After Christine Sferle’s boyfriend of five years proposed to her in 2014, she didn’t expect to spend the next two days sobbing in bed. It wasn’t as if the picture-perfect proposal came out of nowhere; they’d had many conversations about wanting to get married. On the one hand, Sferle was happy and excited about her future with this truly amazing guy. On the other hand, she was overwhelmed with inexplicable anxiety, sadness and shame.

“The shame was not about getting engaged, but about feeling that I shouldn’t feel confused or sad,” Sferle told HuffPost. “It felt like a secret until I talked with my fiancé about how I was feeling and realized that it was totally OK and didn’t mean something about us was wrong.”

Wedding photographer Jamie Delaine experienced something very similar when she got engaged in 2013. She was head over heels in love with her fiancé, the ring he picked out and the proposal he planned at their favorite coffee shop. And yet she found herself at home in bed, crying and scared. 

“Why did I walk up the stairs to my bedroom with tears in my eyes each night? Why wasn’t I feeling happy? I was sad. Overwhelming, all consumingly sad,” she wrote in a blog post. 

When everyone around you is telling you that the engagement is the “happiest time of your life” and you don’t actually feel that way, you think surely there must be something wrong with you or your relationship. But that’s often not the case. 

We asked women, now happily married, and therapists to explain why post-engagement anxiety happens and how to deal with it. 

Post-engagement anxiety is normal. Here’s why it happens. 

Big life changes — even positive ones like an engagement, a promotion or a pregnancy — can trigger stress, anxiety and other negative emotions. 

“Having some anxiety symptoms does not mean you are unhappy per se about the event itself,” marriage and family therapist Marni Feuerman said. “Getting engaged to someone signifies one step closer to a lifelong commitment. You may have anxiety about planning a wedding, merging families, being a good daughter-in-law, moving in together, financial decisions, being a good wife and so on. There’s a lot that comes up post-engagement that can easily trigger some fears, even if they are not totally logical or rational.” 

Sferle eventually realized she was struggling with a shift in her identity brought on by the engagement. She was a single or dating person for the vast majority of her life. Now she would have to assume the unfamiliar labels of “fiancée” and “wife.”

“We had been together for five years, but often, as in many cases of transition or transformation, the new identity arrives long before the comfort, acknowledgment and awareness settles into the mind and body,” she said. “So I still thought of myself as a single woman up until we got engaged. I think part of what I was mourning was the loss of who I had been and how I had seen myself up until then.”

And if you’ve always been fairly private about your relationship (maybe you’re just not the type of couple to gush about each other on social media), the proposal suddenly puts your love front and center. Word spreads fast and suddenly you’re flooded with texts and phone calls from friends and family. The outpouring of love can be wonderful but overwhelming at the same time. Then you find yourself answering tons of questions about the proposal and your wedding plans, which can be difficult to handle when you’re emotionally fragile. It’s all an adjustment. But rest assured that these types of jitters are often par for the course. 

Talk about it with your partner and other loved ones

You might be hesitant to discuss these feelings with anyone — let alone your spouse-to-be. After all, you don’t want to hurt their feelings by making them think these mixed emotions are tied to your doubts about them as a lifelong partner. But Feuerman said it’s absolutely worth thoughtfully broaching the subject with your future spouse. 

“Do a bit of self-reflection first to get clear on what you are anxious about. You can bring it up without hurting his or her feelings by first confirming your happiness about being engaged before talking about your anxiety,” she said. “There is a good chance your fiancé feels the same way and would welcome a discussion. This is an opportunity for you both to calm each other’s worries and get clarification on topics triggering negative feelings.”

Delaine first told her fiancé everything she was feeling a few days after the anxiety surfaced. Even though he didn’t totally understand why she was upset, he patiently listened and offered comfort and support. While she was Googling post-engagement anxiety, she came across two books ― Emotionally Engaged: A Bride’s Guide to Surviving the “Happiest” Time of Her Life and The Conscious Bride: Women Unveil Their True Feelings About Getting Hitched ― that helped her process her feelings. 

“I shared what I read with [my fiancé], and he was interested in the thought processes and changes I was describing,” she said. “He was so supportive, and that gave me the courage to open up to other close family and friends about it.”

When she confided in some of her recently married bridesmaids, she found out that three out of the four had experienced similar thoughts or feelings post-engagement.

“Almost every newlywed woman I have asked has felt sadness during the course of her engagement,” Delaine wrote in her blog post. “A tension between ‘the happiest time in my life’ and ‘everything is changing and I want it to stop.’”

For Sferle, opening up to her now-husband about her anxieties helped pull her out of her funk and reminded her why she fell in love with this man in the first place. 

“One of the reasons I love him is that I can tell him anything,” she said. “This is so important in a partner, because now, as life throws us more and more tough experiences together: death of his parents, having a baby, job loss, etc., we’ve got a foundation of communication, trust and togetherness that strengthens because of our honesty about the hard feelings in the hard moments of life from the beginning.”

Telling her friends and family, however, wasn’t as easy. 

“They were less comfortable with ‘uncomfortable feelings’ and wanted to fix it for me,” she said. “Or they jumped to conclusions that having confusing feelings meant something was not right about the relationship or that they were red flags. I think that’s a natural thing to think as an outsider to a relationship, but it kept me feeling alienated because they hadn’t had those feelings and didn’t understand the complexity of mine.”

Know that sometimes, the anxiety may be pointing to a deeper problem in the relationship

While these anxious feelings are usually nothing to worry about, in some cases, they may be a result of legitimate concerns about this person or the impending marriage. You may have to dig deep in yourself or enlist the help of a therapist or other confidant to help you nail down the root of your apprehension, said marriage and family therapist Becky Whetstone.

“I like to take my newly engaged clients through the process of inquiry: ‘Have you noticed any red flags? Are you sure?’” she said. “Interestingly, many of these individuals or couples will be well aware of potential red flags or dangers ahead, but then choose to justify or ignore those and get married anyway.”

General concerns about the weighty commitment of marriage or transitioning into a new phase of life are usually benign, but “if you are able to name specific issues that are troubling or that you haven’t worked out, particularly if they are specific to your fiancé, this is often in the red flag category,” said Feuerman.

And if ultimately you realize your partner is not the person you want to be with long-term, remember that breaking off an engagement, while daunting, is far easier than filing for divorce down the road.

“I am dealing with a client right now who recently got engaged to a woman he now realizes will cause him much pain and suffering,” Whetstone said. “I tell him a broken engagement becomes a blip on the radar of your life story, but a failed marriage has much more emotional impact.”

How to manage post-engagement anxiety 

Besides working through your feelings on your own (perhaps through journaling) and opening up a dialogue with your future spouse and other trusted friends and family members, consider doing some premarital counseling with a therapist or member of the clergy, Feuerman recommended.

“This way, a third party can help you navigate discussions about anything that is making you feel anxious,” she said. “It’s not a bad idea to talk to those who are already married and have gone through this phase of life. It is likely the anxiety will be normalized and you can relax a bit more and enjoy this special time in your life.”

And the more we talk honestly about the anxiety and fear we experience, even during seemingly “happy” times, the more we can normalize the wide range of human emotions.

“The less I stressed about having to have it all look or feel a certain way, the more I was able to relax and be OK with everything changing,” Sferle said. 

