It’s no secret that the LGBTQ community has helped shape the fashion industry and its ever-evolving trends. In fact, many iconic fashion moments wouldn’t exist without the community’s creativity and impact. 

The fashion industry is indebted to the LGBTQ community, the contributions  of which haven’t gone completely unnoticed in years past. We agree there can always be more recognition, but many of the fashion world’s designers are known to show support for the oft-targeted and marginalized group.

Below ― in no particular order ― check out nine standout moments in which the fashion world paid homage to the members of the LGBTQ community in recent years. 

1. Opening Ceremony’s Spring/Summer 2019 Show

Opening Ceremony’s spring/summer 2019 show was a “drag extravaganza” created by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Sasha Velour and OC creative directors Humberto Leon and Carol Lim. 

According to Elle UK, Velour hand-picked more than 40 LGBTQ models to be in the show, which was meant to “celebrate the art of drag.” Others in the show included fellow drag queens Lypsinka, Miss Fame and “Drag Race” alum Jiggly Caliente.

“Drag performers have been seen as a low form of entertainment for a while and to be in this space where we’re being treated like valuable performers is world-changing,” Velour said after the show, per Elle UK. “I hope that will multiply for everyone ― not just for me and this cast, but all of the incredible drag performers out there.” 

2. Chanel’s Spring 2013 Couture Show

The couture bride ― typically the model who wears the final look during a couture show ― has become a mainstay of couture fashion week over the years. And for his spring 2013 show, the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld sent two down the runway. 

Models Ashleigh Good and Kati Nescher closed the show, walking hand in hand down the catwalk. The deliberate casting of two female models was an apparent show of support for France’s move toward marriage equality, according to CR Fashion Book. The same year this Chanel show was presented, France passed a bill that made it illegal to refuse marriage to same-sex couples. 

3. Monisha Jaising’s Summer 2017 Show

Transgender model Anjali Lama, who was born in Nepal, became the first trans model to walk the runway at Lakme Fashion Week (considered India’s version of fashion week). The model appeared in the show wearing a gold embellished gown with a plunging neckline. 

In an Instagram post featuring a photo from the show, Lama called the experience “amazing.” 

“I do hope to be an inspiration for other transgender people,” Lama told Agence France-Presse, per The Express Tribune. “I’d like to tell them to always believe in themselves and to work towards their goals.” 

4. Ashish’s Fall/Winter 2017 Show

Fashion designer Ashish Gupta stayed true to form for his fall/winter 2017 show, sending models down the runway in sequin outfit after sequin outfit. And while sparkles are almost always eye-catching, it was the graphics that really caught our eyes. 

The collection featured a number of garments printed with statements like “Love sees no colour” and “Why be blue when you can be gay!” establishing the show as a “middle finger to the establishment,” as fashion publication 1 Granary put it. The outlet also notes Gupta’s collection had an overarching message of acceptance and tolerance. 

5. Burberry’s Spring/Summer 2018 Show

Christopher Bailey, the former creative director of Burberry, dedicated his final collection for the luxury label “to the best and brightest organizations supporting LGBTQ youth around the world,” he said in a statement on Instagram. 

“There has never been a more important time to say that in our diversity lies our strength, and our creativity,” Bailey added. 

Models walked down a colorfully lit runway in a variety of looks, which combined Burberry’s signature tartan with references to the rainbow-colored pride flag. The most show-stopping look from the collection was a rainbow striped faux fur cape, worn by model Cara Delevingne, who has been open about gender and sexual fluidity. 

6. No Sesso’s Fall/Winter 2019 Show

In February 2019, Pierre Davis made history as the first transgender fashion designer to show a collection at New York Fashion Week. 

The Council of Fashion Designers of America made the announcement about the show back in January. Davis, whose brand is agender according to Elle, told the CFDA (per Elle UK) that she hoped No Sesso “will inspire people to be more community-minded and to realize not everything is just about aesthetics or commerce. It’s also about humanity.”

“The playing field isn’t level in the world, and it is even more difficult in fashion,” Davis said. 

7. Anja Gockel’s Spring/Summer 2017 Show

Anja Gockel, a Berlin-based designer, took inspiration from colorful flags for her spring/summer 2017 runway show. Among those flags was the multicolored pride flag, which in one case, was fashioned into a full-length halter dress and worn by a male model. 

8. Marco Marco’s Collection Seven Presentation

Designer Marco Morante of Marco Marco sent a cast of all transgender models down the runway for his fashion show in September 2018 in New York. The show made history thanks to the fact that it featured the most trans men ever assembled on a New York Fashion Week runway, according to Mic. (Trans designer Gogo Graham featured a cast of all trans models in 2015.)

Morante, who said trans and nonbinary individuals have always been part of his shows, said that he “wanted to create a space to celebrate trans bodies,” per Mic.

The outlet also noted that Morante added, “This was an opportunity for their presence to be undeniable and reinforce that trans is beautiful.”

Among those who walked in the show were trans stars like Laverne Cox, Gigi Gorgeous (pictured above), Trace Lysette, Dominique Jackson and Angelica Ross. 

9. “Project Runway’s” Season 17 Catwalk

Model Mimi Tao became the first transgender model to grace the “Project Runway” catwalk during the show’s 17th season. She made her debut on the season premiere, when she was paired with designer Kovid Kapoor (his design is pictured above). 

“I have been working so hard to get here, especially for the transgender people,” she said to Kapoor, per the website Pride. “They need to work harder than other people ... I want to inspire all the transgender young generation who have a dream.”

Garlic lovers seem to eat up just about any technique there is to expedite the process of removing stinky cloves from their peels. There’s the shake in two mixing bowls method, the shake in a jar method, the microwaving method ― the list goes on.

None quite took the internet by storm quite like the most recent iteration posted to Twitter on Sunday, involving what looks like a thick paring knife and seemingly magical powers. 

Twitter user @VPestilenZ shared a mesmerizing video using the technique, captioned, “As someone who makes a lot of Korean food, this is the best method for getting garlic peeled.” So far it’s racked up over 370,000 likes, more than 16 million views and thousands of replies. 

But naturally it was Chrissy Teigen who summed it up best, speaking for all of us when she tweeted “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.”

Had we been depriving ourselves of this oddly satisfying and efficient way to peel lots of garlic at one time? There was only one way to find out. Using a paring knife and a scissor (which resembled th, two HuffPost staffers ― one who is a novice cook and one professionally trained ― tried their hand at the technique. 

It, to put it simply, didn’t go so well. 

At worst the garlic just broke, at best it came out in weird half pieces. What we were left with was a lot of wasted garlic and strong-smelling fingers.

For what it’s worth, some other people appear to have had better luck. One user shared the tool that works best appears to have a slanted tip. So there’s that. 

Perhaps with a lot of practice this could end up being a hack worthy of all this buzz, but for now, as senior editor and culinary school graduate Kristen Aiken put it: “I could’ve peeled it faster the normal way.”

Whether you’re casually dating or long married, there’s a good chance you’ve fired off an X-rated message or photo to a love interest at some point. As the main character in HBO’s new show ”Euphoria” says, “It’s 2019 and unless you’re Amish, nudes are the currency of love.”

And it’s not just teens who are swapping steamy texts. In a survey by Drexel University researchers of 870 heterosexual adults age 18-82, nearly 88 percent of respondents said they’ve sexted in their lifetimes. Eighty-two percent reported they’d sexted within the past year.

Of course, sexting opens you up to a world of risks. Actress and singer Bella Thorne said Saturday that a hacker got access to her private photos (which she decided to post on her own Twitter page, rather than be blackmailed). 

Plus, there’s always the chance the sextee could show your messages to others or even post them on a revenge porn site. When it comes to the digital world, there’s simply no guarantee of privacy.

That said, we’re not going to suggest you stop sexting (because that wouldn’t be any fun for anyone). Instead, here are a few precautions you can take to keep your sexts safe.

