G20 summit: President’s dinner to be an evening of musical journey

The highlights of this part will be devotional songs — Vaishnav Janto and Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram and also an iconic song promoting national integration — Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.

NEW DELHI: An ensemble comprising 78 instrumentalists from across states is set to enthral delegates attending the G20 Summit at Bharat Mandapam. The Ministry of Culture has planned a unique harmonious performance — Bharat Vadya Darshan (The Musical Journey of India) — at the dinner President Droupadi Murmu will be hosting on Saturday.

The three-hour show, starting at 6 pm, is divided into three parts. The performances will be in ascending tempo from Vilambit Laya (slow tempo composition), to medium or Madhya Laya, to fast or Druta Laya (concluding section).

The Vilambit Laya comprises Raagmalika and Rajasthani and Kashmiri folk songs. The middle section will have traditional songs of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Assam, Sikkim, and Jammu & Kashmir besides Rabindra Sangeet and Raaga — Bihag, Pilu, Bhupali, Desh, Khamaj and Malkouns.

The concluding section includes performances based on different raags such as Darbari Kanada, Mohnam, folk music of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Sikkim, and Meghalaya.

The highlights of this part will be devotional songs — Vaishnav Janto and Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram and also an iconic song promoting national integration — Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, which is based on Raag Bhairavi and Dadra.

The song composed by renowned vocalist Bhimsen Joshi was telecast on Doordarshan for the first time in 1988 after the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi delivered his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day.

Several rare instruments of India such as Surbahar, Jaltarang, Naltarang, Vichitra Veena, Rudra Veena, Saraswati Veena, Dhangli, Sundri, Bhapang and Dilruba will be used during the presentation.
“Bharat Vadya Darshan is envisaged as a sequence of instrumental music performances, wherein the audience will be taken on a one-and-a-half hour journey of India through the representative music of different States of the country.

What truly sets this ensemble apart is the inclusion of 34 Hindustani musical instruments, 18 Carnatic musical instruments, and 26 folk musical instruments featuring 78 artists including 11 children, 13 women, six differently-abled (Divyang) artists, 26 young men and 22 professionals,” said officials privy to arrangements.

The responsibility to curate the event was entrusted with Sangeet Natak Akademi under the Ministry of Culture. The performance has been conceptualised by the chairman of the Akademi Sandhya Purecha. Chetan Kumar Joshi is the music director.

“Some of the prominent styles included in the presentation are Hindustani, Carnatic, folk and contemporary music. This journey will take us through all parts of India through their representative music,” officials added.

‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’

78 instrumentalists from across states will enthral delegates at President’s dinner on Saturday

They will perform a 3-hour-long ‘Bharat Vadya Darshan’ (The Musical Journey of India) 

It will feature the iconic song ‘mile sur mera tumhara’

 Rare instruments such as surbahar, jaltarang, naltarang, vichitra veena, rudra veena, saraswati veena, dhangli, sundri, bhapang and dilruba will be used

Mumbai air hostess murder: Accused ends life in police-lockup

The accused, Vikram Atwal, a housekeeping staffer was arrested for killing the 23-year-old air hostess by slitting her throat inside her flat. 

A 40-year-old man who was arrested by the Mumbai police for allegedly murdering an air hostess at her residence in Mumbai’s Marol died by suicide in a police lock-up, the PTI reported.

The accused, Vikram Atwal, a housekeeping staffer was arrested for killing the 23-year-old air hostess by slitting her throat inside her flat.

The air hostess, Rupal Ogrey, originally from Chhattisgarh, arrived in Mumbai in April this year for her job with Air India. She lived with her sister at the flat. however, when the incident happened, she was alone at the flat.

Vikram Atwal’s body has been sent for post-mortem. Further investigations are underway.

New Zealand Woman, 33, Dies Of Health Condition After She Was Told By Doctors That She Was Faking Her Illness

Ms Aston became an advocate for patients right after she was told she was faking her EDS symptoms by doctors and blamed them on mental illness.

A 33-year-old New Zealand woman who was accused of faking her illness has died of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). According to the New Zealand Herald report, Stephanie Aston, 33, died at her home in Auckland on September 1.

Ms Aston became an advocate for patients right after she was told she was faking her EDS symptoms by doctors and blamed them on mental illness. Ms Aston was just 25 when those symptoms began in October 2015. At the time, she did not know she had inherited the health condition, The Independent reported.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), EDS is a group of inherited disorders that weaken connective tissues. Connective tissues are proteins that support skin, bones, blood vessels, and other organs. EDS usually affects your skin, joints and blood vessel walls. Symptoms include Loose joints, fragile, small blood vessels, abnormal scar formation and wound healing, and soft, velvety, stretchy skin that bruises easily.