It’s important to note that these feelings of anxiety aren’t necessarily the same as those that come with a diagnosable anxiety disorder. But if you’re concerned — or if your anxiety is starting to regularly interfere with your daily life — it’s definitely worth reaching out to a doctor or a mental health professional.

BERLIN — Actor Ranveer Singh said India could be on the cusp of a musical revolution with the kind of Hindustani hip-hop that is the subject of his new movie premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.

Gully Boy, directed by India’s Zoya Akhtar, tells the fictional tale of Murad (Singh), a student who lives in a slum and ends up temporarily substituting for his injured father as chauffeur for a wealthy family.

He discovers a talent for rapping and uses it to vent his anger about poverty and the chasm between rich and poor, writing lines about babies cowering next to skyscrapers and wealthy people’s cars being big as poor people’s homes.

“This film is something that takes a genre of music that has essentially been underground in India so far and brings it to the mainstream,” Singh said.

“I want this to be the beginning of something because I really think Hindustani hip-hop is a revolution. It’s more than just music. It’s a musical and social revolution,” he said.

Singh said he grew up listening to rap music and it “feels amazing” to have recorded five songs for the film’s soundtrack.

The coming-of-age film depicts a young man who refuses to accept what his father has taught him—that he cannot afford big dreams and should get a stable office job—and who defies class conventions by secretly dating Safeena (Alia Bhatt), a doctor’s daughter.

Safeena is confident and violently attacks potential love rivals while Murad is a more sensitive and reserved character.

“Traditionally our films and gender dynamics are structured very differently,” Singh said. “So that’s an aspect of our film that we’re very proud of.”

He said he initially wanted to become an actor to be a virtuous hero with big muscles who beats other men up and stands up for what is right, but Akhtar had brought out a part of him on screen that was usually reserved for his friends and family.

“Zoya kind of very literally and metaphorically peels away all of those layers to kind of tap into a very real, very authentic side of me ... a little bit more quiet, more reserved, more introverted and more internally feeling sensitive, vulnerable,” he said.

The movie—shot in Mumbai—features slum dwellers picking through rubbish, abandoned children preparing drugs to earn their keep and homes made from corrugated iron alongside wealthy Indians attending posh parties, modern skyscrapers and a group of camera-wielding British tourists visiting a slum.

It is one of around 400 films screening at this year’s Berlinale festival, which runs until 17 February.

The BJP has launched one sexist tirade after another since Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi stepped into active politics. 

Much of their attacks on Gandhi have been about her appearance and about her husband Robert Vadra. 

How a BJP MP has expressed his concerns on what she wears. 

BJP MP Harish Dwivedi told the media that every knew that when Gandhi visits UP she is in a saree and wears sindoor, while she wears ‘jeans and top’ in Delhi. 

Gandhi has been at the receiving end of several such statements. BJP leader Kailash Vijaywargiya had said recently that the Congress was fielding ‘choclatey’ faces in the Lok Sabha because they did not have strong leaders. 

Bihar deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi was quoted as saying by IANS, “An election is neither a wrestling match, nor a beauty contest, nor is it a competition of some other type.”

BJP leader and Bihar Minister Vinod Narain Jha had said that he saw no quality in Gandhi except for being beautiful. 

“One of the most painful experiences of my life.”

That’s how David Benioff once described seeing friends test-screen his and co-showrunner Dan Weiss’ original “Game of Thrones” pilot in 2010. After that viewing, more than 90 percent of the episode was supposedly reshot before it aired on HBO in April 2011, eventually leading to the phenomenon that the series is today.

But that first terrible, horrible, no good, very bad pilot ― called a “piece of shit” by the showrunners’ screenwriter friend Craig Mazin ― never saw the light of day. It became legend, something that could live only in Old Nan’s stories. Or so we thought.

It’s an oft-forgotten fact that George R.R. Martin, whose A Song of Ice and Fire novels serve as inspiration for “Game of Thrones,” has been depositing old copies of his writing to Texas A&M’s Cushing Memorial Library in College Station for more than two decades. He is said to have fallen in love with Cushing’s sci-fi collection and its archival system during visits to AggieCon as far back as the 1970s and decided to make the quiet spot in Texas a home for his massive catalog of original manuscripts.

The resulting collection at the library takes up multiple walls, the first of which is properly called the Wall. It’s a collection so vast, it’d make Samwell Tarly’s head spin, staffed by a team of dedicated librarians and professors who serve as a kind of Night’s Watch. Among the archive’s many files are manuscripts for the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and ― as I learned during a trip to Texas over the summer ― a box containing a production draft of that painful “Game of Thrones” pilot. 

An early version of the pilot script supposedly surfaced online years ago, but the script’s authenticity was never officially verified. No one seemed to know how similar it was to the rejected pilot that HBO shot or how much it differed; scripts often go through various rewrites, so the mysterious version floating around online could have been from any phase of revisions. 

I had three days to spend in Texas, but it took only five minutes to realize the script online and the one at Cushing are different. There are reasons to believe that the version in Texas is similar to the pilot script that HBO shot: The production draft at Cushing is dated Oct. 22, 2009, right around the time the unaired pilot started filming. The Cushing script credits the unaired pilot’s original director, Tom McCarthy, who was later replaced in reshoots by Tim Van Patten. Plus, in terms of content, the Cushing script contains storylines that have been rumored to be in the unaired pilot script (as we’ll get into below) ― key story departures, dialogue alterations and location changes that cast the Seven Kingdoms in a different light.

“Game of Thrones” isn’t returning until April 2019, but fans are already bracing for a final season full of callbacks to early moments in the show, which will complete its eight-year “massive jigsaw puzzle,” as it was described by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister.

In advance of the season premiere, we exhaustively rummage through the secrets hidden in the pilot script from Martin’s collection, involving everything from an unreleased Cersei Lannister moment to a really drunk Jon Snow making a scene. Here’s what Westeros might have looked like if that “piece of shit” pilot had aired:

The Cersei scene that might ruffle some feathers

Let’s begin with a defining scene between King Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark in the Winterfell crypts. 

The scene that aired on HBO is slightly different from the scene in the Cushing script, but the gist is the same. Robert asks Ned to be his new Hand of the King, a position left open after Jon Arryn’s death. That’s when Robert places something small but highly symbolic on a statue of his onetime betrothed, Lyanna Stark: a feather. 

And that pretty much sums up the sequence you saw in Season 1:

But in the script found in the Cushing library, Queen Cersei plays a pivotal role in this exchange’s aftermath ― so much so that her involvement would have changed a Season 5 episode, the recent Season 8 teaser and possibly more. 

The following scene is written into the pilot script found at Cushing and involves Cersei visiting the crypts right before the feast at Winterfell:

Cersei exits the crypts, crosses the courtyard and walks into the antechamber between the kitchen and the Winterfell great hall. The celebration for the king’s arrival is underway, and servants are rushing past her with food. The queen’s handmaidens make adjustments to her outfit and remove her heavy fur.

Then Cersei reveals something she has inside her sleeve:

Why does it matter?

The episode that aired on HBO gave no indication that Cersei was aware of the feather Robert placed on Lyanna’s statue, let alone that she removed it to be burned.

Without this intervention, the feather goes on to play an important role in HBO’s recent Season 8 “Game of Thrones” teaser, falling to the ground as Jon Snow walks by and freezing when a wave of cold air rolls over it.

