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Tag Archives: lifting
Reaction to Lionel Messi wearing a bisht while lifting the World Cup trophy shows cultural fault lines of Qatar 2022
CNN
—
After 28 days, 64 games and 172 goals at Qatar 2022, Lionel Messi walked up on the podium at Lusail Stadium to finally get his hands on the World Cup trophy that had eluded him throughout his career.
Before joining his teammates, who were waiting for their captain in a hive of excitement on a nearby stage, Messi first shook hands with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Tamim then placed a black and gold bisht – a traditional item of clothing worn in the region for special events and celebrations – on the Argentina captain before the 35-year-old was handed the trophy.
In his new attire, which covered his national pale blue and white jersey, Messi danced towards his teammates before lifting the trophy above his head.
It was, for some, the perfect ending to a tournament that has been viewed by many as the best World Cup ever.
However, for others, it ruined the moment.
“Seems a shame in a way that they’ve covered up Messi in his Argentina shirt,” said former England international and presenter Gary Lineker on BBC’s live coverage of the final.
To others, it was one last attempt for Qatar to stamp its mark on the tournament – a criticism of the “sportswashing” (where critics accused Qatar of using the occasion to paper over its human rights record) that has underpinned much of the coverage of the tournament.
“Something a little strange about Messi being dressed in Bisht, that black cloak that the emir of Qatar dressed him in before lifting the World Cup,” New York Times journalist Tariq Panja tweeted.
“Qatar wants this to be its moment as much as it is Messi’s and Argentina’s.”
There was more criticism from other media, with British newspaper The Telegraph originally writing the headline “The bizarre act that ruined the greatest moment in World Cup history” in reference to Messi wearing the bisht.
It later changed the headline of the story to “Lionel Messi made to wear traditional Arab bisht for World Cup trophy lift.”
Messi didn’t wear the item of clothing for long, taking it off shortly after the trophy presentation and celebrating with his teammates in Argentina’s distinctive jersey.
Amid the criticism, Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary General of the Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), an organization charged with organizing the World Cup, tried to explain the reasons behind the bisht.
“It is a dress for an official occasion and worn for celebrations. This was a celebration of Messi,” Al Thawadi told BBC Sport.
“The World Cup had the opportunity to showcase to the world our Arab and Muslim culture. This was not about Qatar, it was a regional celebration.
“People from different walks of life were able to come, experience what was happening here and get to understand that we may not see eye to eye on everything, but we can still celebrate together.”
Others on social media were outraged by the criticism of the bisht, saying it was steeped in ignorance and misunderstanding of Qatar’s culture.
It was another example, they said, of the constant criticism the country has received since winning the right to host the tournament.
“Some are mad because Messi wore a bisht (it was gifted to him; a symbol of appreciation and respect in the Arab culture),” writer and columnist Reem Al-Harmi tweeted.
“However, I didn’t see the same level of anger and outrage when racism, Islamophobia, and orientalism was constantly used against the World Cup in Qatar.
“Instead of preconceived notions & judgmental views, turning this beautiful and meaningful photo into something that is not, read about the Arab bisht; its importance, and why/when it’s worn.
“Gifting someone a bisht, shows how significant/respectful they are, that’s Messi today.”
CNN reached out to FIFA for comment regarding the decision to use the bisht in the presentation ceremony.
Messi has not publicly commented on the bisht.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declares state of emergency ahead of Title 42 lifting
The mayor of El Paso declared a state of emergency Saturday ahead of Wednesday’s deadline to lift a COVID-era policy that is expected to result in more than 6,000 migrants crossing the border a day into an already overwhelmed city where hundreds are already sleeping on the streets.
“Our asylum seekers are not safe,” said El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser at a specially called press conference to announce the emergency measures. “We have hundreds and hundreds on the street and that’s not the way we treat our people.”
Temperatures have dipped into the 20s in the city, he said, and migrants who have been released into the city are sleeping on downtown streets.
“I want to make sure that people are treated with dignity,” Leeser said, adding that he made the decision to call a state of emergency after a conference call with federal, state and municipal officials. The city government is working with local non-profits that are helping newly arrived migrants travel to other parts of the country where many have family.
