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Bombay HC Upholds Maratha Quota, But Wants It Reduced To 12-13%

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Maharashtra bandh called by Maratha organizations to demand reservations.

MUMBAI — The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education.

A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre, however, said the quota percentage should be reduced from 16 percent to 12 to 13 percent, as recommended by the State Backward Classes Commission.

“We hold and declare that the state government possesses legislative competence to create a separate category of the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) and grant reservation,” the court said.

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“We, however, have held that the 16 percent should be reduced to 12 to 13 percent as recommended by the commission,” the bench said.

The court was hearing a bunch of petitions challenging Maharashtra government’s decision granting 16 percent reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and educational institutions.

On November 30, 2018, the Maharashtra legislature passed a bill granting 16 per cent reservation in education and government jobs for the Marathas, declared a socially and educationally backward class by the state government.

The reservation will be in addition to the existing 52 percent overall reservation in the state. With the 16 percent reservation for Marathas, the reservation quantum in the state was expected to rise to 68 percent.

Several petitions were filed in the court challenging the reservation, while a few others were filed in its support.

The petitions challenging the quota decision had argued that it was violative of Supreme Court’s orders which say that reservation in any state should not exceed more than 50 percent.

The government, while defending its decision, had said that it was meant to alleviate the Maratha community, which it said was socially and economically backward.


Madonna's God Control Music Video Is A 'Wake Up Call' About US Gun Reform

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Madonna has revealed that her graphic new music video is intended as a “wake up call” about the importance of gun regulation in America.

On Wednesday night, Madonna unveiled the clip for her new single God Control, taken from her latest album Madame X.

While the disco-infused song’s lyrics refer to gun control in America, with lines like “when they talk reform it makes me laugh, they pretend to care it makes me laugh”, the accompanying video takes things one step further, depicting Madonna and her dancers as the victims of a mass shooting.

Madonna in the God Control music video

A message at the beginning of the eight-minute clip, a message reads: “The story you are about to see is very disturbing. It shows graphic scenes of gun violence. But it’s happening everyday. And it has to stop.”

Shortly after this, Madonna is seen lying covered in blood after a shooting at a night club, in scenes reminiscent of the Pulse massacre in 2016.

Later in the video, Madonna is also seen being mugged at gunpoint, interspersed with shots of her in a short black wig, sitting at a typewriter.

Madonna has said of the video: “I want to draw attention through my platform as an artist to a problem in America that is out of control and is taking the lives of innocent people.

“This crisis can end if our legislators act to change the laws that fail to protect us all.”

A dance sequence from the video

God Control was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who was previously responsible for the Madonna videos Ray Of Light, Music and Bitch I’m Madonna.

He also directed Madonna’s original American Life music video, which she ended up pulling shortly after its release in 2003, as she didn’t feel the violent content was appropriate.

“It was filmed before the war started and I do not believe it is appropriate to air it at this time,” she said at the time. “Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect to the armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video.”

Watch Madonna’s God Control music video in full below:

Donald Trump Shares Strange Fake Video Of Himself Gate-Crashing Democratic 2020 Debate

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US President Donald Trump mocked a technical glitch that interrupted Wednesday’s first Democratic 2020 presidential debate by sharing a strange video to Twitter.

The clip begins with moderators Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow cutting to commercials so the issue can be fixed. The screen then goes blank before Trump emerges through the haze to the sound of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.”

The video appears to have emanated from the same pro-Trump meme creator who released a similarly strange video last week that showed Trump as president forever. Trump shared that video first on Friday and again on Wednesday night.

Multiple reporters noted how Trump tweeted the new clip on Thursday morning, just minutes before Air Force One touched down in Osaka, Japan, ahead of his attendance at the G-20 summit, where issues including North Korea and Iran will be on the table.

Trump had earlier called the debate “BORING!”

And he ripped NBC and MSNBC, saying they “should be ashamed of themselves” about the technical issue:

Virat Kohli Breaks Sachin Tendulkar And Brian Lara’s Record

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Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday broke the record of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara to become the fastest batsman to score 20,000 international runs. 

He made the record in India’s World Cup match against West Indies today. Prior to Thursday’s match, Kohli was 37 runs short of the milestone and reached the feat with a single off West Indies skipper Jason Holder in the 25th over of the India innings.

Kohli, thus, became the 12th batsman and third Indian after Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to reach 20,000 international runs.

The Indian skipper took only 417 innings to achieve the record while Tendulkar and Lara achieved the record in 453 innings, according to NDTV.

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During India’s match with Pakistan, Kohli became the fastest cricketer to reach 11,000 runs in one-day internationals, breaking Tendulkar’s 17 year-old record. 

The Indian skipper needed 57 runs to reach the milestone before the start of the match against Pakistan at Old Trafford.

Kohli was unbeaten on 71 when rain stopped play in the match.

Tendulkar had reached the 11,000-run mark in ODIs against England on January 28, 2002 in Kanpur. He had taken 276 innings and 284 ODIs to get there while Kohli took just 222 innings to join the elite list of players.

(With PTI inputs)

The Reason ‘Love Actually’ Skeptics Will Adore ‘Yesterday,’ According To Writer Richard Curtis

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Himesh Patel in

Imagine all the cultural artifacts the world would be without if The Beatles had never existed. The band scored Nike Air commercials and inspired those T-shirts with four first names stacked atop one another. They’re the basis of a supervillain group in “The Powerpuff Girls” and an entire Cirque du Soleil show. Then there’s that poster from your college dorm room. And Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.” Mop tops. Wu-Tang Clan’s “The Heart Gently Weeps.” That one “Mad Men” episode

Ironically, without The Beatles, we also wouldn’t have the movie “Yesterday,” a fable wherein the group’s history is inexplicably wiped from the planet during a 12-second blackout. 

“Yesterday” stars Himesh Patel (“EastEnders”) as Jack Malik, a wannabe rock star who avoids the collective amnesia because he is knocked unconscious during the power blip. He awakens to discover he’s somehow the only person with any recollection of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Spotting a chance to boost his listless songwriting career, Jack hijacks “Let It Be” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” as his own. The world goes mad, because duh: It’s The Beatles. We need their music. Soon enough, Jack is playing sold-out stadiums and wondering whether his newfound success is even ethical.

It’s a goofy but fascinating premise that provides an excuse to revel in The Beatles’ catalog for two hours. It’s also an intriguing project for British screenwriter Richard Curtis, who channels the romantic-comedy charms he brought to “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Love Actually” through a fantastical saga about fame and authorship. A lifelong Beatles fanatic, Curtis turned the premise — pitched to him by the film’s producers — into a litany of pop-culture allusions, including a supporting part for Ed Sheeran, playing a cheeky version of himself.

A few weeks ago, Curtis talked to HuffPost about what it was like to write a script using Beatles classics, why Coldplay frontman Chris Martin refused to appear in the film, the Tom Cruise joke that never came to be, Sarah Silverman’s vital contribution and the divisive discourse surrounding “Love Actually.” 

Did this project start with the idea of “what would the world look like if the Beatles music were not a part of it”?

Well, no, it starts, in fact, with someone else having that idea. I got a phone call saying this guy Jack [Barth, who has written for “The Simpsons”] has thought of this idea, and I said, “Please let me write it.” Then suddenly my past, like a tsunami, comes over me because I’ve been obsessed by The Beatles since I was 7 years old, standing outside the Continental Hotel in Stockholm, waiting for them to come out onto the balcony. 

Had the movie’s producers secured the rights to the entire Beatles catalog before you started writing?

