Cyclone Michaung was expected to make landfall on the coast of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh around noon on Tuesday, the country’s weather office said, with sustained winds of 90-100kph (56-62mph), gusting to 110kph.
The cyclone was forecast to hit the coast of Andhra Pradesh state later Tuesday as a “severe cyclonic storm”, packing winds up to 100 kilometres, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
In Chennai, cars were seen floating on raging torrents, homes were flooded, and a crocodile was spotted swimming the streets in the city.
In some parts of the flooded city, people used boats to get out of their flooded neighbourhoods to the safety of government relief shelters.
The IMD warned of “exceptionally heavy rainfall” in some areas.
“We are facing the worst storm in recent memory,” Tamil Nadu state chief minister M.K. Stalin said, in a statement late Monday.
Police said on Tuesday that eight people had been killed in the state capital of Chennai.
They included some who drowned, as well as one person hit by a falling tree, another electrocuted by live wires in the water, and one crushed by a falling wall.
Trees were uprooted and vehicles swept away due to the heavy rains, according to images posted on social media.
Apple iPhone manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron and automaker Hyundai suspended their operations in Tamil Nadu due to the storm, local media reported.
The cyclone is expected to hit India’s southeast coast near the town of Bapatla, on the 300-kilometre (185-mile) stretch between Nellore and Machilipatnam.
Hundreds of people from coastal villages in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh have moved inland, with emergency rescue teams deployed to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone’s landfall, according to local media.
Sea surges of waves up to 1.5 metres (nearly five feet) above normal tide levels are expected when the cyclone makes landfall, the IMD said.
Home Minister Amit Shah said the government was “braced to provide all the necessary assistance to Andhra Pradesh”, with rescue teams deployed and more “on standby to mobilise as needed”.
The cyclone is expected to weaken late Tuesday.
Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer with climate change.
Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the Northwest Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace on coasts in the northern Indian Ocean, where tens of millions of people live.
Schools, colleges, offices and banks were closed on Monday and Tuesday in at least four districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, because of weather conditions, a government notice said.
Hania Amir is going viral on the internet for a very, very weird reason. The actress shared pictures of her trip to Dubai where she went around with Indian rapper Badshah, including dining together in a restaurant. Indian media outlets quickly assumed the two were dating. Because lo and behold, if you’re seen sitting next to a man, you have to be romantically linked with him.
We have to question our media: why in this day and age are y’all still resorting to such sexist thinking? Can Hania actually spend time with a male friend without dating him? Men and women can remain friends, and its clear from their past interaction that the two respect each other.
Rather than trying to fuel rumors to get more traffic on your websites, can we instead celebrate that despite political and cricket rivalries, here are two public figures from Pakistan and India who keep uplifting each other publicly?
Also, Hania Amir doesn’t need to be linked to another man in order to be recognised publicly. Her projects have gotten immense praise, and she continues to remain booked and busy, so stop trying to assume she has to be dating someone just to get some attention. Insinuating such a thing is deeply demoralising, and proves how women can never be recognised for their achievements alone.
We’re not going to be paying any heed to careless rumours, but instead we’ll be celebrating the wholesome friendship between Hania and Badshah. In January, Badshah gushed about the ‘Mere Humsafar’ actress by calling her an instant mood lifter during an Instagram live.
“Yes I follow her she’s a very funny person. My mood uplifts every time I see her posts, and I think its also just her personality. I think she’s a very bright human being,” responded the rapper.
An Indian Hyderabad family recently experienced a horrifying dining ordeal that can send shivers down anyone’s spine at the mere thought of accidentally eating a reptile.
Their Zomato-ordered chicken biryani from Bawarchi Biryani, located at the RTC Crossroads, came with an unexpected and unwelcome addition—a dead lizard.
The disturbing incident unfolded as a self-indulgent treat turning into a cause for concern, with a lifeless lizard discovered in the online-ordered chicken biryani. The shocking scenes, captured in a video, have since surfaced on the internet, leaving viewers in disbelief.
Reportedly, Vishwa Aditya from DD Colony, Amberpet, placed an online order for chicken biryani on Zomato. However, upon receiving the parcel, they were greeted with the unpleasant sight of a dead lizard nestled amidst the rice.
The matter gained attention after Telugu Scribe posted a video and images on X (former ) Twitter, exposing the unsettling incident.