Even before that, the feather was featured in Season 5, Episode 4, “Sons of the Harpy,” when Sansa Stark visits the Winterfell crypts and comes across the token Robert placed on the statue years ago.

The series’ creators, Benioff and Weiss, acknowledged the feather’s station in the crypts to Making of Game of Thrones, explaining that, after all this time, the feather would surely still be there because there “hasn’t been a janitorial crew going down and vacuuming.”

“We thought it would be kind of a great thing,” they added, “to have Sansa wondering about it.” 

Why Sansa? And why a feather?

If you’ve been living under a Casterly Rock your entire life, you might’ve missed the curious role that birds play in “Game of Thrones.” There’s Varys’ spy network of “little birds,” there’s the High Sparrow, there’s the Three-Eyed Raven, and then there’s Sansa, who is often referred to as a “little bird” or “little dove.” These characters have a few things in common: They’re misunderstood, underestimated and often hold powerful information.

The feather could hint at how Lyanna, too, was a misunderstood character, another little bird. It could also serve as a symbol for her secret, her child, Jon Snow.

Now remember, in the Season 5 episode in which the feather reappears, viewers still think Lyanna had been kidnapped and raped by Prince Rhaegar. It hadn’t been revealed that she and Rhaegar were actually in love, married and had a baby — a secret that, with her dying breath, she made her brother Ned promise to keep.

The connection to Jon is reiterated in that Season 8 teaser when he looks back at the feather. Could Cersei’s burning the feather in the scrapped pilot script have been a hint at something else on the way? Will she do the same to Jon?

With Dany’s dragons flying around and Cersei having blown up part of King’s Landing with wildfire, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine a fiery run-in between Cersei and Jon in the future.

The cut feather scene is perhaps the first small hint of Cersei’s penchant for burning her enemies’ “cities to the ground,” as she likes to say. Considering HBO’s “Dragonstone” teaser from late in 2018, which shows a fire engulfing the signature Lannister lion, more flames are likely in the Lannisters’ future. And, just possibly, Jon Snow’s.

The much more consensual sex scene between Dany and Khal Drogo

One of the more substantial differences between the script at Cushing and the episode that aired on HBO can be observed in the writing of Daenerys Targaryen’s marriage consummation scene.

In the Cushing script, Dany has a lot more control. She smiles when she realizes Drogo can say only the word “no” in her language, she helps him take rings out of his hair and, most important, she ultimately consents to sex: 

This is far from the scene that aired on HBO, in which she cries as he undresses her, then has sex with her from behind. The more consensual framing of the scene is straight out of Martin’s books, which explains why it was included in an earlier version of the script; the pilot script at Cushing tends to hew closer to Martin’s words.

The version of the scene that aired, however, is traumatic. Daenerys is raped. Her relationship with Drogo eventually grows into love, but that doesn’t erase the fact that he raped her — and does so time and time again.

She addresses these rapes in her first conversation with Jon in Season 7, telling him, “I’ve been shamed and betrayed, raped and defiled. Do you know what kept me standing through all those years in exile? Faith, not in any gods, not in myths and legends. In myself, in Daenerys Targaryen.”

Why does it matter?

Though a consensual scene would have been less traumatic to watch, Daenerys actress Emilia Clarke spoke about her character’s rape to Glamour in 2016, explaining some possible reasoning behind the scene:

At the heart of it, we’re telling a story; you need that part of the story to feel empathy for Daenerys. You see her attacked by her brother, raped by her husband, and then going, “F―k all of you, I’m gonna rule the world.” That’s where we are now.

A rape scene is hardly necessary to build empathy for Dany’s plight, but as Clarke said, it underscores the terrors Dany overcame and her transformation from a scared, abused child into the khaleesi.

Somewhere between her rape and her decision to sleep with Jon, aka King of the Squats, in Season 7, a completely different Mother of Dragons has emerged.

The much more confusing sex scene between Jaime and Cersei

After watching the “Game of Thrones” premiere on HBO, fans are well aware that Jaime and Cersei are related. It’s a pretty pivotal plot point. Interestingly, one of the most prominent critiques lodged against the unaired pilot was that this info wasn’t clear enough. Early viewers didn’t know Jaime and Cersei Lannister are brother and sister.

Perhaps that’s why a scene featuring the incestuous siblings talking at King’s Landing was added to the episode that aired. In it, the two basically chat about how very, very related they are and how if anyone discovered their secret affair, their heads would be on spikes.

“As your brother, I feel it’s my duty to warn you, you worry too much,” Jaime explicitly states. This scene is not in the Cushing pilot script or the script previously available online, as io9 points out.

Keeping in mind that many viewers of the original pilot didn’t understand the Lannister twins’ relationship, a scene in the script at Cushing would have made it even more complicated. (Get out of here, Bran. You don’t want to see this.)

In all versions of the pilot, Bran Stark climbs the exterior of a tower at Winterfell and happens upon a window, through which he peeps a naked man and woman (Jaime and Cersei). In the script at Cushing, however, the encounter reads slightly differently, with Cersei telling Jaime to stop:

Why does it matter? 

In the episode that aired, Cersei objects to Jaime only after she spots Bran inadvertently being a little creep in the window.

In contrast, in Martin’s book and the script at Cushing, she protests much sooner. It’s confusing to Bran and possibly would’ve been confusing to TV viewers too.

Consider how this scene would have affected Jaime’s triumphant moment in Season 7, when he chooses to walk away from a power-hungry Cersei. Until that point, audiences are meant to believe he has always been under Cersei’s control; only then is he able to break free from her influence. The Cushing version of Jaime and Cersei’s sex scene could have made this harder to swallow.

In a show riddled with constant backstabbing, endless subplots and so many characters you remember as What’s His Name and Who’s Her Face, the less confusing a scene, the better.

The White Walkers who wouldn’t shut up

The Cushing pilot script opens a lot like the episode that aired: Three men from the Night’s Watch are tracking down wildlings when they are ambushed by White Walkers. Things don’t go well.

In the early pilot script, one of those men, Will, realizes the bodies of the dead wildlings have vanished and proceeds to climb a tree to get a better view. He does this right before the Walkers arrive, and his decision is a lifesaving one. In contrast to the aired episode, which shows a Walker sparing a member of the Watch from death for some unknown reason, it’s Will’s position in the tree that prevents him from being killed along with the others.

The White Walkers descend on the other two men, all the while speaking a language of ice:

Will stays in the tree. He’s going to let this one just play out.

Why does it matter?

At this point, White Walker dialogue is well documented. It just has never shown up on TV. However, it’s in the books, it’s referred to by Vanity Fair writer Joanna Robinson after she reviewed a number of “Game of Thrones” scripts, it shows up in the pilot script floating around online and it’s also in the one from Martin’s collection at Cushing.

I asked “Game of Thrones” language creator David Peterson about the White Walker dialogue, which he named Skroth, in a previously unpublished portion of a 2017 interview.

Reflecting on early plans for the White Walkers to speak, he told me he originally put something together for the opening scene of the show.

Peterson sent me a pre-effects example of the White Walker dialogue, which he previously played at conventions and gave us permission to include. Here’s an early version of what a White Walker would’ve sounded like:

At the time, he said, “Game of Thrones” sound designer Paula Fairfield was still hopeful they could use it one day, but that obviously hasn’t happened.