Make Sure It’s Consensual

The first rule of all things sex is that every act should be consensual. That means before shooting over a dick pic or topless selfie, be sure to get enthusiastic confirmation that the other person wants to see it. If not, your sext could be considered harassment.

And don’t neglect your own comfort with the exchange. If you feel pressured to send a racy photo or aren’t 100 percent convinced you can trust the person asking for it, err on the side of caution and keep the convo PG-13. That goes for text messages, too ― no one should be forced to send or read sexually explicit words if they’re not into it.

Avoid Identifying Details

We get it: Pursed lips and perfectly tousled bed head can be the cherry on top of an expertly composed nude. But including your face dramatically increases the chances that a photo gets traced back to you should it be leaked. That goes for other details that can be used to identify you, such as a tattoo, unique piercing or your bedroom as the backdrop.

When snapping your pic, aim to show only the neck down and take it somewhere with a fairly plain background (like in front of a bare wall). If you have any other identifying features, consider cropping or blurring them.

Delete The Metadata

Though sexting is a mobile-exclusive activity for most people, you may need to head to your desktop for a final edit before sending any risqué images. That’s because most digital photos contain metadata, including GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken, date and time the photo was taken, the make and model of the camera and other details you might not want to be associated with your picture.

You can disable your iPhone camera from saving geographic data on photos in the first place, or use an app like ViewExif to view and remove metadata from your phone. If that’s not possible, you’ll need a computer. 

To remove this information in Windows, right-click on the image file and select “Properties.” Then click the “Details” tab to find the link titled “Remove Properties and Personal Information.” Click this link to remove the metadata (you’ll be asked to select whether you want to make a copy with the info removed or to remove the information from the original). The process might be slightly different using other operating systems.

On a Mac, you’ll need to be using OS X Yosemite in order to remove Geodata without the help of a third-party tool. Open your photo in Preview, then select “Tools” and “Show Inspector.” Next, click the (i) icon to pull up the info panel, click the GPS tab and hit the “Remove Location Info” button.

Use A Secure Connection

“Use a VPN when possible,” said Zohar Pinhasi, a cyber threat specialist and CEO of MonsterCloud. A VPN ― or virtual private network ― helps keep your web activity private by creating a temporary IP address and hiding your true IP address from any site you connect with. In other words, a personal VPN will help you stay anonymous on the internet. Pinhasi noted that there are plenty of good options available, some of which are free.

And whether or not you connect to a VPN, always use a secure wireless network. Never sext over public Wi-Fi, even if it’s password protected, Pinhasi said. It’s simply too easy for hackers to intercept your messages.

Use Messaging Apps With End-To-End Encryption

Rather than sexting over your phone’s messaging app, Facebook messenger or other vulnerable services, you should use an app that employs end-to-end encryption, according to Pinhasi.

“Lots of messaging apps offer this, including WhatsApp,” he said. “That way nobody, including people at WhatsApp (or whatever messaging service you’re using), can see the message. The only person who can view the photo is the person to whom you’re sending the photo.”

Other free encrypted messaging apps include Cyphr, Signal, Silence and more.

Be Wary Of The Cloud

In addition to sending sexts securely, you should also make sure you’re storing them in a way that won’t make them accessible to hackers. If you’re using an iPhone, for example, your images may be syncing to iCloud.

“While companies can tell you their cloud is ‘secure’ and ‘safe,’ you must come to terms with the fact that it’s entirely out of your control,” said Pinhasi. “You are taking their word for it and putting trust in a company that it’s doing the right thing from a security standpoint. But there’s absolutely no way to know ― and that includes what [data] employees may have access to.”

If you’re going to hold onto nudes, it’s a good idea to keep them in personal cloud storage rather than iCloud, Google Drive, etc. A personal cloud isn’t inherently more secure, but Pinhasi explains that they’re much smaller and less likely to be targeted by hackers. “You can also control when that cloud is connected to the internet and when it isn’t. When it’s not connected to the internet, hackers can’t gain access to it.”

Finally, he said, you also have the option to control how your files are stored on your own cloud. “You could, in theory, encrypt all of your data before placing it on your own personal cloud,” he said.

Destroy The Evidence

Better yet, your best bet is to get rid of nudes after you’ve sent them. It might pain you to delete the most perfect booty shot you’ve ever captured, but you’re better off destroying the evidence rather than leaving it around for the wrong person to find. 

Sure, the receiver will still be in possession of those files, but at least you can ensure things on your end are hack-proof. And it’s not unreasonable to ask your sexting partner to follow the same precautions you do. 

Don’t Do It At Work

According to the same survey mentioned above, nearly 30 percent of sexters have done it at work or while out and about. That might add an extra layer of sexy, sexy danger, but it also puts you at undue risk of being caught and potentially losing your job.

“The temptation may be there, especially if you’re feeling a little bored and worked up, but it’s best to wait until you’re home in a safe space,” said Dr. Clare Morrison, a medical adviser at MedExpress. If you’re caught by a co-worker ― or worse, your boss ― the repercussions could be pretty bad. Plus, if your phone is linked to a work cloud or server, your photos could end up being circulated around the office, Morrison said.

Know Your Rights When It Comes To Revenge Porn

Sexting is inherently risky behavior, but that doesn’t mean that it’s ever okay for someone to share your messages or photos without your permission.

Revenge porn, or intentional distribution of non-consensual porn, has been criminalized in most US states. However, the law varies depending on the specific state, and nine have yet to make revenge porn illegal. Familiarise yourself with local revenge porn laws so that if anyone ever were to distribute your nudes or handle them in an inappropriate manner ― God forbid ― you know what legal recourse to take.

Kate Middleton showed off her best and bluest look at the Royal Ascot on Tuesday, which she attended alongside Prince William, Queen Elizabeth and many other members of the royal family. 

The five-day event, which is one of the most fashionable celebrations of the year, has strict style guidelines for the hundreds of thousands that make the pilgrimage to Ascot, England, each year. 

The Duchess of Cambridge wore a gorgeous blue dress by Elie Saab with sheer sleeves and a delicate tulle skirt. She accessorized with matching blue heels and a hat by one of her go-to’s, Philip Treacy. 

The prince looked dapper in a top hat and complemented the duchess with similar shades of blue. 

Blue appeared to be the most popular color for Day 1, as Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Zara Tindall and Queen Elizabeth all choose blue as well. 

We’ll wait and see if everyone color-coordinates tomorrow! 

Subscribe to HuffPost’s Watching the Royals newsletter for all things Windsor (and beyond).

Once you’ve said your “I dos,” you might think you’ll be basking in that easy, breezy newlywed glow for the foreseeable future. But in reality, just because you’re in the honeymoon phase doesn’t mean it’s all smooth sailing. 

Many of the changes that arise when you join two lives together can create some choppy waters, from your family dynamics to your finances. 

“Almost every person imagines they’ll be a great spouse one day, but once the rings are on and the wedding cake turns stale, reality sets in — marriage just isn’t as easy as we thought,” marriage and family therapist Becky Whetstone told HuffPost. “With the combining of family, friendships, belongings and money, pitfalls and booby traps abound.”

We asked relationship therapists to share the common fights couples tend to have during the first year of marriage and how to navigate these contentious issues. 

1. The “What Happened To Our Sex Life?” Fight

It’s easy to take the sexual chemistry you and your partner shared during the early days of your relationship for granted. So you might think maintaining a hot-and-heavy sex life will continue to be effortless. But the truth is, many couples experience a dip in their sex lives during the first year of marriage, said Kurt Smith, a therapist who specializes in counseling men. 

“It’s not uncommon after the wedding for the sexual passion to die down and one or both partners to become unhappy with their sex life,” Smith said. “With these couples, I explore the desires of each [partner]. Just starting a constructive dialogue is huge around the topic of sex.”

A dwindling sex life can create physical and emotional distance between the couple, particularly if one partner is making advances that are frequently rejected, while the other feels ashamed that they can’t satisfy their partner’s sexual needs.  