హైదరాబాద్ ఆర్టీసీ క్రాస్ రోడ్ లోనీ బావర్చి హోటల్లో చికెన్ బిర్యానిలో ప్రత్యక్షమైన బల్లి
అంబర్పేట డిడి కాలనీ కి చెందిన విశ్వ ఆదిత్య ఆన్లైన్లో జొమాటోలో చికెన్ బిర్యానికి ఆర్డర్
జొమోటో బాయ్ తీసుకువచ్చిన చికెన్ బిర్యానిలో బల్లి వచ్చిందని కుటుంబ సభ్యుల ఆరోపణ
The tweet stated, “Live Lizard in Chicken Biryani at Loni Bavarchi Hotel Hyderabad RTC Cross Road. Vishwa Aditya from DD Colony, Amberpet ordered chicken biryani online on Zomato. The family members allege that the chicken biryani brought by Zomato Boy got a lizard. The family members got worried as the Bavarchi management gave a negligent reply.”
Zomato reacted to the video with, ‘We are looking into it immediately – if you would like to share any additional details with us, please reach out via DM.’
Hi there, thanks for highlighting this. We are looking into it immediately – if you would like to share any additional details with us, please reach out via DM. https://t.co/YNwthvabYu
Cricket is the third most popular sport in the world with approximately 2.5 billion fans spread across the globe. The gentleman’s game, mocked at times for being slow, has morphed into a fast-paced, adrenalin- pumping speedy ride.
The first international match between two countries was played between United States of America (USA) and Canada in New York in 1844, but the fact that the International Cricket Council (ICC) did not exist in 1844, means this match wasn’t recognizes as an official game. The first official cricket match was played between Australia and England in Melbourne in 1877.
The first cricket World Cup was organized in 1975 in England, with the mighty West Indies walking away with the trophy.
How India destroying cricket for other countries?
India won just two matches in the 1975 and 1979 World Cup tournaments, the weakest team at that time. Wisden Sports magazine’s Chief Editor David Frith had infamously written in an article that a team like India should not play in the tournament if they have not improved and if a team like India wins, “I will eat my words.”
In the 1983 World Cup, India won four out of six matches in the group stage, cementing their place in the semi-finals where they defeated England by six wickets.
The final was played between India and West Indies, the hot favorite team after winning two World Cups in a row. All the odds were stacked against India, but the country created history on June 25, defeating West Indies at Lords, and lifting the Cup.
The historic win gave Narendra Kumar Prasadrao (NKP) Salve the confidence he needed to grab the mantle of the British’s own game from them. NKP Salve befriended Sri Lanka and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to form the Asian Cricket Committee, on which ICC had no control in 1984. They arranged a tournament between Asian teams, named Asia Cup. This was Salve’s way of telling Britishers that the southern countries could host tournaments too.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had no money to host a World Cup at first. Salve asked Pakistan to host the next world cup together. Then Salve contacted Dhirubhai Ambani with the help of Indira Gandhi. When the money was arranged, Mr. Salve put forth his proposal at the next ICC Meeting.
There was no rule before this that a new nation will host a World Cup. NKP Salve proposed a Rotational Policy. According to this policy “A new nation will host the World Cup after every four years.”
Australia and New Zealand agreed, . And when voting took place, India and Pakistan got the hosting of 1987 World Cup.
It was a success, but BCCI didn’t make any money 30 years ago. Even after the 83 tournament, Indian players would get INR 200 per day allowance and 1500 as match fees.
The South African cricket team was returning to international cricket in 1991 after a gap of 21 years and they were going to play their first three match ODI series against India.
At that time Indian television Doordrshan was broadcasting these matches and they were charging money for broadcasting instead of paying, and BCCI was just earning on tickets and on-ground advertisements.
But this time they kept the broadcasting rights in their hand and sold it to South African television channel for $200,000.
On the same year India opened their market for globalization foreign companies. New money started floating into India at the same time, these foreign companies wanted to market their products in India and nothing was watched more than cricket.
Because of satellite television, cricket was now seen even in small villages of India. It was great for these companies and BCCI. In 1993, India sold broadcast rights of England’s tour of India to a broadcasting company TWI for $600,000.
In no time, BCCI became the richest cricket board in the world. However, things change after you get rich. Remember, how NKP Salve grabbed 1987’s World Cup from England. It was decided according to rotational policy that England will host 1996’s World Cup.
But in 1996, a broadcaster named Mark Mascarhanes made an offer to BCCI that if India hosts the tournament, then he would give $ 14 million for broadcasting. BCCI liked the offer and got the hosting of 1996 World Cup.