It’s not the only language casualty. Peterson said he created a full language for the Children of the Forest in Season 6, but for a variety of reasons (a desire to avoid the need for subtitles during action sequences, stunt people having difficulty with their lines), they “were either cut or shortened, and all of them were turned into English.”

“It was an idea. They tried it. It just didn’t work,” he said.

The time Jon Snow got wasted

In the “Game of Thrones” pilot that aired, Jon does not make an appearance in the memorable great hall scene. Instead, he stays outside, heeding Catelyn Stark’s wishes that Jon — who she and almost everyone else believes is Ned’s bastard son — not be present.

But in the pilot script at Cushing, he sits inside. He’s not at the highborn table, but he manages to have a drunken conversation with Benjen Stark in the great hall anyway.

Our guy is left alone to drink more wine and eventually causes a scene:

The scene in the Cushing pilot script is almost exactly the same as the scene in Martin’s novel A Game of Thrones. From the book:

Beyond the exclusion of Snow’s drunken escapade, the Cushing version of the sequence was drastically rearranged to form the scenes that aired on HBO. For example, in the episode that aired, the confrontation between Ned and Jaime in the great hall ends after Ned says, “I don’t fight in tournaments because when I fight a man for real, I don’t want him to know what I can do.”

Jaime replies, “Well said.”

But in the Cushing pilot script, as well as the one that has been online, the moment continues long enough for Jaime to remind Ned of how his brother and father were killed:

It continues:

A flashback of Ned’s brother Brandon being killed also purportedly existed in an early version of the filmed pilot (a screenshot exists online), but this is not included in the script at Cushing (though it could have fit in around this conversation). 

The Cushing version of the scene goes even further, with Ned leaving and Tyrion, who overheard everything, telling Jaime, “If it came down to it, Brother, I’d bet on you ― but I wouldn’t bet much.” Tyrion then downs another tankard of wine, realizes he drank too much, staggers out of the hall and eventually talks to Jon outside.

Why does it matter?

While it would’ve been fun to see the future King in the North get shitfaced (you know nothing about holding your alcohol, Jon Snow), it’s so much extra character interaction to digest that you could be left feeling as dizzy as Tyrion. 

There are a few moments that are really important from the Winterfell feast scenes, and Jon’s conversations with Tyrion and Benjen are at the forefront. The conversation with Tyrion is referred to in Season 7, when Tyrion writes Jon a letter that includes “All dwarves are bastards in their father’s eyes.” It’s a line Tyrion says in their first chat, and it seemingly convinces Jon he’ll be safe when he travels to see Daenerys.

Of course, with Benjen he talks about going to serve in the Night’s Watch at the Wall, which he clearly does and then lives happily ever after. 

The other character interactions, while entertaining, could have distracted from the truly important moments, so let’s all pour one out for Jon’s long-lost wasted scene.

The weird Catelyn who wanted Sansa to be queen

Catelyn and Daenerys were originally played by different actors — Jennifer Ehle and Tamzin Merchant, respectively. Before Michelle Fairley took on the role of Catelyn, the character’s personality was a lot different too.

For example, in a bedroom scene in the pilot script, Catelyn urges Ned to accept Robert’s offer of betrothal between Joffrey and Sansa and to head south with the king.

Maester Luwin then enters with the note from her sister Lysa, saying that the Lannisters murdered her husband, Jon Arryn. Ned has no choice but to take up his old friend Robert’s request to be the new Hand of the King and go to King’s Landing to figure out what’s going on.

In the episode that aired, however, Catelyn urges Ned to stay in the North, claiming that she’ll confront Robert and tell him, “Listen, fat man. You are not taking my husband anywhere. He belongs to me now.”

You tell ’em, Cat.

Why does it matter?

In terms of the differences between the pilot script at Cushing and the episode that aired, Catelyn is my pick for most improved character. Benioff and Weiss were smart to realize that fans have pages and pages to get to know the Catelyn in the books but only a few scenes to get to know her on the show. The Cushing script might have made Catelyn seem a bit title obsessed, like Season 1 Sansa, who was, objectively, the worst.

Just ask Season 1 Arya Stark.

Instead, the showrunners chose to lean into the image of the Stark matriarch as a protective mother and wife who would later fend off an assassin in an effort to save her injured Bran.

It’s also worth noting that after reading Lysa’s letter in the Cushing script, Catelyn says to Ned:

In the episode that aired, Catelyn stops after saying Jon Arryn was murdered by the Lannisters. She doesn’t say, “By the queen.”

John Standing, the actor who plays the dearly departed Jon Arryn, once said the original pilot included a “lunatic” scene in which Cersei watches his character die. Though this scene isn’t included in the script at Cushing, a line about Jon Arryn being killed by the queen paves the way for the bit to have been added later.

The time Joffrey Baratheon, First of his Name, was a jerk from the start

When “Game of Thrones” begins, you don’t realize Joffrey is quite as turdish as he is until Episode 2, when Tyrion slaps him silly for not going to the Starks to offer sympathies after Bran’s fall. But in the pilot script at Cushing, you get the impression that Joffrey is a walking, talking pile of human excrement right away.

At a training session between the Lannisters and Starks, Bran has just finished pummeling Tommen Baratheon with a wooden sword, and Ser Rodrik, Winterfell’s master-at-arms, asks Robb Stark and Joffrey if they’d like to go another round. Robb’s in, but Joffrey complains that he’s “tired of swatting at Starks with a play sword.” He suggests “live steel,” and Rodrik is just not cool with that.

While the pilot script gives Robb this early interaction with Joffrey, it omits many other scenes that made their way to air — the Winterfell scene where Bran is learning archery with his family, the scene in which Sansa and Arya are practicing their stitching, the scene in which Sansa begs Catelyn to let her go to King’s Landing and the infamous shaving scene in which the Stark boys stand around shirtless and flexing.

Why does it matter?

The Joffrey moment could have added tension later in the series — for instance, during the War of the Five Kings skit at Joffrey’s wedding, which features someone riding around with a wolf’s head to represent the decapitated Robb. But it seems likely that some minor scenes like this were cut in order to make room for more vital moments, such as getting to know the Starks. And, frankly, more Starks and less Joffrey sounds like a winning formula, bare-chested flexing and all.

The final takeaways

In addition to the cut scenes, there were quite a few subtle differences between the script available online and the one from Martin’s official collection in Texas. In the version online, Tyrion pets the Stark direwolf Ghost, his brothel scene takes place at King’s Landing (not in the North), and there’s a long scene meant to describe a now-discarded title sequence.

But none of this happens in the script at the Cushing library. (In fact, as far as the credits go, the script there describes an opening sequence with just the words “TITLE CARD: GAME OF THRONES.”)

There are some less significant but amusing details sandwiched into the script at Cushing too. Ned, who’s about the grimmest dude around, makes a joke in the crypts:

The line was taken out and given to Jaime in Season 1, Episode 3: 

Various shooting locations changed as well. For instance, Dany’s wedding was originally filmed in Morocco and featured a cameo from Martin himself as a Pentoshi (something that could have easily fit into the Cushing script, since it mentions “Merchants of Pentos” gathered for the ceremony). However, when Clarke was brought in as the replacement Daenerys, the subplot was altered and reshot in Malta.

