09:10 Season 8 of GoT may have more than 6 episodes: HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys has hinted that the final season of the network’s popular series Game of Thrones might feature more than six episodes.
It was earlier reported that the creators of the popular fantasy drama David Benioff and DB Weiss were ready to end the show with 13 episodes, including seven episodes in season seven and six episodes in the eighth season.
Bloys, however, said that the show’s bosses are still contemplating over how many hours the final season will run for, reported Entertainment Weekly.
“They’re still figuring out the shape of the season, what they want to do. I’ll take as many as they want to do. If they give me eight, I’ll want 10. But it’s really up to them. They’ll let me know,” he said.
09:07 Amarinder to fight Badal on home turf; Sidhu to contest from Amritsar East: Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to fight the assembly elections against the Shiromani Akali Dal head and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from the latter’s home turf Lambi.
The Congress, in a press release, made his nomination official.
Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who joined Congress recently, will contest from Amritsar East.
Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu has been placed against Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal from his constituency of Jalalabad.
Hockey player Pargat Singh is nominated from Jalandhar Cantt, while Jalandhar District Congress Committee Rural president Jagbir Singh Brar will fight from Nakodar seat.
Punjab will go for polls for 117 seats in a single-phase on February 4.
08:46 Owaisi booked for poll code violation in UP: A first information report has been lodged against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi for violating the Model Code of Conduct in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur.
Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Singh said apart from Owaisi, AIMIM assembly poll candidate Talat Khan has also been booked in the case.
Singh said according to a complaint filed by SI Anil Kumar, posters of AIMIM have allegedly been pasted on the walls of the power corporation property, religious places and private shops.
Police has registered a case under section 171H (illegal payments in connection with an election) of the Indian Penal Code, he said. — PTI
08:21 Istanbul nightclub attacker who killed 39 caught: Turkish police has caught the gunman who killed 39 people, including two Indians, in an Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s celebrations.
The suspect was caught in a special operations police raid on a house in a housing complex in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district, the Turkish media reported.
Agency reports said he had been staying in the house belonging to a Kyrgyz friend.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, asserting that it was in reprisal for ‘Turkish military operations in northern Syria’.
The local media has identified the gunman as Abdulkadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national. — Agencies
00:36 Trump considering naming Indian-American to lead FDA:
Indian-American Balaji S Srinivasan, a successful Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and CEO of a bitcoin startup, is under consideration for Trump Administration’s pick to lead the Federal Drug Administration after he met the US President-elect.
Balaji Srinivasan met Trump at the Trump Towers in New York on Thursday. No official announcement has been made yet.
But the incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that Balaji is under consideration for the position of heading FDA, the all-important federal agency for drug and pharma industry.
“Srinivasan along with Jim O’Neill, managing director of Mithril Capital Management are being considered for positions in the FDA,” Spicer told reporters.
Spicer said Srinivasan currently serves as the CEO and cofounder of 21.co and is a partner in Andreessen Horowitz.
“He has won FDA approval as a genomics entrepreneurial,” he said.
“I am broadly interested in new technology, with a particular focus on “real world” applications where digital bits interface with physical atoms and substantive problems, such as quantified self (healthcare), MOOCs/edtech (education), Bitcoin (finance), drones, and 3D printing,” Srinivasan wrote on his LinkedIn profile.
As civil rights leaders and activists gather at sites across the country to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr, the slain civil rights leader’s daughter is encouraging Americans to fight for his vision of love and justice “no matter who is in the White House”.
Bernice King addressed more than 2,000 people gathered at her father’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta four days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. She spoke hours before her brother, Martin Luther King III, is scheduled to meet with the president-elect at Trump Tower in New York.
While Bernice King did not offer a detailed critique of Trump, who remains unpopular among black Americans, she said the nation still has a choice between “chaos and community”, the same dichotomy her father wrote and preached about.
“At the end of the day, the Donald Trumps come and go,” Bernice King said. But, she added “we still have to find a way to create” what her father called “the beloved community”.
Trump won fewer than 1 out of 10 votes from black Americans in November, and that lack of popularity was on display today beyond Bernice King’s remarks.
00:30 Government to ally with charities to combat child porn online:
India’s ministries focusing on children, health, education and technology plan to join forces with charities and police to stem a surge in images of children being sexually abused on the internet, the Indian government said on Monday.
The ministry of women and children said one of the aims of the partnership was to set up an internet portal to share information such as best practices for dealing with child abuse online and proposals for updating legislation and policies.
“Child abuse is finding new forms and channels through mobile and digital technologies. Online child abuse and exploitation amplifies existing forms of off-line bullying, stalking and harassment,” said a ministry statement.
“It also facilitates the sexual exploitation of children through the production and dissemination of child sexual abuse materials and by facilitating the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. Online abuse knows no national boundaries.”
Source: Rediff