Probably at stage 2, because what happened is, I said, “I would love to see if I can do something off [the premise].” And then I did, for my own satisfaction, a 20- or 30-page version of it, which I never showed anyone. I think it was at that point that I went back to them and said, “Will you see if there is a deal to be done?” Obviously, if the script is horrible, they can say no, but theoretically, if it’s a nice movie with a good director, they’d be interested. And they went for it. 

Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Richard Curtis at the London premiere of

Once the deal was secured, were you at all limited on which Beatles songs you could use?

To get very technical, there’s actually a second thing, because Sony owns all the [John] Lennon and [Paul] McCartney ones, but George Harrison owns his own publishing. But then we did have a choice of all of them. We all felt we wanted a good mix of the three writers, so that was a constraining factor. But otherwise, we let the story dictate the choices.

In some ways, we were quite lucky because one of the issues with it is, how do you choose 15 songs from The Beatles’ catalog? But we really went mainly for the most famous ones because the joke of the movie, in a way, is Jack’s access to these unbelievably famous songs. “This Boy” might be my favorite Beatles song, but we didn’t go for that because people wouldn’t instantly know it. The joke where he sits down at the piano and suddenly plays “This Boy” wouldn’t be as good as the joke we did, where he sits down at the piano and plays “Let It Be.” 

Did you always have the idea that a cataclysmic blackout would be what wiped out the memory of The Beatles?

That was one of the big questions: What was that moment going to be? And even though I don’t explain it, there is a rationale. In my head, something happened to the world, which Jack avoids because he’s in a sort of heavy unconsciousness at that moment. Everybody else who was sleeping lightly got zapped, but because his brain is asleep, it therefore doesn’t happen to him. Similarly, the woman and the man who accost him at the end, I assume one of them would have been having heart surgery and the other would have had an epileptic fit. I tried to make up something. And then the truth of the matter was that whatever would have been my idea, I would have let [director Danny Boyle] change it to make it the most dramatic thing. 

How did it come to be in your writing process that The Beatles would not be the only thing wiped out from modern history? There’s also no Coca-Cola, no cigarettes, no “Harry Potter.”

One does fictionalize one’s past, so I think what happened was I suddenly realized one day that I could take out some other things and that would be fun. But I also definitely had a conversation with Sarah Silverman, who’s got a credit at the end of the movie. She said, “At the end of the movie, he should find out that no one can remember ‘Harry Potter.’ That’d be a good joke.” So that joke ended the movie, but what I can’t remember is whether I already had the idea that other things should disappear, or whether she said that first. But it was a lovely little thing to play around with.

At various points, there were all sorts of versions of it, and then we ended with a middle ground. There’s a scene on the plane where Jack is looking at an iPad, and my original idea had been that some movie star’s entire career would have disappeared. He was going to look at it and see that “Mission: Impossible” starred Jared Leto instead of Tom Cruise. That one didn’t get through. 

Himesh Patel and Ed Sheeran in

Jared Leto, wow. So at one point a lot more things got erased during the blackout. Did you invent some sort of connective tissue between what was wiped out, or was it just, “This would be a fun thing to throw in there too?” 

It was, “This would be a fun thing.” And what happened was, because it was a fun thing, I started to worry that people would start saying, “Oh, what’s next? Are all of the things going to add up to some kind of theory about what’s good and bad?” So, in fact, quite a lot of it was about reining it in, like you would do with an actor’s performance. I just decided this should be an incidental joy. If you do it too much, it’s suddenly going to seem to be what the movie’s about. 

A journalist friend of mine pointed this out after we saw the movie: In the “Yesterday” universe, if The Beatles don’t exist, that means “Love Actually” also can’t exist because it uses the song “All You Need Is Love.” 

[Laughs] Oh, well, that’s very good. I’m going to take that on now. If anyone else says “what else has happened,” I will say, “‘Love Actually’ is out.” I think the truth is we would have found another song that could have gone into the church scene. 

So “Yesterday” canceling out “Love Actually” isn’t a thought that crossed your mind?

No. That is a delightful thought, and it will make many people very happy. 

I guess that means you’re familiar with the discourse around “Love Actually”?

I’m familiar with the discourse around all my films. I don’t really care about criticism because if you’re going to be realistic, if you go out to dinner, chances are, if there are 10 people around the table, one person will really like you, three will think you look OK, and six people will be indifferent to you, and one person will not like you. So I’m never quite able to understand why you would expect that, if you produce a bit of work that reflects who you are, suddenly everyone around the table will like you. 

That’s a fair and enlightened way to approach that sort of thing, especially since the internet revives the “Love Actually” discourse every single year without fail.

To prove this point, I even met someone who didn’t particularly care for The Beatles. 

There you go, there’s diversity of opinion. 

Exactly. They said their songs were too polished and didn’t allow you to get into them, that they were so finished that they lacked a roughness that you can grab ahold of. That was an interesting thought. 

Hugh Grant and Martine McCutcheon in

This is an extrapolation, but you could make an argument that some of the references in the film also wouldn’t exist without The Beatles. There’s a Coldplay reference and a Radiohead poster on Jack’s wall. Music might look radically different than it now does.

You could definitely make that argument, and certainly if people stopped smoking, every street would have 3,000 more people in it because they wouldn’t have died.

Yeah, I did think about those sorts of things, but you have to hope that The Kinks would have lasted for another album and the influences would have added up. At the very least, you might lose a Coldplay album, but not the whole oeuvre. 

It’s a very specific choice to base a character around a famous person. Did you write the script with Ed Sheeran in mind, hoping he’d agree to participate?

No, originally I wrote in Chris Martin, who’s a friend of mine, because I assumed he would do it. And then he refused. So I introduced Danny to Ed Sheeran, and they got on very well indeed. Danny thought he could see exactly what Ed could do, and then I asked Ed and rewrote it for Ed. 

Why was Chris Martin uninterested?

He sent me a very funny video saying, “There’s been a dreadful misunderstanding. My client cannot act. Asking Chris Martin to be in a movie where he has to act is like asking a butcher to do brain surgery on a human being.” He just felt he would not do it well. 

Some of Ed Sheeran’s image is a little tongue-in-cheek in the movie. He’s pretty egotistical. Did you pitch him on his entire character arc before writing him in?

I just said to him, “We’re going to take the piss out of you and it’ll be great if you could write a song for the end.” And he said, “Well, that sounds fine.” He’s very relaxed, and he was very keen on doing a chunky bit of acting because that’s something he’s interested in. He did really well, and Danny loved the experience. He committed himself to the rehearsals and everything. The fact that he was also on tour in the U.K. and we could steal his audience for the final scene was a major bit of luck to the production. It probably saved us a million pounds.

This interview has been edited and condensed. 

'Game Of Thrones' Stars Cringe So Hard At Old Footage Of Themselves

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Maisie Williams, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner and Isaac Hempstead Wright at the Season 8 premiere of

Embarrassment is coming!

The stars of “Game of Thrones” couldn’t contain their discomfort while watching themselves in old interview clips, according to a preview of a cast reunion show HBO shared online Wednesday.

“Fuck off,” Kit Harington (aka Jon Snow) yells in the video after seeing a years-old video of himself. Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) buries her head in her hands, Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) gasps and Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark) laughs at seeing the old footage. 

Check out the clip here:

Conan O’Brien hosted the reunion show, which will appear on the “Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection” Blu-ray box set that is being released in December.

One Killed, 35 Injured As Clash Breaks Out In Ludhiana Central Jail

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Representative image. 