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“We all talked about what was best for our community,” he said, adding that more than 1,500 migrants have been crossing the border daily into the city ahead of the Dec. 21 lifting of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that saw migrants sent back into Mexico.
The sober press conference was in sharp contrast to the one called on Thursday. Leeser walked off with the microphone to avoid answering questions after he was challenged about not calling a state of emergency to cope with the migrant influx. At the time, he said that the federal government had promised the beleaguered city $6 million to help it cope with the crisis.
“We were able to get the funding without having to [declare an emergency],” Leeser claimed Thursday.
On Saturday, Leeser did not rule out using a nearby military base to house some of the migrants, and that the city was cooperating with state and federal authorities to address the situation.
“This is bigger than El Paso,” said Leeser. “Everyday the situation changes. We have to adapt to different things day in and day out.”
China’s COVID spike not due to lifting of restrictions, WHO director says
GENEVA, Dec 14 (Reuters) – COVID-19 infections were exploding in China well before the government’s decision to abandon its strict “zero-COVID” policy, a World Health Organization director said on Wednesday, quashing suggestions that the sudden reversal caused a spike in cases.
The comments by the WHO’s emergencies director Mike Ryan came as he warned of the need to ramp up vaccinations in the world’s No. 2 economy.
Speaking at a briefing with media, he said the virus was spreading “intensively” in the nation long before the lifting of restrictions.
“There’s a narrative at the moment that China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden the disease is out of control,” he said.
“The disease was spreading intensively because I believe the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease. And I believe China decided strategically that was not the best option anymore.”
Beijing started pivoting away from its signature “zero-COVID” policy this month after protests against the economically damaging curbs championed by President Xi Jinping.
The sudden loosening of restrictions has sparked long queues outside fever clinics in a worrying sign that a wave of infections is building, even though official tallies of new cases have trended lower recently as authorities eased back on testing.
In its most recent COVID report for the week to Nov. 27, the WHO said China had reported increasing hospitalisations for four consecutive weeks.
“So the challenge that China and other countries still have is: are the people that need to be vaccinated, adequately vaccinated, with the right vaccines and the right number of doses and when was the last time those people had the vaccines,” said Ryan.
WESTERN VACCINE
The elation in China that met the changes in policy allowing people to live with the virus has quickly faded amid mounting concerns about surging infections because the population lacks “herd immunity” and has low vaccination rates among the elderly.
WHO’s senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said the UN agency was providing technical advice to China and Ryan said there were open channels.
Among the first major announced deals in which a Western drugmaker will supply China with COVID therapies, China Meheco Group Co Ltd (600056.SS) said on Wednesday it would import and distribute Pfizer’s (PFE.N) oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid.
Earlier in the briefing, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “hopeful” that the pandemic, which has killed more than 6.6 million people since it emerged in Wuhan, China three years ago, will no longer be considered a global emergency some time next year.
Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva;
Writing by Josephine Mason in London; Editing by Alison Williams, Raissa Kasolowsky, Alexandra Hudson
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Addiction drug shows promise lifting long COVID brain fog, fatigue
Lauren Nichols, who has long COVID, takes a break and rests in a lounge bed in the office in her home in Andover, Mass., Aug. 3. An addiction drug could help those with COVID brain fog. (Lauren Owens Lambert, Reuters)
Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
CHICAGO — Lauren Nichols, a 34-year-old logistics expert for the U.S. Department of Transportation in Boston, has been suffering from impaired thinking and focus, fatigue, seizures, headache and pain since her COVID-19 infection in the spring of 2020.
Last June, her doctor suggested low doses of naltrexone, a generic drug typically used to treat alcohol and opioid addiction. After more than two years of living in “a thick, foggy cloud,” she said, “I can actually think clearly.”
Researchers chasing long COVID cures are eager to learn whether the drug can offer similar benefits to millions suffering from pain, fatigue and brain fog months after a coronavirus infection.
The drug has been used with some success to treat a similar complex, post-infectious syndrome marked by cognitive deficits and overwhelming fatigue called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Drawing on its use in ME/CFS and a handful of long COVID pilot studies, there are now at least four clinical trials planned to test naltrexone in hundreds of patients with long COVID, according to a Reuters review of Clinicaltrials.gov and interviews with 12 ME/CFS and long COVID researchers.
