectful language is person-first language,” Brown said. “That’s inaccurate. Sometimes it is respectful to use person-first language, and sometimes it is respectful to use identity-first language. Neither are innately disrespectful.”

Today, many disabled people — particularly the Deaf and autistic communities — prefer identity-first language and have reclaimed what were once considered to be euphemisms like “crip,” similar to how the LGBTQ+ community reclaimed the word “queer.”

“For a lot of autistic people, using identity-first language is a way to destigmatize autism,” according to Zoe Gross, the director of operations at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. (So, “an autistic child” instead of “a child with autism.”) “I don’t call myself a person with Jewishness. I just say that I am Jewish. Being autistic is the same way ― it is a part of who I am. It’s not separable from me, and it isn’t bad or scary.”

The conversation could extend to mental illness, too. For example, would you refer to someone with a bipolar diagnosis as a “bipolar person” or a “person with bipolar disorder”? 

Mainstream mental health advocates and health care professionals tend to prefer person-first language. They argue that it prevents people from being identified with — or identifying themselves with — their illness. Additionally, most guidance for discussing mental health or writing about it in the media still insists on using this type of phrasing.

But ultimately, it’s different for every person, said Aubrey Good, the digital content manager at the International Bipolar Foundation.

“Personally, I interchangeably use person-first and identity-first language,” she said. “I’ve said ‘I am bipolar’ many times in conversation and have never expected this phrase to convey bipolar as being my identity. I say ‘I am bipolar’ no differently than I would say ‘I am sick’ or ‘I am happy.’”

“Bipolar disorder is one piece of the puzzle that I am,” she added, “but I cannot definitely draw a line and determine where the illness ends and where I begin.”

How To Find Out What Someone Prefers

It’s important to recognize that the disability community is not a monolith, and a person might have a preference that differs from other folks in their community. If you’re wondering what’s the best way to identify friends, co-workers or others, all it takes is a willingness to follow their lead.

First, notice how people refer to themselves when they’re talking in a group setting. When in doubt, call someone by their name ― or simply ask how they would like to be addressed in a tactful, non-awkward way, Ladau said.

“The first time you engage with a disabled person, don’t just blurt out something like, ‘What do people like you want to be called?’ or ‘What should I call you?’” she said. “If it comes up naturally in conversation and you’re unsure, just say, ‘Do you prefer to be called ‘disabled,’ ‘person with a disability’ or something else?’”

Whatever you do, “please don’t jump in and correct someone’s language preferences,” she said. 

Stay clear of cutesy euphemisms like “handicapable” or “differently-abled.” Nondisabled people have taken to the terms in recent years, but they’re patronizing and tend to reinforce stereotypes about disabilities, said Amy Kavanagh, a visually impaired activist. 

“Disability is not a bad word. I was born visually impaired and was made to feel like my disability was shameful for most of my adult life,” Kavanagh said. “These kind of euphemisms made me feel like my disability was too difficult for nondisabled people to manage — that I had to minimize it and hide it for fear of causing discomfort by reminding people of my needs.”

The euphemisms don’t just hint at erasure, the practice of collective indifference that renders certain people and groups invisible, they’re also really awkward to say.

“I can’t hear properly, but no amount of condescending language is going to change that,” said Meg Szydlik, a student at Northeastern University who is disabled. “I’m also not Daredevil, and I didn’t gain superpowers from my disability, which is always what ‘handicapable’ makes me think of.”

Lastly, don’t assume this is simply a matter of semantics and disregard someone’s preference. You might have been taught that certain phrasing was more respectful, but if disabled people tell you they prefer identity-first language, listen to them. 

“It’s not the end of the world if someone doesn’t use the ‘right’ language because they forgot or because they don’t know,” Brown said. “But if you have the ability to be conscious of your language and change it, it hurts no one to make the effort.”