As per NIH, there are several types of EDS. It can range from mild to life-threatening. About 1 in 5,000 people has EDS. There is no cure. People with EDS can manage symptoms through treatment, often with medicines and physical therapy.

According to the New Zealand Herald, Ms Aston reached out to doctors after her symptoms- which included severe migraines, abdominal pain, joint dislocations, easy bruising, iron deficiency, fainting, tachycardia, and multiple injuries. She was referred to Auckland Hospital, where a doctor accused her of faking her symptoms.

Because of this accusation, she was placed on psychiatric watch. In fact, she had to undergo rectal examinations and was accused of practising self-harming behaviours. She was also suspected of faking fainting spells, fevers, and coughing fits.

Ms Aston was diagnosed by three specialists with EDS, a genetic connective tissue disorder.

Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes New Zealand founder Kelly McQuillan said not much has changed since 2018, but Aston’s death has shaken the EDS community, according to the New York Post.

“A lot of people are feeling very lost,” she said.

“I think most people in these rare positions or invisible illnesses, definitely experience setbacks and disbelieving because things can’t be seen but really the clinical symptoms are there that are being ignored.”

Indian Coast Guard rescues 10 stranded Tamil Nadu fishermen

The boat suffered a breakdown and continued drifting since September 1. Following an SOS, a search by the Coast Guard ships and aircraft located the boat 240 miles off Chennai.

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has rescued 10 Tamil Nadu fishermen, who were stranded in the Bay of Bengal for six days after their boat developed a technical snag. According to the Coast Guard, fishing boat IFB Ganapathi Perumal ventured into the sea for fishing from Kasimedu harbour on August 24.

The boat suffered a breakdown and continued drifting since September 1. Following an SOS, a surface/air coordinated search by the Coast Guard ships and aircraft located the boat at 240 miles off Chennai. Coast Guard Ship Ayush reached the location in the early hours of Wednesday, provided emergency assistance to the fishermen and towed the boat to the fishing harbour in Vizag.

Later, the Tamil Nadu fishermen were handed over to the Fisheries Department. The rescued fishermen included Saravanan (28), M Saravanan (26), S Raju (40), Farooque (30), S Ravi (37), Senthil (40), A Durai Raj (29), Ganeshan (47), Ravi Kumar (39) and Velu (45).

Joint Director of Fisheries G Vijaya told TNIE that she received a call from the Coast Guard that they were towing the distressed fishing boat to Vizag port and wanted to berth it at the harbour. She said the boat arrived on Thursday morning and necessary repairs were being done to the mechanical problem. It may take three to four days and once the boat is ready, the TN fishermen will leave for Chennai, she added.

National Medical Commission relaxed criteria to pass MBBS

Health experts are worried about the long-term impact of such adjustments on the quality of healthcare and the medical profession in the state.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has relaxed the passing marks for the MBBS exam making it easier for students to qualify for the test. The move, however, has sparked worries about its impact on the quality of healthcare.

Though the aggregate score to pass a subject having theory and practical exams remains 50% under the revised guidelines issued on September 1, the key change is in individual subject components. The minimum percentage for such subjects has been lowered from 50% to 40%. Similarly, for subjects with two papers, students only need to score an aggregate of 40% instead of 50% earlier. The guidelines will be implemented from October 1. The Board of Studies at the Kerala University of Health Sciences will convene on Friday to discuss the implementation.

Health experts are worried about the long-term impact of such adjustments on the quality of healthcare and the medical profession in the state.

A senior medical college faculty said the new guidelines are in contrast to the recommendations of the Competency-Based Medical Education Regulation.

“Failing in MBBS is already difficult. The standards have been diluted further. Students qualifying for MBBS now will find it difficult to practice or clear qualifying exams in other countries,” he said, adding that the weightage on practicals will help students score well with the college’s support.

Frequent changes in NMC guidelines have left students confused too. Dr C Ravindran, an additional professor at Thrissur Government Medical College, said the frequent changes suggest NMC too is trying various methods to suit the requirements of the changing situation.

“There will be confusion until the NMC finalises the standards. With MBBS becoming a basic degree, the focus has shifted to specialist culture,” he said.

Dr Althaf A, professor at Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College, opined that there was a need to improve the standards of examination.

“Exams should be made more structured. Any dilution in standards will further impact the quality of the profession and healthcare,” he said, adding that the theory paper should be multiple-choice questions based on real scenarios.