LUDHIANA — An inmate of the Ludhiana Central Jail was killed and 35 injured when a clash broke between two groups of gangsters Thursday, prompting police to open fire to bring the situation under control.

A senior police officer was among those injured in the mayhem.

The trouble started soon after a jail inmate, undergoing a trial in a drug case, died at a Patiala hospital on Thursday.

DCP Ashwani Kapoor said Sunny Sood was referred to a Patiala hospital due to illness on Wednesday, where he died.

As the news reached, his fellow gangsters started instigating other prisoners, the DCP said.

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They also accused police of “murdering” Sood, he said.

Kapoor said the jail staff had to open fire to control the situation, which had turned serious.

“The jail police had to open fire when two group of gangsters started pelting each other with stones at the central jail. One jail inmate was killed and 35 others, including a assistant commissioner of police (ACP), received injuries,” DCP Ashwani Kapoor said.

The jail authorities said the ACP of the city police and some members of the jail staff received injuries due to fierce brick batting by the inmates.

They also set an official vehicle of the jail superintendent and a portion of the jail kitchen on fire with the help of an LPG cylinder, the authorities said. 

The fire brigade and the jail authorities said the rioters, numbering around 300, also tried to break open the main gate of the jail.

DCP Ashwani Kapoor said huge police force was rushed to the jail to control the situation.

The injured were hospitalised while the deceased was yet to be identified, Kapoor said.

Commenting on it, Commissioner Police (CP) Sukhchain Singh Gill said the situation was now under control and the prisoners were sent back to their barracks.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had sought a report of the entire incident, an official spokesman said.

Vijaya Nirmala: From Wide-Eyed Bhargavikutty To Guinness Record Holder

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When Malayalam music composer and singer K Baburaj recommended a 20-year-old aspiring Telugu actress for a role in director A Vincent’s upcoming film, he was not sure that she could even bag a casting call. The year was 1964 and the film for which young actor G Vijaya Nirmala was being considered was the iconic Malayalam blockbuster Bhargavi Nilayam — scripted by legendary writer Vaikom Muhammed Basheer and starring Malayalam superstars Madhu and Prem Nazir. The music was directed by Baburaj. 

All doubts were put to rest when Nirmala stood in front of the camera for her audition take. “Her wide eyes were captivating,” Vincent, who died in 2015, had told the production executive of Bhargavi Nilayam RS Prabhu.

“We had auditioned four women, including Nirmala, for the role. Of them, Vincent felt she was the right fit for the part-real-part-mystic role of the spirit of Bhargavikutty, a young woman who wanted a writer to avenge her murder,” Prabhu told Huffpost India. On the very day she auditioned for the role, Nirmala was signed on for a remuneration of Rs 1,000 — about one tenth of what her male co-stars were getting. But the role gave her the first break. She went on to act in over 200 films produced in three film industries in south India — Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

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Nirmala, who died on Thursday following a brief illness, directed 44 films to become the first female director to enter the Guinness book of world records in 2002 for this distinction.

Nirmala entered the industry as a child actor twelve years before Bhargavi Nilayam with the help of her aunt, Raavu Balasaraswati, who was a playback singer in both Tamil and Telugu films in the 1930s-50s. In Machcha Rekhai (1950), a Tamil film directed by the Telugu director P Pullaiah, Nirmala’s aunt bagged her a small role. Back then, like most child actors she was not too keen to act. “The film’s crew had to scold her to make her cry naturally for her first take. For the second take, when she could not laugh they offered her pooris which she liked. She smiled after the meal and the crew filmed that,” said A Prabhu, a Telugu film critic who had followed Nirmala’s film career for the past three decades. Though she was a reluctant eight-year-old child actor, Nirmala grew up nurturing the silver screen dream. She could chart her future course because her family of Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) origins was settled in Chennai. Her father Ram Mohan Rao was a sound engineer in Vani studios in the city. 

Married young (when she was 19-years-old) to Krishna Murthy, she kept scouting for roles in South film industries. “Her husband was a friend of music director Baburaj. That’s why Baburaj recommended her for the role in Bhargavi Nilayam,” said Malayalam film critic Ravi Menon who had interviewed director A Vincent during the 50th anniversary celebrations of the film. Her next film in Malayalam, Kalyana Rathri, in which she starred with Prem Nazir again was the first A (adult) certified film in the Mollywood. While she did another Malayalam film Udyogastha in 1967 with Nazir, Nirmala also debuted in Telugu by starring in Rangula Ratnam in 1966. In the latter she starred with Telugu actor Chandra Mohan. In Saakshi, her fourth film as the lead, Nirmala starred with actor Krishna Ghattamaneni whom she later married. The duo acted together in 47 films during their career which spanned over five decades. 

Directorial debut

Even though she was a star in the Telugu film industry, Nirmala always wanted a bigger role. According to film critics who followed her career, she was insightful when she tried to take up a directorial role. “Most female actors end their careers early. She chose to diversify her role to extend her lifespan in the industry,” A Prabhu said. The dream, however, did not come true till she met IV Sasi, the Malayalam film director, in early 1970s. Sasi, who was then an art director, and Shareef, a Malayalam script writer, were working together on the film Kalippava when they met Nirmala who played a role in the same film. The friendship led her to direct her first film, Kavitha in which Sasi was the art and associate director and Shareef was the script writer. “All three of them worked together in Kaattu Vithachavan, another Malayalam film later,” said Poovakkal Qadar, the music director of Nirmala’s Kavitha.

While those in Malayalam film industry maintain that Nirmala only shadowed Sasi in her directorial debut, Telugu film veterans have a different take. “She was a successful commercial film director. In the early 1980s she used to direct four films per year. That’s a distinction which male film directors in industry could rarely achieve,” A Prabhu said. While Nirmala did not direct any Malayalam film after Kavitha, she went on to direct 43 Telugu films. Most of her films were not self-produced — by the production company run by both her and husband Krishna. “Producers of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh trusted her to produce blockbusters,” Prabhu said. Nirmala, who directed her first Telugu film Meena in 1971, also has the distinction of directing big stars in the film industry including Tamil superstars Shivaji Ganeshan and Rajinikanth. 

While most films directed by her were hits that raked in good revenues, Nirmala was also known to be a good businesswoman who made prescient investments. In the early 1990s she bought acres of land at Nanakramguda, a little known place on the outskirts of Hyderabad. By mid-2000s, the land prices in the area had soared because of the Information Technology boom. Her calculative investments could also have been directed by her family’ association with former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu. While Krishna was a Congress MP from Eluru constituency in the 1980s, both he and Nirmala went on to support Telugu Desam Party when Naidu took over the reins from his NT Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR in both the film industry and politics. Nirmala contested on a TDP ticket during Naidu’s first term as Chief Minister. She, however, could not make a political debut. In recent times she was found to keep a distance from active politics. 

Nirmala, is survived by her husband Krishna and her son Naresh Vijaya Krishna. Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu is her stepson.


Modi, Trump Discuss Iran Oil, Trade Tariffs, Defence Ties, 5G At Osaka Meet

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OSAKA — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held talks with US President Donald Trump and discussed various bilateral and global issues including Iran, 5G communications networks, trade and defence ahead of the G-20 Summit.

Modi thanked Trump for expressing his “love towards India” in a letter recently delivered by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The Prime Minister said that he wants to discuss Iran, 5G, bilateral relations and defence ties with Trump.

The US reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and six world powers. To reduce Iran’s crude oil export to zero, the US ended on May 2 waivers that had allowed the top buyers of Iranian oil, including India, to continue their imports for six months. 