It is also on the short list of treatments to be tested in the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s $1 billion RECOVER Initiative, which aims to uncover underlying causes and find treatments for long COVID, advisers to the trial told Reuters.
Unlike treatments aimed at addressing specific symptoms caused by COVID damage to organs, such as the lungs, low-dose naltrexone may reverse some of the underlying pathology driving symptoms, they said.
Naltrexone has anti-inflammatory properties and has been used at low doses for years to treat conditions such as fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis, said Dr. Jarred Younger, director of the Neuro-inflammation, Pain and Fatigue Laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
At 50 milligrams — 10 times the low dose — naltrexone is approved to treat opioid and alcohol addiction. Several generic manufacturers sell 50 mg pills, but low-dose naltrexone must be purchased through a compounding pharmacy.
Younger, author of a scientific review of the drug as a novel anti-inflammatory, in September submitted a grant application to study LDN for long COVID. “It should be at the top of everyone’s list for clinical trials,” he said.
Still, the drug is unlikely to help all patients with long COVID, a collection of some 200 symptoms ranging from pain and heart palpitations to insomnia and cognitive impairment. One 218-patient ME/CFS study found 74% had improvements in sleep, reduced pain and neurological disturbances.
“It’s not a panacea,” said Jaime Seltzer, a Stanford researcher and head of scientific outreach for the advocacy group MEAction. “These people weren’t cured, but they were helped.”
It’s not a panacea. These people weren’t cured, but they were helped.
–Jaime Seltzer, MEAction
‘Human again’
Dr. Jack Lambert, an infectious disease expert at University College Dublin School of Medicine, had used LDN to treat pain and fatigue associated with chronic Lyme disease.
During the pandemic, Lambert recommended LDN to colleagues treating patients with lingering symptoms after bouts of COVID.
It worked so well that he ran a pilot study among 38 long COVID patients. They reported improvements in energy, pain, concentration, insomnia and overall recovery from COVID-19 after two months, according to findings published in July.
Lambert, who is planning a larger trial to confirm those results, said he believes LDN may repair damage of the disease rather than mask its symptoms.
Other planned LDN trials include one by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and a pilot study by Ann Arbor, Michigan-based startup AgelessRx. That study of 36 volunteers should have results by year-end, said company co-founder Sajad Zalzala.
Scientists are still working on explaining the mechanism for how LDN might work. Experiments by Dr. Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik of the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases in Australia suggest ME/CFS and long COVID symptoms arise from a significant reduction in function of natural killer cells in the immune system.
In laboratory experiments, LDN may have helped restore their normal function, a theory that must still be confirmed. Others believe infections trigger immune cells in the central nervous system called microglia to produce cytokines, inflammatory molecules that cause fatigue and other symptoms associated with ME/CFS and long COVID. Younger believes naltrexone calms these hypersensitized immune cells.
Dr. Zach Porterfield, a virologist at the University of Kentucky who co-chairs a RECOVER task force looking at commonalities with other post-infectious syndromes, said it has recommended LDN be included in RECOVER’s treatment trials. Other therapies under consideration, sources said, were antivirals, such as Pfizer Inc’s Paxlovid, anti-clotting agents, steroids and nutritional supplements.
RECOVER officials said they have received dozens of proposals and could not comment on which drugs will be tested until trials are finalized. Dr. Hector Bonilla, co-director of the Stanford Post-Acute COVID-19 Clinic and a RECOVER adviser, has used LDN in 500 ME/CFS patients, with about half reporting benefits.
He studied LDN in 18 long COVID patients, with 11 showing improvements, and said he believes larger, formal trials could determine whether LDN offers a true benefit. Nichols, a patient adviser to RECOVER, was “ecstatic” when she learned LDN was being considered for the government-funded trials. While LDN has not fixed all her COVID-related problems, Nichols can now work all day without breaks and have a social life at home. “It has made me feel like a human again.”