But in 1996, Australia and West Indies refused to play their matches in Sri Lanka. Then a BCCI administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya thought, ICC’s next Chairman should be an Asian.
In 1997, Dalmiya contested ICC elections, and won.
But the question is, how?
Actually Mr. Dalmiya knew one thing, that most of ICC’s full time members would vote for the English Boards favorite candidate. At that time, associate teams had one vote each in these elections, but the representatives of these associate teams had no money to be present in the elections being held in London.
So Mr. Dalmiya bought tickets for representatives of associate teams, booked hotels in London for them, even hosted a dinner party for them before elections and when elections happened these representatives voted for Mr. Dalmiya and he won. Now an Indian was the boss of the world of cricket.
Indian Premier League (IPL) is the second richest sports league in the world, with a net worth surpassing 15 billion dollars but IPL is not the only T20 cricket league in the world. Every cricket Board has made their own cricket leagues, but BCCI does not allow their players to play in these leagues.
BCCI knows, value of these leagues might increase because of Indian viewership and if their value increases it might dilute the power of BCCI. So Indian players are not allowed to participate.
These boards have become so weak that they have to listen everything that BCCI orders because these boards only make money when India tours their countries. BCCI uses this very thing to get their things done in world cricket.
In 2012 England’s former Chief Justice submitted an independent report to ICC In which, he suggested some changes in governance. He felt that ICC shouldn’t be a Member Club Cricket Power is leaning to one side especially towards India. Associate nations aren’t getting enough funds, cricket won’t grow in these countries without funds.
BCCI takes the biggest share, ICC has only 12 full time members and 96 associate members. These members are underfunded. There is no chance that, cricket will grow in these countries without funds. Once $30,000 were given to the Chinese cricket board to improve cricket there. [2008 stats, current stats are not published]. China’s population is around 1.5 billion, how’s that even possible, that cricket will grow in country like China with such a small fund?
It’s not only about associate nations, even full time members are being further weakened. If we see the latest ICC Men’s Future Tours Program India will play most of the matches with top teams and with Zimbabwe and Ireland, India will play three and two matches respectively in five years, when Zimbabwe and Ireland are also full time members.
As far as the administrators of the game are concerned, they don’t care about West Indies Cricket. West Indies Cricket Board is bankrupt today, two times world champion team couldn’t even qualify for World Cup 2023, just because of lack of funds. How will these teams, cricket boards grow without the funds?
ICC is unofficially run by BCCI and instead of growing the game, they are shrinking it. In 2007’s World Cup, 16 teams played the tournament, and in 2023’s, only 10 teams participated. Apart from this there were 26 teams in International Association Football Federation (FIFA) World Cup 2006, and now there are 48 teams participating in 2026 World Cup.
You know why?
In 2007’s World Cup, India was eliminated early from the tournament, they could only play three matches. Broadcasters had to face a loss. If India had played more matches, broadcasters would have benefitted. BCCI reduced the teams and the format is designed in a way that India will definitely play nine matches.
BCCI doesn’t care about winning World Cups, they just want to make money. I feel, this sport should spread like football all around the world. With only 10 teams, it’s becoming boring and I think cricket has power to spread peace and happiness.
HowBCCI is killing Cricket:
You won’t believe it, from 2024 onwards, there will be no international cricket played for 2.5 months, only IPL. Isn’t this the murder of the sport we love so much?
Indian cricket is mostly run by Indian politicians and businessmen. Arun Jaitley’s son is president of Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA). Rajasthan’s CM’s Son Vaibhav Gehlot is President of Rajhistan cricket Association (RCA,) Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew is a President of Mumbai cricket association (MCA), Anurag Thakur, BJP politician, was a president Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) from there he became a president of BCCI.
Today his brother is a president of HPCA. Ashok Sigamani is president of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), the son of a Minister Jyotiradhitya Scindia is the president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), his father was president of BCCI.
BCCI treasurer Chirayu Amin’s son Pranav Amin is Bihar cricket association (BCA)’s President, Sourav Ganguly’s brother is a President Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the most fun example of this is Gujarat cricket associations former president was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He gave that post to Amit Shah after becoming Prime Minister and today, Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah is the secretary of BCCI and I’m only talking about a few states here.
Cricket shouldn’t be run by politicians and businessmen, it should be run by former cricketers, that’s it. I’m the biggest fan of cricket, like any Pakistani, I can’t bear to see one private organization is controlling the growth of this game. I want this sport to grow all over the world because this sport can do many good things.