India, complying with the US sanctions, has ended all imports of oil from Iran. 

Trump congratulated Modi on his election victory and said that the two countries would work together in many areas including military. 

“It was a big victory, you deserve it, you have done a great job. We have big things to announce. In terms of trade, in terms of manufacturing, we would be discussing 5G. I congratulate you and I look forward to talks,” Trump said.

“We have become great friends and our countries have never been closer. I can say that with surety. We will work together in many ways including military, we’ll be discussing trade today,” he said.

On Iran, Trump said: “We have a lot of time. There’s no rush, they can take their time. There is absolutely no time pressure”.

The two leaders met shortly after the Japan-America-India trilateral meeting during which Modi highlighted “the importance India attaches to” the grouping.

The Modi-Trump meeting assumes significance as the US president, championing his ‘America First’ policy, has been a vocal critic of India for levying “tremendously high” duties on US products.

Before his arrival in Japan on Thursday, Trump tweeted, “I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!” 

This was Modi’s first meeting with Trump after the BJP’s landslide win in the parliamentary election.

India has raised tariffs on 28 items, including almond, pulses and walnut, exported from the US in retaliation to America’s withdrawal of preferential access for Indian products.

The Trump administration wants Prime Minister Modi to lower the trade barriers and embrace “fair and reciprocal” trade.

Trump has also criticised India’s high import tariff on the iconic Harley Davidson motorcycles as “unacceptable” though acknowledging that his “good friend” Prime Minister Modi has reduced it from 100 per cent to 50 per cent.

Last February, India slashed the customs duty on imported motorcycles like Harley-Davidson to 50 per cent after Trump called it “unfair” and threatened to increase the tariff on import of Indian bikes to the US.

The government on June 21 last year decided to impose these duties in retaliation to the US decision of significantly hiking customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products.

America, in March last year, imposed 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent import duty on aluminium products.

Heads Up Donald Trump: Twitter Plans To Penalize Politicians Who Break Its Rules

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Twitter says it will now penalize politicians who break its rules against abusive behavior ― even if that politician is President Donald Trump.

Previously, Twitter tended to give some leeway to public figures ― including government officials ― when their most offensive tweets violated its terms of service, citing “public interest.”

But on Thursday, the company announced it would start making it harder for users to find and view some of the most vitriolic content that politicians post by labeling them as abusive and de-prioritizing such messages in searches.

“In the past, we’ve allowed certain Tweets that violated our rules to remain on Twitter because they were in the public’s interest, but it wasn’t clear when and how we made those determinations,” the company wrote in its announcement. “To fix that, we’re introducing a new notice that will provide additional clarity in these situations, and sharing more on when and why we’ll use it.”

The new rules won’t be retroactive, the label would be used rarely and none of the offending posts would be completely removed, Twitter said. They’ll apply to government officials and those running for office, who are verified and have more than 100,000 followers. In theory, they would help to curb the ability of government officials to tip-toe around the platform’s terms of service and freely harass or otherwise abuse people.

Politicians like Trump and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) are among the politicians who have been criticized for attacking or threatening people on Twitter and skirting the consequences that everyday users may have faced.

According to the announcement, a flagged tweet will look like this:

Twitter and other social media platforms have struggled to successfully implement and enforce new rules on hate and abuse, as they have fielded complaints about their disproportionate power over speech.

Facebook recently came under fire after a spokeswoman told HuffPost that a white nationalist video by a prominent racist was not considered white nationalist content banned under its new rules (it later changed its mind).

In an interview with HuffPost in January, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had a hard time giving an example of what it would take for the company to remove Trump or his tweets from the platform, despite examples of misuse. Reporter Ashley Feinberg asked, “If Trump tweeted out asking each of his followers to murder one journalist, would you remove him?”

Dorsey responded:

“That would be a violent threat. We’d definitely ... You know we’re in constant communication with all governments around the world. So we’d certainly talk about it.”

Trump has been complaining of late that he has been treated unfairly by Twitter, without providing evidence of such claims. He told Fox Business on Wednesday that “they make it very hard for people to join me on Twitter and they make it very much harder for me to get out the message.”

'Charlie's Angels' Reboot Trailer Brings The Action, Wigs And Ariana Grande

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Good morning to the “Charlie’s Angels” reboot only.

Sixteen years after Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore played the iconic trio of international super spies — and many more years since the original television show — a new crop of angels is reporting for duty.

The trailer for the upcoming reboot, directed by Elizabeth Banks, who also stars as Bosley in this version, arrived on Thursday morning with a bang ― we mean that quite literally ― as Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska take on hordes of bad guys, sport even more wigs and, yes, receive orders from the titular speaker box. 

And if this first look is any indication, the film — which Stewart has teased as being more “grounded” — still looks like plenty of fun, balancing wild action set pieces with quippy dialogue and globe-trotting.

The trailer also pays homage to the early aughts iteration of the franchise by showcasing, in a blink-and-you-missed-it moment, various costumes that Diaz, Liu and Barrymore wore in the previous films.

And if that’s not enough to get you in the theater, the trailer also features a brand-new collaboration between Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey and Ariana Grande, who is co-executive producing the soundtrack.

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” heartthrob Noah Centineo and “X-Men” actor Patrick Stewart also star. 

“Charlie’s Angels” hits theaters Nov. 15.

NASA Planning To Send A Drone To Titan. Saturn's Largest Moon

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NASA is sending a drone to explore Saturn’s largest moon.

The space agency said Thursday the Dragonfly mission will fly over Titan, exploring different locations on the icy moon to study whether it can support microbial life.

The mission, part of NASA’s competitive New Frontiers program, beat out another possible project to collect samples from a nearby comet. It will launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034.

Titan is a haze-covered world with a thick atmosphere. The moon also has lakes of methane and an ocean below the surface, making it an attractive place to explore whether its environment can support primitive life.

Titan was last studied by the international Cassini-Huygens mission. In 2017, the Cassini spacecraft plunged into Saturn, ending two decades of exploration.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Multilevel Marketing Companies Are A Nightmare For Women And Everyone They Know

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75% of direct sellers for network marketing companies are women.

As a stay-at-home mom of three, Angela was eager to find an excuse to get out of the house. Having no one to talk to except her kids all day was a lonely existence, and a Tupperware party hosted by a new neighbor in her Reno, Nevada, community seemed like a great way to socialize.

The fact that her neighbor’s sister, the one selling the Tupperware, was raising funds to pay for fertility treatments was an added incentive to participate. “I thought, OK, I’ll sign up just to help you, but I’m not going to sell anything,” Angela said.

However, Angela was quickly roped into becoming a Tupperware seller, too. She began attending the weekly rallies that sales teams were expected to attend. Rallies were a mix of fun games with prizes and high-pressure tactics meant to get sellers to buy more and sell more products. Each salesperson was also pushed to bring a certain number of guests with them each week.

Despite the aggressive sales requirements, Angela said it felt like she suddenly had a new group of best friends. “They’ll call you and check on you,” she said. “But after a few weeks, it becomes ‘You’re not selling enough. You’re not recruiting. You need to recruit, recruit, recruit.’”

Angela was able to sign up many new salespeople to work underneath her and moved up the chain quickly. But when her mother was diagnosed with advanced cancer, she began to rethink her involvement with the company. “They said, ‘You need to use your mom’s cancer as your sales pitch,’” she explained. “‘You need to turn it into a party and ask everyone that cares about you and your mom to help you sell Tupperware.’” Her mother’s cancer was even used by other sellers as a pitch during rallies.