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Addiction drug shows promise lifting long COVID brain fog, fatigue
CHICAGO, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Lauren Nichols, a 34-year-old logistics expert for the U.S. Department of Transportation in Boston, has been suffering from impaired thinking and focus, fatigue, seizures, headache and pain since her COVID-19 infection in the spring of 2020.
Last June, her doctor suggested low doses of naltrexone, a generic drug typically used to treat alcohol and opioid addiction.
After more than two years of living in “a thick, foggy cloud,” she said, “I can actually think clearly.”
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Researchers chasing long COVID cures are eager to learn whether the drug can offer similar benefits to millions suffering from pain, fatigue and brain fog months after a coronavirus infection.
The drug has been used with some success to treat a similar complex, post-infectious syndrome marked by cognitive deficits and overwhelming fatigue called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
Drawing on its use in ME/CFS and a handful of long COVID pilot studies, there are now at least four clinical trials planned to test naltrexone in hundreds of patients with long COVID, according to a Reuters review of Clinicaltrials.gov and interviews with 12 ME/CFS and long COVID researchers.
It is also on the short list of treatments to be tested in the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s $1 billion RECOVER Initiative, which aims to uncover underlying causes and find treatments for long COVID, advisers to the trial told Reuters.
Unlike treatments aimed at addressing specific symptoms caused by COVID damage to organs, such as the lungs, low-dose naltrexone (LDN) may reverse some of the underlying pathology driving symptoms, they said.
Naltrexone has anti-inflammatory properties and has been used at low doses for years to treat conditions such as fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis, said Dr. Jarred Younger, director of the Neuro-inflammation, Pain and Fatigue Laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
At 50 milligrams – 10 times the low dose – naltrexone is approved to treat opioid and alcohol addiction. Several generic manufacturers sell 50mg pills, but low-dose naltrexone must be purchased through a compounding pharmacy.
Younger, author of a scientific review of the drug as a novel anti-inflammatory, in September submitted a grant application to study LDN for long COVID. “It should be at the top of everyone’s list for clinical trials,” he said.
Still, the drug is unlikely to help all patients with long COVID, a collection of some 200 symptoms ranging from pain and heart palpitations to insomnia and cognitive impairment. One 218-patient ME/CFS study found 74% had improvements in sleep, reduced pain and neurological disturbances.
“It’s not a panacea,” said Jaime Seltzer, a Stanford researcher and head of scientific outreach for the advocacy group MEAction. “These people weren’t cured, but they were helped.”
‘HUMAN AGAIN’ Dr. Jack Lambert, an infectious disease expert at University College Dublin School of Medicine, had used LDN to treat pain and fatigue associated with chronic Lyme disease.
During the pandemic, Lambert recommended LDN to colleagues treating patients with lingering symptoms after bouts of COVID.
It worked so well that he ran a pilot study among 38 long COVID patients. They reported improvements in energy, pain, concentration, insomnia and overall recovery from COVID-19 after two months, according to findings published in July.
Lambert, who is planning a larger trial to confirm those results, said he believes LDN may repair damage of the disease rather than mask its symptoms.
Other planned LDN trials include one by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and a pilot study by Ann Arbor, Michigan-based startup AgelessRx. That study of 36 volunteers should have results by year-end, said company co-founder Sajad Zalzala.
Scientists are still working on explaining the mechanism for how LDN might work.
Experiments by Dr. Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik of the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases in Australia suggest ME/CFS and long COVID symptoms arise from a significant reduction in function of natural killer cells in the immune system. In laboratory experiments, LDN may have helped restore their normal function, a theory that must still be confirmed.
Others believe infections trigger immune cells in the central nervous system called microglia to produce cytokines, inflammatory molecules that cause fatigue and other symptoms associated with ME/CFS and long COVID. Younger believes naltrexone calms these hypersensitized immune cells.
Dr. Zach Porterfield, a virologist at the University of Kentucky who co-chairs a RECOVER task force looking at commonalities with other post-infectious syndromes, said it has recommended LDN be included in RECOVER’s treatment trials.
Other therapies under consideration, sources said, were antivirals, such as Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) Paxlovid, anti-clotting agents, steroids and nutritional supplements. RECOVER officials said they have received dozens of proposals and could not comment on which drugs will be tested until trials are finalized.