Allaying concerns, Dr Mohanan Kunnummal, the Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University of Health Sciences, said the changes will not lead to deterioration in quality.

“The changes are minimal. In fact, the guidelines stopped a 5-mark moderation and made internal assessments only qualifying. Earlier, there were complaints that private colleges were liberal with internal assessment marks when it was added to summative assessment,” he said. Mohanan said the NMC decided to change the criteria after complaints that some students were passing exams on the back of theory marks.

‘I apologise to his victims’: Japan’s most successful boyband agency admits founder’s sexual abuse

Over the years, aspiring boyband idols collectively dubbed “Johnny’s Jrs” sought his tutelage, and the panel estimated that at least “a few hundred” of them had been victimised.

TOKYO: The president of Japan’s biggest and most successful boyband agency admitted on Thursday that its late founder sexually abused young aspiring stars, decades after allegations first emerged.

Johnny Kitagawa died aged 87 in 2019, having engineered the birth of J-pop mega-groups including SMAP, TOKIO and Arashi that amassed adoring fans across Asia.

Allegations that he abused young men who wanted to be stars surfaced in Japanese media in 1999.

But it was not until this year that they ignited full-on soul-searching, following a BBC documentary and denunciations by victims.

“Both the agency itself and I myself as a person recognise that sex abuse by Johnny Kitagawa took place,” said Julie Fujishima, a niece of the accused music mogul who died in 2019.

“I apologise to his victims from the bottom of my heart,” she told a packed news conference in Tokyo while announcing she was stepping down as head of Johnny & Associates “to take responsibility”.

“I take seriously what happened.”

Fujishima, 57, who said she had stepped down effective Tuesday, named singer and actor Noriyuki Higashiyama, a veteran member of the talent agency, as her successor.

“It will take an enormous amount of time before we can regain trust,” said Higashiyama, 56.

“I will stake the rest of my life on addressing this problem,” he said.

Fujishima said she will remain in the agency’s leadership to help “compensate” victims.

Defamation
Kitagawa had successfully sued for defamation over the claims, although the verdict was partially overturned on appeal.

He was never criminally charged.

Following the agency’s admission, a group of Kitagawa’s victims said they felt vindicated to a degree, although full recovery remains far off.

“Scars left on my heart will never completely go away, but I now feel maybe 10 percent less burdened,” Yukihiro Oshima said.

Junya Hiramoto, head of the group, said he “wants the company to do everything it can to salvage and redress victims”.

A panel of experts last month released the results of its first, in-depth probe, concluding that Kitagawa’s abuse went as far back as the 1950s, even before the company was founded.

Over the years, aspiring boyband idols collectively dubbed “Johnny’s Jrs” sought his tutelage, and the panel estimated that at least “a few hundred” of them had been victimised.

The report also quoted former recruits alleging in graphic detail how Kitagawa would perform oral sex on them, fondle their genitals or force his way into their beds at night.

The panel said Fujishima, who was named Kitagawa’s successor after his death, had been “remiss” in her duties because she failed to probe the allegations despite her knowledge of them.

Her attitude perpetuated the leadership’s tendency to look the other way, the report said.

Fujishima, for her part, offered an apology in May but denied she had known about her uncle’s predatory history.

She chalked her ignorance up to what she framed as the extremely opaque, family-run nature of the boyband empire.

“We do not believe there was no problem,” she said in May, expressing her regret that she had let herself grow inured to the “abnormalness” of the agency’s inner workings.

Her apology came after Japanese-Brazilian singer Kauan Okamoto spoke publicly of his experience of being sexually assaulted repeatedly by Kitagawa.

Ta’Kiya Young had big plans for her growing family before police killed her in an Ohio parking lot

The body camera video of the fatal shooting was released by the Blendon Township Police Department on September 1, 2023.

Ta’Kiya Young treated her two little boys like kings, dressing them sharply, letting them have too many sweets, cooking them big gourmet meals of T-bone steak with broccoli, cheese and rice.

The royal life also awaited her unborn daughter.

When Young found out she was pregnant with her third child — a girl — she was thrilled. The 21-year-old Ohio mom and aspiring social worker bought a stack of adorable onesies in anticipation of the baby’s arrival. She scheduled a photo shoot to show off her baby bump. She applied for public housing and looked forward to the day when she and her growing brood would have a place to call their own.

Instead, Young’s grieving family prepared for her funeral on September 7, 2023, exactly two weeks after a police officer on August 24, in the Columbus suburbs fatally shot her in her car in a supermarket parking lot. The body camera video of the fatal shooting was released by the Blendon Township Police Department on September 1.

