Author: archisha.mukherjee4

On Tuesday, 7 am Central European Time, a Russian fighter jet crashed into an American surveillance drone over the Black Sea, which is considered to be international airspace. What led to crash of the drone? According to the press release by the US Air Force, the Russian Su-27 aircraft intentionally collided with the US MQ- 9 Reaper drone while they were conducting routine work in international airspace. According to the US officials, there was another Russian Su-27 aircraft present over international waters, but was not involved in the collision. Further, both the Su-27s had dumped fuel over the drone multiple…

The government of Bali has taken steps which will effectively ban tourists from renting motorbikes as a means of transport around the island. This step will be taken after there have been many complaints by locals of tourists breaking traffic laws which have led to injuries and in some cases, death of the local residents. From now on, tourists will be transported in vehicles provided by travel agents. Statement from Bali’s Governor According to the statement made at a press conference by Governor Wayne Koster made on Monday, tourists are disorderly, paying no heed to the traffic laws put in…

Earlier today, ‘Naatu Naatu’ made history by being the first Indian movie to be nominated and ultimately, winning the Oscar for the Best Original Song. Composer M M Keeravani, along with lyricist Chandrabose, went to accept the honor on behalf of the team. Keeravani, during his speech, broke into song. He sang his own iteration of The Carpenters’s song ‘Top of the World’, changing some of the lyrics to express how RRR had become the pride of the nation and how, at that moment, he felt on top of the world. He also expressed how much of a proud moment it…

According to reports, the Academy has once again rejected Zelensky’s plea to appear at the ceremony. Since the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, Zelensky has been welcome at major award shows and events in America to address the people and ask for support during this terrible time. From major film festivals to the Stock Exchange, Zelensky’s plea has not been rejected. Even award show contemporaries such as the Golden Globes and the Grammy Awards had allowed Zelensky to address the people of America via satellite. This is the second year where Zelenksky’s plea has been denied. Though this…

Recently, in a New Yorker profile, showrunner Jesse Armstrong announced that HBO’s Succession will be concluding with its upcoming 4th Season. The ultimate season would be releasing later this month and HBO has confirmed that it would be the end of the series as well. According to him and his writers, season 4 will finally establish a complete story around the family and thus, they feel that it is the perfect time to end the show, instead of needlessly prolonging it. Jesse Armstrong’s comment Jesse Armstrong stated that this show could not go forever and they, as writers, have been…

On Sunday, 26th March, Korean actor Ke Huy Quan made history by becoming the first Asian Male actor to win an individual Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG). Since the inception of SAG in 1994, no other male Asian actor has been awarded this recognition. Quan was awarded this honour in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance in the movie “Everything, Everywhere, all at once”. Even the movie made history by winning 4 awards during the course of the night, including every acting category apart from Best Actor, which went to Brendan Fraser for his performance in “The Whale”.…

Seattle has recently become the first US city to explicitly ban caste-based discrimination. On Tuesday, the city council in Washington, with a 6-1 vote, decided to make the addition of ‘caste’ to the city’s list of anti-discriminatory laws. What is caste-based discrimination? Caste based discrimination refers to the violation of one’s right to civil, political and economic rights based on a pre-established societal hierarchical system which usually dates back to many centuries and often in all kinds of religions. In short, it is a process by which certain people are ostracized and not allowed to exercise one’s right because of…

Many US newspapers have recently announced their decision of dropping Dilbert comics after its creator Scott Adams made some racist comments against black people in a Youtube video. What Happened? On 22nd February, Adams, in that video, starts the episode by discussing the recent presidential bid by Republican multimillionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. A little while into the video , he started to give his opinions on the the poll conducted by an conservative organisation, also known as the ‘Rasmussen Report’ where 56% of Black respondents said that they agreed with the statement, 26% disagreed with the statement which said “It’s…

Recently, the Academy has confirmed that a crisis team will be put in place will handle any real-time incidents that might take place in this year’s Oscars. In a statement given to Time Magazine, Academy chief executive Bill Kramer said that the new team had run many scenarios and hoped that they will be “prepared for anything” to happen this year. He also added that “Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars.” Why have precautions been taken? Such precautions are being taken after the groundbreaking incident that took place…

Who is Rachid M’Barki? Rachid M’Barki, a popular journalist and presenter at one of France’s most watched news channel, BFM TV, was suspended on 11th January due to him being exposed to influence from a major disinformation firm. The 54-year-old Moroccan journalist was a respected veteran at BFM TV and had been with the organisation since 2005. The ongoing investigations delve deep into M’Barki and his repeated coverage of Israeli news like that of luxury yachts in Monaco, allegations of corruption in Qatar which were apparently planted under the pretence of ‘news for hire’. Commenting on his actions, M’Barki also…