KOTTAYAM — Veteran Kerala Congress leader KM Mani, who died Tuesday, had been a dominant player in Kerala’s coalition politics for over four decades, serving under six Chief Ministers.

Mani, a successful practitioner of pragmatic politics, had handled key portfolios like finance for most Congress-led UDF governments, which came to power alternatively since the late 1970s.

He also had a brief stint as a minister in the CPI(M)-led LDF ministry in early 1980s.

A man of wit and humour, Mani, who was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1965 from Pala constituency of Kottayam district, never lost an election and continued to represent the constituency till his death.

He held several key portfolios, including Home Affairs, Finance and Law, Irrigation and law, Revenue and Law in various ministries headed by stalwarts in Kerala politics including C Achutha Menon, PK Vasudevan Nair, K Karunakaran, EK Nayanar, AK Antony and Oommen Chandy.

Mani had been a Minister for 24 years in various ministries and as the Finance Minister, presented 13 budgets in the state assembly.

His foes in the Kerala Congress politics have always accused him of engineering splits in the regional party for his political benefits.

About the phenomenon of frequent splits in the Kerala Congress and emergence of Kerala Congress with varying suffixes, Mani once famously said: “We are a party that splits as we grow and grows as we split”.

A lawyer by profession, Mani wielded considerable clout among people of the Syrian Catholic community in Kottayam and Idukki districts, ever since he emerged as a powerful leader in the 1970s in the Kerala Congress, which has its roots among the farmers in the erstwhile Travancore region.

Mani-led Kerala Congress(M) is the largest among nearly nine political outfits having the name of Kerala Congress with varying suffixes and is the third largest constituent in the Congress-led UDF in the state.

He was forced to quit as Finance Minister from the Chandy-led government in November 2015 following the Kerala High Courts observations against him in the bar bribery case, casting a shadow over his career.

Born as the son of a farmer at Marangattupalli village near Pala, Mani completed his Bachelors Degree in Law and started practicing as an advocate at Kozhikode as a junior of P Govinda Menon, who later became Judge of Kerala High Court.

Beginning his political career as a Congress worker, Mani had served as the general secretary of Kottayam District Congress Committee before becoming part of the Kerala Congress movement, headed by stalwarts like KM George.

He authored several books, including Fiscal Problems of Kerala-Causes and Remedial Measures, The People’s Socialism, The Eighth Five year Plan-an Alternative Approach, Doctrine of Toiling Class, The Economic Development of Kerala, Toiling Class Theory and Political and Economic Studies.

Annamma Mani is his wife and they have one son and five daughters.

As a stay-at-home mom, Meredith Bartolo Pappas discovered that doodling about the “ridiculous moments” she witnessed daily with her kids became a way to make time for herself. 

The mother of two was a teacher for more than a decade when she decided to become a stay-at-home mom, a decision she said she was “lucky and thrilled” to be able to make. She told HuffPost that she began missing teaching, but found a therapeutic outlet through putting pen (or pencil) to paper and illustrating her life as a mom and the funny day-to-day moments many parents know all too well.

“I started doodling them and realized they were keeping me connected to myself ... and helping me get through each day,” she said. 

Bartolo Pappas, whose kids are 3 years old and 8 months old, likes to illustrate these relatable experiences during “whatever stolen moment” she can find during the day, like when her oldest is drawing or when she’s nursing. She posts the cartoons on Instagram, where she also gets lots of feedback from other moms and dads.

“It feels really wonderful to know we’re all in it together and we’re all going through these things,” she said. “People will send me messages saying, ‘Yep, this happens to me, too.’ Or when I show some of my friends ... they say, ‘Yep, we’re all going through this.’”

She said her doodle about the impossibility of finishing a phone call with kids around has especially generated a lot of funny and candid feedback.

“You just can’t have a phone conversation,” she joked.

When asked if she had advice for other parents struggling with their roles as moms and dads, Bartolo Pappas said it’s important to have a solid support group (whether that’s online or in-person). She also recommended that parents find an outlet that allows time for themselves, even if only for a little while. 

“Find that thing that keeps you connected to yourself,” she said. “It’s really easy to disconnect from yourself as a parent because you’re so busy with your kids. Having that thing that keeps you connected and keeps you laughing ― these moments can get to you, but they can also be really funny.”

See more of her work below.

Oh, mama.

A female Burmese python captured recently in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve is the largest ever removed from there, the park announced on Facebook.

She stretched to more than 17 feet long and weighed 140 pounds, the preserve said on Friday. She was also carrying, gulp, 73 developing eggs.

A team was able to put the squeeze on the female snake by tracking male pythons that had been equipped with radio transmitters. With the new strategy, the team has been able to “locate and remove several breeding female pythons over the past few months,” the preserve said. 

“The team not only removes the invasive snakes, but collects data for research,” Big Cypress wrote.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons now inhabit South Florida, according to the United States Geological Survey. The agency notes that while the overall risk of fatal attack is low, if you see a python in the wild, treat it with the same caution you’d give an alligator: Do not get close or try to interact with it.

A hunter in the Everglades snared an 18-foot male in December.

Loni Jane Anthony, one of the best-known vegan wellness influencers on Instagram, with more than 400,000 followers, often refers to what seems like a serious health situation from her past: After spending her early 20s indulging in junk food and alcohol, she cut out all animal products from her diet and switched to uncooked fruits and vegetables, and she claims her candidiasis, bloating, eczema, hair loss and body aches miraculously cleared up.These days, her feed is saturated with colorful photos of her plant-based meals (she has since integrated some cooked food), bikini-clad portraits at the beach with her two sun-kissed children, and recipes for the superfood smoothies that are a regular part of her diet.

Anthony, who did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment, is a central figure in the wellness movement that has swept across Instagram, raising concern and controversy along the way. In the Australian tabloids, she has received intense backlash for eating vegan while pregnant and for feeding her son mostly fruits and vegetables. One Daily Mail article condescendingly referred to her as a “mummy blogger” (she has written two cookbooks) and found doctors who would go on the record calling some of her (to be fair, unsubstantiated) health claims “utter garbage.”

She is not the first influencer to find herself under attack. Essena O’Neill, whom The Cut calls an “Australian model, Instagram star and vegan-lifestyle enthusiast” abruptly deleted all her social media accounts in 2015 after announcing that the platforms had made her “lost” and “sick.” The backlash from the vegan community was swift: She said she began receiving death threats. Ella Woodward of Deliciously Ella denounced the once popular term “clean eating” after reckoning with criticism that she peddles dangerous diet claims that could contribute to eating disorders.

Wellness trends that have been allowed to proliferate on Instagram are now the subject of concentrated debunking efforts (celery juice most recently). The worry is that a focus on “clean eating” from accounts like Anthony’s offers not just benign recommendations to eat more vegetables. Instead, these accounts might be contributing to eating disorders like orthorexia (which has not been recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and often spread dubious health claims that have not been vetted by medical professionals.

