Mumbai: Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas, one of the most admired couples in the entertainment industry, have won the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. The couple got engaged in Mumbai in 2018 and exchanged wedding vows in the same year. They have cemented their status as one of the most powerful couples in both Bollywood and Hollywood.
However, speculations about the status of Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas’ marriage have been making rounds on social media once again. The latest rumour stems from a tweet by Umair Sandhu, a film critic and member of the overseas censor board, who claimed that the couple had a fight over personal issues.
Sandhu’s tweet, which was posted on Friday, reads: “BREAKING NEWS 📰: #PriyankaChopra & her husband #NickJonas fought badly in Rome, Italy 🇮🇹. As per insiders, Nick Jones is having secret affair & Miss Chopra caught him. Everything is not going well between them.”
Neither Chopra nor Jonas has responded to the rumours, and it’s unclear whether there is any truth to the claims made by Sandhu. However, this is not the first time that the couple’s relationship has been subject to such speculations.
In 2021, Priyanka took everyone by surprise after she removed ‘Jonas’ from her social media user names. Many started speculating that the actress is planning to divorce her husband Nick Jonas. However, the couple rubbished the separation rumours.
It’s worth noting that Sandhu’s tweet should be taken with a grain of salt, as the film critic has previously been accused of spreading false rumours about celebrities. Moreover, it’s not uncommon for public figures to face baseless rumours and gossip about their personal lives.
Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd frontman, has won his legal battle to perform a concert in Frankfurt after attempts to ban the event amid accusations of antisemitism.
Magistrates acting on behalf of the German city had instructed the venue two months ago to cancel the concert on 28 May, accusing Waters of being “one of the most widely known antisemites in the world”. Waters, who has always denied accusations of antisemitism, took legal action against the decision.
Frankfurt’s administrative court has now declared his right to go ahead with the event. While acknowledging that aspects of his show were “tasteless” and obviously lent on symbolism inspired by the Nazi regime, it cited artistic freedom among its main reasons for the decision.
The city has the right to appeal against the ruling.
City authorities in Frankfurt and elsewhere in Germany had objected to the concert on the grounds that a previous tour had featured as part of the stage show a balloon shaped like a pig depicting the Star of David and various company logos.
Part of their criticism related to the location of the concert, the Festhalle, in which, during the November pogroms of 1938, more than 3,000 Jewish men from Frankfurt and surrounding areas were rounded up, abused and later deported to concentration camps where many of them were murdered.
However, the court said that despite the Waters show making use of “symbolism manifestly based on that of the National Socialist regime” – the tastelessness of which it said was exacerbated by the choice of the Festhalle as the venue due to its historical background – the concert should be “viewed as a work of art” and that there were not sufficient grounds on which to justify banning Waters from performing. “It is not for the court to pass judgment on this,” a spokesperson told German media.
The most crucial point, according to the court, was that the musician’s performance “did not glorify or relativise the crimes of the Nazis or identify with Nazi racist ideology”, and nor was there any evidence that Waters used propaganda material in his show, the spokesperson added.
Criticism of the decision came from the International Auschwitz Committee, which called it “deplorable”. Christoph Heubner, the committee’s vice-president, said: “It’s not only Jewish survivors of German concentration and death camps who are left sad, bewildered and increasingly disillusioned.”
A “cause of great concern” for survivors and their families was what he called an “encroachment of antisemitism from various directions” in society.
Heubner said the court’s declaration – that to hold the concert in the Festhalle was not an offence to the dignity of the Jewish men rounded up there – was “a renewed attack on the dignity of these people and the memories of their families”.
Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said he was “baffled” by the court’s decision “that a display of symbols based on National Socialism should have no legal consequences”.
In Germany, there are strict rules banning displays of Nazi memorabilia and symbols such as the swastika.
Waters has repeatedly denied accusations of antisemitism and claimed his disdain is towards Israel, not Judaism, accusing Israel of “abusing the term antisemitism to intimidate people like me into silence”.
He defended his use of the pig symbol, saying it “represents Israel and its policies and is legitimately subject to any and all forms of non-violent protest”. He said the balloon also featured other symbols of organisations he was against, such as the crucifix and the logos of Mercedes, McDonald’s and Shell Oil.