If you have noticed a falloff in your sex life, don’t fret, as this is rather common. But do try to have a conversation about these changes sooner rather than later, sex therapist Kimberly Resnick Anderson previously told HuffPost. 

“Couples collude in silence,” she said. “They decide it is easier to have no sex at all than to deal with the hurt feelings and unpredictable emotions, such as guilt or anger. Intervening before the problem takes on a life of its own is key.”

2. The “When Are We Having A Baby?” Fight

By the time you get married, you should be on the same page about whether or not you want children (here’s a list of other important conversations you should have before you walk down the aisle). But you may not have hammered out the precise details of how and when you’re going to start a family. 

“Whether it’s when to have their first child, how many they’ll have or how close together, the subject of having kids can be rich with strife,” Smith said. “It’s pretty typical for one spouse to have a ‘clock is ticking’ mentality, while the other either wants to enjoy life as a couple before becoming a family or has career or financial goals they want to reach first.”

The experience of planning and celebrating a wedding can shift one or both partners’ preferred timelines for big decisions, such as having kids or buying a house, said marriage and family therapist Spencer Northey.

“Reeling from the sticker shock of the wedding may push things back for one person, whereas the other person may want to speed things up after talking with lots of friends and family,” she said. “It may be important to take some time and space from the wedding and live your lives together for a few months to a year before exploring any changes to your plans.”

3. The “We Need Some Better Boundaries” Fight 

Whether it’s friends dropping by the house unannounced, your in-laws asking prying questions about why you’re not pregnant yet or your spouse’s inability to make a decision without consulting their parents first, unhealthy boundaries with loved ones can put a strain on your marriage.

“One of the big issues in young marriages is that our bodies are grown up, but emotionally we haven’t fully launched into adulthood,” Whetstone said. “Adults are capable of setting solid boundaries with family and friends. They put their spouse and marriage first. The fights we see are ones in which one partner values what their family or friends need over their spouse’s needs.”

And while it’s important to maintain close relationships with friends and relatives after you get married, regularly prioritizing others over your spouse will inevitably lead to discord in the relationship. 

“You have to be attentive to your spouse’s wants and needs on a daily basis, and they need to do the same for you,” Whetstone said. “When it comes to friendship and family boundaries, we’re going to encourage spouses to grow up and lean on their spouse as their primary person, over and above everyone else.”

4. The “I’m Sick Of Cleaning Up After You” Fight

Figuring out how to divvy up household labor (like folding the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, making dinner and doing the dishes) in a way that works for both partners can be tricky to navigate for newlyweds, but is essential for the health of the relationship. In fact, a 2016 Pew Research survey found that 56% of married U.S. adults say sharing household chores is “very important” to a successful marriage.

And when the lion’s share of these responsibilities unfairly falls on one partner’s shoulders, resentment can build, leading to frustrated outbursts and arguments.

In heterosexual partnerships, women are still often the ones to shoulder the burden of household chores, but that isn’t always the case, Smith said. And even in same-sex marriages, where traditional gender norms may not play as big of a role, couples still fight about keeping a tidy home. 

“It isn’t always the guys leaving their dirty socks and underwear on the floor and their new bride having to pick them up,” Smith said. “Regularly, men complain to me that their wife won’t clean up after herself either, such as leaving dirty dishes laying around or piles of laundry on the sofa. We discuss and agree upon cleanliness standards, which is very important so that a household standard can be agreed upon that both can follow.” 

5. The “How Do We Split Up The Holidays?” Fight

Navigating the holidays during your first year as newlyweds can be fraught. Neither of you wants to give up this special time with your families or break long-standing traditions, but ultimately, sacrifices have to be made. And managing your relatives’ disappointment or hurt feelings makes it all the more stressful. 

“Often, couples are guilted and pressured by their [individual] families, who lobby for the couple to choose them,” Whetstone said. 

So what does Whetstone recommend to newlywed clients who are struggling with this very issue?

“I tell them that by marrying, they have created their own family, and that comes first and over and above the considerations of what their families want,” she said. “If both spouses hate to miss their own family event, I suggest they take turns, every other year at each family’s home, toss a coin, or stay home and create their own family tradition.”

6. The “What Goes Where” Fight

Whether you lived together before the wedding or not, after the nuptials, there will likely be some new organizational projects for you two to tackle. Maybe it’s embarking on home renovations, redecorating a room or just making space for each other’s stuff (and that mountain of wedding presents). Regardless, creating a home system that works may involve some growing pains along the way.

“Many couples who pride themselves in getting along well may surprise themselves getting so angry over furniture and decor,” Northey said.

In her sessions, Northey also encourages couples to figure out their deeper goals for building a happy home together.

“I encourage couples to go beyond a debate about aesthetics and functionality, and talk about what their vision and attachment to certain items means for them,” she said. “What is special about this item you just have to keep? Is there enough representation of both of you in the space? Once each person feels heard and considered it may be easier to figure out how to best honor each person’s things and ideas for their home.” 

7. The “You’re Not Good With Money” Fight

Money is a notoriously thorny subject for couples — especially for newlyweds who may just be starting to combine finances, looking to buy a home or thinking about starting a family. 

“While dating, or even if you’ve been living together, it can be easy to hide your finances,” Smith said. “Once married, most partners discover the truth about things like the true amount of debt their spouse has, or learn about money habits that may go against their own.”

Money matters may appear to be practical concerns, but there’s often a lot of emotional baggage tied up in them, which makes them difficult to discuss.

In his sessions, Smith said he works with the couples on “honesty, transparency and expressing feelings about [money] before working on developing a plan on how they will move forward with their new financial life together.”

As the temperature rises, some men swear the heat has a flattering effect on their peens, adding inches in length and girth down below. Last July, Mel Magazine reporter Tracy Moore gave a name to this peculiar seasonal phenomenon: summer penis.

“Summer penis is a temporary dick fluctuation that, thanks to the heat and warmth, gives you a months-long leg-up on shaft size,” she wrote, citing anecdotes from various men. “It’d be like if a woman’s boobs suddenly got huge from May to August.”

In a world of growers and showers, consider it nature’s way of bringing some equality to packages everywhere. 

“In the summer, my dick tends to be consistently larger when I look in the mirror, and my biggest measurements have been taken in the summer,” Richard, a 30-year-old who lives in the northeast U.S., told HuffPost. (He, like others quoted in this story, asked to be identified only by his first name to protect his privacy.)

Sounds great in theory. But is this all just a pipe dream ― pun very much intended ― or are these dudes on to something? Aaron Spitz, a urologist and author of “The Penis Book: A Doctor’s Complete Guide to the Penis,” initially scoffed at the idea. 

“My first reaction was, ‘Oh, boy, here we go again with obsession over size,’” he told us. However, Spitz did admit there could be some truth to the phenomenon.

“It makes sense to me because of the underlying mechanism of how a man’s penis can expand and contract in size,” he said. “The size of the penis can increase and decrease as a result of the relaxation or contraction of the many tiny blood vessels that comprise the inside of the shaft of the penis.”

Warmth, he said, “increases relaxation of these blood vessels, which increases the blood flow through them, filling out the penis more and giving it a longer, fuller appearance.” (In short, more heat = better blood flow.)

If you’re a summer penis skeptic, you’re not alone. Women we spoke to were also more wary of the phenomenon (though we’ll cede the floor to people of any gender who have penises).

“I highly doubt a part of the body would change that significantly due to the season,” said Ashley, a 27-year-old from Washington, D.C. “If this is true, think of what the penises of 2050 will be like after the climate crisis/global warming. It’d be a peen-pocalypse.”

As fascinating as this subject may be, there’s no definitive scientific evidence one way or another on summer penis, said Paul Turek, a urologist who runs the Turek Clinic in San Francisco. While there could be some truth to the idea that penises appear bigger in the heat, there isn’t enough research on the subject for doctors to say whether it’s absolutely, completely real.

Your testicles absolutely do hang a little lower when it’s hot, though.

“We know that the scrotal sac is exquisitely temperature-sensitive and drops way down when hot and creeps way up when cold,” Turek said.