The Cushing script alone doesn’t reveal exactly why the original pilot was such a “massive problem,” as Mazin put it. Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, touched on that version’s “mistakes,” telling The Guardian, “It didn’t look right, didn’t feel right.” The devil is likely in the scene execution details, which we might never see, although he said the showrunners would threaten to release the pilot on YouTube when he pissed them off. Perhaps the early drunk scenes weren’t the King in the North’s finest hour.

Still, reading the script at Cushing, I got a sense of how even small changes would have led to a vastly different show. One of the most interesting aspects for me ― a moment that would’ve changed the way some future “Game of Thrones” scenes unfold and added some foreshadowing ― was Cersei’s cut scene. As the adage goes, where there’s smoke, there’s ... Cersei trying to light something on fire.

The scenes illustrated by Lena Vargas Afanasieva are not meant to be exact depictions of the scripted sequences.

Additional reporting by Leigh Blickley and Sara Boboltz.

MINNEAPOLIS — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) announced Sunday that she will seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, entering an already crowded field of candidates looking to challenge President Donald Trump.

“I stand before you as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of Minnesota, to announce my candidacy for president of the United States,” Klobuchar said during a snowy rally in Minneapolis.

Klobuchar is one of several Democratic senators running, and among several women in the field, already considered the most diverse pool in history. She said she will campaign at a time when the country is worn down by the “petty and vicious” nature of U.S. politics.

“We are all tired of the shutdowns and the putdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding,” she added. “Our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but by marching inexorably toward what’s right.”

First elected in 2006 after serving as a county prosecutor, the three-term Minnesota senator has been a formidable Trump critic, particularly in questioning the president’s appointees during Senate confirmation hearings, such as then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

As the top Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, she helped spearhead Capitol Hill lawmakers’ overhaul of their arcane system of addressing sexual misconduct claims, catalyzed by the Me Too movement. Among several lawmakers who resigned or retired after sexual misconduct allegations was Klobuchar’s colleague, then-Minnesota Sen. Al Franken (D).

In addition to serving as a foil to Trump, Klobuchar hopes to capitalize on her Midwestern roots as an asset, given how Trump’s 2016 victory hinged on narrow victories in nearby states like Michigan and Wisconsin.

“She’s the woman for the job,” said Minneapolis resident Brenda Kivi, who attended Sunday’s rally with her husband, Bruce. “She’s got a lot of heart and compassion for others. There’s too much divisiveness right now; we need someone to bring people together.”

Despite her personable public image, Klobuchar has a reputation for mistreating her staff, leading to high staff turnover rates in her Capitol Hill office, and difficulties securing people to helm her potential 2020 campaign, as HuffPost reported earlier this month. 

Klobuchar on Sunday acknowledged the reports for the first time publicly, telling reporters that she “can be tough.”

In a roughly 25-minute speech Sunday in Minneapolis’ Boom Island Park, Klobuchar outlined some of the progressive issues that will make up the centerpiece of her 2020 campaign, including campaign finance reform, climate change, universal health care and tax reform.

“As your president, I will look you in the eye. I will tell you what I think. I will focus on getting things done. That’s what I’ve done my whole life,” she said. “And no matter what, I’ll lead from the heart.”

In January, Klobuchar said that she was nearing a decision about a 2020 bid, consulting with family, friends and advisers.

“I do think with a field this big, you don’t have the luxury of waiting for six months or something like that,” she told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “There’ll be raising money issues, you have issues of hiring people and starting an organization. So all of those things would dictate that you have to make a decision sooner rather than later.”

Watch Klobuchar’s entire 2020 announcement below.

Hayley Miller contributed reporting.

NEW DELHI — A day before her maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh as Congress general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that together with the people of the state she hopes to start a “new kind of politics” in which everyone will be a stakeholder.

Priyanka and Jyotiraditya Scindia will arrive in Lucknow Monday on their first trip to the state after being appointed the Congress general secretary in-charges of eastern and western UP respectively.

They will be accompanied by Congress president Rahul Gandhi ― all three visiting the crucial state for the first time after the appointments announced last month.

“I am coming tomorrow to Lucknow to meet all of you. I have hope in my heart that together we will start a new kind of politics, a politics in which all of you will be stakeholders ― my young friends, my sisters and even the weakest person, all their voices will be heard,” said Gandhi through the Congress’s Shakti App.

Congress workers are planning a roadshow when the three leaders travel from the airport to the party’s state headquarter.

The party in Uttar Pradesh is seeing the visit as the virtual launch of the Congress campaign in the state, ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections.

“Come, let’s build a new future, new politics with me. Thank you,” she said in her message to the people ahead of the visit to the state.

Scindia, in his message, said, “Tomorrow I am coming to be with you. The youth of Uttar Pradesh need a roadmap for the future and the state needs change.”

“Come align with us and bring change to Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

The two general secretaries will interact with party workers at the state Congress office in Lucknow on February 12, 13 and 14, while Rahul Gandhi is likely to return the same day.

In the midst of the stuffy black-tie attire that accompanies awards show season, the 2019 Grammy Awardsred carpet offers a welcome breath of fresh air. 

Celebrities generally take more risk on their Grammys looks ― gravitating towards color, splashes of sequins and the latest wacky creations from the runways.

This year’s awards ― held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday― were no exception. Cardi B showed up in one of the biggest and boldest looks of the night, wearing a piece from designer Thierry Mugler’s 1995 Couture collection. One Twitter fan playfully dubbed the look “Ferrero Rocher couture,” inspired by Cardi B’s headpiece. 

Camila Cabello dazzled in a floor-length, full-sleeved pink sequined gown, while Janelle Monae’s hat and angular dress ensured all eyes were on her as she commanded the carpet. Don’t even get us started on Lady Gaga’s elegant yet understated look, which featured over 100 carats of Tiffany & Co. diamonds. 

Check out all of the looks from music’s biggest night below: 

Look, we’ve long known Cardi B as a fashion icon, but our girl brought pure magic to the 2019 Grammy Awards.

Rocking a look from Thierry Mugler’s 1995 fall couture collection, initially worn by model Simonetta Gianfelici, the “I Like It” rapper had jaws dropping the second she hit the red carpet.

The mother of Kulture walked onto the carpet like she owned it, alongside Migos member and Kulture’s father, Offset. She glided through the crowds with ease.

While this reporter personally thinks she looks like Venus on the half shell perfection, others on Twitter had their fair share of thoughts about the couture:

JAIPUR/ The Gujjar community agitation demanding five per cent quota in jobs and education turned violent Sunday with shots being fired and police vehicles torched in Dholpur district and protesters blocking road and rail traffic in many areas in Rajasthan.

As a precautionary measure, authorities have imposed prohibitory orders under CrPc section 144 in Dholpur and neighbouring Karauli districts, police said.

At least 20 trains were cancelled and seven diverted during the day as the protesters, led by the Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti chief Kirori Singh Bainsla, continued their sit-in on railway tracks in Sawai Madhopur district for the third day on Sunday, officials said.

The sit-in began on Friday evening and has affected the movement of over 250 trains through the region since.

The agitators also blocked highways connecting major cities on Sunday.

According to police officials, three cases have been registered in connection with the blocking of traffic.