Is all this pearl clutching based on legitimate fears that social media is creating harmful filters through which women in particular process their bodies? The story within the Instagram wellness community is very different. Some of its central figures emphasize that they only present a diet or lifestyle that worked for them and never pressure their followers to make potentially unhealthy choices.

“I am not preachy, I am not judgemental, I am not an extremist, but I am educated. I have a bachelor of nutrition and dietetics with honours,” Ellie Bullen, the certified nutritionist behind Elsa’s Wholesome Life, told HuffPost in an email. “My message is simple: Eat more plants.”

Charlotte Markey,a psychologist and the founder of the Health Sciences Center at Rutgers University, who studies the effects of social media on body image, said Bullen is the exception. Most of the people who run wellness accounts on Instagram do not have a medical background.

“So much of this is just people who look good (and seem to know it) and think they’ve found the holy grail of health and weight loss,” Markey said. “That’s why we do research on this stuff. Hundreds and thousands of people are included in this research over time.  What scientists learn from research is more likely to be useful and directive than what an Instagram guru suggests.”

In fact, some wellness influencers don’t even follow the lifestyles they promote on Instagram and YouTube. The popular YouTube celebrity Rawvana sent the online vegan community into a tailspin after she was recently caught eating fish on camera. Bonny Rebecca, another famous vegan YouTuber, recently revealed to her followers that she had to give up the vegan diet because it caused her and her boyfriend serious health problems.

Carlie McKibben, who runs the account Plantifully Nourished, adopted a vegan lifestyle while recovering from an eating disorder. She acknowledged that the issue is more complex than urging people to eat more plants. While she emphasized that her message “is not that my way of eating is the healthiest” and that she doesn’t want to be a “negative or stressful” influence in the lives of her followers, she said she has encountered people on Instagram who assume that adopting a plant-based diet will automatically result in their “dream body.” She said she has experienced how a plant-based diet can turn obsessive, even harmful. 

“It used to be very triggering to me to look at certain accounts that would post their ‘what I eat in a day’ videos that show only fruits and vegetables and usually a restricted amount,” she adds. “Many young girls who often do not even understand the science and ethics behind a plant-based diet decide to eat this way because they see other social media influencers who are thin eat this way too, and that is what is detrimental.”

Medical experts who treat body image issues say that perhaps unwittingly, many of these wellness influencers are contributing to a cultural landscape that makes women feel guilty and ashamed about what and how they eat. 

“The wellness culture on Instagram is so damaging because it’s so fear based. It’s saying, `If you don’t eat a certain way, you’re going to have bad skin or a bad body,” said marriage and family therapist Kristi Hall, who specializes in treating eating disorders. “It’s masquerading as health and wellness when in fact it’s the same message as always: that smaller equals healthier.”

Wellness influencers aren’t making claims that will necessarily physically harm people (after all, celery is a healthy vegetable), but they do take away “people’s ability to be experts of their own bodies,” Hall said. She warned that people should be wary of an Instagram account that (intentionally or not) makes you feel pressured to change your lifestyle or ignore your body’s instincts in favor of their recommendations. Usually, that’s not physically tenable, and it can wreak havoc on one’s mental health too.

“There becomes a classification of a moral or good way to eat, which asks, ‘Are you a disciplined person? Are you a good person?’ Instagram totally contributes to that,” she said.

Wellness influencers might think that they speak only for themselves on their accounts, but it’s not that simple. “I know it feels like it’s just your personal journey, but the truth is, this is a social justice issue,” Hall said. “Fatphobia is the last form of socially acceptable discrimination. [Wellness trends] are actually mired in all these social structures that have to be called out.”

If Instagram wellness influencers are here to stay, Markey said they should “use their influence more responsibly,” by including in their posts, at the very least, a link to a study backing up every health claim they make ― from the benefits of fasting to chia seeds and avocado. But even that seemingly simple solution can be misleading. Hall pointed out that the wealth of bad science available on the internet can back up almost any dubious claim, including that weight loss is linked to health.

No matter how mindful the leading figures of the Instagram wellness community try to be, there is no way to avoid public disapproval. The “really deeply ingrained belief that there’s something wrong with women if they don’t care about their appearance” is part of what created the mostly female-led wellness Instagram movement, Markey said. She added that it’s wrong to think of these women as superficial and that we should instead consider that they are responding to intense social pressures.

Many of the women behind these Instagram wellness accounts are well intentioned and want to spread information that they genuinely think will help people live better. But the diet culture that existed long before the advent of Instagram has always punished women for being too skinny or not skinny enough, for not caring about how they look or caring too much. Instagram’s wellness trends may have benefited the very few women who have gained renown on the platform. For the majority of other women, though, social media only reinforces the same old unfair and even harmful expectations, which ultimately erode their self-esteem more than it can ever help them get healthy. 

The biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been granted a ‘U’ certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and will release on 11 April. Movie critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh confirmed the news: 

PM Narendra Modi’s producer Sandip Ssingh announced that the film, featuring Vivek Oberoi in the lead, will release on 11 April after the Supreme Court verdict on Tuesday. 

The apex court dismissed a petition filed by a Congress activist seeking stay on the release of PM Narendra Modi, saying the Election Commission would be an “appropriate” place to seek the redressal.

The film, directed by Omung Kumar, has been criticised by the opposition parties, who claim that the biopic could give undue advantage to the BJP in the polls as it will arrive in theatres before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The first phase of Lok Sabha polls is 11 April. 

MUMBAI – The producers of PM Narendra Modi, the controversial biopic starring Vivek Oberoi, made a copy of the film available to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought his approval, HuffPost India can confirm.

In an interview, the film’s director Omung Kumar said he did not meet the Prime Minister while he was working on the film, but the film was subsequently shown to him.

When asked if the approval of the Prime Minister was sought, Kumar said, “Later on, yes. We started writing 10 months earlier. I was also writing as we shot. But towards the end, the team met them and everything was sorted out.”

When HuffPost India specifically asked if Modi and his associates had watched the film, Kumar said, “Yes, they have.”

Kumar’s admission removes any last vestiges of doubt that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more specifically the Prime Minister, was a party to the decision to produce the film whose release is set to coincide with the first phase of polling in what is likely to be a keenly contested general election.

While opposition parties have asked for the release of the film to be stayed until the Lok Sabha polls are over, the Supreme Court has declined to stay the film’s release. On Tuesday, April 9, the Central Board of Film Certification cleared the film with a “U” rating, meaning it is appropriate for all age groups.

Censor board chief Prasoon Joshi, who was appointed to his post by the Modi government, wrote the campaign song for the BJP’s campaign in 2014. The song was sung by Sukhwinder Singh, but featured two lines recited by Modi. The Modi biopic also features song which are written by Joshi.

PM Narendra Modi, the controversial biopic starring Vivek Oberoi which is set to release on the first day of polling, was shot over just 38 days, the movie’s director Omung Kumar told HuffPost India in an interview. The movie’s team received approval from the Prime Minister, who had also watched the film, Kumar said.

Edited excerpts from an interview.  

Other than the fact that you were getting to make a film on the Prime Minister of the country, what was the other incentive to make a film such as this?