Their Aug. 24 encounter, captured on police bodycam video released last week, was the latest in a troubling series of fatal shootings of Black adults and children by Ohio police, and followed various episodes of police brutality against Black people across the nation over the past several years. The confrontations have prompted widespread protests and demands for police reform.

Young’s family wants the officer who shot her to be immediately fired and charged in her death and the death of her unborn child. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation.

Ahead of Young’s funeral in Columbus, her grandmother, Nadine Young, who helped raise her, recalled Ta’Kiya (tah-KEYE’-ah) as a high-spirited prankster and a popular, “fun-loving, feisty young lady” who nevertheless struggled with the sudden death of her own mother last year, and who was just beginning to find her way in life.

Now the family is focusing on Ta’Kiya’s sons, ages 6 and 3. The oldest, Ja’Kobie, talks about his mother. The youngest, Ja’Kenlie, doesn’t quite understand she’s gone.

“We just show them a whole lot of love and let them know they’ve got a little village surrounding them and loving on them,” Nadine Young, accompanied by family attorney Sean Walton, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Young said the video of Ta’Kiya’s violent death was heart-wrenching to watch, the shooting “void of any humanity or decency at all.”

In the video, an officer at the driver’s side window tells Ta’Kiya she’s been accused of shoplifting and orders her out of the car, while a second officer stands in front of the car. Young protests, both officers curse at her and yell at her to get out, and Young can be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?”

Seconds later, she turns the steering wheel to the right, the car rolls slowly toward the officer standing in front of it, and the officer fires his gun through the windshield.

Nadine Young said she believes her granddaughter feared for her safety.

“I believe he was a bully,” she told a news conference on Wednesday, referring to the officer who shot Ta’Kiya. “He came at her like a bully, and that scared her with that baby in her stomach. She’s like scared, just a man walking up to her, cussing at her, and she not really knowing why.”

Walton, the family’s lawyer, said his firm is seeking the officer’s personnel file and wants to speak with people who’ve had interactions with him. He said one witness said the officer had previously arrested her 17-year-old son for jaywalking and told him “that his days were numbered,” Walton said.

He said the officer had no reason to even point his gun at Ta’Kiya, let alone fire it.

The officer “could’ve clearly just eased out of the way of that slow-moving vehicle but instead chose to shoot Ta’Kiya directly in her chest and kill her,” he said.

Before her death, Ta’Kiya Young had bounced around a bit, staying with her father in Sandusky and working as a ticket taker at Cedar Point amusement park. More recently, she’d been staying with her grandmother in the Columbus area, a few hours from Sandusky, to celebrate the family’s summer birthdays and participate in a remembrance of her mother, Dan’neka Hope, who’d died a year earlier.

Ta’Kiya’s mother’s death had “kind of messed with her,” Nadine Young said, and she urged her to get counseling. Ta’Kiya and her grandmother — both of them strong-willed — clashed at times. But their bond remained unshakable, and they spoke every day.

Despite Ta’Kiya’s struggles, a bright future seemed on the horizon for her. She intended to go back to school after the birth of the baby this fall. She had her sights set on a house.

“The struggle was going to be over once she got into the house,” Nadine Young said. “Her and the kids having this nice place, knowing it was theirs, and not having to stay with other people. That was the biggest thing in the world for her. She would’ve been set.”

This week, a notification from the public housing authority came in the mail.

She’d been approved.

“That hurt me to my core,” said Nadine Young, “because she was waiting for that letter.”

Fifth leopard captured on Tirumala walkway

Tirupati district forest officer (DFO) A.Srinivasulu said the two-year-old sub-adult, a female, has been shifted to the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (Tirupati Zoo) for quarantine.

TIRUPATI: The Andhra Pradesh Forest Department has captured another leopard, the fifth, in Tirumala, an official said on Thursday.

The leopard entered the trap at around 12.30 am and its capture was confirmed at 5.30 am on Thursday, said the official.

“We captured it between the seventh mile to Tirumala and Narasimha Swamy temple at the border which separates the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and the forest,” Tirupati district forest officer (DFO) A.Srinivasulu told PTI.

Srinivasulu said the two-year-old sub-adult, a female, has been shifted to the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (Tirupati Zoo) for quarantine. It will be subjected to tests and on confirmation that no traces of human flesh were found in it, the big cat will be released in a faraway woods.

Meanwhile, Srinivasulu said the department is yet to receive the results of the tests conducted on the leopards captured earlier to detect as to which one had killed a minor girl recently.