[ad_2]
#Roger #Waters #wins #legal #battle #gig #Frankfurt #antisemitism #row
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
MANILA, Philippines — The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday launch their largest combat exercises in decades that will involve live-fire drills, including a boat-sinking rocket assault in waters across the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait that will likely inflame China.
The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — will run up to April 28 and involve more than 17,600 military personnel. It will be the latest display of American firepower in Asia, where Washington has repeatedly warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed sea channel and against Taiwan.
The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan.
That dovetails with efforts by the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea by boosting joint military exercises with the U.S. and allowing rotating batches of American forces to stay in more Philippine military camps under a 2014 defense pact.
About 12,200 U.S military personnel, 5,400 Filipino forces and 111 Australian counterparts are taking part in the exercises, the largest in Balikatan’s three-decade history. America’s warships, fighter jets as well as its Patriot missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins, would be showcased, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.
“We are not provoking anybody by simply exercising,” Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine spokesman for Balikatan, told reporters ahead of the start of the maneuvers.
“This is actually a form of deterrence,” Logico said. “Deterrence is when we are discouraging other parties from invading us.”
In a live-fire drill the allied forces would stage offshore for the first time, Logico said U.S. and Filipino forces would sink a 200-foot target vessel in Philippine territorial waters off the western province of Zambales this month in a coordinated airstrike and artillery bombardment.
“We will hit it with all the weapons systems that we have, both ground, navy and air,” Logico said.
That location facing the South China Sea and across the waters from the Taiwan Strait would likely alarm China, but Philippine military officials said the maneuver was aimed at bolstering the country’s coastal defense and was not aimed at any country.
Such field scenarios would “test the allies’ capabilities in combined arms live-fire, information and intelligence sharing, communications between maneuver units, logistics operations, amphibious operations,” the U.S. Embassy in Manila said.
Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over the long-seething territorial disputes involving China, the Philippines and four other governments and Beijing’s goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.
China last week warned against the intensifying U.S. military deployment to the region. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular news briefing in Beijing that it “would only lead to more tensions and less peace and stability in the region.”
The Balikatan exercises were opening in the Philippines a day after China concluded three days of combat drills that simulated sealing off Taiwan, following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week in California that infuriated Beijing.
On Monday, the U.S. 7th Fleet deployed guided-missile destroyer USS Milius within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, a Manila-claimed coral outcrop which China seized in the mid-1990s and turned into one of seven missile-protected island bases in the South China Sea’s hotly contested Spratlys archipelago. The U.S. military has been undertaking such “freedom of navigation” operations for years to challenge China’s expansive territorial claims in the busy seaway.
“As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all,” the 7th Fleet said. “No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms.”
[ad_2]
#U.S #Philippines #hold #largest #war #drills #disputed #waters
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
That dovetails with efforts by the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea by boosting joint military exercises with the U.S. and allowing rotating batches of American forces to stay in more Philippine military camps under a 2014 defense pact.
About 12,200 U.S military personnel, 5,400 Filipino forces and 111 Australian counterparts are taking part in the exercises, the largest in Balikatan’s three-decade history. America’s warships, fighter jets as well as its Patriot missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins, would be showcased, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.
“We are not provoking anybody by simply exercising,” Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine spokesman for Balikatan, told reporters ahead of the start of the maneuvers.
“This is actually a form of deterrence,” Logico said. “Deterrence is when we are discouraging other parties from invading us.”
In a live-fire drill the allied forces would stage offshore for the first time, Logico said U.S. and Filipino forces would sink a 200-foot target vessel in Philippine territorial waters off the western province of Zambales this month in a coordinated airstrike and artillery bombardment.
“We will hit it with all the weapons systems that we have, both ground, navy and air,” Logico said.
That location facing the South China Sea and across the waters from the Taiwan Strait would likely alarm China, but Philippine military officials said the maneuver was aimed at bolstering the country’s coastal defense and was not aimed at any country.
Such field scenarios would “test the allies’ capabilities in combined arms live-fire, information and intelligence sharing, communications between maneuver units, logistics operations, amphibious operations,” the U.S. Embassy in Manila said.
Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over the long-seething territorial disputes involving China, the Philippines and four other governments and Beijing’s goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.
China last week warned against the intensifying U.S. military deployment to the region. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular news briefing in Beijing that it “would only lead to more tensions and less peace and stability in the region.”