Afghanistan cricket team is one such example, these players initially used to live in refugee camps, they played World Cup in 2015 and you know what, Afghanistan cricket was initially helped by Pakistan.
But it feels like there are people in BCCI who don’t care about the growth of this game. They just want to make money, they just want to keep their power safe, even if they have to kill this centuries old sport to achieve that.
Note: This information is collected from various platform, like cricket websites, YouTube, Facebook etc.
A Lufthansa plane that took off from Germany had to make an emergency landing in New Delhi’s Indra Gandhi’s airport after an intense fight broke out between a husband and wife.
On November 29, right after the take-off from Munich, a couple started fighting in the plane. Seeing the situation getting worse, pilots informed the control room. It directed the plane to land in Pakistan. On not getting permission, the pilots made an emergency landing in New Delhi and handed over the two passengers to airport security there.
The wife, a native of Thailand, complained that her German husband was threatening her. Passengers as well as the crew also witnessed him shouting and hurling things at his wife while reportedly being drunk.
According to Indian media, the German embassy has been contacted to handle the matter. The police is talking to airline staff to ascertain the sequence of events and check if an FIR needs to be registered.
The wife was travelling on a separate ticket and later asked the airline to continue her journey to Bangkok alone but she too was deboarded.
Washington (AFP) – An Indian national has been charged with plotting to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader on US soil, the Justice Department said on Wednesday, alleging an Indian government official was also involved in the planning.
The Justice Department unsealed murder-for-hire charges against Nikhil Gupta, 52, “in connection with his participation in a foiled plot to assassinate a US citizen” of Indian origin in New York City, it said in a statement.
The man allegedly targeted in the killing “is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab,” a northern Indian state with a large population of Sikhs.
An Indian government official, directing the plan from India, worked with Gupta and others based around the world, the US government said.
Gupta, who lives in India, was arrested by authorities in the Czech Republic under US extradition orders.
The news comes after the White House said last week it was treating an alleged plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil with “utmost seriousness,” and had raised the issue with the Indian government.
The Financial Times reported that same day that US authorities had thwarted a conspiracy to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen.
After Wednesday’s news broke, Pannun said in a statement that “the attempt on my life on American soil is the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”
The Justice Department, which did not identify the target of the alleged assassination attempt on Wednesday, said that Gupta was recruited into the effort in May 2023.
Canada and India had a major diplomatic row after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September linked New Delhi to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, also a Sikh separatist, in June.
New Delhi called the Canadian allegations “absurd.”
But Trudeau said Wednesday that “the news coming out of the United States further underscores what we’ve been talking about from the very beginning, which is that India needs to take this seriously.”
“The Indian government needs to work with us to ensure that we’re getting to the bottom of this,” he said.
Pannun said that “first by assassinating Nijjar in Canada and then attempting to assassinate me on US soil, India under [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi has extended to the foreign soils its policy of violently crushing the Sikhs movement for right to self-determination.”
The US Justice Department said that after Nijjar’s killing, Gupta told undercover US officials that there was “now no need to wait” on killing the New York City target.
An Indian government spokesman on Wednesday said that the United States has “shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others.”
“We had also indicated that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests,” the statement said, adding that a “high-level Enquiry Committee” was established on November 18 “to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter.”
After 17 days trapped inside a collapsed Himalayan road tunnel they were building, Indian workers described the horror of their ordeal, and the hopes and prayers that kept them strong.
“We were really scared, every moment felt that death was standing nearby,” rescued worker Deepak Kumar told AFP on Wednesday. “We were not sure whether our lives would be saved or not.”
The men were welcomed as heroes after being hauled through 57 metres (187 feet) of steel pipe on stretchers specially fitted with wheels late Tuesday, the culmination of a marathon engineering operation.
Draped in garlands of orange marigolds, they were greeted with wild cheers.
“The world is again beautiful for us,” rescued worker Sabah Ahmad told AFP, describing the heartache of hearing his wife’s “worried and hopeless” voice while he was trapped.
“I know it was a difficult moment for those inside and more difficult for families outside,” said Ahmad, who comes from Bihar, one of India’s poorest states.
“But at last we have come out, and it is the only thing that matters.”
His wife Musarrat Jahan, speaking to AFP by phone from Bihar, said that “no words” could explain how happy she felt.
“Not only my husband got a new life, we also got a new life,” she said. “We will never forget it”.