If you look at my other films, Mary Kom, Sarbjit or Bhoomi, both are stories of struggle. If you put the politics aside, this too is a story about struggle—of a chaiwallah who dreamt of doing something different and went on to become the PM of India. It was very inspiring. I want to make a film that stands out in the shelf. This subject was that. I’m not politically inclined. At all. That’s why I think I’m either the best or the worst person to make this film. I’ve no alignment with the BJP. I am a filmmaker and I’ve done justice to the subject. Everything is there. 

How was the project announced and completed this quickly, just in time for the Lok Sabha elections?

My partner Sandeep Ssingh had plans of making a film three years ago but I was busy with something else. Even now, I was planning to make another film but I realised that the actor I wanted had no dates. So Sandeep insisted that I make the Modi biopic. I gave it a thought and agreed. If I keep the politics aside, I am making a clear picture. Things then just fell into place. Even before it was announced, a lot of leg work—such as recce etc—were done. I finished it in 38 days. My other films have also been completed fast—Mary Kom took only 52 days. Once we went into production, everything went smoothly.

How closely was the PMO or the BJP involved with the making of the film? Did you meet Modi?

No. I didn’t want to meet him as it would colour my perspective. 

Did you meet other members of the leadership from the BJP like Amit Shah?

No.

Were Modi and Co. shown the script of the movie before or during the film?

I have no idea.

Surely, the approval of the Prime Minister would have been sought... 

Later on, yes. We started writing 10 months earlier. I was also writing as we shot. But towards the end, the team met them and everything was sorted out. 

Which means Modi and Co. have seen the film?

Yes, they have. 

And the release of the film, on the day of the elections, is entirely coincidental?

We had planned this almost a year ago, so yes. At that time, election dates weren’t announced. 

But for many years, April-May is the window when elections take place.

Yes.. but for us it was a good window. Most movies don’t release at this time because of the IPL. We knew the deadlines of the other films and felt this was a good window.

Come on, you are saying that you and your team were entirely unaware that the film won’t coincide with the Lok Sabha elections?

Of course. Finally, we came to that. We felt the elections are happening at this time ...we will benefit. Of course we will benefit. Why shouldn’t we? If other producers benefit out of Diwali, Christmas and Holi, we are doing the same?

Those are long holidays. You are comparing festivals to the most important aspect of the democratic model?

Are you saying my film will influence people to vote for Modi?

Um, yes. You... don’t think so?

No.

So as a filmmaker you are essentially saying that films don’t influence people?

I am not saying that... films can inspire people. It doesn’t mean I will get votes because of it.

Historically, dictators and autocrats have used cinema as a tool for propaganda, which has worked...

So for the next four years, parties shouldn’t do campaigns as all that a government needs to do is get a film made to get votes?

It definitely helps if the government gets a film made that looks like a campaign. Is this film a BJP campaign?

I am not saying that, I am saying that if that was the reason—I made this film for Modi to get votes—then from next year the opposition should just not do any work, sit and make films. That’s wrong. Honestly, this is a film I made because I believe in it and I am not a political person.

...but your film looks like a feature-length advertisement for the government

How can that be possible? All I am showing is a chaiwallah becoming a PM.

...And that man is the sitting Prime Minister of the country which is about to vote.

Yes, but I am making a biopic of a person. It ends when he becomes the PM. After seeing and reading about this person, you can read the books, he himself is an open book. It’s inspiring.

Okay, you are saying this isn’t orchestrated propaganda. But even unintentionally, that’s what it ends up becoming at a time when we are fighting the most crucial elections in Indian history.

If people watch this film and change their minds about who they are going to vote, it means they are fickle-minded and haven’t made up their minds.

You are infantilising your own medium by suggesting films don’t affect opinions.

I don’t think they do. Not a lot. Why are you just looking at the votes...

Well, in that case, you could have released it after the elections.

I could have. But it is ready now. Why not make use of that? Even I want to make money. We are all very aware of that. It’s not that this happened ‘accidentally’. We knew it was supposed to come, not the specifics. But now that it has, why not make use of it? Why act holier than thou and say ‘I don’t want to earn money’. Basically, I am looking at a potential thing. We preponed the film because of Kalank. We will think about the movie and want the largest possible window. Why not? We wanted a bigger run. It’s purely a commercial decision. Why should my producer suffer?

As an artist, don’t you feel the moral burden of making a film that glorifies a man who was accused of orchestrating the Godhra riots in which over 1,000 people died?

There are 2 sides of every coin, every story. During Sarabjit, I was accused of the same. Of making a film about a person who was a spy. But I made the film and it was critically acclaimed. Even here, I have laid out the facts. The SIT gave him a clean chit, right? I have shown the riots, I have shown what happened, why it took so many years for him to get a clean chit. And after that he got elected as PM... there’s nothing wrong in what I am doing.

Okay, irrespective of whether he initiated or colluded in the riots, the fact remains that under his leadership, Gujarat did burn and mob violence killed hundreds of people....

You are passing a judgement now.

It is not a judgement, it’s a fact—he was the CM and riots happened.

So I have shown that in the film.

Have you shown it with a critical lens, considering it’s a gross failing of a leader?

If that was the case, he wouldn’t have been re-elected and that too with such a huge margin... I mean, we elected him, didn’t we? Blame the whole of India then.

Well, even Hitler won an election.

Well...yeah, no, but still.

We celebrate Modi for what he did against Pakistan, right? Everybody boasts of him now. We have shown everything.

There’s a shot where Modi is seen saying, in the context of the riots I’d assume, that “My Gujarat is on fire...”

...and why do you think he wouldn’t have said that?

In a sworn testimony to the Supreme Court, an officer who served in the Gujarat intelligence bureau during the riots said that in a meeting on the night before the riots, Modi told the cops that the Muslim community ‘needed to be taught a lesson’ following the Sabarmati Express attacks...

Who gave him the clean chit? The SIT did. So who am I to question it? It’s not my game. There’s a different perspective in the film. For me, it’s an inspiring story... so there’s rise, there’s fall. 

Post 2014, we’ve seen a steady rise in instances of communal violence—again, before you say, this isn’t an opinion, it’s a fact. Fringe groups feel emboldened to attack because of the tacit support from a right-leading State. Whether it’s Gauri Lankesh or MM Kalburgi, hate has gone mainstream under this government....

I don’t think so. Things are happening to me with this film also. Films have been banned during Congress also... it’s not that this one is good or bad. Give him time. Let’s see what happens in the next four years. Nobody had the balls to do what he did with Pakistan. He did it, no? We backed him, no?

Do you think that absolves him or the BJP of the legitimacy they give to hate, the communalisation, the increasing polarisation?

There are so many other things that he has done which the public doesn’t know of ...which I found out during research. I didn’t put it in this film because it wasn’t relevant but I wondered....why does this not come in the media...

Um... you mean other good stuff?

Yeah, yeah, good stuff which people didn’t know. Things he has done for women, children etc... why did Gujarat not have any riots after that? The Gujarat model has been adopted worldwide... you can see it for yourself.