At that point, Angela decided to leave the company with nothing to show for it. “On paper, it looked like I made a lot of money. But I lost a lot of money,” Angela said. “Every month, they would have a sales catalog and you had to buy samples to show at the parties. You also had kits that were always changing. So whenever a product would change, you’d have to buy more so you could have it at the party.”

One major financial consideration that Angela was never warned about was the tax implication of her business. The discounts she received on products were considered taxable income, as were the various prizes she won, including a two-night stay in a hotel that she was never even able to book. “On my 1099, it looked like I made thousands of dollars, when in reality, most of that money went to buy samples, catalogs, items for the parties and things like that,” she said.

Unfortunately, Angela’s story is all too common for those who become involved with multilevel marketing companies, especially women. Often, they’re enticed with promises of flexible work hours, unlimited earning potential and the opportunity to be their own bosses. But these expectations rarely match up to reality, and almost everyone ends up losing money — and sometimes friends — in the end. In fact, nearly all of the sources who spoke to HuffPost for this story requested that their real names not be used, out of concern that it could jeopardize relationships with family and friends.

What Is Multilevel Marketing?

A multilevel marketing or network marketing business uses its distributors ― also called representatives or recruiters ― to sell products. They use word-of-mouth to get these recruiters to bring on additional people who can then distribute to a wider audience.

Recruiters are compensated with kickbacks for the sales made by their “downline,” or the people they recruited underneath them. The idea behind this multilevel (some might say pyramid-like) structure is that in addition to selling products, each recruiter can also earn money off of every sale made by recruits below them, and earn even more as they recruit more people.

MLMs are big business. According to the Direct Selling Association, a lobbying group for MLMs, the industry produced $35.4 billion in retail sales in 2018. 

What is not emphasized is that only a handful of recruiters are successful; one study by AARP found 73% percent of participants either don’t make money or lose money. That number could be as high as 99%, according to a report by a longtime consumer advocate who studied MLMs.

Considering how these companies are structured, you might think they sound a lot like pyramid schemes. Despite the similarities, most die-hard direct sellers will be quick (nay, eager) to point out that these companies are notpyramid schemes. After all, pyramid schemes are illegal. But in practice, the distinction is murky.

The main difference between a pyramid scheme and an MLM is that pyramid schemes focus solely on recruiting; they make their profits from roping recruiters into a perceived opportunity rather than selling an actual product, according to Rochelle Burnside, a content management specialist who manages the MLM section for business review site BestCompany. The Federal Trade Commission points out two telltale signs that a product is being used to hide a true pyramid scheme: inventory loading (requiring sellers to purchase more inventory than they could realistically sell, at inflated prices), and a lack of retail sales (products are sold to existing and new recruits within the pyramid rather than external consumers).

Still, the FTC advises people to be wary of MLMs. Just because pyramid schemes are illegal doesn’t mean they aren’t out there masquerading as MLMs. A prime example is the company Herbalife, which in 2016 settled with the FTC by restructuring its business model and paying out $200 million to people who lost money due to shady business practices.

Moms, Mormons, Military: The Perfect Prey For MLMs

“Direct selling ― which is what MLM sprung from ― has always been associated with women,” Burnside said. Since the 19th century, she explained, network marketing companies such as Avon depended on women in rural communities to distribute their products to consumers who would otherwise have no access to them. “Avon recognized women for the marketing assets they were; women often endorse products to friends, creating a wildfire of word-of-mouth marketing.”

Since women at that time had limited opportunity to work outside the home, this was an attractive chance to make side income and gain some independence.

Today, it’s the same game as decades ago, but the playing field looks much different. Instead of going door to door with product samples and in-person demonstrations, sellers now promote via private social media groups, Facebook live presentations and Instagram posts to make sales and garner attendees for “parties.”

And while old-school MLMs such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Avon are still alive and well, a host of new companies have sprung up in recent years. Among the most popular are makeup and skincare brands Younique and Arbonne, diet and wellness companies Plexus and Beachbody, essential oils sellers DoTerra and Young Living, and the fashion company known for its myriad printed leggings, LuLaRoe. Perhaps you’ve been contacted by an old high school friend or distant cousin on Facebook who wants you to try the latest keto supplement or skincare products from Rodan + Fields, Lip Sense or Nu Skin

Three-quarters of direct sellers happen to be women, according to the Direct Selling Association. And that’s not by accident.

To start, many of these companies sell products that women would want, which is how many become interested in the first place. “They market products that women would want a discount on, because they want to purchase them themselves,” Burnside said. “And one of the incentives of becoming a recruiter is that you can receive a discount on the products you sell.”

They also take marketing cues from online resources for moms, such as mommy blogs, as well as Pinterest boards and Instagram images. The websites, marketing materials and training documents often feature pastels and calligraphic fonts. “They’re much more colorful than your average corporate training manual,” Burnside said.

The aesthetic and ethos behind many of these brands appeal to a wide range of women, from millennials looking to make it big in the gig economy to established career women.

Take 55-year-old Houston resident Sandra, who, after battling breast cancer in 2015 and then being laid off from her high-paying position in the instructional design industry, decided she no longer wanted to be a cog in corporate America. She desired the ability to build her own business while maintaining enough flexibility to join her husband, a professional sommelier, on international trips. “I wanted to be my own boss,” she said.

A neighbor seemed to be raking it in as a Beachbody coach, and as a fitness enthusiast, Sandra saw it as a fun opportunity to change career paths. As a bonus, it cost less than $20 to get started.

However, there was little training provided about the products and how to market them, and her upline ― the person one level up who recruited her ― was of little help. “Your upline isn’t really going to help you unless you’re building a team and making sales,” Sandra said. So, she resorted to Google and YouTube to figure out how to get people to buy Beachbody products. 

“It was nothing but a bunch of stress. They make you feel like there’s something wrong with you, and if you just keep doing what they tell you to do, it’s eventually going to work,” she said.

But nobody was biting. Sandra didn’t have a nice warm market of leads ― she didn’t pick her kids up from school every day, she wasn’t in a sorority in college, she didn’t have a huge network of friends. After a long while of getting nowhere, Sandra saw an ad for a customer relationship management system and decided to put the $4,000 on a credit card to get a pool of leads. It only resulted in 20.

She also spent about $1,000 in Facebook ads to get people to like her page and build a community of people who would buy from her. “That didn’t happen,” she said. She stuck with it for about two years, working 60 to 80 hours per week, and the most she ever earned in a year was $600. “I was working my ass off,” she said. 

Traci, a 28-year-old real estate agent living in rural Louisiana, saw an MLM as a potential opportunity to make good money on the side. She learned about LuLaRoe in 2015, when another woman in her community began selling it. She started off as a customer, but was soon enticed into becoming a consultant (today, LuLaRoe consultants are referred to as “independent fashion retailers”). Though she knew the company was an MLM and the startup cost would end up close to $8,000 for basic inventory, additional packages, racks, hangers and other miscellaneous needs, the profit margins on the clothes and the success of other consultants made the opportunity seem like a no-brainer.

When she started selling in August 2016, there were only a couple of other LuLaRoe consultants in the surrounding area. And Traci was killing it. In fact, she earned about $1,500 after her launch and an additional $20,000 that year. But once Thanksgiving rolled around, “it died,” she said. The number of sellers in her community grew to 40 and the market became oversaturated. By December, she could barely pull in $500.