Violence broke out in Dholpur district as unidentified miscreants fired 8-10 rounds in the air while a blockade on the Agra-Morena Highway was in place, Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajay Singh told PTI.

The protesters set afire three police vehicles ― two jeeps and a bus, he added.

The SP said the protesters also pelted stones, injuring four personnel, adding that police had to lob tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.

The Hindoli-Uniyara state highway was blocked in Bundi district, where hundreds of people demonstrated throughout the day.

As traffic movement came to a halt, vehicles were diverted to other routes. The demonstrators, however, allowed the passage of ambulances and vehicles with patients or pregnant woman.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot called the stone pelting and the torching of vehicles unjustified. “Holding protest is justified but sitting on railway tracks is not. Protesters should come forward for talks. The government is open for dialogue and has constituted a committee,” he said.

Referring to the violence in Dholpur, Gehlot said, “Anti-social elements have joined the protest. Administration and police will investigate the reasons of the incident. Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla has appealed to maintain peace so people should listen to him.”

According to the Northern Railways, trains like 12953 Mumbai Central-Hazrat Nizamuddin August Kranti Rajdhani Express, 19022 Lucknow Jn.-Bandra Terminus Express, 12059/12060 Kota-Hazrat Nizamuddin-Kota Jan Shatabdi Express and 12909 Bandra Terminus-Hazrat Nizamuddin Garib Rath Express were among those which were cancelled.

At least 13 trains were running late in the zone. The 22405 Bhagalpur-Anand Vihar Garib Rath Express, Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express were delayed by around three hours while the Raxaul-Anandvihar Sadbhavna Express was running late by seven hours, it said.

The Northern Railways said 19024 Firozepur-Mumbai Central Janata Express, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, 12472 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Bandra Terminus Swaraj Express, 12450 Chandigarh-Madgaon Goa Sampark Kranti Express and 12904 Amritsar-Mumbai Central Golden Temple Mail had been diverted.

On Saturday, a state government delegation, including Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh and senior IAS officer Neeraj K Pawan, had met Bainsla and his supporters to hold talks, but no agreement could be reached.

Bainsla has said that the community will continue their protest demanding five per cent reservation to the Gujjars, Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar, Banjara and the Gadaria communities in government jobs and educational institutions as promised.

“We will remain on dharna. We do not want to talk with the government. We are waiting for the government to give the order for five per cent reservation,” Vijay Bainsla, son of Kirori Singh Bainsla, said.

He said an appeal had been made for maintaining peace but it was the angst of the people which have come out during the protests.

NEW DELHI — Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu began a day-long fast here on Monday, demanding that the Centre grant special status to the state and fulfil all promises made before its bifurcation in 2014.

A number of Opposition party leaders — including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal — are expected to extend their support to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief’s fast at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan.

Before beginning the fast, Naidu offered tributes to Matama Gandhi at Raj Ghat and to B R Ambedkar at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan.

A TDP delegation led by Naidu will submit a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday.

Naidu has been trying to unite the opposition parties to take on the BJP in the general elections. Over the last three months, he has held a number of meetings with the opposition party leaders on forming an anti-BJP front.

In March last year, the TDP had pulled out of the NDA government over its refusal to grant a special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The party has been accusing the Narendra Modi government of not releasing enough funds for the Polavaram irrigation project, the Kadapa steel plant and Amravati, the under-construction ultra-modern state capital.

On June 2, 2014, Andhra Pradesh was split into two, and Hyderabad became the capital of the new state Telangana.

AHMEDABAD — The Gujarat Forest department has begun efforts to locate a tiger after a photo of it crossing a road in Lunawada taluka of Mahisagar district went viral on social media, a senior official said. While 18 Indian states are home to tigers, Gujarat isn’t one of them. 

The efforts to locate the tiger began after a local government school teacher Mahesh Mahera Sunday claimed that he saw a tiger crossing a road near the Boriya village in Mahisagar, over 120 kilometres from Ahmedabad, on 6 February. 

A photo that Mahera clicked on his phone and shared on sociale media went viral, alerting the state’s forest department on the unlikely presence of a tiger in the area.

Acting on Mahera’s claims, the forest department set up two camera traps and deployed staff to confirm the big cat’s presence, a senior official said.

The Times of India reported this tiger was spotted 27 years after a big cat was seen in Gujarat in 1992. 

“The photo of the tiger has gone viral and we can’t yet say if it is fake. Since a citizen has claimed this, we have begun scanning the area. We have placed two camera traps and the number will be increased,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Akshay Saxena said.

“Our staff is trying to locate pug marks and scat (excreta). There is no evidence yet of the tiger in the area,” he added.

“Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are 100 kilometres away.

It is surprising if a big cat arrived here without anyone getting to know. We are trying to check and confirm what direct or indirect evidence there could be,” Saxena said.

Mahera claimed he spotted the tiger when he was returning from school on February 6 evening.

The Times of India report said that there have been many people who have claimed to have spotted tigers before, but turned out to be false alarms. 

The report says that if there is indeed the presence of a tiger, authorities will have to look at efforts of conservation.

“Around 5:15 pm on 6 February, I was passing through the area in a four-wheeler when I spotted a tiger emerging from one side of the road and crossing over to the other side.

I stopped the car and I clicked its picture. It clearly shows it is a tiger,” he said.

As per the National Tiger Conservation Authority, tigers are found in the wild in 18 Indian states, Gujarat not being among them.

Neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are part of these 18 states, as per the NTCA website.

(With PTI inputs)

LUCKNOW —  Enthused by the appointment of new leaders to steer them into the coming Lok Sabha election, Congressmen have planned a grand welcome to the party’s general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and others when they arrive in the state capital on Monday.

Congress workers, led by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Raj Babbar, have made elaborate arrangements to welcome their leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi and in-charge of the state’s western region, Jyotiraditya Scindia, who will accompany Priyanka Vadra as she makes her first public appearance in the state after her new assignment.

The trio, who will arrive at the Lucknow airport, will pass through the main areas of the state capital to reach the Nehru Bhawan office of the UPCC.

They will be welcomed by party workers and leaders at nearly 37 points in the city between the airport and the UPCC office, Congress spokesman Anshu Awasthi told PTI.

Before reaching the Congress office, the Congress leaders are expected to garland the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on the route.

Hoardings of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra, have been put up along the route they are proposed to take. Banners on the route read, “Waqt Hai Badlav Ka”.

Workers of Congress and its grassroots organisation Sewa Dal have been giving final touch to the preparations since early Sunday.

Babbar held a meeting of Congress workers Saturday evening to review the preparations for the road show, which will also be attended by All India Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev and general secretary Anupama Rawat.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the visit. Special Protection Group personnel, who provide security to the Gandhis, on Thursday visited the UPCC office, party sources said.

The Congress is expecting the visit to become a virtual launch of its campaign in Uttar Pradesh, ahead of Lok Sabha elections due by May.

Priyanka Vadra will meet leaders and office-bearers from 42 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh (East) during her visit till February 14.

“Congress workers are excited about the visit of party leaders and we are awaiting to give them a rousing welcome... We hope that with her (Priyanka Vadra) joining active politics, the state will also get a new energy,” chief state Congress spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi said.

“This is a very auspicious time for us and a good omen for the party,” he said.