Well, there may not have been riots in Gujarat, but Muslims have been lynched across the country, journalists shot down. There’s a sense of fear grappling the minorities. Your own community of artists—600 of them—have appealed to the citizenry to vote out hate...

I don’t think so... if it was that case, I wouldn’t have made this film.

You said you are apolitical. But after this, you will be seen as endorsing a certain party, an ideology?

No. I don’t even get affected by this. I am answering your questions because you are asking but I am very honest in my work. Once you see the film, you will know...

You don’t think you are complicit in emboldening and advertising a dangerous ideology?

No, I don’t think so.

The US State Department has publicly identified 16 people it says had “roles in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” the Saudi journalist who was killed in Turkey in October. 

The 16 people and their immediate family members are now banned from U.S. soil, the State Department said in a Monday statement. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who reportedly ordered the journalist’s assassination, was not among those named.

As AP noted, the list did include people with close ties to the crown prince, including his former aide Said al-Qahtani and Maher Mutreb, who’d been part of the royal’s entourage during foreign trips.

President Donald Trump has come under scrutiny for refusing to blame Crown Prince Mohammed for Khashoggi’s killing — despite US intelligence agencies’ reported identification of the royal as the instigator of the crime.

Last month, it emerged that the Trump administration ― which is seeking a nuclear energy deal with Saudi Arabia ― had secretly granted approval to several companies to share certain nuclear power technology with the country.

Some lawmakers have since demanded to know whether these approvals occurred before or after Khashoggi’s murder.

“I think it’s critical to know exactly how this happened, when it happened and particularly were you doing this after Khashoggi?” Sen. Bob Menendez told The Hill this week.

JERUSALEM — Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger Benny Gantz claimed victory in Israel’s election but early results indicated on Wednesday the veteran right-wing leader was on course for a record fifth term.

Partial results with 95 percent of votes counted showed Netanyahu’s Likud party tied with Gantz’s centrist Blue and White Party with 35 parliamentary seats each, the Knesset website and Israeli Channel 12 said.

Though neither party captured a ruling majority in the 120-member Knesset, the partial results put Netanyahu in a strong position to form a coalition government with right-wing factions, key to an ultimate victory.

“It is a night of colossal victory,” the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters, while cautioning that a “long night and possibly day” lay ahead awaiting official results.

Fireworks flared behind him as his wife Sara applauded and kissed him. “He’s a magician,” the crowd chanted.

If he wins, Netanyahu, 69, will be on track to be the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s 71-year history. Netanyahu said he had already begun talks with prospective coalition allies.

Netanyahu, in power consecutively since 2009, has been fighting for his political survival. The closely contested race was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on his character and record in the face of corruption allegations.

He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all three. According to the partial results, Likud won 5 more seats than in the previous election in 2015.

Rival Gantz, 59, earlier also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls that showed his party had won more seats than Likud.

“We are the victors,” said Gantz, a former military chief fighting his first election. “We want to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service to the nation.”

Political analysts cautioned it was too early to be certain of the outcome, with many hours to go before a final tally is in.

Ofer Zalzberg, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Likud and Blue and White would have to learn the fate of smaller parties to know whether they had garnered enough support for a coalition.

“Netanyahu is more likely to establish another right-wing government, but we will have to wait and see,” he said.

Netanyahu highlights Trump ties

During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security.

Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May.

Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

In a rare turn during the race towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by promising to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

During the campaign, Gantz said a government under his stewardship would pursue peace, but stopped short of committing to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Commenting on the election, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation”.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.

A close result in the election would put smaller parties in a powerful position, turning marginal political figures into kingmakers.

Once the votes are tallied, President Reuven Rivlin will ask parties that have won parliamentary seats who they support for prime minister. He will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed.

One factor may be the turnout of voters from Israel’s 21 percent Arab minority. Many were angered by Israel’s nation-state law, passed in 2018, which declared that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country. Netanyahu supported the legislation.

Netanyahu’s party sent monitors equipped with body cameras to a number of polling stations with Arab constituents on election day. Arab politicians condemned the move as voter intimidation.

Emilia Clarke has gone into greater detail about what happened to her after her life-threatening aneurysms.

Just weeks after the “Game of Thrones” star revealed in a deeply personal New Yorker essay that she survived two brain aneurysms — one in 2011, right after she had finished filming the first season of the hit HBO fantasy series, and again in 2013, after filing Season 3 — Clarke admitted to CBS Sunday Morning over the weekend that a part of her brain died as a result.

“So, with the second one, there was a bit of my brain that actually died,” Clarke said. “If a part of your brain doesn’t get blood to it for a minute, it will just no longer work. It’s like you short-circuit. So, I had that.”

Clarke went on to explain that doctors didn’t know what part of her brain she lost, and speculated that it could be her concentration or peripheral vision.

“I always say it’s my taste in men … That’s the part of my brain [I lost], my decent taste in men,” Clarke quipped.

But, jokes aside, Clarke feared at the time that she may have lost something very important to her.

“For a very long time, I thought it was my ability to act … That was a deep paranoia,” Clarke said. “I was like, ‘What if something has short-circuited in my brain and I can’t act anymore?’ I mean, literally it’s been my reason for living for a very long time.”

The 32-year-old actress said that during this difficult period in her life, it was cathartic to play a strong female character like Daenerys Targaryen, whom she portrays on “Game of Thrones.”

“You go on set and you play a badass and you walk through fire, and that became the thing that just saved me from considering my own mortality.”

Clarke told CBS that she is now medically “in the clear” and has a very optimistic view of the future — despite having to say goodbye to “Game of Thrones,” which will premiere its final season this Sunday. Clarke likens leaving the show to “saying goodbye to my 20s!” but is excited for her next journey in life.

“I can’t wait for the next thing, the next decade. Literally can’t wait for it,” she said.

“The Crown” has cast who will play Princess Diana Spencer in an upcoming season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

An exclusive report in THR says Emma Corrin will star in the Netflix show as the late Lady Diana, princess of Wales, and will be introduced at some point in the fourth season. 

The show’s creator Peter Morgan told the publication that Corrin “immediately captivated us when she came in for the part of Diana Spencer” and that she has “the range and complexity to portray an extraordinary woman who went from anonymous teenager to becoming the most iconic woman of her generation.”

On Corrin’s part, she told the publication that she’s been watching the show since the beginning and she’ll “strive” to do the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry justice.

Previously, Corrin has starred in a short called “Alex’s Dream” and the TV series “Grantchester.” She is also slated to star in the upcoming film “Misbehaviour.”

“The Crown” has currently released two seasons thus far, with the third rolling out in late 2019.

The third season will cover the 1964-1970 and 1974-1976 terms of Prime Minister Harold Wilson while the fourth season will feature Margaret Thatcher and Lady Diana. 

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the first name of Harold Wilson as Howard.

NEW DELHI — The Election Commission is learnt to have directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi on Tuesday to ensure that the contents of NaMo TV are pre-certified by the local media certification and monitoring committee.

Such committees are formed at district and state levels during polls.

They clear political campaign and advertisements.