After zeroing in on the particular leopard, he said the department will permanently confine it to the zoo while the rest will be released in a faraway forest.

He said 330 camera traps were installed to detect the movement of these animals and they would be captured if found in the vicinity of the footpath route to Tirumala.

The Forest department official noted the department will stop setting up the traps for now but will continue monitoring the movement of wild animals to capture them with permission when sighted in surveillance cameras.

The efforts to capture the leopards come in the wake of attacks on devotees in the vicinity of the walkway to the Tirumala temple.

The DFO observed that this procedure will be followed for bears and other wild animals as well.

Manipur violence: Curfew relaxed in five valley districts

However, the relaxation will not include any gatherings, sit-in protests, rallies, etc. without obtaining approval from the competent authority, the government order read.

IMPHAL: A day after curfew was clamped in all the five valley districts of Manipur, authorities announced curfew relaxation timing to facilitate the general public to purchase essential items including medicines and food.

An official order issued on Wednesday said curfew has been relaxed from 5 am to 6 pm for Imphal East, Imphal West and Kakching districts on Thursday.

Curfew relaxation in Thoubal district is from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.Curfew relaxation for Bishnupur district is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m., it said.

More than 40 people, mostly women, were injured after security forces fired several rounds of teargas shells to disperse thousands of protesters who tried to breach security barricades at Phougakchao Ikhai in Bishnupur district on Wednesday.

“This relaxation shall not include any gathering or sit-in protest or rally, etc. without obtaining approval from competent authority”, the official order said.

On Tuesday, the state government hurriedly clamped full curfew in five valley districts till further orders in apprehension of law and order violations.

Modi and co using Sanatana ploy to divert attention; will face cases legally, says Udhayanidhi

He also launched a strident attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was “globe-trotting”, afraid of facing questions over the Manipur violence.

CHENNAI: Under intense attack from the BJP over his alleged anti-Sanatana Dharma remarks, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday accused the saffron party leaders of “twisting” his statements and vowed to face all cases in this connection legally.

He also launched a strident attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was “globe-trotting”, afraid of facing questions over the Manipur violence.

“For the last 9 years, all your (BJP) promises are empty promises. What have you exactly done for our welfare is a question currently being raised in unison by the entire country against an unarmed, fascist BJP government. It is in this background that the BJP leaders have twisted my speech at the TNPWAA conference as ‘inciting genocide’. They consider it a weapon to protect themselves,” he said.

What is surprising is that those like Union Minister Amit Shah and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states were demanding action against him based on “fake news,” Udhayanidhi said.

“In all fairness, I should be the one filing criminal cases and other court cases against them for spreading slander while holding respectable positions. But I am aware that this is their mode of survival. They don’t know how else to survive, so I decided not to do that,” he said.

He was one of the political heirs of Dravidian stalwart, the late CN Annadurai, the founder of the DMK.

“Everyone knows that we are not enemies of any religion.”

“I would like to quote Anna’s comment on religions which remains relevant even today. If religion leads people towards equality and teaches them fraternity, then I too am a spiritualist. If a religion divides people in the name of castes, if it teaches them untouchability and slavery, I would be the first person to oppose religion,” he said quoting Annadurai.

He said DMK respects all religions that teach all lives are born equal.

“But without an iota of understanding about any of these, Thiru Modi and Co are solely dependent on such slanders to face the Parliamentary elections. On the one hand, I can only feel sorry for them. For the last 9 years, Modi has been doing nothing. Occasionally he demonetises money, builds walls to hide huts, builds new Parliamentary building, erects a Sengol (sceptre) there, plays around by changing the name of the country, standing at the border and making the white flag work,” he lashed out.

Has there been any progressive scheme from the Union government in the last nine years like the DMK’s “Pudhumai Penn” or the Chief Minister’s breakfast scheme or the Kalaignar’s women’s rights scheme, he asked. “Have they built the AIIMS in Madurai? Did they take forward any knowledge movement like the Kalaignar Centenary Library?”

“Afraid of having to face questions about Manipur in India, he is globe-trotting along with his friend Adani. The fact is, the ignorance of the people is the capital of their theatrical politics,” he claimed.

“Thiru Modi and co are using the Sanatana ploy to divert the attention from the facts including the killing of more than 250 people in the riots incited in Manipur and the Rs 7. 5 lakh crore corruption,” he charged.

There was a lot of work for the party workers, including preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he said and asked them to focus on that. “I would like to inform that I will face the cases filed against me legally with the guidance of our party president (TN CM MK Stalin) and on the advice of our party high command,” he added.