Years later, Traci still has boxes of LuLaRoe sitting in her house worth about $6,000 wholesale, or $11,000 to $13,000 retail. “It was just not set up to be supportive of a long-term investment,” she said. “They have no sort of market control. They only care about signing people up.” And when she complained to her upline about the problems she was experiencing, “the answer was always either buy more clothes, or find new people to sell to.”

Though women of all backgrounds enter the MLM industry, there’s one clear demographic that these companies target heavily: stay-at-home moms.

“They talk a lot about how it can be a part-time opportunity to make side income, how you can do the business from your home, and how you can set your own hours, which are all things that are appealing to stay at home mothers because they don’t want to leave their kids,” Burnside said. “The most common battle cry of multilevel marketing companies is ‘You can do this job from home! This opportunity will require as much time as you’d like to put into it.’”

Kylene, a 28-year-old mother of two who lives in Mesa, Arizona, joined Younique shortly after her daughter was born in 2017 as a way to earn income while staying home with her baby. “I was stressed,” she said. “I wondered, how am I going to go back to work? Because I don’t trust anyone to babysit my kids ... there are too many horror stories about daycare for infants.”

When Kylene saw a Facebook live feature with a woman who claimed it was possible to achieve financial freedom and be a successful stay-at-home mom just by playing with makeup, she jumped at the opportunity. 

The startup cost was $99 for a kit, plus training, which she was promised she’d be able to double right away. What Kylene didn’t realize is that the woman on Facebook was financially successful because she had a massive downline.

“There was no training,” she said. “You get PDFs of product information and then your sponsor will basically give you copy-and-paste messages to send out to everyone in your Facebook messenger.” Kylene was encouraged to create a private “VIP” group and add all her connections so that she could sell products without violating Facebook’s terms of service. Then, she was instructed to cold-message everyone who joined. “I got unfriended as quickly as I was friended,” she said.

Despite her lack of sales, Kylene was encouraged to keep buying more products. The idea was that if friends saw her wearing these new products, they’d want to buy. Not knowing any better, she did as she was told. “I maxed out a credit card putting bills on it, because I used a good chunk of my husband’s paycheck to buy makeup,” she said. She estimated she spent about $2,500 on Younique products before finally giving up after about six months. “I was way into the red versus anything that I made back.”

Perhaps the most sinister marketing tactic MLMs can employ with stay-at-home mothers, according to Burnside, is preying off loneliness. It can feel isolating to be home with the kids all day, and MLMs promise an upline of sponsors who will support them as they launch their business. “Several corners of the internet have become devoted to connecting mothers with each other, and MLMs are tapping into these networks to make their sales and recruitment,” Burnside said.

These companies also stress the lack of financial investment and barrier to entry. In fact, other than LuLaRoe’s pricey buy-in requirement, most MLMs require $100 or less to get started. “For women who have no history investing or dealing with business finance, it’s comforting to hear you can run a business without immense startup cost,” Burnside said.

Another attraction is that no formal education and little training is required, unlike other career fields. “This is where you get the stereotype that the women who never left your hometown are now representatives for MLMs,” Burnside said. “Often, the poor and less formally educated are targeted by multilevel marketing.”

In fact, it’s for these reasons that the military spouse community is a hotbed of MLM recruiters.

Traci lives near the Fort Polk Army base, and about a third of her parish’s population is made up of military families. Many of the military spouses signed on to be LuLaRoe consultants to supplement the household income while being able to stay home with the kids. “I know what these soldiers’ families make. Most of them have the two and a half kids. And they don’t have thousands of dollars to be, as my dad says, pissing in the wind,” Traci said. 

She explained that the wives of servicemembers often sacrifice college educations and careers because they’re uprooted every two to four years. And it’s they who are being systematically victimized by MLMs, she said. “These are people that lost thousands of dollars and were just being told to go deeper into debt.”

There’s also a strong religious undertone to the messaging behind some MLMs.

Utah, home the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is also the unofficial MLM and direct sales capital of the world. Utah has more MLMs than any other state per capita, and at least 15 MLMs are headquartered in Utah County alone.

MLMs fit well into Mormon culture, especially the emphasis on traditional family roles that encourage wives to remain in the home raising children, and maintaining a close-knit community. 

There’s nothing wrong with observing the Mormon faith or any other religion, but it’s evident that MLMs leverage ― maybe even exploit ― their religious customer base and its values to encourage more sales. At a Plexus convention in Las Vegas earlier this month, keynote speaker Bob Heilig told attendees, “So if you are a believer as I know many of you are, here’s what you have to realize: You have a responsibility to use the gifts that you’ve been given for something far bigger than yourself. Because your gifts are much bigger than you and you have a responsibility to share them with the world. And this, Plexus, is the best vehicle you will ever have in your lifetime to do that.”

He added: “I believe that your Plexus business is an assignment from God to help you build your faith.”

Selling The #Bossbabe Fantasy

Ultimately, the women who buy into MLMs do so in order to achieve independence, whatever that might mean to them.

Marketing and training materials for MLMs are often littered with “fake it ’till you make it” mantras and platitudes like “decide today what you want to be tomorrow,” Burnside said. The key word “empowerment” is used in a lot of their training. “They’re connected with the feminist movement to make it feel like this is something that will empower women.” 

Indeed. Perform a quick search of social media posts by MLM companies and you’ll find posts emblazoned with phrases such as “boss babe” and “SheEO.” 

Even though a quarter of direct sellers are men, there doesn’t seem to be a male equivalent for these monikers. When was the last time you saw a male friend hawking products on social media with hashtags like #boyboss? The reality is that men are synonymous with leadership. Of course they’re their own bosses. It’s not special.

But a lady boss? Well, now, that deserves its own special label ― one that reminds these “babes” that they can’t celebrate their accomplishments without also acknowledging their weakness. And MLMs harness that double standard to make the women they’ve recruited feel as if these companies provided the tools and resources to accomplish a feat they surely couldn’t have done on their own.

In reality, these women aren’t their own bosses at all. They’re not creating their own products or providing their own services. They’re not setting their own hours or crafting their own business strategies. Often, they’re slaves to social media, sales quotas and the demands of their uplines, who happen to be the ones benefiting most from all their hard work.  

The Social Cost Of Network Marketing

Aside from the financial repercussions of getting involved in MLMs, women also find that it strains relationships, both online and offline. It’s easy to understand why so many women could fall for the promises made by MLMs, but the internet at large is less sympathetic.

If you look up “boss babe” in the Urban Dictionary, you’ll find the not-so-flattering definition:

A woman who pretends to be a business owner, an entrepreneur, or a sales woman. They are that annoying lady who never stops posting on Facebook about a “great new opportunity” related to MLM businesses (pyramid schemes). They tend to hawk poor products for exuberant prices. Posts will typically contain excessive emojis, hashtags, and has faux friendliness to it.

Often referred to as “huns” (as in “Hey Hun, just wanted to tell you about this new product I’m loving right now!”), the women hawking these products have garnered a reputation among social media connections as aggressive salespeople completely lacking self-awareness.

“These MLMs encourage women to market heavily to their existing social networks, under the guise of female empowerment. That makes it hard for others to say no to an invitation to ‘join the team,’” said Kathryn Hawkins, founder and managing director of marketing agency Eucalypt Media. “And because most friends are likely to purchase a product or two as a show of support, it gives women false hope about their business’ potential.”

After all, it’s hard to say no to attending a friend’s product party or leaving empty-handed. Otherwise, you risk looking self-centered. Uncaring. Bitchy.  “They exploit social etiquette,” Hawkins said.