NEW DELHI — Alleging conflict of interest, the Congress on Sunday requested Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi to recuse himself from auditing the deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter aircraft as he, as the then finance secretary, was part of the negotiations.

The opposition party also said that it would be improper on the part of Mehrishi to present the report in Parliament and said that it had written to him to recuse himself.

The CAG report on the controversial deal is likely to be tabled in Parliament on Monday.

In a communique to the former bureaucrat, the Congress has alleged that the government compromised “national interest” and “national security” in the purchase of the 36 aircraft and said the CAG has a constitutional and statutory duty to undertake a forensic audit of all defence contracts, including the Rafale deal.

“It is an act of gross impropriety for you to deal with the audit of the 36 Rafale aircraft deal on account of patent conflict of interest...You are constitutionally, legally and morally disentitled to either conduct an audit or to present a report before...Parliament. We urge upon you to recuse yourself and publicly accept the gross impropriety committed by you in initiating the audit...,” it said.

In its communique, the Congress has alleged that the irregularities, bungling and corruption was happening at the highest level with “your direct or indirect complicity and consent”.

“This reflects your direct collaboration in the entire matter. That being so, there is no reason or occasion for you to audit the 36 Rafale aircraft deal as you can neither be a judge in your own cause nor can sit in audit over your own actions to which you were a party. We are deeply shocked by the fact that despite knowing these facts, you chose to neither recuse yourself as CAG from auditing the 36 Rafale aircraft deal...,” it sad.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal reiterated that Mehrishi is likely to present the report on the Rafale deal in Parliament on Monday.

Sibal said that Mehrishi was the finance secretary from October 24, 2014 to August 30, 2015 and in between Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paris on April 10, 2015 and announced the signing of the Rafale deal.

″...Finance Ministry plays an important role in these negotiations...Now it is clear that the Rafale deal happened under Rajeev Mehrishi. Now he is CAG. We met him twice on September 19 and October 4, 2018. We told him about the scam. We told him that the deal should be probed because it is corrupt. But how can he initiate a probe against himself,” Sibal said.

The Congress said it had, in its submissions to the CAG, listed the acts of omission and commission as well as corruption in the Rafale deal.

“He obviously cannot probe decisions he took as finance secretary. He will protect himself first and then his government. There cannot be a bigger conflict of interest than this,” he said.

Sibal further said that he was trying to tell the people of India that the government was misleading them and how this government was being protected.

Lashing out at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Sibal said that she was protecting the prime minister rather than protecting the country.

“In this country, the defence minister who is responsible for protecting the country is defending the PM only. They are saying that what happened, everything was correct, everyone else is a liar, flogging a dead horse. Then on the other hand the expose of what happened is there,” he said.

He further questioned why the prime minister was not answering basic questions on the deal regarding why parallel negotiations were undertaken when the defence ministry had written that such “interventions” cannot happen.

Asked what steps would the Congress take if Mehrishi presents the CAG report on the deal in Parliament, Sibal evaded a direct reply and said that the exposes on the issue will not stop here.

“What action can we take? The exposes are not going to stop here. The truth will come out definitely. We are ordinary people, we cannot accuse someone without facts like the PM who levels allegations against us everyday without any facts. We are not like that. We accuse someone only when we have some proof,” he said.

Over 3000 people have been arrested in connection with the hooch tragedies in two adjoining districts in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand as death toll rose to 99, officials told The Indian Express.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday night announced a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor in the state.

The state government’s action came against the backdrop of a blame game over the twin incidents with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath referring to the involvement of the Samajwadi Party in “such mischievous acts” in the past and BSP supremo Mayawati seeking a CBI probe into the matter which she said was a result of “sheer callousness” of the BJP government.

The victims from UP had been in Roorkie in Uttarakhand to attend a funeral on February 7 and consumed the spurious alcohol there, IANS reported.

In Uttar Pradesh, 59 deaths were reported from Saharanpur and 10 from Kushinagar while 30 deaths were reported from Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, police said.

Forty-six post-terms were conducted and 36 deaths were confirmed to be due to consumption of spurious liquor, Saharanpur District Magistrate Alok Kumar Pandey told IANS. Fourteen people in serious condition were being treated at the Meerut Medical College.

A UP government spokesperson said 3,049 people were arrested in the state of which 2,700 arrests were in the Agra Zone. In Uttarakhand, 49 cases have been registered in connection with the tragedy.

An SIT has been constituted in UP to make an in-depth enquiry into the tragedy in Saharanpur and Kushinagar districts.

The five-member SIT, constituted on the directives of Adityanath, is headed by ADG (Railways) Sanjay Singhal.

It has been specifically asked to find out whether there was any conspiracy angle and also to review past incidents, and submit its report within 10 days, suggesting measures to stop recurrence of such incidents.

Meanwhile, a home department official said that the government has decided to suspend the circle officers in both the districts where the tragedy took place.

The circle officer of Deoband in Saharanpur district, Siddharth, and the circle officer of Tamkuhi Raj in Kushinagar district, Ramkrishna Tiwari, have been placed under immediate suspension, he said.

Adityanath, from his home turf Gorakhpur, warned of stern action against all those found involved in illicit liquor trade even if they were associated with any political party.

“In the past too, such type of mischievous acts by SP leaders had come to fore. In Azamgarh, Hardoi, Kanpur and Barabanki, SP leaders were found to be involved in past hooch tragedies. We can’t deny conspiracy this time too,” Yogi told reporters Saturday night.

Hitting back, Samajwadi Party (SP) president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Sunday over the deaths in the tragedy.

He said, “The opposition has been notifying the government about such activities, but they did not act as some of its leaders are involved. The truth is that without the backing of the government, such businesses cannot be carried out. The BJP should accept the fact that they cannot run the state.”

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the SP’s alliance partner for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, also blamed the BJP governments in UP and Uttarakhand for the deaths.

BSP chief Mayawati in a statement said that both the state governments were “callous” in their approach towards banning sale of spurious liquor and demanded a CBI probe into the tragedy.

She said till the CBI probe was complete, excise ministers of both the states should be asked to step down to ensure free and fair inquiry.

Mayawati said bootleggers who are running a parallel administration right under the nose of the authorities and selling spurious liquor.

Adityanath said he had spoken to his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat and asked him to share details as the spurious liquor was served to the natives of Uttar Pradesh in a Haridwar village.

“A racket of spurious liquor was being operated there in Uttarakhand. Therefore, I have spoken to the CM seeking details,” Adityanath said.

He said action has been taken against the excise officer, the excise inspector, SHOs and beat constables in Saharanpur and Kushinagar districts of UP.

Taking serious note of the deaths due to spurious liquor in Kushinagar as well as Saharanpur districts, the state government has ordered a 15-day joint drive by excise and police officials against those involved.

The UP government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and help of Rs 50,000 each for those undergoing treatment in hospitals.

(With PTI inputs)

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party members have threatened to call Facebook before a parliamentary panel for alleged bias against right-wing voices, a week after accusing Twitter of doing the same thing.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur, the head of the Parliamentary IT Committee, has said, “We have been receiving lot of complaints for various social media platforms. And just to safeguard the interest of the citizens, and to make sure that nothing goes wrong, we are trying to understand from the government and the social media platforms as well that why people are complaining, what has changed?”