Last week, the Commission had issued a notice seeking a report from the I&B Ministry on NaMo TV, launched just weeks ahead of general election, after opposition parties, including the Congress, asked the poll body to direct the ministry to suspend the channel in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The EC has also asked the CEO to inform whether the political contents were at anytime cleared by the certification committee.

In its response, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is learnt to have responded that the NaMo TV is an advertisement platform launched by DTH service providers which does not require government nod.

The ministry is also learnt to have said that NaMo TV is not a regular channel and it does not figure in the official list of approved channels of the I&B Ministry.

As per the existing norms, no approval is required from the ministry to run such advertising platforms, the I&B ministry is learnt to have told the poll panel.

NEW DELHI — Sixty-six former bureaucrats have written to President Ram Nath Kovind, expressing concern over the credibility and functioning of the Election Commission for failing to deal with alleged cases of poll violations, particulary those involving the ruling party.

A senior functionary of the EC said the poll panel will respond to the letter most likely on April 12 to put forth it’s views on the issue.

“At the moment, the commission is caught up with the first phase of polling on April 11. Moreover, it is also dealing with the aftermath of the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh,” the functionary said.

The instances cited by the former bureaucrats include Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation about the successful launch of India’s first anti-satellite weapon (A-SAT), release of web-series “Modi: A Common Man’s Journey” and the “lethargy” in respect of the poll commission’s action on the launch of NaMo TV channel.

Referring to the instance of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath dubbing the Indian Army “Modi’s Army”, the bureaucrats said strongest action was required from the EC to “nip such cavalier statements in the bud”, but it “contented itself in the present case with a mild reprimand to the UP CM”.

“We write to express our deep anguish that the Election Commission of India, which has had a long and honourable record of holding free and fair elections despite the enormous challenges of scale and complexity, is suffering from a crisis of credibility today,” the letter said.

The EC’s independence, fairness, impartiality and efficiency are perceived to be compromised today, thereby endangering the integrity of the electoral process which is the very foundation of the Indian democracy, the letter added.

“Hon’ble Rashtrapatiji, we are deeply concerned about the weak-kneed conduct of the ECI, which has reduced the credibility of this constitutional body to an all-time low. Any erosion in the people’s confidence in the fairness of the ECI has very grave consequences for the future of our democracy and we hope that the gravity of the situation will be appreciated by the ECI,” the letter said.

The signatories include Salahuddin Ahmad, former chief secretary of Rajasthan, former Director General of Punjab Julio Riberio, Jawhar Sircar, former CEO of Prasar Bharati, Najeeb Jung, former Lt Governor of Delhi, Meeran Borwankar, former Pune Police Commissioner.

With respect to Modi making public announcement of the success of the A-SAT test, the letter said the country was facing no immediate security threat that required the prime minister, who is an election candidate himself, to make a public announcement.

“On purely technical ground that the announcement was not made on the public broadcasting service, the ECI held that there had been no violation of the MCC. We feel, however, that parading the achievements of a government in this manner after the announcement of elections is tantamount to a serious breach of propriety and amounts to giving unfair publicity to the party presently in government and that the ECI’s decision does not stand up to the standards of impartiality expected of it,” the letter said.

They also cited the EC’s order of transferring three top police officers and the chief secretary in Andhra Pradesh and four top police officers in West Bengal.

“We find it curious that no such steps have been taken in Tamil Nadu, where the present Director General of Police is reportedly under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Gutkha scam case and there have been repeated appeals by the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu seeking his removal from that post,” the letter said.

You can read the full letter here.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the general election due to begin on Thursday.

Khan said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over disputed Indian-controlled Kashmir, fearing a backlash from the right.

“Perhaps if the BJP — a right-wing party — wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached,” Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview.

This was despite the massive alienation that Muslims in Kashmir and Muslims in general were facing in Modi’s India, said Khan, who took office last August.

“I never thought I would see what is happening in India right now,” said the former international cricket star. “Muslim-ness is being attacked.”

Khan said Indian Muslims he knew who many years ago had been happy about their situation in India were now very worried by extreme Hindu nationalism.

He said Modi, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was electioneering based on “fear and nationalist feeling”.

The BJP’s pledge this week to propose stripping decades-old special rights from the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which prevent outsiders from buying property in the state, was a major concern, though it could also be electioneering, Khan said.

Khan did appear to offer India an olive branch, saying that Islamabad was determined to dismantle all Pakistan-based militias in the country, and that the government had full support from Pakistan’s powerful army for the programme. Those to be dismantled include groups involved in Kashmir.

Nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India both claim Kashmir in full but rule in part.

Khan said Kashmir was a political struggle and there was no military solution, adding that Kashmiris suffered if armed militants from Pakistan came across the border, leading to Indian army crackdowns.

Relations between Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, two over Kashmir, reached a crisis point in February after a suicide bombing killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir.

Islamabad denied responsibility for the Feb. 14 attack, which was claimed by Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, but the bombing prompted India to carry out a cross border air strike against what it said was a militant training camp in Pakistan.

Pakistan responded with air strikes of its own.

Pollsters say Modi and the BJP’s re-election bid got a boost from a wave of patriotism after the suicide bomb attack and the Indian government’s fast response.

Khan said there was still the possibility if the polls turn against Modi in the next few weeks that India could take some further military action against Pakistan.

The rolling election is held in phases and does not finish until May 19. The result is not due until May 23.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned on Sunday that Islamabad had “reliable intelligence” that India would attack again this month. India described the claim as irresponsible.

Khan said that it was vital for Pakistan to have peace with its neighbours, Afghanistan, India and Iran, if it was to have the kind of economy needed to pull 100 million people out of poverty.

From Tyrion is a Targaryen to Bran is the Night King, when it comes to “Game of Thrones,” you know fan theories are coming. And as the show nears its end with the debut of Season 8, more continue to pop up like wights out of the snow.

When HuffPost caught up with John Bradley last week after his appearance on Build Series, he was all for the surge of theories. 

“I think that this show has always asked more questions than it’s answered,” he said. “I think the reason why theories are so prevalent is because we don’t spoon-feed people everything, and I think that ― this may sound a bit strange ― I think you have to be quite smart to watch the show to its full capacity because you’ve got to hold a lot of knowledge in your head, but also you’ve got to fill in a lot of blanks yourself, and I think the people online doing that is very flattering and just goes to show how committed our audience are.”

Much like his character Samwell Tarly is an expert on the history of Westeros, Bradley seems equally well-versed on the fan lore. And, yes, he admits some of the theories are a little too close for comfort.

“Most of them, with regards to the final season and just with regards to the show in general, are wide of the mark and they’re interesting, but they’re just not right ... they just don’t get it right on a purely factual level,” he said. “But some of them you read and, well, they’re actually dangerously close to the truth. Some you think are actually uncomfortably veering quite close to what actually happens.”

Here’s the problem with your somewhat accurate fan theories, however: For every one that’s close, there are a million more that say something like “Varys is secretly a fish man.” 