Numerous Facebook groups and Reddit threads are dedicated to sharing the tactless ways that huns have attempted to rope friends, family and acquaintances into their downlines. And some can be particularlyegregious

Though Angela left Tupperware and the MLM world, she still has friends and social media acquaintances who push such products and reach out to reel her back in. In November, she developed a deep vein thrombosis, a dangerous blood clot that requires her to take blood thinners, and was inundated with messages from huns suggesting everything from Plexus drinks to essential oils to replace her medication. “If I go off my blood thinners, I could die,” she said.

A constant barrage of messages and invites from MLM sellers becomes exhausting, but these women are constantly pressured to keep pushing products and sign up new recruits. Often, they have to choose between maintaining social graces or making their money back, and it’s usually the latter that wins out.

As a result, women who are messaged nonstop and duped into pitch presentations under the guise of “catching up” grow resentful. They feel used and relationships suffer. “The key to quality relationships is about being known and understood. For some, [being sold] an unwanted product is a cue that ‘They don’t really get me,’ so we’re prone to rewrite our history with this person into one that paints the seller as unkind ... even if they’ve been a great friend in the past,” Shawn M. Davis, a therapist in Tampa, Florida, told InStyle.

Not all hun victims lose hope, though. A host of resources for saving friends from MLMs have cropped up in response to the issue.

Are All MLMs Scams?

One of the biggest problems with many MLMs is that they present an unrealistic idea of what the average person can accomplish by joining.

“They bring out these millionaires to conferences and put them in the spotlight to make it seem like anyone could do it,” Burnside said. 

Obviously, for MLMs to be successful legitimate businesses, people need to be making money. And there is a small portion of sellers who do earn six figures or more. But what’s rarely highlighted is the fact that these women (and men) have the financial means, time and skills to be successful. Not to mention, they’re often early adopters who were able to build huge downlines before the market became saturated.

“I think many women get discouraged by the lack of direction and by the information they are receiving from their own upline about marketing that essentially makes it impossible to become that millionaire,” Burnside said. “They were led into the business with false expectations.”

Even so, Burnside said that some MLMs present a better earning opportunity than others. However, anyone considering joining one should temper their expectations.

“Anyone who’s saying that you’re going to make a lot of money is not telling the truth,” said Joseph N. Mariano, president of the Direct Selling Association. “You can make a lot of money, but most people don’t.”

Part of the reason, he said, is that many people get into direct selling to generate a small amount of side income and aren’t interested in building a full-time business. Others enjoy the socialization and recognition that comes along with this type of sales. “If you think you’re going to go into this and make $100,000 a year ... that requires time, energy and a lot of commitment.”

Of course, for women who shared their stories here, and for many others, all the time and energy in the world probably wouldn’t have been enough to make their businesses take off. You can’t force people to buy products they don’t want. And MLMs, by design, require a foundation of low-level participants who support a successful few at the top.

“We are not blind to the concerns or criticisms of the industry, the perceptions of the industry, some of which are frankly misperceptions,” Mariano said. “When we have literally millions of people out there who are selling and are involved, somebody is probably going to cross the line in terms of something they say about a product or particularly, an earnings opportunity. And we have to be sensitive to that because the nature of our businesses is that we don’t absolutely control these independent contractors, but we still have to take responsibility for what they say.”

Mariano recommended that anyone who does encounter a business or individual who violates the direct selling code of ethics report them to the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council, an organization established to monitor the industry. Mariano said that if a company does not comply with directives of the council, it will be immediately referred to the FTC.

Of course, your best bet is probably to avoid getting tangled in an MLM in the first place. Unless you’re one of the very lucky few who make a successful living from direct sales, it’s likely not worth your time and money.

If gaining financial independence is a goal you really want to pursue, you’d be better off investing in the education and resources needed to grow a real career. As Traci summarized it: “If I had put 50% of the time and effort I put into selling one-off leggings and dresses back into my real estate business, I’d have made well over $100,000 that next year.”

HuffPost’s “Her Stories” newsletter brings you even more reporting from around the world on the important issues affecting women. Sign up for it here.

Idris Elba Reveals The Heartbreaking Reason He Isn't Lobbying To Play James Bond

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There has been a lot of (shaken martini) buzz surrounding Idris Elba and James Bond for the past few years.

Some fans really want to see the “Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” actor play 007 after Daniel Craig exits the series. And although the 46-year-old actor likes to play up the hype at times, he has consistently stated that he’s not interested.

Elba is the subject of Vanity Fair’s August cover story, and the piece sheds some light on why the actor constantly shuts the idea down.

Elba told the magazine he doesn’t like to seriously entertain the idea due to racist backlash he’s experienced that stemmed from rumors he may be cast as the iconic spy.

“You just get disheartened,” he told Vanity Fair. “When you get people from a generational point of view going, ‘It can’t be.’ And it really turns out to be the color of my skin. And then if I get it and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to.”

Elba said he wouldn’t go out of his way to get the role, but admitted that he’s intrigued by the idea of a black James Bond and that if the role was seriously offered to him, he’d take it.

“James Bond is a hugely coveted, iconic, beloved character, that takes audiences on this massive escapism journey,” he told Vanity Fair. “Of course, if someone said to me, ‘Do you want to play James Bond?,’ I’d be like, ‘Yeah!’ That’s fascinating to me.”

“But it’s not something I’ve expressed, like, ‘Yeah, I wanna be the black James Bond,’ he added. “Because, by the way, we’re talking about a spy. If you really want to break it down, the more less-obvious it is, the better.”

Jony Ive, iPhone Designer, To Leave Apple And Form Own Design Company

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Apple Inc said on Thursday that its Chief Design Officer Jony Ive will leave the iPhone maker later this year to form an independent design company, after spending nearly three decades with the technology company.

Ives said his new company will be called “LoveFrom,” according to a Financial Times report, adding “it succinctly speaks to why I do what I do.” 

Apple’s shares fell 1.5% to $197.44 in after-market trading.

Ive worked closely with former Apple Chief Executive OfficerSteve Jobs and is credited with making iconic designs that helped Apple rebound under Jobs.

Ive led Apple’s design teams since 1996 and was behind many of the company’s designs, from early iMacs that came in translucent jelly-bean colors to the first iPhone. He took up his current role as chief design officer in 2015.

“Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple’s revival cannot be overstated, from 1998′s groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park, where recently he has been putting so much of his energy and care,” Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said.

Apple said it will be among the primary clients of Ive’s new design company for a range of projects.

“I have the utmost confidence in my designer colleagues atApple, who remain my closest friends, and I look forward to working with them for many years to come,” Ive said.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing byShounak Dasgupta)


Tristan Thompson Dedicates Photo To Ex And 'Beautiful Human' Khloe Kardashian

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Tristan Thompson wrote a sweet message for his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, Khloe Kardashian, on her 35th birthday.

Though the pair split after the NBA player was caught cheating on the reality star multiple times, it looks like the two are attempting to keep things civil.

“You are the most beautiful human I have ever met inside and out,” he wrote Thursday on Instagram alongside a photo of Kardashian and their daughter, True.

“Thank you for being an amazing mommy to our princess True. She is blessed to have someone like you to look up to. I wish you nothing but more success and sending you positive blessing your way. Enjoy your day Koko,” Thompson wrote.

Though Kardashian did not comment on the post, she did like it.

Reports circulated in April 2018 that Thompson appeared to have cheated on Kardashian after separate videos surfaced showing the Cleveland Cavaliers player getting cozy with different women.

The videos, obtained by The Daily Mail and TMZ, came out just before Kardashian gave birth to the couple’s child.

