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What can you say about the Academy Awards ceremony this year that you don’t say every year, if you happen to keep watching? There’s the invariably meh hosting — by Jimmy Kimmel, in this case. There’s the intensifying boredom as it becomes clear that an epic-scale film on an important issue that seemed practically designed by committee to sweep the Oscars was sweeping the Oscars — this year, Oppenheimer. There’s a small gem of a film that gets bupkis because it is small, and maybe because it’s a comedy or something — The Holdovers this time around. There’s the startling shutout of a major filmmaker’s work — this year, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which didn’t even score what had seemed to be its one guaranteed award, the historic Best Actress honour for Lily Gladstone, who would’ve been the first Native American ever to take home the golden statuette. There’s the botched “In Memoriam” segment honouring the recently departed, this one even more truncated and badly staged and stupidly filmed than all the ones that came before it, ending very strangely on long-held images of Tina Turner, who was a great talent but by no means a primarily cinematic one.

New Delhi: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the second round of the All England Open badminton tournament after her opponent Yvonne Li retired hurt at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.

New Delhi: World ranked 75 Denmark's Rasmus Højgaard, will be seeking more silverware to his collection when he tees off at the USD 2.25 million Hero Indian Open to be held from 28 to 31 March at the DLF Golf and Country Club Gurugram.

Maharashtra, the second biggest state in India after Uttar Pradesh in terms of Lok Sabha seats, is heading for a rather complex electoral battle, between the NDA alliance (Mahayuti) and INDIA bloc (Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA), and hence the outcome will likely to throw up surprises. Both the NDA and INDIA blocs are late in finalizing their seat-sharing arrangements on account of numerous hurdles. The state sends 48 Lok Sabha members and the stakes are very high for both sides.

The SBI fuss over matching donor with donee, which the bank unsuccessfully tried to use with the Supreme Court to prevent disclosure of the details of buyers of the electoral bonds, was clearly a part of its dilatory tactics meant to shield the Bharatiya Janata Party from acute embarrassment.

That the government of Uttarakhand is dilly dallying action against Patanjali, despite Supreme Court’s order is a matter of concern but is not astonishing. The State Bank of India’s refusal to comply with Supreme Court order to submit details of electoral bonds by 6th March is a reflection of persistent efforts to undermine the authority of the judiciary. It would be naïve to believe that these institutions are defying the Apex Court’s order on their own. Officials at that level would not dare do that without the patronage from the higher-ups at the helms of affairs in the Government of India.

From being the person who stood behind Narayana Murthy as he lived his Infosys dream, Sudha Murty has over the years emerged as a more public person—as philanthropist, author of children’s books, twice Padma winner, and now a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.

A fresh spate of headlines kicked in during the last 24 hours, but ‘Haiti on the brink of collapse’ said it all. Some would say the brink had already fallen off the cliff. At least Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry thought so as his aircraft circled the sky above the tarmac and armed gangs waited below to get hold of him. Henry was chosen interim Prime Minister in 2021, but clung on and wouldn’t make way for a duly elected leader.

He opened the door to realism on screen in Pather Panchali watching which a teary-eyed audience wondered how such a superb human document could emanate with the barest of equipment. Their surprise could be condoned owing to their ignorance of the skills of Bansi Chandragupta, a mind overflowing with ideas. The great art director slipped on to the mantle of greatness with his debut film.

Thousands of peace activists marched and more than a dozen were arrested in demonstrations against Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government this weekend. Opponents of Netanyahu and “his” war gathered for protests in at least 30 locations across Israel, including in Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Jerusalem, Umm al-Fahem, and more.