“You take comfort from the fact that they’re kind of in amongst all the nonsense, so as long as they’re swamped by nonsense, as long as they’re kind of the grain of sand on the beach of nonsense, then you’re happy because you think people might take this — insert your favorite theory here — as being the truth,” Bradley added. “They may take the theory that Lord Varys is a mermaid is the truth. As long as the truth and such nonsense sit side by side, people are never going to quite get to the bottom of it.”

Nonsense or not, some of the theories out there are particularly captivating (shoutout to Cleganebowl), so Bradley was kind enough to share his thoughts on a few of them.

Was Sam left alone by a White Walker because he didn’t fight back?

The Season 2 finale features a harrowing moment when Sam Tarly is seen by a White Walker as the army of the dead passes by. For reasons still unknown, he’s left unscathed, leading to countless amounts of speculation.

Bradley himself said he didn’t know exactly why the White Walker spared Sam, but did offer some theories that he’s heard about the moment.

“One of the theories is kind of the leader of the White Walkers in that moment is the White Walker of Benjen Stark. I’ve read that, and that he — through some White Walker powers — knows what Sam means to Jon and therefore he spares him because of that,” he said. “And there’s another one that White Walkers will only attack something that fights back, that they almost didn’t feel Sam was worth killing, which is the greatest insult. It was an interesting thing to film that because it was the final moment of the season as well, so it’s one of those cut-to-black [scenes] again where we had people guessing for a year.”

Will Sam be left writing the story of “Game of Thrones” at the end of the series?

Samwell Tarly is often looked at as a representative for author George R.R. Martin in his “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. One popular theory is that in the end the story will get very meta as Sam begins to write Martin’s books, chronicling the stories of Westeros. This got extra support when Sam arrived at the Citadel in Season 6 and saw a gyroscope that looks like what we’ve been watching in the show’s opening for years. And even more evidence: In Season 7, Sam suggests Archmaester Ebrose (Jim Broadbent) call his “Chronicle of the Wars Following the Death of King Robert I” something “a bit more poetic.”

Bradley expressed his admiration for the theory, telling us, “That’s a really interesting one, and it feeds into George’s Tolkien influence. The fact he’s called George R.R. Martin tells you quite a lot about him. I think at the end, that’s an interesting one that kind of followed the show around, and the thing about seeing the opening gyrosphere thing, that kind of feeds into it.” 

The theory puts Sam right at the center of the story, which is part of the reason Bradley likes it so much.

“As an actor, you just want your character to be important, especially in a show like this where not everybody gets a load of screen time,” he said. “Sometimes you’re not in an episode at all. Sometimes you get one or two scenes in an episode. What you really want is for it to end and to think, ‘Well, that wouldn’t have actually ended that way if it wasn’t for my character.’ I think any theory that puts Sam at the center of things or, for Kit [Harington], puts Jon at the center of things or any actor puts their character at the center of things, they are the kind of theories you latch on to.”

Will Sam’s stolen books reveal why Podrick is so popular with women?

With Sam having pilfered some books from the Citadel in Season 7, we had to ask, “Do one of those books finally reveal what Podrick Payne did to make the ladies like him so much in Season 3?”

“Do you know what, that’s the biggest mystery of the show that I want to find out,” Bradley said with a laugh. “Yeah, I mean, in terms of the great mysteries of the show, you talk about ‘Why did the White Walkers spare Sam,’ and people want to know about Podrick first and foremost. I think Sam lives on quite a high intellectual plane, thank you very much, so if there was an index, and he went down the index, and it said ‘Podrick [brothels]’ I don’t think he’d bother himself reading that. He’s got bigger fish to fry.”

Theories are theories are theories

When all is said and done, it probably doesn’t matter to theorists what actually happens. They’ll stick by their own beliefs.

“The thing about all these theories is there’s evidence to support them, but people don’t want to know about the evidence that doesn’t support them,” Bradley said. “There’s so much evidence that contradicts the supportive evidence, but people don’t want to know about that. If people want to support a theory, they’ll believe it.”

Varys-is-a-mermaid stans unite.

I can’t specifically recall the first time I ever masturbated. Though, if I had to guess, it was probably in middle school after watching an episode of MTV’s “Undressed.” During those years, I remember a few instances of curiously gliding my middle finger in and out of my vagina, feeling around a little and wondering: What’s all the fuss about? 

The first time I really masturbated in a hot-damn-give-yourself-an-orgasm kind of way was a lot more memorable. I had recently turned 18 and a couple of friends had bought me a vibrator from Spencer’s named “Ever-Ready Freddy” as a gag gift for my birthday. Freddy had an intense, menacing face and if you pressed him a certain way, he’d say one of his signature catchphrases, like: “Hell, can’t you get a real man?” 

All of this to say, I doubt my friends thought I’d actually use this demonic-looking sex toy. But boy, did I use it. And thanks to Freddy, I was introduced to the magical power of the clitoris in unlocking orgasms and enlisted his help multiple times a week until the sad day he eventually went kaput. 

We asked women to share their first experiences masturbating. From the sensual to the shame-filled to the silly, here’s what they told us.

Responses have been lightly edited or condensed for length and clarity. 

Preschool Playtime

“The first time I masturbated I was barely able to crawl. I started rubbing myself on the carpet when all the kids were sitting in a circle at preschool. I remember it feeling really comforting and wanted to keep doing it, but I’m pretty sure the teacher made me stop.” — Hayley Jade, sex worker 

Showering In Pleasure

“Like many girls, I discovered masturbating in the shower with a handheld shower head. When I discovered that the persistent, insistent stream of water directed at my clitoris made my thighs quiver, I learned to lie down in the tub, plant my feet on the cold tile and ride wave after wave of orgasm. I was about 7 or 8 years old. Masturbation was the time in my life I felt most safe, most joyful in my body and most alive, in an otherwise rocky childhood.” — Chris Maxwell Rose, sex educator and host of “Speaking of Sex” podcast 

Jungle Gym, FTW

“I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but at some point in elementary school, climbing up the jungle gym poles became EXTRA fun for me! It wasn’t until I started training to become a sex therapist that I realized that it’s quite common for girls and women to masturbate by grinding against objects. I thought I had just discovered some incredible secret! So many women think that this is a ‘weird’ or ‘unusual’ way to masturbate, but in my experience teaching thousands of women how to orgasm, it’s actually one of the three most common techniques.” — Vanessa Marin, sex therapist and creator of the online course Finishing School: Learn How To Orgasm

Shrouded In Shame

“The first time I remember masturbating I was about 6 years old. I figured out pretty quickly what worked and what didn’t. I remember it feeling really good up until I turned about 10 years old when I started to feel guilty for being sexual and ashamed for objectifying women. I knew pretty early on in my life that I was gay but denied it for a few more years. It felt like if I said it out loud that I liked women that I would be rejected by everyone I love and everyone would know my private thoughts and feelings. I was lucky enough to have supportive gay and lesbian cousins who were out first, and it gave me the courage to come out at 14. Now I’m sex positive, many of my illustrations and work are LGBTQ-focused, and I’m engaged to the love of my life!” –Tevy Khou, illustrator

Summer Of (Self) Love 

“I was 15 and was in my bedroom. It was summer and I was in the house by myself because everyone else was outside at the lake. I was reading pamphlets about becoming a personal trainer that I had stashed between my mattresses. When I was hanging off the side of the bed to shove them back into their hiding space, I reached back to brace myself and ended up with my hand under my bits. Surprisingly, it felt pretty great, so I finished squirreling my stuff away and scooched back onto the bed, face down and put my other hand down my pants to get both involved. 