Shrinkage is definitely real, too, he noted.

“With colder temperatures, there is less skin showing, less desire, less sweating and more hibernative fat,” Turek explained. “This could lead to contracted skin rather than puffy skin, more penile shrouding from a tight scrotum, and more fat and the appearance of shrinkage.”

Whatever the season, if you you want to look larger, consider shaving or waxing: Removing excess hair around your penis will accentuate your package, said Fiona Hilario, the founder of Lay Bare Waxing Salon in Los Angeles.

“One of the benefits of being hair-free down there is that getting rid of all that hair really does make you look bigger,” she said. “Plus, you’ll smell fresher and that’s a big bonus for you and your partner.”

Can’t argue with that.

NEW DELHI — The BJP’s surprise pick — Om Birla —was elected as the new Lok Sabha Speaker after his candidature on Tuesday was backed by all NDA allies as also by the YSR Congress Party, the Biju Janata Dal and key opposition parties, including the Congress.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Birla in Parliament after he was elected. Birla succeeded Sumitra Mahajan as Lok Sabha speaker. 

The BJP have a notice to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, proposing Birla’s name for the Speaker’s post and bringing a motion for his election. He is a two-time MP from the Kota-Bundi seat in Rajasthan. 

Sources told PTI that Modi had proposed Birla’s name for the post. The Rajasthan leader is considered to be close to both Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

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Birla’s surprise nomination is seen by many in the BJP as a message from the top leadership that the party will promote leaders who keep a low-profile and work at the ground-level.

BJD, YSRCP, JDU, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, National People’s Party, Mizo National Front, Lok Janshakti Party, AIADMK and Apna Dal have given the notice to support Birla’s candidature for the Speaker’s post, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters.

Later, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the party and the UPA allies have also decided to support the candidature of Birla as the Speaker.

Chowdhury also said the Congress has already moved a motion supporting the ruling party candidate.

The decision to support Birla’s nomination was taken at a meeting of the UPA allies, where the leaders also discussed the opposition strategy during the Parliament session.

Birla, who won his first Lok Sabha election in 2014 and was re-elected from Rajasthan’s Kota-Bundi seat. He defeated Congress’s Ramnaraian Meena with a margin of over 2.5 lakh votes in the recently concluded general elections.

He has also been elected to Rajasthan assembly for three consecutive terms in 2003, 2008 and 2013.

Birla will succeed eight-term MP Sumitra Mahajan as the Speaker, a post traditionally held by senior MPs.

However, this will not be for the first time a relative newcomer will hold the position. In 1996, TDP leader G M C Balayogi was also a two-time MP when he was elected as the LS Speaker and after his death in a helicopter crash in 2002, Shiv Sena leaders and the first-time MP Manohar Joshi was appointed to the position.

(with PTI inputs)

ORLANDO, Fla. ― US President Donald Trump formally launched his reelection campaign at a packed-to-the-rafters rally in Orlando on Tuesday, officially moving to continue one of the most divisive administrations in modern history for four more years.

“We’re going to keep on fighting for every man, women and child across this land. We’re going to keep [America] better than ever before,” Trump said to a chorus of cheers. “That is why, tonight, I stand before you to officially launch my campaign for a second term as president of the United States.”

During his announcement, the president brushed off any residual damage from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 election and praised his supporters for defending him throughout what he referred to as a “great hoax” and an “illegal witch hunt” meant to erase their votes. 

He hit many familiar talking points during the event, championing his efforts to install conservative judges around the nation, lambasting former Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton and drumming up support for his wall along the southern U.S. border. At times, the crowd of 20,000 joined in with chants and jeers, waving Trump 2020 signs while sporting red MAGA hats.

“Our future has never, ever looked brighter or sharper,” the president said. “The fact is the American dream is back, it’s bigger and better and stronger than ever before. 2016 was not merely another four-year election, this was a defining moment in American history.”

Throughout his speech, Trump brushed off any potential challenges from the crowded field of Democrats hoping to unseat him, declaring the party “more radical, more dangerous and more unhinged than at any point in the modern history of our country.”

“No matter what label they use, a vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream,” Trump said. “So don’t ever forget this election is about you, it’s about your family, your future and the fate of your country.”

“I have news for the Democrats,” he said earlier. “We are not going back, we are going on to victory.”

Thousands of Trump supporters waited for hours in the heat and rain Tuesday to get inside the Amway Arena in downtown Orlando. Some, like 37-year-old Daniel McQuarrie and his daughter, even slept outside the arena overnight so they could get front row seats for the president’s official campaign kickoff.

“I just wanna be a patriot and support our president,” said McQuarrie, a Disney employee from Port St. John, Florida. “It’s something historic that we’ll never forget.”

McQuarrie, who wore a T-shirt from the conspiracy website InfoWars, added that he thought Trump is “doing his best to drain the swamp” and fight “the globalists.”

There was certainty among many of the president’s supporters that Trump is sure to win in 2020, the most recent polls be damned. Almost none had Trump winning in 2016. Why trust them now?

Before the president took to the stage Tuesday, his adult sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., took turns riling up the crowd.

Trump Jr. lashed out at the media, lamenting how his dad gets “95 percent negative coverage.” The crowd jeered and broke into chants of “CNN sucks!”

“If you’re a Democrat, you get a pass on everything,” Trump Jr. said, adding that “it’s not even close to a fair fight.”

Tuesday’s announcement has been a long time coming.

While the Orlando visit has been touted as a “kickoff,” Trump’s reelection campaign actually began on Jan. 20, 2017 ― the day of his inauguration —when he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. No other presidential victor has kept his campaign alive in this fashion. Barack Obama did not start his reelection campaign until April 2011 and George W. Bush waited until May of 2003.

Trump also broke with precedent in other ways, holding his first campaign-style rally as president three weeks after he took the oath of office, on Feb. 18, 2017, at a Melbourne, Florida, airport hangar, just 68 miles away from downtown Orlando. He’s held more than 60 rallies around the country since, many before the 2018 midterm elections.

Trump’s paperwork renewing his campaign committee allowed him to collect donations and spend money for an election three years and 10 months away. It also permitted him to continue diverting some of those donations into his own private businesses, which he still controls and from which he still profits.

In that same time period, the Republican National Committee, which Trump effectively took over at his nominating convention in 2016, spent $690,181 at Trump’s golf resort in Doral, Florida; $403,259 at his hotel in Washington, D.C.; and $289,335 at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

In all, the Trump campaign and the RNC together have funneled $4,341,083 to Trump businesses since Trump took office, with some of that going directly into the president’s own pocket.

S.V. Date contributed reporting.

Jon Favreau’s “The Chef Show” hit the radar after a clip of Gwyneth Paltrow forgetting she was in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” made the rounds earlier this month. The Goop owner and actress was zesting an orange alongside Favreau and his chef buddy Roy Choi when she simply couldn’t remember she played Pepper Potts in the 2017 Marvel movie. Although the internet got a kick out of Paltrow in that moment, the soup she, Favreau and Choi were cooking up also looked, well, delicious.

Turns out that dish was a vegetarian version of a Caribbean pepper pot stew — very clever — which Choi was making for Paltrow at Goop headquarters in Los Angeles. My mouth watered five minutes into the episode. Even my dog was salivating as Choi, Favreau and Paltrow prepped the ingredients for the soup and talked about his 2014 movie “Chef,” which inspired Favreau to revisit his love of being in the kitchen. The eight-episode series premiered on Netflix June 7 and has already gained its fair share of food-loving and Marvel-obsessed fans.

Like “Chef’s Table,” “Top Chef” and “The Great British Baking Show,” “The Chef Show” is a cooking series that’s not only easy to watch but feeds your feel-good soul. Choi and Favreau have undeniable bromance chemistry on screen and bounce off one another while prepping, chopping, blending and tasting an assortment of ingredients and dishes that immediately make you want to browse GrubHub.