Previous hopes of reaching the men were repeatedly dashed by falling debris and the breakdown of multiple drilling machines, and the men spoke of how hard it had been to keep their spirits up.
“It was not easy,” Kumar said. “After three or four days inside the collapsed tunnel, and the rescue team had failed to reach us, the reality is that our confidence and faith were at a low level.”
Most of the trapped men are migrant workers who left home to find employment, working on the Silkyara tunnel in northern Uttarakhand state, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from home high up in the bitterly cold Himalayan foothills.
Rescue teams later set up a telephone exchange to allow families far from the site to call in.
“I told my family, ‘I am fine and healthy, do not worry, everything will be all right, we will come out soon’”, Kumar said.
“But while I was saying these words to them, sometimes I felt strongly that I will never be able to see my parents.”
Guriya Devi, wife of rescued worker Sushil Kumar, told AFP that the family had “passed through horrible times, and sometimes we lost hope”.
Chamra Oraon, 32, from Jharkhand state, described the horror he felt when he heard a thud and debris began to fall deep inside the mountain road tunnel on November 12 — and the terror as the rock fall blocked the only route out with tonnes of rubble.
“I ran for my life but got stuck on the wrong side,” he told the Indian Express newspaper. “As it became clear we would be there for a long time, we grew restless, hungry. But we prayed silently for help.”
Subodh Kumar Verma told AFP how the first 24 hours in the tunnel were the worst, when they feared they could starve to death — if their air did not run out first.
“We faced problems related to food and air for 24 hours there,” Verma said.
The new year is just over one month away and it is going to be the biggest election year in history yet.
40 countries are scheduled to vote in 2024 across the globe which, as calculated by Bloomberg Economics, represent 41% of the world’s population and 42% of its global GDP.
The marathon will begin with Taiwan in January and end with the US in November.
Here are some of the prominent countries lined up for elections: Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gambia, and Libya in Africa; Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, the United States, and Venezuela in the Americas; Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Australia, and Pakistan in Asia and Oceania; Austria, Belarus, Belgium, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom in Europe.
There are, however, four elections that the world has eyes on — elections that are expected to alter geopolitics in the next decade.
Russia will elect the new president in March who will govern until 2030, putting Russia-NATO relations at the forefront.
In April-May, India will hold elections and as per analysts, Modi’s loss can push back investors.
The European Union will conduct bloc-wide polls in June to appoint members of the European Parliament for the 2024-2029 which will be pertinent for the increasing friction between right-wing and left-wing policymakers on issues like immigration and Ukraine.
The United States will hold legislative and presidential elections in November for 2025-2028, while everyone curiously waits whether Republicans will return to the White House or not.
A 16-year-old boy in New Delhi killed an 18-year-old with sixty stabs of the knife.
As per Indian Media, the shocking incident took place in New Delhi where a young boy robbed an 18-year-old boy for INR 350 and left him lying on the street in a pool of blood. The killer then celebrated the murder by dancing over the body of the murdered boy.
The police has recovered a blood-stained knife from the murderer and acquired CCTV footage. The suspect has been shifted to the police station.
The men became trapped after a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel, which was under construction in the mountainous vicinity of the Himalayas, caved in on itself after a landslide. The tunnel collapsed around 200 meters (656 ft.) from its entrance.
Construction of the tunnel is part of the Chardham all-weather road, a flagship project of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that aims to connect Hindu pilgrimage sites, so that the state can better accommodate the growing influx of pilgrims and tourists to the region.
The workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in northern India for over a week are getting their first hot meals on Tuesday through a new six-inch wide steel pipe as rescuers pursue an alternative plan to free them. “We will bring you out safely, do not worry,” rescuers told the men, according to translations by Al Jazeera.
Indian rescuers have drilled two-thirds of the way through debris toward 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel, officials said Wednesday, warning that the next 24 hours could be critical.
Engineers are working to drive a steel pipe through at least 57 metres (187 feet) of the tonnes of earth, concrete, and rubble that has divided the trapped men from freedom since a portion of the under-construction tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand collapsed 11 days ago.
Looking into the Silkyara tunnel entrance on Wednesday, an AFP journalist could see sparks flying as workers welded metal tube sections together, with the site busy as excavators and heavy trucks brought in equipment.
“I am very happy to share… that 39 metres of drilling have been completed,” said Mahmood Ahmad, a road and highways ministry official involved in the operations.
“If there is no blockage, we hope there could be happy news late tonight or tomorrow,” Ahmad told reporters at the site.