The two stayed together, but later split for good after Thompson appeared to have been caught cheating again, this time with longtime Kardashian-Jenner family friend Jordyn Woods.

The scandal is playing out on the latest episodes of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” It played out in real time ― in headlines and on Twitter ― in February.

In Sunday’s episode, Kardashian said that Woods neglected to say two little words to her after the incident.

Khloe Kardashian during last week's episode of

“I’m not saying things can’t happen. I’m the most understanding, calm person ever. But … never once has Jordyn said, ‘I’m sorry,’” Kardashian said. 

She previously called out Woods on Twitter for not apologizing when the model appeared on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook show “Red Table Talk” to tell her side of the story.

“Why are you lying @jordynwoods ?? If you’re going to try and save yourself by going public, INSTEAD OF CALLING ME PRIVATELY TO APOLOGIZE FIRST, at least be HONEST about your story. BTW, You ARE the reason my family broke up!” Kardashian wrote in March.

Kim Kardashian Stands By Kimono Brand Name Despite Cries Of Cultural Appropriation

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Kim Kardashian is responding to the cries of cultural appropriation since she announced her new shapewear line, Kimono.

The brand name is not only a sort of pun on Kardashian’s first name, it’s also a reference to a traditional silk robe in Japan.

Since Kardashian has been accused before of cultural appropriation, like when she wore Fulani braids, sported an Indian headpiece and appeared to be in blackface, it’s no surprise many people assumed she was doing it again with Kimono.

Kardashian addressed the accusations by telling The New York Times she has no plans “to design or release any garments that would in any way resemble or dishonor the traditional garment.” 

She added: “I understand and have deep respect for the significance of the kimono in Japanese culture.”

But she does not plan to change the name.

The reality TV star also claims that Kimono is “built with inclusivity and diversity at its core” and that she’s “incredibly proud of what’s to come.”

However, many people aren’t happy with Kardashian’s new brand, which is why #KimOhNo became a trending hashtag on Thursday.

By Thursday afternoon, a Change.org petition condemning the name had attracted more than 13,000 signatures.

“I do not wish to share the word with an underwear brand,” the petition says. “‘Kimono’ means ‘clothing’ in Japanese.” 

Indian-Origin Uber Driver Gets 3 Years In Prison For Trying To Kidnap Woman Passenger

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NEW YORK — An Indian-origin Uber driver has been sentenced to three years in prison, ordered to pay over 3,000 dollars as penalty for kidnapping one of his female passengers and dropping her off on an isolated highway.

Harbir Parmar, 25 of New York had pled guilty in March this year before US District Judge Vincent Briccetti, who imposed three-year sentence on charges of kidnapping and wire fraud, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman said.

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In addition to the prison term, Parmar was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay USD 3,642 in restitution and forfeiture.

“Many people rely on rideshare apps to navigate New York safely. But when a woman hailed the ridesharing car driven by Parmar, her ride home took a turn for the worst. With Parmar’s lengthy prison term, he will no longer be able to take advantage of ridesharing customers,” Berman said.

According to the indictment and statements made during the plea proceedings, in February 2018 Parmar, who worked as a driver for the ridesharing company Uber, picked up the female passenger in New York who sought to be driven to White Plains, a suburb of New York City.

After the passenger fell asleep in the backseat of the vehicle, Parmar changed the passenger’s destination in Uber’s mobile application to an address in Boston, Massachusetts, and proceeded to drive toward that location.

When the passenger awoke, the vehicle was in Connecticut. She requested that she be taken to White Plains or to the police station, but Parmar refused. He instead dropped the passenger off on the side of a highway in Connecticut. She then went to a nearby convenience store where she sought assistance.

In addition, from December 2016 through February 2018, Parmar sent false information about the destinations of Uber’s customers through the company’s mobile application on several occasions.

At times, he also sent false information about the application of a cleaning fee to be applied to the accounts of Uber’s customers. In these instances, Uber customers filed complaints with it about being overcharged for their rides. These instances have resulted in thousands of dollars in improper charges to the accounts of Uber’s customers.

Modi Holds Talks With 'Invaluable Strategic Partner' Saudi Crown Prince Salman In Osaka

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OSAKA — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held bilateral talks with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman and discussed deepening cooperation in trade and investment, energy security and counter-terrorism with the “invaluable strategic partner” in Osaka, PTI reported.

Modi, who is in Japan for the G20 Summit, met with the Saudi Prince on the margins of the summit after the informal BRICS leaders’ meeting. He had earlier met US President Donald Trump.

Saudi Arabia is India’s top supplier of crude oil but the two countries have expanded their relationship beyond energy, and their governments have agreed to build a strategic partnership.

“An invaluable strategic partner. PM @narendramodi met with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud on the margins of the #G20. Discussed deepening cooperation in trade & investment, energy security, counter terrorism, among other areas,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

Saudi Prince Salman, who is also the Gulf nation’s defence minister, visited India in February on his first official visit to the country.

During his visit, India strongly raised the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and discussed deepening cooperation in counter-terrorism.

Modi and Salman, in a joint statement in February, condemned “in the strongest terms” the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group.

A recent UN report linked the Saudi crown prince to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and calling for an investigation into the possible involvement of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, citing “credible evidence”.

Reacting to the report, the Human Rights Watch had criticised what it called the Saudi “intolerance of dissent and climate of impunity” that enabled the murder.

Modi Presents 5-Point Approach To Tackle Unilateralism, Protectionism At WTO

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OSAKA — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday put forward a five-point approach to address common challenges facing the world, including protectionism, unilateralism at global financial organisations like the WTO and terrorism.

Speaking at the informal BRICS leaders’ meeting in Osaka, Modi said that there was an immediate need to strengthen the WTO, fighting protectionism, ensuring energy security and work together to fight terrorism.

“Today I will focus on three major challenges. First, the recession and uncertainty in the world economy. Unilateral decisions and rivalries are overshadowing rule-based multilateral international trade systems,” Modi said.

“On the other hand, the lack of resources is reflected in the fact that there is a shortage of an estimated $ 1.3 trillion in investment for emerging market economies,” he said. 

He said making development and progress inclusive and sustainable is the second major challenge.

“Rapidly changing technologies such as digitisation and climate change are concerns not just for us, but also for the future generations. Development is in the right direction when it reduces inequality and contributes to empowerment,” the prime minister said. 

Terror is the biggest threat to all humanity, he said.

“It not only takes the lives of innocent people, but also has a negative effect on economic progress and social stability,” Modi said.

“There is a need to stop all the mediums of support to terrorism and racism,” Modi said.

Talking about his five-point approach to tackle these challenges, Modi said the ill effects of unilateral decisions can be addressed to an extent by the coordination between the BRICS countries. 

“We need to emphasise on the necessary reforms in international financial and business institutions and organisations for improving multilateralism,” he said. 

Energy resources like oil and gas should be available at low prices regularly for continuous economic development, the prime minister said.

For sustainable and inclusive development, the New Development Bank should give priority to the investment in the physical and social infrastructure and renewable energy programmes of member countries.

The New Development Bank is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states ― Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

India’s initiative for Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure will help in the development of appropriate infrastructure in developed and developing countries to face natural calamities, Modi said.

“I invite you to join this coalition,” he said.

“The movement of skilled workers around the world should be made easy. This will also benefit the countries where a large part of the population has crossed the working age,” Modi said.

For fighting terrorism, the prime minister called for organising a global conference on terrorism.

“I have recently called for organising a Global Conference on Terrorism. Lack of necessary consent to fight against terrorism can not keep us inactive,” he said.

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