There’s Choi’s roast Mojo pork and his buttery Cubano and grilled cheese sandwiches to melt over. There are lobster rolls and shrimp toast. There’s chocolate lava cake. Choi and Favreau even meet up with the likes of Momofuku maven David Chang and master of barbecue Aaron Franklin to cook everything from crispy fried rice to tender brisket. And, of course, they eat a surf-and-turf meal with actors Tom Holland and Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige at Atlanta hotspot The Optimist, where Spider-Man devours his first oyster.

Every scene is delightful, bringing viewers not only recipes but conversations about upbringing, career achievements and, well, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are also charming animations for each recipe so us amateurs at home can pause or screenshot ingredients like you’re watching a YouTube tutorial. It’s inspired.

It’s not surprising, however, that these guys could create a compelling reality cooking show. Consider the success of “Chef,” which was co-produced by Choi, and written and directed by Favreau. The movie told the story of Carl Casper (Favreau), the head chef of a popular Los Angeles restaurant who leaves after a bad review to start a cross-country food truck business. It was deemed “food porn” by Cinemablend, and was considered to bea hugely accurate depiction of chefs to those in the culinary world. That had a lot to do with Choi and his mentorship, Favreau said during that meal with the Marvel crew.

“The story that I wrote was very similar to [Choi’s] life story. He went to the Culinary Institute, he worked at Le Bernardin and worked his way up the ladder, and then gave it up and decided he wanted to do the food truck thing [with the Kogi BBQ Taco Truck],” Favreau says. “Our first meeting was six hours of me just following him through these different restaurants and him saying, ‘If we do this, I’ll do whatever you need but we got to get to get it right, because food movies don’t get it right and the chefs all get pissed.’”

“I said,” Choi clarifies, ”’If you’re willing to do it right, I’ll be there every step of the way. And I just knew, I felt something inside that he was going to do it.”

Once the film was done, Favreau missed cooking with Choi so he decided to combine his passions of food and filmmaking.

“I was like, ‘Let’s bring a camera crew and cook for some of the people that are working on that show, and some restaurants and some chefs in Atlanta.’ And then I took that footage and I started working on it like a documentary,”Favreau told People. “We filmed in our kitchens, whether in our homes or his restaurant, other people’s homes, other cities, and it started to take form.”

Favreau and Choi bring some comedy to the kitchen, too. Bits pop up left and right on “The Chef Show,” like when Favreau introduces Choi to Cafe Du Monde’s beignet mix in Episode 1. Although it only requires the cooks to complete three easy steps ― stir water into mix, drop beignets into hot oil, coat them with powdered sugar ― the guys find out the hard way that expired mix will never lead to yummy results. (Choi eating a stale beignet, while trying to ease Favreau’s mind, is everything you’d think it’d be.)

The moment also shows viewers that, no matter how small, even professionals make mistakes ― and learning from them is how you eventually get better at whatever gig you’re chasing. (Choi reiterates that point throughout the series.) The guys buy a new box of Cafe Du Monde the following episode and give baking another shot. The new beignets turn out much better than their previous dried-out dough balls, and once again make your eyes glaze over with thoughts of sugary desserts.

So, if you’re someone who orders takeout while watching “Ugly Delicious” or finds yourself flipping on “Salt Fat Acid Heat” or “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” every evening, “The Chef Show” is very much for you. Bon appétit.

The scenes at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur are eerily familiar to Dr Kafeel Khan. Wailing parents, children squeezed together on narrow beds meant for one, frantic nurses and overwhelmed doctors trying to deal with a massive outbreak of encephalitis—all of this brings back memories from two years ago, when BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, had to deal with a similar outbreak. Apart from the havoc wreaked by the disease, an oxygen shortage led to the deaths of at least 70 children and the Yogi Adityanath government pinned the blame on Khan, who was the nodal officer of the encephalitis ward then. The doctor spent more than seven months in jail before being released in April 2018. Later, the government admitted to have failed to provide the hospital with oxygen cylinders on time.

Now Khan, along with a few other medical professionals, has travelled to Muzaffarpur following news of the outbreak.

“We are not working in the hospitals or treating patients. But we are travelling around the periphery of the worst-affected region, checking patients for symptoms and recommending them to get tested immediately,” he told HuffPost India in an interview.

While the official death toll is 108 at the moment, Khan said that in his experience, the actual number could be much more, considering that the families of many sick children they checked during the trip weren’t even considering the possibility of their child having contracted encephalitis.

Khan said that he paid for calling out a system which systemically ignores encephalitis, even though it has claimed the lives of thousands of children year after year. In an interview with HuffPost India, Khan explained why the pleas of doctors to boost preventive measures against encephalitis have fallen on deaf ears.

The disease and the symptoms are of course the same. In Gorakhpur, we could identify the virus as Japanese Encephalitis virus, I guess we haven’t been able to identify the virus at Muzaffarpur yet. There is no treatment for encephalitis per se, the treatment is symptomatic. So if a child is getting fever, we treat them for fever. If a patient is getting seizures, we treat the patient for seizures. Which makes an outbreak chaotic and difficult to handle, if hospitals are short-staffed. Which is the case of what is happening at Muzaffarpur.

A research that was conducted sometime ago found that five big factors determine who is the worst affected. The lack of safe drinking water, poor sanitation, lack of hygiene, overcrowding and malnutrition are factors that make children from poor families vulnerable to the disease. When 5-6 people live in one small room, sanitation is of course going to be affected. Plus, these people barely manage one square meal a day and their immune system is very weak. What happened in Gorakhpur was Japanese Encephalitis, spread through mosquito bites, right? Now a mosquito doesn’t see if it is biting a rich person’s child or a poor person’s child. Then why did only poor children die? Because all these factors aggravated their condition, plus they got medical attention when it was too late because the parents do not have the means or understanding to get them to hospitals when they start showing symptoms. Encephalitis is a disease of poor socio-economic status.

Yes, that’s what I want to ask the governments. What about vaccinations? The WHO has been providing free encephalitis vaccines to India for the past 25 years (HuffPost India couldn’t independently verify this claim) and how come we still have these outbreaks? The outreach of the vaccination programme is questionable… the government has claimed over three crore children have been immunised under its programme, then how come these deaths keep happening? People have died from encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh last year also. And only poor people die… because others usually pay for the vaccines and get them from private clinics and hospitals. The vaccines cost around Rs 1,200 for two, way beyond the reach of the poor in our country, so they have to wait for the free stuff from government, which don’t always reach them.

A lot of what an ‘outbreak’ is also depends on media’s reporting. Around June-July, poor children across the country, including states like Kerala, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, UP, become susceptible to encephalitis. Children and adults die from the disease every year, and ideally deserves to be highlighted all year. However, occasionally when the number of deaths in one hospital add up to a big number, it hits the headlines.

The government is claiming that only 103 people have died in Muzaffarpur, but what I have gathered from speaking to the people from the medical community and health workers, the death toll could be way more, close to 300. This is just the tip of the iceberg. People and children have died without even been able to make it to hospitals on time, or at health centres or private doctors’ chambers.

As is always the case during such outbreaks, the government is thoroughly unprepared. In Muzaffarpur, I saw the dismal number of doctors tending to a staggering number of patients. There are no nurses as well. Ideally there should be one doctor per four patients, here there is one doctor for 50 or more students. Then there is always a shortage of medicines. So basically no resources, no manpower.

I faced the same issues and got punished for trying to find solutions.

Because the people worst-affected are not a vote bank for them. They are poor and if they die, nobody cares. Even when their children die, they don’t have the resources to question the government and no one is doing it on their behalf. In the political scheme of India, they can be ignored without consequences for the political parties. The poorer you are, the more political parties will exploit you.

Primary healthcare in the country is in a shambles for decades now. Health centres don’t have equipment and doctors and these are crucial to save lives.

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What can I say? You saw my plight. I have not worked in administrative capacities, so cannot say how easy or difficult it is to get government agencies and officials to listen to you, even when we are unfairly dependant for resources on them. But there is a deep political apathy towards public healthcare. For example, even if you earn Rs 15,000 a month and have a family to run, you will not go to a government hospital. You will cut corners and still go to private nursing homes. The people who end up at government hospitals are the poorest of the poor, they have no voice, no social capital to stand up to the system. So I guess governments can ignore hospitals and afford to be complacent even after similar incidents of children dying.

Plus there is always the issue of corruption. The owner of Pushpa Sales (the distributors of oxygen cylinders at Gorakhpur) was in jail with me. He said that the health minister demanded a 10% commission and he refused. The minister didn’t budge and the cylinders never got dispatched.

In 40 years, 25,000 children have died in Gorakhpur alone due to encephalitis. What have governments done? They offer a compensation of Rs 50,000 to families of the dead and Rs 1 lakh now to families of children who survive. Why? Because at times, the children are maimed from the effects. I have seen mothers carrying 16-17-year-old boys and girls on their backs to hospitals for treatment and they had suffered from encephalitis as kids.

In 2017, 8,00,000 infants died in India. That means approximately 2,200 children died in the country every day. The Modi government did not reveal the data, UN did. If all your vaccinations and medical schemes are working, how did this happen? Do they have an answer? I guess not.

On 25 April, 2018, the High Court gave me a clean chit saying that the UP government couldn’t produce a single piece of evidence against me. They could not prove medical negligence against me. The judgment also cleared the fact that I was not a part of any oxygen tender or anything. Why the authorities are still not reinstating me, that Yogiji has to explain. On 7 March this year, the Allahabad High Court directed the Yogi government to complete all work related to my suspension within three months, that deadline expired on 7th June and today is the 20th. The UP has given me no information. I think they are not reinstating me because they want to save their health minister Aushutosh Tandon, Siddharth Nath Singh and DGME KK Gupta and principal secretary. Because they are the ones who got 14 letters from Pushpa Sales demanding the company’s dues be paid. But thanks to corruption and alleged demands of 10% commission, the payments never came.

No, no one did. Even after the Supreme Court directed the government to pay my dues, the allowance I was entitled to when I was suspended, I did not receive a single penny. They just want to break me financially, mentally and professionally.

It’s not genuine at all. That’s why I said, I am with the doctors, medical interns in West Bengal. What happened was terrible. At the same time I condemn the way it has been politically used all over India. I don’t support that.

I am in Muzaffarpur and yesterday I visited the Sri Krishna hospital. There were just four doctors for 200 patients. Patients were lying on the ground, there were 2-3 kids lying on one bed. There were only 5 sisters and lack of medicine. So I think, whether it’s Muzaffarpur or Gorakhpur, kids are not dying only because of disease. It’s a combination of lack of manpower, infrastructure, equipment. How will one doctor treat 50 patients at once?

KOLKATA — Four departmental heads of the Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata have put in their papers over alleged racist remarks made against them by members of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), prompting the state education minister to intervene into the matter.

The students’ wing of the Mamata Banerjee-led party, however, denied the allegation. 

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The heads of the four departments, who submitted their resignations to the varsity’s vice-chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury on Monday, also claimed that a few non-teaching staff members have misbehaved with them.

The TMCP members said the charge levelled against them was baseless. On the contrary, they alleged that the professors do not hold classes regularly.

State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee met the RBU vice-chancellor Tuesday afternoon, and said the matter was being looked into.

“This is not expected at a place, which has been named after Rabindranath Tagore. Such practices will tarnish the reputation of the institution. This should not have happened.

“We are looking into the matter. Action will be taken if anybody is found guilty during investigation,” Chatterjee told reporters after the meeting.

The university, founded in 1962, is located on the premises of Tagore’s family home, Jorasanko Thakur Bari.

NEW DELHI — Lawyers Collective Tuesday termed as baseless a CBI FIR against the NGO and its founder Anand Grover, claiming that it was filed to silence them as the organisation was pursuing sensitive cases.

Lawyers Collective (LC) is run by Grover and his wife, lawyer Indira Jaising.

The CBI has booked Grover and his Mumbai-based voluntary organisation for alleged violation of rules in receiving foreign aid, officials said on Tuesday.

The agency has filed an FIR on the basis of a complaint from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which has alleged several discrepancies in the utilisation of foreign aid received by the NGO.

In a statement Grover, Jaising and the LC said that the FIR is solely based on proceedings under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in which orders for suspension and cancellation of LC’s registration to receive foreign funding were passed by the Home Ministry in 2016.

The order was challenged before the Bombay High Court and the matter was pending. There was no basis in the MHA’s allegations of violation of the FCRA, it said.

It said that there was no prohibition under the FCRA for Jaising to receive remuneration from LC for her work on women’s rights.

The organisation said remuneration was being paid to her before she became the ASG and continued during and after her tenure in that capacity, with the permission of the Law Ministry which was admitted by the MHA.

“This can hardly be the basis of alleged offences under the PC ACT,” it said.

It said official expenses reimbursed to Grover were permissible under the FCRA.

“All such submissions were simply ignored by the MHA. That is why an appeal was filed in the Bombay High Court which passed interim orders noting that the allegations made by the MHA were vague,” it said.

The LC said that for nearly two and half years, the CBI, functioning under the NDA regime, did not think it was fit to register criminal cases against the organisation or its office bearers, since there was no criminality involved.

“There has been no change in circumstances or material on record since 2016 and hence, the question arises what has changed between 2016 and 2019. There is no material to show that any of the provisions invoked under the under the IPC, PC Act have any basis,” it said.

The statement said that the FIR had no basis in fact and in law.

“It has been filed to target the organisation and its office bearers and to silence them for the cases and issues that they have taken up in the past and continue to take up since 2016. LC is seeking competent advise and will defend themselves in accordance with law in every forum,” it said. 

CBI’s charge

The CBI has booked Grover, the president of Lawyers Collective, and unidentified office-bearers of the organisation, besides unidentified officials.

The allegation was strongly disputed by Lawyers Collective in a statement issued last month.

Although the CBI has not named Grover’s wife and former additional solicitor general (ASG) Indira Jaising as an accused in the FIR, the complaint filed by the ministry, which is now part of the FIR, mentions allegations against her.

The ministry has alleged that Jaising, as the ASG from 2009 to 2014, had received remunerations worth Rs 96.60 lakh from the foreign contributions received by Lawyers Collective. It has also stated that her foreign travels as ASG were funded by Lawyers Collective, using such contributions, without prior approval of the ministry.

The ministry has said the ASG is paid by the government from the Consolidated Fund of India and carries out very sensitive and high-level work, including, inter-alia, giving advice to the government in legal matters, appearing in the Supreme Court and high courts on its behalf and representing it in any reference made by the president to the apex court.

It has alleged that Jaising violated the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) by “not seeking clearances from the government for receiving foreign contributions in the form of remuneration from the organisation and accepting foreign hospitality while visiting a foreign country”.

According to the ministry’s complaint, Lawyers Collective had allegedly received foreign aid worth over Rs 32.39 crore between 2006-07 and 2014-15, wherein irregularities were committed that amounted to violation of the FCRA, 2010.

Based on available information and scrutiny of records of the NGO available with the MHA, prima facie violations of various provisions of the FCRA, 2010 were noticed, the ministry said.

It added that on-site inspection of books of accounts and records of the NGO was conducted from 19th to 23rd January, 2016.

The ministry has claimed that comments were sought from the NGO on the basis of the violations reported during the inspection, but the response was not found to be satisfactory, following which its FCRA registration was suspended and a show-cause notice issued.

Recently, a PIL was filed by Lawyers Voice, a voluntary organisation of advocates, in the Supreme Court, alleging that the funds collected by Lawyers Collective were misutilised for “activities against the nation”.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta had issued notice to Jaising, Grover and the MHA, asking them to file their responses on the allegations, including that the money received by Lawyers Collective was used to “influence political activities”.

Jaising, Grover and Lawyers Collective had issued a press statement, disputing “any allegation of misutilisation of any funds”.

The MHA has alleged that the funds received through foreign contributions were spent on media advocacy with 67 MPs in March and April, 2010 and with 99 MPs in August, 2010 for the drafting of the HIV/AIDS Bill by Lawyers Collective.

It has also claimed that the NGO had organised a free-trade agreement rally.

It held “paid dharnas” on the HIV/AIDS Bill outside the Law Ministry, which amounted to violation of the FCRA, the ministry has alleged.

“As per the FC (foreign contribution) return filed, there was no mention of the fact that FC was used for advocacy, including advocacy with MPs or media, to draft a legislation or to organise rallies and dharnas. Hence, by spending on these activities, the association has violated section 8 of FCRA, 2010,” it has alleged.

The ministry has claimed that the utilisation of foreign funds for advocacy, indulging in lobbying with MPs and thereby, influencing the political process and parliamentary institutions is in clear violation of the “letter and spirit” of the Act.

Section 3 of the FCRA prohibits acceptance of foreign contributions by any poll candidate, member of a legislature or a political party so that parliamentary institutions and political associations are not influenced in any manner, the ministry has said.

It has also raised question marks on the travelling expenses incurred by Grover as the UN Special Rapporteur for Health, alleging that he used such contributions for personal benefits and spent those outside India in violation of the law.

The funds received from a donor were allegedly used by Grover for defending the Novartis case, the ministry has said.

It has also alleged misuse of foreign funds in his air travels.

Foreign contributions worth Rs 2.94 crore were received by Lawyers Collective for women empowerment, while an amount of Rs 12.5 crore was received by the NGO for HIV-AIDS awareness programmes, which were not the purposes listed as its objective, the ministry has alleged.

Bella Hadid apologized to fans on Monday after posting a photo of her shoe that she now says was an “honest mistake.” 

Offended fans accused the 22-year-old model of racism after she posted the picture on her Instagram story Sunday, showing her outstretched lower leg as she sat in an airport and her shoe. In the background were airliners from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. 

Many Arab cultures consider shoes dirty, and showing the soles of shoes is a sign of disrespect. The Twitter hashtag #BellaHadidIsRacist began trending shortly afterward Hadid posted the photo. 

Hadid, whose father is Palestinian American, apologized on Monday on her Twitter and Instagram accounts, calling it “an honest mistake on an early morning.” 

Hadid said on Instagram story that she “would never want my posts or platform to be used for hate against anyone, especially those of my own beautiful & powerful heritage.” 

“I love and care so much about the Muslim and Arab side of my family as well as my brothers and sisters throughout the world,” she said, further apologizing for “disrespect” to the airlines and to the “amazing countries.” 

“I want to send a sincere apology to those who ever thought I would put blame on them, especially to Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” Hadid added. 

Some fans still weren’t satisfied. 

“Bella Hadid spreads hate towards our countries UAE & Saudi Arabia, it’s not your first time!,” one commenter tweeted, calling on Dior to stop using Hadid in its advertising.

Others said things like “it’s too late hun” and “apology not accepted,” and threatened to boycott products from brands she works with. 

Chennai and several other parts of Tamil Nadu are in the midst of a severe water crisis with Chief Minister K Palaniswami saying that drought and deficient monsoon had resulted in depletion of groundwater levels. 

The state government said it was largely dependent on ground water to meet the requirements till the onset of north east monsoon in October. 

The northeast monsoon brings the bulk of rainfall for Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai, which is facing a very severe water shortage.

“The (northeast) monsoon will arrive only by October-November. Till then we have to meet the requirements only from groundwater sources,” he said. 

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What is happening?

In one of the worst summers, taps in parts of the state, including Chennai have gone dry, affecting citizens and corporates alike.

Most residents, reported News18, have been forced to book water tankers for their daily needs. However, the waiting period has increased to 25 days because the demand is more than the supply, the report added.

Private water tankers are charging exorbitant rates to supply water to residences in Chennai, The News Minute reported. In the last three months cost for 12,000 litres of water has increased from Rs 1500 to Rs 6000

While people queuing up with plastic pots in the city has become a common sight, IT companies are going in for various measures, including work from home to stave off the problem, PTI reported.

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

Around 100 hostels in Chennai have stopped operations over the past few days, The Indian Express reported. KS Manoharan, the secretary of the Chennai Hostel Owners’ Welfare Association, owns 10 hostels and told The Indian Express that he has himself closed two hostels due to water shortage.

Restaurants and hotels in Chennai, according to IANS, are also mulling ways to deal with the water shortage.  

R Srinivasan, Secretary of Tamil Nadu Hotels Association, told IANS, “It is a major crisis faced by the hotels in Chennai and also in other parts of the state. With rains failing, the prices of vegetables have gone up. Further with the severe water shortage, the hoteliers are facing a very touch situation.” 

Madras HC pulls up state government

The Madras High Court, reported The News Minute, pulled up the Palaniswani government for mismanagement of resources. The court, according to the report, said that the water scarcity did not happen in a day and the Tamil Nadu government knew this was coming. 

The court, The Indian Express reported, also said that some of the water bodies have been destroyed or reduced in size due to encroachment. It directed the PWD secretary to submit a detailed report of the steps taken for the removal of encroachment. The next hearing, according to the report, is on 26 June. 

What has the government said?

Palaniswami has claimed the issue was not as big as was being made out, especially in the media, according to PTI. He also urged the media not to create an “illusion” of water scarcity based on a few reports.

The chief minister also said that drinking water is being supplied through tankers. “People are using this water to even wash clothes,” he said.

He said though lakes feeding Chennai have dried up, steps were being taken to ensure supply of drinking water, with efforts to augment it from Veeranam lake in Cuddalore district.

People should also understand the situation and cooperate, the chief minister, said and urged the media to not to create an “illusion” of water scarcity. 

(With PTI inputs)

Game Of Thrones star Lena Headey has expressed her disappointment that one scene was cut from the show’s penultimate season that would have filled a major plothole involving her character.

Lena played Cersei Lannister in all eight series of the hit show, and back in season seven, it was revealed she was pregnant. 

However, as time went on, this pregnancy plot was mentioned less and less, leading viewers to speculate whether Cersei actually was with child, or that she’d simply made this claim up so her brothers would give her protection.

Speaking at ComicCon in Germany, Lena has now set the record straight, revealing that all would have been explained in a scene that never made the final cut.

“We shot a scene that never made it into season seven, which was where I lose the baby,” she told fans. “It was a really traumatic, great moment for Cersei, and it never made it in, and I kind of loved doing that because I thought it would have served her differently.”

Over the weekend, Lena joined in the conversation surrounding the disappointment some fans felt towards the final season of Game Of Thrones, admitting she was “gutted” about the way producers chose to kill off her character.

“I will say I wanted a better death,” Lena said. “Obviously, you dream of your death. You could go in any way on that show. So I was kind of gutted.”

The last season of Game Of Thrones – and in particular the final episode – proved to be a disappointment to many fans, some of whom even set up a petition for the writers to re-do the whole thing.

After this was criticised by some of the cast, including Sophie Turner, viewers then set up two separate fundraisers aimed at charities supported by some of the stars, as a way of showing fans’ frustrations didn’t lie with the cast members.

At the time of writing, more than £100,000 has been raised for Emilia Clarke’s charity SameYou, while £43,000 has been raised for Mencap, an organisation supported by Kit Harington.

MUMBAI — India’s monsoon has progressed more slowly than usual after hitting Kerala nearly a week late. Monsoon rains have been 44% lower-than-average so far in June, delaying the sowing of summer-sown crops and raising concerns that parts of the country could face a worsening drought.

This shortfall could have a major impact on consumer demand, the overall economy and financial markets.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast average rainfall in 2019, while the country’s only private forecaster Skymet has predicted below-normal rainfall.

WHAT ARE THE MONSOON TYPES?

A normal, or average, monsoon means rainfall between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 89 cm (35 inches) in total during the four-month monsoon season from June to September, according to the IMD’s classification.