I do remember going over my underwear because I didn’t want my hand to get wet, which is still my go-to to this day. I wanted to be quiet so I stayed face down and shoved my face into my comforter to quiet any noise. Which is probably why I love a good asphyxia sesh now. I didn’t cum. I thought I did, but I definitely didn’t. It just felt good. It only lasted as long as I could hold my breath, then I took the best nap of my life!” — Mara Marek, comedian and host of “The Happy Never After Podcast”

What’s Up, Doc?

“The first time I masturbated, I had no idea that’s what I was doing. And I didn’t do it alone. I must have been 10 or 11 and every time I would hang out with these three girls in particular we would play ‘doctor.’ One at a time, we would pull our pants and underwear down to our knees and lay on the bed on our stomachs with a pillow between our legs. One of the girls would put a popsicle stick between our cheeks to “take our temperature.” Then we would move our hips until we ‘felt all better.’ For some reason we called it bra-ing. ‘OK. Time for the bra-ing. You’ll feel all better when you’re done!’ we’d tell one another.

We were very methodical about it and ridiculously giddy when we were done. I never, ever did it alone back then. No clue why. And it wasn’t until I was in college that I really made the connection. Suddenly all of the rubbing against pillows alone in bed throughout my later high school years made sense! – Jenny Block, author ofThe Ultimate Guide to Solo Sex 

Gandalf, Gratification And Guilt

“I remember my first time masturbating quite vividly. I was around 14 or 15, sitting in the living area, watching ‘Lord of The Rings.’ I just finished my biology project about nuclei or something and decided to watch some television before going to bed. I remember being so enamored by the sound of Gandalf’s voice ( I later learned in life that I’m an auralist) that I felt my pussy tingle for the first time. I didn’t understand what my body was trying to tell me. I felt warm. My body simmered with anticipation. My body started to ache and I honestly didn’t know what to do. I was so consumed by so many foreign feelings.

I was taught at a very young age that young women do NOT pleasure themselves. Pleasure is a privilege of marriage. Only married women get to enjoy their bodies with their husbands. The more I watched the film, the stickier my thighs got. The more I watched the film the more ashamed I felt. I felt very torn. I shut the TV off, I went to my room and prayed until I fell asleep. Three hours later, my body woke me up with a vengeance I’d never known before. I turned onto my stomach and placed my hands between my thighs to soothe the discomfort. For the first time in my life, I felt pleasure in my toes. Dizzy with fear and desire, I felt the need to understand the aching. I began to trace every part of my being until I shuddered and came. The high was as instant as the immediate low. I began to repent for taking away pleasure from my future husband. 

I felt so terrible about pleasuring myself that I took a purity vow. I didn’t masturbate again until I was 19 years old, the same night I lost my virginity.” — Brittany G. 

Sex Ed for Grown-Ups is a series tackling everything you didn’t learn about sex in school — beyond the birds and the bees. Keep checking back for more expert-based articles and personal stories.

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed objections raised by the Centre against certain leaked documents and said it could be used as evidence while re-examining the verdict in the Rafale deal with France.

The Centre had claimed “privilege” on the documents and objected to its use in the case.

“We are delighted at unanimous verdict dismissing Centre’s argument on admissibility of documents,” petitioner Arun Shourie said after a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi pronounced the verdict.

The court said that review petitions against its 14 December verdict on the Rafale deal, dismissing all petitions against procurement of Rafale jets, will be decided on merits. It said a date would be fixed for hearing the review petitions.

On March 14, the apex court had reserved verdict on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre on admissibility of privileged documents annexed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as also activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their review petition against the top court’s December 14 judgement that dismissed all petitions against the Rafale jet deal.

The Centre had claimed privilege over documents pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered in evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre had contended that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure is exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a).

Bhushan had contended that the Centre’s objections were “mala fide and totally untenable arguments”.

The top court had further noted that according to the AG’s submissions “there are three Rafale documents whose publication comes under Official Secrets Act, 1923. These documents were unauthorisedly published. You claim privilege under section 123 of Evidence Act. You want us to adjudicate and strike down the review on this basis”.

Bhushan had submitted a note countering the preliminary objections raised by the centre on maintainability of the review petitions, stating that “preliminary objection are mala fide and totally untenable arguments”.

He had said government cannot claim privilege over the documents which are already published and is in public domain.

Bhushan had said that Section 123 Indian Evidence Act only protected “unpublished documents”.

While the Centre was making submission that the documents can be withheld from disclosure under the RTI Act in view of the national security, the top court said Section 22 of the RTI Act gave it an overriding effect over the Official Secrets Act.

It also said that under Section 24 of the RTI Act even security and intelligence establishments are not exempted from disclosing information in relation to corruption and human rights violations.

“The RTI Act brought a revolution. In 2009, your own government said file notings can be made available under the RTI. Let us not go back now,” the bench has said.

Bhushan further said that provisions of the RTI Act say public interest outweighs other things and no privilege can be claimed except for documents which pertain to intelligence agencies.

He also said that there is no government-to-government contract in purchasing Rafale jets as there is no sovereign guarantee extended to India by France in the Rs 58,000 crore deal.

He had submitted why the government didn’t lodge any FIR when these documents started coming out in November 2018.

He had further said that the government has itself filed a detailed CAG report regarding as many as 10 defence purchases and it is untenable on their part to now claim privilege.

(With PTI inputs)

Journalist Priya Rama on Wednesday pleaded not guilty as a Delhi court framed defamation charges against her in a case filed by former Union minister MJ Akbar.

Akbar filed a defamation case against Ramani after she, and many others, accused him of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement in India in October, 2018. 

Ramani, who appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, however, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

Ramani was granted bail in the case in February. She had told the media: 

After Ramani made sexual harassment allegations against Akbar on social media, over 20 women journalists — who worked with Akbar during his time as editor in various publications — followed suit. 

Akbar had to step down from the post of Minister of State for External Affairs in light of the allegations made against him. 

Women who had accused Akbar of predatory behaviour had said in a statement: 

When Ms. Ramani spoke out against him in public, she spoke not only about her personal experience but also lifted the lid on the culture of casual misogyny, entitlement and sexual predation that Mr. Akbar engendered and presided over at The Asian Age.

Ms. Ramani is not alone in her fight. We would request the honourable court hearing the defamation case to also consider testimonies of sexual harassment of some of us at the hands of the petitioner, as also of the other signatories who bore witness to this harassment.

However, while resigning from his post, Akbar denied the allegations and called them fabricated. 