This isn’t unique to India—Twitter is frequently accused of censoring conservative content, and US President Donald Trump is one of the people to agree, but here, the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology officially took up the matter, and asked Twitter’s officials to appear before it.

Over the weekend, Twitter responded stating that officials could not appear before the committee, citing the “short notice” of the hearing, ANI reported. The letter sent to Twitter by the Parliamentary Committee stated that the “Head of the Organisation has to appear before the committee,” sources told ANI.

According to Twitter’s legal head Vijaya Gadde, no one who engages publicly for Twitter India makes enforcement decisions about rules for content or accounts in India. This hasn’t satisfied Thakur, who tweeted, “We will take appropriate action on 11th February.” The matter will be brought up at 3pm in Parliament on Monday.

Thakur also clarified that the complaints—and the committee’s focus—were not just on Twitter, but other social media platforms as well, and that in the future Facebook’s top leadership could also be called by the Parliamentary Committee, though he didn’t fix a deadline for this. “We haven’t called them now, but may be in the future we will call them,” he said.

Facebook’s top leadership has previously been asked to testify in the US, Singapore, UK, and Canada, about issues such as fake news, political misuse of the social network, and more.

Ahead of this, Colin Crowell, Head of Global Public Policy and Philanthropy at Twitter, posted a detailed blog about Twitter’s policies in India. Crowell wrote: “Twitter is a platform where voices from across the spectrum can be seen and heard. We are committed to the principles of openness, transparency, and impartiality.”

“To be clear, we do not review, prioritize, or enforce our policies on the basis of political ideology,” he wrote, adding, “Mistakes can happen. However these mistakes or “false positive” decisions, are not political statements of intent; they are the basic human error rate of running the fastest, most open conversational tool in history.”

“As our CEO and others have stated publicly, Twitter does not use political ideology to rank content on our service. When setting up a Twitter account, people decide which accounts they want to follow ― they are in control of the views they see and the content they are interested in,” he added. “India is the world’s largest democracy, and one of our largest and fastest-growing audience markets globally. We are committed to surfacing all sides of the conversation as we enter the election season in this extraordinarily diverse cultural, political and social climate,” wrote Crowell.

Earlier, The Print had reported that BJP volunteers wrote to the Parliamentary IT Committee asking for a hearing against Twitter and Facebook for bias.

The letter alleged: “Twitter and Facebook have been systematically trying to curb free-speech of individuals who subscribe to the non-Left-wing ideology by suspending their handles, restricting their reach and removing trends from the trends list. However, it has been ignoring offensive, abusing and threatening tweets from Left-leaning ideologues and senior leaders of the Congress.”

NEW DELHI — Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched into a tirade against the BJP-led central government on Monday, alleging Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not following ‘raj dharma’ by denying the state special status.

Naidu, who began a day-long fast at Andhra Bhavan demanding that the Centre fulfil all promises made during AP’s bifurcation in 2014, warned that Modi would be “taught a lesson” if he made personal attacks against the people of his state.

″(Former PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee said ‘raj dharma’ was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now, ‘raj dharma’ is not being followed in case of Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what was rightfully ours,” he claimed.

He alleged the central government did grave injustice to Andhra and it would have “repercussions on national unity”.

“On behalf of five crore people, I am warning this government... I came here to remind you of the promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act,” Naidu said.

“I am warning you. Don’t make personal attacks against me and my people. It’s unwarranted. I am just doing my duty as the head of my state. We are only demanding what we were promised,” he said.

Naidu told the gathering that TDP founder NT Rama Rao had said “if somebody attacks your self-respect, teach them a lesson. So, we will not tolerate. We will give you a befitting answer”.

The chief minister alleged that Modi was “unfit” to rule the country and that he went to Guntur in Andhra Pradesh “only to rub salt into our wounds”.

“You think you can avoid us by sitting in Delhi. You’re wrong. We will take help of friendly parties and achieve our aim,” he said.

The TDP chief alleged the BJP government unleashes central investigation agencies on rival parties if they fight for their rights.

“The Manmohan Singh government promised special status to Andhra for 10 years. The BJP, which was in the opposition then, had seconded it. Now, their finance minister says it cannot be done,” he said.

Naidu said the BJP government had promised a special package for backward districts of the state on the lines of the Bundelkhand region, but the “BJP cheated the people”.

The TDP chief said the party was denied permission to stage a protest on Parliament premises. “So, we came here”.

A number of opposition party leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, are expected to extend support to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief’s fast.

Before beginning the fast, Naidu offered tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat and to BR Ambedkar at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan.

A TDP delegation led by Naidu will submit a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday, party sources said.

Naidu has been trying to unite opposition parties to take on the BJP in the general elections. Over the last three months, he has held a number of meetings with opposition party leaders on forming an anti-BJP front.

The TDP had in March last year pulled out of the NDA government over its refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The party has been accusing the Narendra Modi government of not releasing enough funds for the Polavaram irrigation project, the Kadapa steel plant and Amravati, the under-construction ultra-modern state capital.

Supporters of US President Donald Trump’s proposed border security measures gathered to form a human “wall” along a section of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico on Saturday.

Donning “Make America great again” hats, chanting “build a wall” and waving American flags, the demonstrators linked arms near an open section of the border at Sunland Park, northwest of El Paso. 

One of the protesters, Anthony Aguero, told Reuters that migrants would “have to find somewhere else” to cross into the U.S.

“We are here to bring attention to the fact that there isn’t a wall here,” he said.

The demonstration comes ahead of the president’s visit Monday to El Paso, a Texas city he has falsely claimed was one of the nation’s most dangerous prior to the construction of a border barrier in last week’s State of the Union address. 

In reality, El Paso has been listed as one of the safest cities in America for the past 20 years, and construction of the border barrier didn’t start until 2008. 

The reaction to Smith’s, uh, blueness went over as expected on Twitter:

Alongside Smith, “Power Rangers” star Naomi Scott stars as Princess Jasmine and Canadian actor Mena Massoud stars as Aladdin. 

The trailer also features elephants, gorgeous outfits and tigers, oh my! We can hardly wait for May 24, when it comes out.

Twitter was abuzz with fans of K-pop group BTS at pretty much the exact second the band hit the red carpet at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

Band members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, RM and Jungkook rocked black suit jackets, white shirts and a whole lot of excitement. Talking to “Entertainment Tonight” on the red carpet, RM said the group “never imagined” they’d be at the Grammys and “still can’t believe it.”

Speaking of their fans ― often referred to as the BTS ARMY (Adorable Representative MC for Youth) ― RM said, “They made us. They gave the wings. They gave all the opportunities to us. So I’m sure they’ll be proud. ... They’re here with us,” before adding: “We’re so grateful.”

The band also spoke to Ryan Seacrest on the E! network’s “Live From the Red Carpet,” telling the host they’re currently working on their next album. Again, they did not neglect to thank their fans for their success.

“It’s a blessing we get so much love for doing what we love to do. We are so thankful,” they said.

The group is not performing at this year’s show and did not take home an award. Their only nomination was for Best Recording Package for “Love Yourself: Tear,” which they lost to St. Vincent’s “Masseduction.”

Regardless, the band is presenting, and its mere presence is historic: BTS is the first Korean act in history to attend and appear onstage at the Grammys. Twitter fans and members of the BTS ARMY were overcome just seeing them on the red carpet: