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Iran dismisses US efforts to ban Iranian oil as ‘futile’

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The US efforts to ban Iran’s oil exports will be futile as it is not an easy task to block the country’s crude from the global market, an Iranian oil official said on Wednesday.

Although some European companies, such as Shell and Total, have stopped buying Iranian oil over the past few weeks, Iran is still exporting oil to Europe, Asia and elsewhere in the world, officials at the Iranian Petroleum Ministry said.

A day earlier, a senior US State Department official said told the US has been pushing its allies to stop oil imports from Iran by November 4, Xinhua reported.

“This big claim (of cutting Iran oil supply) is not feasible. Last month, Iran exported 2.8 million barrels of crude oil and condensate per day,” the Iranian official said.

“Removing this from the global market in a few months is not possible,” the Iranian official said.

However, “Iran is prepared for the worst-case scenarios” in case the US pressures take effect, he noted.

Meanwhile, “there is no surplus capacity for countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to supply oil for a long term,” the official pointed out.

Following US President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the historic Iran nuclear pact on May 8, Washington vowed to re-impose sanctions against Iran and inflict punishments including secondary sanctions on countries that have business links with the Islamic republic.

Firms doing business in Iran were given up to 180 days to terminate investments, before they risk huge fines.

The US withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal has been widely criticized, as some of its major European allies have been working to prevent the 2015 deal from falling apart.

All-round India hammer Ireland by 76 runs in first T20I

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India rode on an all-around effort to kick off their English summer with a 76-run thrashing of minnows Ireland in the first of the two-match T20I series here on Wednesday.

Put into bat, the visitors posted a commanding 208/5, thanks to brilliant half-centuries from seasoned openers Rohit Sharma (97 off 61 balls; 4×8, 6×5) and Shikhar (74 off 45 balls; 4×5, 6×5) before the bowlers sprung into action to restrict the hosts for a meager 132/9.

Ireland’s chase surrounded around opener James Shannon’s (60 off 35; 4×5, 6×4) half-century as all the other batsmen faltered in reading India’s wrist spin twins — Yuzvendra Chahal (3/38) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/21).

Ireland batsmen’s weakness against quality spin bowling was clearly exposed as wickets started to crumble one after the other as soon as skipper Virat Kohli employed Chahal and Kuldeep.

With the powerplay yielding 43 runs for the loss of Paul Sterling’s (1) wicket, Chahal packed back Irish No.3 Andrew Balbirnie (11) stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off just his third ball, before getting Kevin O’ Brien (10) and skipper Gary Wilson (5) off successive deliveries.

Kuldeep too had a similar story, getting his first wicket of Simi Singh (7) off his third ball before getting the big fish Shannon trapped in front.

The Chinaman completed his spell with two more wickets –Stuart Thompson (12) and Stuart Poynter (7) — as the hosts were left high and dry with the scoreboard reading 123/8.

Paceman Jasprit Bumrah (2/19), who drew first blood with the wicket of Sterling, came back to complete the proceedings with the wicket of George Dockrell (9) as the hosts expectedly ended on the losing side.

Earlier, Rohit and Dhawan forged the second highest opening stand of 160 runs to help India post a commanding 208/5 despite paceman Peter Chase’s heroics in the final over, where he picked three quick wickets.

The hapless Irish attack drastically failed to control the onslaught from the ruthless Indian openers as the score swelled to 150 runs by the 16th over with Dhawan bringing up his fifty off mere 27 balls and the right-hander racing to his half ton in 39 deliveries.

But the departure of Dhawan unfolded a drama that saw four more wickets — Suresh Raina (10), Rohit, Dhoni (11), Kohli (0) falling in quick succession, the later three courtesy Chase’s immaculate final over.

Brief Scores: India 208/5 (Rohit Sharma 97, Shikhar Dhawan 74; Peter Chase 4/35) beat Ireland 132/9 (James Shannon 60; Kuldeep Yadav 4/21, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/38, Jasprit Bumrah 2/19) by 76 runs.

Malaysian Open: Sindhu, Nehwal, Srikanth to play pre-quarterfinal

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In Malaysian Open Badminton, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will play their pre-quarterfinal matches in Kuala Lumpur today (Thursday, June 28).

While world number three Sindhu will shuttle it out against local girl Lee Ying Ying, Saina will face world number two Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.

In Men’s Singles, fourth-seeded Srikanth will take on Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei for a place in the quarterfinals.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Prez Kovind to visit Uttar Pradesh today

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The President Ram Nath Kovind will visit Uttar Pradesh on June 28 and 29.

On June 28, the President will grace the 51st annual convocation of IIT Kanpur. On the same day, he will also meet the students of ‘CSRL Super 30 (GAIL Utkarsh)’ who have qualified IIT, NIT etc. at IIT Kanpur.

On June 29, the President will lay the foundation stone of an auditorium of the Kanpur Bar Association in Kanpur.

On the same day, he will also grace the centenary celebrations of the Allahabad Medical Association in Allahabad, before returning to Delhi.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Champions Trophy: India to take on Belgium in 4th match today

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In Men’s Hockey, India will take on Belgium in their fourth round-robin match of the Champions Trophy at Breda in the Netherlands today (Thursday, June 28).

The match will begin at 8:30 PM. With 2 wins and a defeat from 3 games, India are currently third in the 6-team points table behind.

They had won their first two fixtures against Pakistan and Argentina, before losing to world champions Australia, 2-3 last evening. With the win, Australia have climbed to the top of the table, with hosts Netherlands at the second spot.

India will face the Netherlands in their final round-robin match on Saturday. India will have to win today as well as on Saturday to make it to the Final, as the top two sides at the end of the round-robin stage will meet in the title clash on Sunday.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Brazil beat Serbia to enter World Cup pre-quarters

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Brazil eliminated Serbia with a 2-0 victory as the five-time world champions entered the FIFA World Cup pre-quarterfinals by topping the Group E here on Wednesday.

Paulinho (36th minute), Thiago Silva (68th minute) gave the South American powerhouse an easy victory which took their points tally to seven after all the three of their games in the group stage.

Switzerland finished the Group E in the second spot with five points to book a spot in the second round. Serbia finished third with three points and are eliminated alongside Costa Rica.

For Brazil, who had played a 1-1 draw with the Swiss before defeating Costa Rica, the victory over Serbia was soured by a leg injury to Real Madrid left-back Marcelo, who hobbled off the pitch in the opening minutes, reports Xinhua news agency.

Although the scoreline might not have shown it, Brazil dominated the match, save for a 10-minute period in the second half when Serbia laid siege to the South American side’s goal.

The five-time world champions began the game full of energy and nearly went ahead in the fourth minute. Philippe Coutinho laid the ball off to Neymar who split Serbia’s defence with a one-touch through pass to Gabriel Jesus. The Manchester City forward’s shot was saved but the rebound fell to Coutinho and the midfielder crossed to the onrushing Neymar, who sent his first-time effort wide.

Coutinho, Jesus and Neymar caused problems for Serbia’s defence, particularly on the left side. The latter two combined superbly just before the half hour mark, but Neymar’s curled shot from a tight angle on the left from six yards out was tipped away by Stojkovic.

The pair again showed great understanding when the No. 9 ran onto a perfectly weighted through-ball and cut onto his favoured right foot before having his shot blocked.

Serbia rarely troubled Brazil’s defence. Their best chance came just after the half-hour mark when striker Aleksandar Mitrovic sent a bicycle kick over the bar after Dusan Tadic’s cross from the left.

Brazil, however, deservingly got ahead when Coutinho spotted a tremendous run from deep by Paulinho and clipped a 25-metre perfect pass through to him. goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic came off his line but Paulinho got a touch on the ball before poking the bouncing ball over him and into the net in the 36th minute.

The European side emerged from the interval with renewed vigour.A Adem Llajic forced a finger-tip save from Alisson and he parried awkwardly to Mitrovic whose diving header was blocked by Silva.

Tadic’s delicate chip then sailed narrowly wide of the far post. Serbia had Brazil on the back foot and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic probably should have done better when he fired over with passing options available. Mitrovic then sent a powerful header directly at the goalkeeper.

But Brazil stood firm and scored their second goal against the run of play when Silva rose highest after a Neymar corner from the left to head in at the near post.

Brazil had chances to make it 3-0 with Luis seeing his long-range shot punched clear by Stojkovic and Neymar sending a bouncing shot over the bar.

Third national meet of private school and child welfare association

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Third national conference of private schools and child Welfare association held at Novtel Hotel kolkata, Governor of Meghalaya Ganga Prasad awarded Dr Syeda Nusrath for the outstanding contribution in the field of education,Special thanks to Minister of state rural development West Bengal Mr Rabbani, IAS Divesh Sehra , National President of (PSACWA) Shameal Ahamed, Dr Nusrath also felicitated the dignitaries.

We’re truth tellers: Indian comedians on political comedy

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As the new age audience is polarised on the reception of observational and political comedy in India, which often results in backlash, trolls and complaints, some of India’s popular comedians say the negative response doesn’t scare them to adulterate their voice.

Comedian Kanan Gill told IANS here: “We are definitely a soft target. So yes, backlash makes us conscious. We are ready to take criticism on our jokes, but not FIRs and life threats. But that does not stop us to say what we want to say.”

Agreeing with him, standup comedian Kaneez Surka said: “We comedians are the truth tellers, showing life the way it is, is a part of our job. Whether it is sarcasm, finding a lighter note on a serious issue, everything is coming from reality.

“Unfortunately, the (political) climate is so tense and polarised that any truth teller is in trouble — whether it is a comedian, celebrity, journalist… Whichever side you take, the opposite party will put your life in danger.”

She says she tried it on social media.

“People called me all kinds of things. It is not only with me, but most of my fellow comedians. We get trolled, humiliated and at times complaints are lodged against us. But you know what? No one can stop us to say what we want to say,” she added.

So what are the riskier topics that comedians find the audience might respond to differently?

Sumukhi Suresh said: “I think predicting the response of an audience is riskier than writing a joke! So instead of finding the risk factor in a joke, just put it out there. It will find its like-minded audience.”

Surka explained: “There is a difference between punching up and punching down. One is punching up when making fun of privileged people and punching down is when making a joke about a minor community who cannot defend themselves. We have learnt not to make fun of them, and so we stay away from punching down.”

Gill rather suggests finding a creative solution to a joke that is potentially risky.

“If you know that it is a political satire that involves potential risk, make it subtle and layer it in a way that the core of the message doesn’t get lost in the layer, but get away with the risk factor. That is how you find a creative solution to it,” he said.

Comedian Naveen Richard stressed on the need to have confidence to do a political satire.

“Take that genre if only you find your voice there. Otherwise, it would be pretentious. There are various topic to make fun of.”

These comedians are coming together along with Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Sapan Verma and Biswa Kalyan Rath to mentor and judge Amazon Prime Original comedy reality show “Comicstaan”, which begins on July 13.

Many budding comedians are participating across the country on the digital show.

Asked about the potential of the new talents of the show, Richard said: “They are finding their voice much faster than us and we did not have much competition among us. Newcomers are pretty cut-throat.”

Surka added: “When we started, there was a process of trial and error because whether it is us, and the audience, we were trying to figure out what works and does not work for us. In the beginning, we were trying to imitate the West a lot, and it took us time to Indianise content and find our voice as comics.

“Newcomers are faster to find their voice, and they have a reference point.”

Gill pointed out how when they started, it was not about making money and establishing themselves as “the best comedians”.

“We were not as ambitious as these kids are. For us, going on stage and performing was important. Now that things are more structured commercially, newcomers are more focused to make it professionally.”

What is their suggestion for upcoming talent from keeping away from facing backlash in the world of comedy?

“I think when you are not so popular yet, not in the public eye, just say what you want to say. Do not hold it back fearing the backlash. If you establish your voice that way, you are doing it right. At the end of the day, I repeat, comedians are the truth tellers, nothing should fear you,” affirmed Kaneez.

Writings in Indian languages more authentic than in English’

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Writings in Indian languages are more authentic than in English because they present a truer picture of Indian life, says multi-faceted Malayalam author Chandrika Balan, whose oeuvre includes 20 books in her mother tongue and four critical books and 36 research papers in English — and two of whose books have been converted into movie screenplays.

“Literature written in Indian languages can be said to be more Indian than Indian writing in English, for it writes more local colour realism and presents a cross-section of Indian life,” Balan, who has also translated widely from English to Malayalam and from Malayalam to English and has received the Katha National Award for English translation,” told IANS in an email interview.

The Sahitya Akademi, eminent publishers and reputed journals in India “give enough importance to translated works now. Translation has become part of academic syllabus too. So the situation is hopeful,” noted Balan, whose latest offering “Invisible Walls” (Niyogi/128 pages/Rs 250), the English translation of Malayalam title “Aparnayude Thadavarakal”, has just been released.

How did the present work come about?

“I began writing it as a short story as I am mainly a short fiction writer. The story started as Kamala’s; Aparna was not there in the picture at all. But then Aparna entered the story half way as Kamala’s friend and soon claimed the story as her own. When I developed the characters, the work became longer and turned out to be a novel, portraying two women who fight invisible walls,” she explained.

To elaborate, “Invisible Walls” is about two women, Aparna and Kamala, whose lives run in parallel, though they do not know each other. They dream of a world without walls, but invisible barriers surround and crush them. Kamala reads a book titled “Invisible Walls” about Aparna’s life on a train journey and thus the reader discovers a story within a story.