The Balikatan exercises were opening in the Philippines a day after China concluded three days of combat drills that simulated sealing off Taiwan, following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week in California that infuriated Beijing.
On Monday, the U.S. 7th Fleet deployed guided-missile destroyer USS Milius within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, a Manila-claimed coral outcrop which China seized in the mid-1990s and turned into one of seven missile-protected island bases in the South China Sea’s hotly contested Spratlys archipelago. The U.S. military has been undertaking such “freedom of navigation” operations for years to challenge China’s expansive territorial claims in the busy seaway.
“As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all,” the 7th Fleet said. “No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms.”
[ad_2]
#U.S #Philippines #hold #largest #war #drills #disputed #waters
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Waters recalled speaking with someone from Silicon Valley Bank around 2020 about FinTech issues but said she does not remember details.
“Everybody knows I have an open-door policy,” she said. But she maintained that she did not speak with the bank about the 2018 bill that loosened up regulations of banks like SVB. Waters opposed the bipartisan measure, which has come under renewed scrutiny since the California-based bank’s collapse. Lobbyists for Silicon Valley Bank were among those that lobbied on the bill.
“Philosophically, I’m opposed to deregulation, always have been, been consistent on it and will continue to be,” Waters said.
Between 2017 and 2022, Silicon Valley Bank’s PAC gave more than $50,000 to the campaigns of nearly two dozen senators and representatives, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. The donations largely went to members — Republicans and Democrats — who served on relevant committees including the House Financial Services Committee or Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) received the most from the PAC, each bringing in $7,500 over the six-year period.
Silicon Valley Bank’s CEO, Greg Becker, also made maximum individual donations to the campaigns of Warner and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) during the 2022 cycle, FEC records show. A Schumer spokesperson on Tuesday said the contributions have been donated to charity.
Representatives for the offices of Warner and others who received money from the bank’s PAC did not return requests for comment. Warner previously released a statement praising regulators’ response to the bank run, while McHenry similarly expressed confidence in financial regulators.
The bank’s sudden collapse has put a spotlight back on the 2018 deregulation law, which exempted medium-sized banks from conducting regular stress tests.
Lobbyists from Franklin Square Group, which has worked on behalf of Silicon Valley Bank and other financial services clients, also made individual contributions to some lawmakers near the vote on the 2018 law. Among the recipients were Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who received more than $8,000 total from three lobbyists a few weeks after the Senate passed the bill but before it went to the House for approval, where Sinema was a member at the time.
A lobbying disclosure by Franklin Square Group in 2018 lists that bill as one of its lobbying activities.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat challenging Sinema in the 2024 Senate race, has sought to make a campaign issue of the donations, pointing to the contributions in a press conference in Tempe, Ariz., this week. Sinema has not announced yet whether she is running for reelection.
“When we were presented with the same information, I voted to protect Arizonans,” said Gallego. “She voted to give the banks free rein.”
A spokesperson for Sinema said the senator has questioned regulators about how they managed SVB’s unique level of specific concentration risk. In a tweet about the bank this week, Sinema tweeted that the “federal government must now ensure those responsible are held accountable, while maintaining stability for all Americans who rely on our banking system.”
[ad_2]
#Maxine #Waters #return #political #donation #Silicon #Valley #Bank
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The White House has been mulling the Willow decision for weeks. The deliberations have focused on the legal constraints posed by the fact that Conoco has held some leases for decades and “has certain valid, existing rights granted by prior Administrations, limiting the Biden Administration’s options,” the official continued.
Stopping new oil leases, plus other measures meant to conserve the Arctic from new drilling, is meant as a “fire wall” to protect 16 million acres of land and water in the state, said the official.
The Sierra Club environmental group gave tempered support to any new rules.
“These unparalleled protections for Alaskan landscapes and waters are the right decision at the right time, and we thank the Biden Administration for taking this significant step,” Sierra Club Lands Protection Program Director Athan Manuel said in a prepared statement. “However, the benefits of these protections can be undone just as quickly by approval of oil and gas projects on public lands, and right now, no proposal poses a bigger threat to lands, wildlife, communities, and our climate than ConocoPhillips’ Willow project.”
[ad_2]
#Biden #put #Arctic #waters #limits #oil #leases #Willow #decision #looms
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