Rainfall below 90% of the average is classified as deficient, the same as a drought. In 2018, India received 9% lower rainfall than normal, although in some regions the deficit was as high as 37%.

Rainfall above 110% of the average would mean an excessive monsoon, which could cause flooding and reduce the yields of certain crops.

The monsoon season starts with rains on the southern Kerala coast around June 1, and usually covers the country by the middle of July.

WHAT IS THE PROGRESS THIS YEAR?

The monsoon arrived in Kerala on June 8 versus the usual June 1. However, Cyclone Vayu developed in the Arabian Sea and that drew moisture from the monsoon and weakened its progress. The monsoon typically covers half of India by mid-June but this year has covered just a quarter of the country.

DOES THE DELAY MEAN LOWER RAINFALL?

There are instances when the monsoon delivered average or above average rainfall even after arriving late or progressing slowly.

In 2016, the monsoon landed in Kerala on June 8 but covered the entire country by July 13 and delivered average rainfall. Other times, rainfall deficits in June were fully offset by a week of raining in July.

The monsoon delivers about 70% of India’s annual rainfall and determines the yield of rice, wheat, sugarcane and oilseeds, such as soybeans. Farming makes up about 15% of India’s $2.5 trillion economy but employs more than half of its 1.3 billion people.

Rising farm output from a decent monsoon boosts demand for consumer goods in rural regions. 

A stronger economic outlook tends to lift the stock prices of companies focused on selling products in rural areas.

India is self-sufficient in rice and wheat, but a drought would increases imports of pulses and edible oils, such as palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil. Monsoon rains replenish reservoirs and groundwater, allowing better irrigation and more hydropower output. Higher rainfall can trim demand for subsidised diesel, which is used to pump wells for irrigation.

WHY IS THE MONSOON KEY FOR PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI?

Modi has promised to double farmers’ income over five years and promised to boost the economy. Makers of consumer products are reporting poor rural demand. Depleting reservoirs have forced cities including Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad to cut water supplies.

HOW DOES THE MONSOON AFFECT PRICES AND RBI POLICY?

Food makes up nearly half of India’s consumer price index, which the Reserve Bank of India monitors when deciding on monetary policy, including interest rates. Bumper farm output would keep food prices under control.

The government has paid farmers during past droughts, straining the fiscal deficit. A good monsoon will limit that kind of government spending. A drought would raise vegetable and pulse prices, requiring increased spending on welfare schemes.

HOW RELIABLE ARE MONSOON FORECASTS?

The IMD issues its first forecast typically in mid-April.

On average, its forecast has been accurate only once every five years over the past two decades, even after taking into account an error band of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The IMD’s 2017 forecast was the most accurate since 2008. In 2018, it forecast 97% rainfall but India received only 91%. Even during normal monsoon years, some parts of India face drought while others flood.

In 2018, Kerala had it worst flooding in about 100 years even as the western state of Maharashtra had a drought. The IMD releases its second monsoon forecast in the last week of May or first week of June with an update in the middle of the monsoon season.

KOLKATA — Model-turned-actor Ushoshi Sengupta was allegedly chased and harassed by a gang of bikers twice on Monday night while returning home from work in an app-based cab, police said.

Seven persons have been arrested in connection with the incident that took place around 11:40 pm on Monday, they said.

Sengupta, 30, said she was returning home along with a colleague in an Uber, which was hit by a few bike-borne youths who dragged the driver out and roughed him up.

The model alleged that she had sought help from officers of Maidan police station in the heart of the city, and later went to Charu Market police station in south Kolkata.

On both occasions, she was allegedly told that the incident did not happen in their jurisdiction.

The Kolkata Police on Tuesday said it has also initiated an inquiry into the alleged non-registration of FIR.

“A few boys on a bike without any helmet hit our cab at Exide intersection and Jawaharlal Road crossing... Around 15 boys appeared from nowhere and dragged the driver out, started beating him up. This is when I stepped out and started shouting, calling the police and simultaneously started taking video of the entire incident,” she said.

She claimed that officers of the Maidan police station, within 50 metres of the spot, initially did not come for help despite her repeated requests.

She was told that the crossing falls under the jurisdiction of Bhawanipore police station.

“It was only when I broke down and pleaded that the driver would get killed that the officers responded. But the boys pushed the police officers and fled,” she said.

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After about 10-15 minutes, two officers came from Bhawanipore police station but as it was past midnight by then, Sengupta decided to pursue the case on Tuesday morning.

Accordingly, she requested the driver to drop her colleague and her at their homes.

The ordeal continued as six boys on three bikes reappeared and started following the cab near the Lake Gardens area in south Kolkata.

“They stopped my car, threw stones and dragged me out and tried to break my phone to delete the video. My colleague jumped out out of fear and I started shouting to attract some locals’ attention there.

“I managed to telephone my dad and my sister at my residence in the next lane when they escaped,” Sengupta said.

The actor also alleged that officers at the nearby Charu Market Police Station refused to take any complaint and advised her to, instead, approach the Bhawanipore Police Station.

“After raising a lot of questions, the officer took my complaint but refused to take the complaint of the driver,” she said in a Facebook post, recounting the incident. 

“We have taken this incident very seriously and seven persons have been arrested so far. On the order of the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, an inquiry regarding the non-registration of FIR has been initiated into this incident, at a very senior level,” the Kolkata Police wrote on its Twitter handle.

The arrests were made on the basis of video grabs provided by Sengupta and CCTV footages.

When contacted, a senior police officer said, “Those arrested seem to be locals who have been violating traffic rules for quite some time. We are hopeful of nabbing the others from the CCTV footages of the surrounding areas.”

An independent UN human rights expert investigating the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is calling for an investigation into the possible involvement of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, citing “credible evidence”.

Agnes Callamard released a 101-page report into the October killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that lays out dozens of recommendations.

It calls on UN bodies or Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “demand” a follow-up criminal investigation.

Callamard noted the “extreme sensitivity” of considering the criminal responsibility of the crown prince, as well as Saud Alqahtani, a senior adviser to the royal court who has not been charged.

“No conclusion is made as to guilt,” she wrote of the two men.

“The only conclusion made is that there is credible evidence meriting further investigation.”

Khashoggi wrote critically of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in columns for The Washington Post before he was killed.

After denying any knowledge of Khashoggi’s death for weeks, Saudi authorities eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed in an operation masterminded by former advisers to Prince Mohammed.

The kingdom denies the crown prince had any involvement.

Indian batsman Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of World Cup due to his thumb fracture, reported PTI. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been named as his replacement.

“Dhawan has a fracture at the base of the first metacarpal of his left hand. He will remain in cast until mid-July which rules him out of ICC World Cup. We have requested Rishab Pant as the replacement,” ANI quoted Sunil Subramaniam, Team India manager, as saying. 

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Pant was brought in as cover for him after the team management decided to wait on Dhawan’s recovery but assessment of the injury this week did no throw up encouraging results, according to PTI.

Several former players such as Sunil Gavaskar had advocated for Pant’s inclusion in the squad if Dhawan fails to recover quickly enough for India.

Dhawan had suffered a hairline fracture on his thumb during a match-winning 117 against Australia on 9 June.

(With PTI inputs)

MUMBAI — Police said Wednesday that they are likely to seek help of their counterparts in Kerala during the investigation in a case of rape and cheating against the son of the CPI(M) secretary in the southern state.

In an embarrassment to the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, Mumbai police registered a case of rape and cheating against Binoy Vinodini Balakrishnan, the son of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The case was filed on the basis of a complaint from a 33-year-old woman from Bihar, a former bar dancer, who has alleged that Binoy Vinodini Balakrishnan sexually assaulted her promising marriage and that she has an eight year old son from him.

“We are investigating the case thoroughly and also verifying claims made by the victim in her complaint,” said Shailesh Pasalwad, Senior Police Inspector of Oshiwara Police Station, where the case has been registered.

During the investigation, Mumbai police are likely to seek the help of their counterparts in Kerala, another police official said.