Given this theme, Balan, formerly a Professor of English in Thiruvananthapuram’s All Saints’ College, said Malayalam literature today, “especially the scenario of fiction, is full of variety in themes and forms of expression. Earlier, only literature written by Indians in English was considered Indian English literature. Now that Indian literature in translation is being given the importance and attention it deserves, our literature is also on the way of being promoted”.

How did the translating bug bit her?

Balan, the recipient of 15 awards, including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, the Katha National Prize, the Padmarajan Puruskaram and the O.V. Vijayan Puraskaram, said that while she previously did her creative writing only in Malayalam, she took a break from her teaching career for three years to work with Dr K. Ayyappa Paniker, the renowned English professor, poet and critic, on a Sahitya Akademi project on Medieval Indian Literature in English translation.

“I was the Executive Editor of that project. Editing the translations of eminent professors and writers from all parts of India, I educated myself on the art of translation. Katha Foundation of Delhi asked me to translate some Malayalam writers of their choice to English. When they were published, more offers came; but somehow I did not want to be a professional translator. I wanted to be known as a creative writer. So I took to translating my own stories.

Her first collection, “Arya and Other Stories” was published by Orient Blackswan.

Would she describe herself as a systematic writer?

“I am not a systematic writer at all, devoting a number of hours a day for writing. My dream is to become one. When an idea comes to mind, I develop an outline first and carry it around like a child within the womb. And when the urge for writing it comes upon me I sit late in the night to write down the first draft. The reworking and revisions will be done later; usually it is the third draft that is final,” Balan explained.

How did the foray into the movie world come about?

It began with noted Malayalam film director and screen writer Lenin Rajendran making a movie out Balan’s story “The Website” as “Ratrimazha” (“Rain in the Night”) “which brought him accolades. He has taken a Director’s freedom with the story”, Balan quipped.

Her book, “Njandukalude Naattil Oru Idavela” (An Interval in the Land of Crabs) has recently been made into a similarly titled movie by the popular young actor Nivin Pauly, with the director being Althaf Salim.

“That book is actually my memoirs on my cancer days; they turned it into a family story of a mother’s fight with cancer and brought in a lot of humour. But they conveyed the message of hope as I insisted,” Balan said.

She has also written a screenplay for Kerala’s Social Welfare Department, which turned it into a movie directed by Sanjeev Sivan.
“It is titled ‘Arunimayude Katha’ (The Story of Arunima); the theme is a critique on the extravagant weddings and craze for gold in Kerala,” Balan said.

Her dream now is “to write two novels — one on a village being transformed into a city and the other on (Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s wife) Sonia Tolstoy. Both require a lot of time and work and I intend to devote 2019 to that”, Balan said.

Dileep row: Superstar Mohanlal’s stock falls with Kerala Women’s Commission

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Superstar Mohanlal, who leads the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, came under fire from the Kerala Women’s Commission on Thursday over the decision to reinstate accused actor Dileep into the artists’ body.

Dileep is an accused in the February 2017 actress kidnapping case which took place in Kochi, that landed him in a Kerala jail for 85 days.

Breathing fire on Mohanlal, Commission Chairperson M.C. Josephine reminded that AMMA’s Sunday decision led by the superstar was flawed. “No doubt, Mohanlal’s stocks have definitely fallen,” said Josephine to the media.

This was the first decision taken by the new committee under Mohanlal.

Her statement came a day after four leading actresses, including the kidnap victim, resigned from AMMA.

“After this decision, the name of the organisation AMMA (mother) does not suit it anymore. The ruling Left government and the CPI-M party should look into this,” added Josephine.

Dileep’s reinstatment has become the centre of a row following the newly formed Women in Cinema Collective’s (WCC) Facebook post on Monday and the subsequent resignation by four leading actresses from AMMA on Wednesday.

Even, Kerala Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty on Thursday expressed surprise in the manner in which AMMA had revoked Dileep’s suspension.

“It should not be forgotten that actors are icons and they should be perfect role models, but this decision that they took is baffling and not tenable.

“It’s surprising that the two legislators — Mukesh of the CPI-M and K.B. Ganesh Kumar, supporting the ruling Left government — were also party to the decision,” said Mercykutty .

PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran said that he never had a good opinion about Dileep. “He is an arrogant person. I fully support the four actress who quit AMMA, as none with any self respect can continue in the same organisation,” said Sudhakaran.

Everyone is now awaiting superstar Mammootty’s decision. It was Mammootty, who had announced the decision to remove Dileep from AMMA to the media, then.

However, Mammootty for the first time in several years, is not an office bearer anymore.

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