In his defamation suit against Ramani, Akbar had said that “while admitting that the Complainant has never done anything to her, the accused has intentionally put forward malicious, fabricated, and salacious imputations to harm the reputation of the Complainant.”

Ramani had written an article in Vogue IN 2017 titled To the Harvey Weinsteins of the world, where she recounted her first experience of workplace harassment. This was when the #MeToo movement was taking place in the United States last year.

Ramani hadn’t named anyone in her account, but in October 2018, she said on Twitter that she was referring to Akbar as the editor who interviewed her in his hotel room.

Akbar, still a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, was the founding editor of The Telegraph, launched The Asian Age and has worked in several other media organisations.

(With PTI inputs)

Kim Kardashian’s shoplifting story is no laughing matter. 

The reality star, who recently collaborated on a sunglasses collection with Carolina Lemke, told Bustle in an article published last week about a sunglasses shoplifting incident that happened many years ago. 

“We were in Hawaii and there was this Christian Dior store and no one [was working] there. Like, it was [in] the wild... just an empty store. Khloe (her sister) really wanted the Dior sunglasses, so she took them and we walked out,” Kardashian said, as Bustle noted that she was giggling while telling the story. 

“These sunglasses were everything. I still have them to this day and they were so much fun,” the 38-year-old added.

“So cute. That was so funny. We were like, ‘This is wild.’ I think the [employee] must have gone to the bathroom or been in the back by herself on a Sunday. I don’t know what the story was, but it was really funny.” 

Barbara C. Staib, the director of communications for the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP), told MarketWatch that Kardashian’s story is far from a joke. 

“People don’t understand the bottom-line ramifications. The Dior store owner probably laid out $95 or $100, if they were $200 sunglasses,” Staib said. 

“So they lost that cash right out of their pocket, and they also lost the profit they should have had from those sunglasses,” Staib said. She noted the store would have had to sell several other pairs of sunglasses to recoup its loss. 

According to the NASP, shoplifting in Hawaii for an item over $100 is a misdemeanor crime. The minimum fine for shoplifting something of that nature carries a minimum fine of “three times the value or aggregate value involved.” 

If the item is over $300, the shoplifter could be charged with a class C felony and pay four times the value or aggregate value of the stolen item.

Kardashian’s story of a youthful theft comes as the reality star has recently become interested in criminal justice reform.

In 2017, she used her legal team to aid Cyntoia Brown, who was convicted of murdering a 43-year-old man in 2004 who she claimed raped her after she was solicited for prostitution as a 16-year-old. Brown was later granted clemency after serving 15 years of her life sentence.

Last year, Kardashian met with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss prison reform and the nation’s sentencing laws, as well as to seek clemency for Alice Johnson, a grandmother who received a life sentence for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense. Days later, Trump granted Johnson clemency. 

Kardashian has not responded to HuffPost for comment. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly won the Israeli national election and secured a record fifth term in office on Wednesday after months of scrambling to remain in power by striking deals with far-right extremists, promoting conspiracy theories, sidling up to authoritarian leaders and promising new restrictions on Palestinian rights.

Netanyahu began his fifth reelection campaign with a clear road to victory, facing a fractured opposition and looking like a strong bet to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. But that soon changed. And as his reelection came under threat, he led a campaign that stoked division to save himself.

Weeks before the vote, two of Netanyahu’s challengers, including former general Benny Gantz, created a centrist opposition party that soon was neck and neck with Netanyahu’s Likud party in the polls. Long-running corruption investigations into Netanyahu then reached their climax with Israel’s attorney general announcing he would soon formally indict the prime minister.  

Facing a close race and the looming indictment, Netanyahu exploited every opportunity to rally his supporters to put him over the finish line, no matter the cost. 

Although he has a history of eking out election victories by playing on voters’ fears, such as warning in 2015 that Israel’s Arab citizens were casting their ballots “in droves,” Netanyahu reached new lows during this year’s campaign. On Election Day, his party reportedly distributed around 1,200 hidden cameras to observers in Arab communities in what critics described as a deliberate act of voter suppression.

Prior to that, Netanyahu reached an agreement with racist and homophobic far-right parties in February to prop up his reelection bid, promising one party key government positions in exchange for supporting his premiership. One group, Jewish Power, has its roots in a violent anti-Muslim movement that the U.S. government deemed a terrorist organization. A prominent Israeli correspondent likened the agreement to a U.S. president striking a deal with the Ku Klux Klan.

The deal with the far right drew widespread condemnation both in Israel and abroad, earning rare rebukes even from conservative, staunchly pro-Israel organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group. The Anti-Defamation League said the deal “legitimized” the party’s “hate-filled rhetoric,” and Gantz accused the prime minister of sacrificing his dignity. But Netanyahu was only getting started.

The prime minister’s career is pockmarked with scandals: In his first term as prime minister, he was investigated for influence peddling and improperly accepting foreign gifts and contributions. But the looming indictment, a first for a sitting Israeli prime minister, is the most serious yet.

In the final months of his campaign, Netanyahu relentlessly pushed to convince voters that he was synonymous with the Israeli state and that the corruption scandals circling his family were leftist conspiracies. Borrowing the same rhetoric that U.S. President Donald Trump and radical right-wing populist leaders use to dismiss the press and avoid accountability, he painted nearly anyone who opposed him as a leftist — even the centrist Gantz, whose campaign video boasts about the number of alleged terrorists he killed during an Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

Netanyahu called the criminal investigations focusing on him a “witch hunt,” and at the start of the year, gave a nationally televised address saying he was the target of a political plot. He threatened to sue his political rivals for libel and tweeted Fox News clips of Sean Hannity praising his leadership.

The prime minister’s family, also a focus of corruption investigations, got involved as well. Netanyahu’s wife Sarah, who was indicted last year for fraud and breach of trust, attacked journalists as leftists working for political opponents. Meanwhile, the couple’s son Yair claimed the Israeli president was trying to oust his father. Facebook temporarily suspended the 27-year-old’s page earlier this year after he repeatedly posted anti-Muslim hate speech. 

Netanyahu also tried hard to position himself as an international statesman, but his recent foreign visitors included populist, nationalist far-right leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who often promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and authoritarian Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Netanyahu also visited Russian President Vladimir Putin last week and met with Trump.

The U.S. president is exceedingly popular in Israel and was a continual presence in Netanyahu’s campaign, which bought giant billboard ads around the country showing the two leaders shaking hands. Netanyahu touted their relationship as proof of his influence, celebrating the U.S. moving its embassy to Jerusalem and Trump’s support for Israel declaring permanent control over the Golan Heights ― which critics say would violate international laws on declaring sovereignty over occupied territory. Netanyahu also claimed that Trump labeled the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist group at his request.

After spending months playing up his nationalist credentials and courting the far right at the cost of Palestinians and the rule of law, Netanyahu saved one of his biggest announcements for last in an attempt to rally right-wing voters. Days before the vote, he promised that if reelected, he would begin annexing parts of the West Bank. The move, a breach of the Oslo Accords peace agreement, would drastically undermine the two-state solution and solidify Israel’s occupation of areas Palestinians demand for their own state.