Author: Rajalakshmi Venkataraman

Regional cinema continues to trump big-budget Bollywood flicks in quality and box office. Mumbai: In the last 5 years, south Indian films competed at close range with the behemoth of Bollywood cinema. At the same time Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films took centre stage, the quality of Bollywood began dipping consistently.  Malayalam cinema has always produced nuanced, realistic cinema and Telugu films satisfied the cravings for a blockbuster action flick. Tamil films have always toed the line between Malayalam and Telugu, churning out blockbusters with a strong artistic base.  With Pushpa, RRR, and KGF being the top box-office collectors of…

Queen Elizabeth celebrates 70 years of service with 4 days of extravagantly Royal festivities. Highlights: Celebrations kicked off on Thursday with a massive military parade.A 70-plane airshow flew over London while the Royal family looked on from Buckingham Palace.A £15 million pageant carnival took place on Sunday with celebrity performers. London: The extravagant celebrations began with a military parade Thousands of supporters lined the street over the 2-day national holiday. The celebrations originally began in February 2022, with a long string of events taking place since then. Queen Elizabeth is the longest-reigning monarch, breaking the record of her ancestor Queen…

Women across the world are beginning to leave workplaces for the first time in many years as per several reports. Women globally and in India are beginning to disappear from workplaces as the COVID-19 aftermath hits. Increased household work, especially childcare, contributes to keeping women at home instead of progressing in their careers. Workplace Exodus in the APAC region?  LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2021 found that Indian and Chinese women enjoy higher freedoms. However, in workplaces, the overall outlook is still grim. 62% of women in the Asia-Pacific region believe the economic situation since 2020 is unsatisfactory for working conditions.  67%…

Police and school authorities scramble to keep American classrooms safe from shooting threats after the Uvalde massacre. Highlights: 11 more mass shootings reported since 24th May10-year-old detained over shooting threat through text.Florida man threatens to shoot up “the nearest school” on social media. Florida: The U.S is just reeling from a horrific loss of life at Robb Elementary School in Texas when more reports roll in. Florida, for instance, faced 2 school shooter threats in the past few days. The southeastern state is the site of the 2018 Marjorie Stoneman Douglas school shooting that saw 17 people massacred. Cape Coral,…

Now that the verdict is out, is it time to analyse how rampant media illiteracy is? Highlights: The trial that began on April 11th delivered a verdict on June 1stThe jury awarded 15 Million in damages to Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, 2 MillionThe jury found both parties liable for defamation. Virginia: The turbulent and public trial of Johnny Depp’s defamation case against Amber Heard gripped the media for months. The Jury found both parties liable however rewarded Johnny Depp with 7 times more compensation for damages than Heard. This ultimately declared Depp the legal winner of the case. The…

Police report a 40 to 60-minute delay in detaining an active shooter inside Robb Elementary School, Texas. Highlights: Uvalde mass shooting response investigation to be taken over by Department of Justice.President Joe Biden to visit Robb Elementary in the coming days.More details about the shooter emerge through interviews and internet activity. Uvalde: A mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas shows massive police inaction. The Guardian reports that teams of armed police officers waited outside the building for more than 60 minutes before entering. The 24th of May shooting is one of the hundreds of mass shootings in…

NYC court orders Trump & co. must comply with investigations into their finances. An ongoing NYC investigation reports numerous “misleading statements and omissions” in tax submissions by the Trump organisation. NYC investigation’s Efforts to depose Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump are underway. Trump is to be seen at NRA event post-Uvalde Massacre. New York City: Attorney General Leticia James launched an investigation into Trump family finances in mid-2021. The investigations found several instances of misrepresented financial figures to obtain loans. Some of these loans pertain to Deutsche Bank, a prominent lender on Wall Street. Third-party auditors, on…

Joe Biden signs partial police reform following alleged police inaction in a Texas school massacre. Washington DC: 2 years after the death of George Floyd, President Biden signs an executive order for police reform. Democrats tried and failed to pass more comprehensive measures to curb police brutality. The new legislation will create a national registry of officers with a history of misconduct. The system will be voluntary and not mandatory. This bill will also restrict chokeholds and no-knock warrants. The move comes after a heartbreaking shooting incident at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Reports suggest both school security and…

Boris Bondarev quits in an email written to over 40 colleagues at the UN. GENEVA: Prominent Russian diplomat resigns in protest of Putin’s war on Ukraine. Boris Bondarev walked into work like any other day, however, handed in a resignation email. The long text suggests high ranking officials in Russian foreign services complied with Putin’s war efforts.” Russian Diplomat: Putin To Remain in Power Forever”. “For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year.” Boris writes in…

A new report shows the adverse effect of the pandemic on women’s rights, wealth inequality and global living conditions. DAVOS: The annual World Economic Forum begins in Switzerland after a gap of nearly two-and-a-half years. Global leaders and major financial institutions will converge upon Davos over the 4-day affair. Meanwhile, Oxfam, a British organisation focused on the alleviation of global poverty, released a comprehensive report on Covid poverty. The piece titled “profiting from pain” targets the Davos-bound rich and famous for converting a dire economic situation into billions of dollars.  This study comes on the back of widespread economic fallout…