Dr. Hector Bonilla, co-director of the Stanford Post-Acute COVID-19 Clinic and a RECOVER adviser, has used LDN in 500 ME/CFS patients, with about half reporting benefits.
He studied LDN in 18 long COVID patients, with 11 showing improvements, and said he believes larger, formal trials could determine whether LDN offers a true benefit.
Nichols, a patient adviser to RECOVER, was “ecstatic” when she learned LDN was being considered for the government-funded trials.
While LDN has not fixed all her COVID-related problems, Nichols can now work all day without breaks and have a social life at home.
“It has made me feel like a human again.”
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Weight Lifting in Old Age Does More Than Just Keep Your Muscles Strong : ScienceAlert
New research into weight lifting has revealed two insights: that the practice is able to strengthen the connections between nerves and muscles, and that this strengthening can still happen in the later years of our lives.
We actually start losing muscle mass before the age of 40, caused in part by a reduction in muscle fibers that happens as motor neurons – cells in the brain and spinal cord that tell our bodies to move – break down.
This decline can’t be stopped, but the new study shows that it can be slowed down significantly. According to the study’s results, weight training makes the connections between nerves and muscles stronger, protecting the motor neurons in the spinal cord – essential for a well-functioning body.
“Previously, researchers have been unable to prove that weight training can strengthen the connection between the motor neurons and the muscles. Our study is the first to present findings suggesting that this is indeed the case,” says exercise physiologist Casper Søndenbroe from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
This is partly because of the challenges in sampling enough tissue at locations where muscle and nerve cells connect so meaningful measurements can be made. To overcome this, the researchers instead looked for biomarkers related to the stability of the junctions between neurons and muscles in the biopsy samples of participants.
The research involved 38 healthy, elderly men with an average age of 72, who were asked to undertake a 16-week course of fairly intensive weight lifting training involving leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls, and two upper arm exercises. Another group of 20 healthy, elderly men, again with an average age of 72, did no weight training and were used as a control comparison.
Weight training sessions happened three times a week, and after two months (halfway through the experiment), the differences in muscle size and fitness could be seen. Researchers collected muscle biopsies and found detectable changes in the biomarkers.
From twinges in the back to pain in the knees, the indication is that weight training can slow down some of this breakdown between muscles and the nervous system, without actually reversing it. The researchers suggest that starting earlier in life can build up ‘reserves’ that the body can fall back on.
“The study shows that even though you begin late in life, you can still make a difference,” says Søndenbroe.
“Of course, the sooner you start, the better, but it is never too late – even if you are 65 or 70 years old. Your body can still benefit from heavy weight training.”
Although this study was done in men, this applies to women, too: for example, older women, who are more prone to osteoporosis, benefit from resistance training just as much as men do.
As many populations around the world continue to live longer and longer, the issue of preserving a good quality of life in our twilight years becomes more and more important – and that includes keeping muscles working as well as possible.
While there are certain biological processes that cannot be stopped as the years go by, research has shown that diet, as well as exercise, can protect against some of the damage that old age can leave us vulnerable to.
The next stage in this particular area of research is to work out how strength training helps nerves and muscles stay together.
“Now we need to determine which specific mechanisms cause weight training to strengthen the connection to the nervous system,” says Søndenbroe.
“To do that, we need to introduce different methods, though our goal continues to be to make sure as many senior citizens as possible not only live longer, but also experience well-being.”
The research has been published in the American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology.
Juan Soto makes Padres debut: Star outfielder records one hit, but teammates do the heavy lifting in win
Just over 24 hours since a trade that altered the landscape of Major League Baseball, the new-look San Diego Padres were in action in front of their fans. Newly-acquired Josh Bell and Brandon Drury were both in the lineup, but, obviously, the main course here — at least before the game started — was the Padres debut of 23-year-old superstar Juan Soto.
Soto slotted second in the lineup, hitting in front of MVP candidate Manny Machado and new cleanup man Bell.
The Padres would send their fans home extremely happy with a 9-1 win. Soto wasn’t the star of the show at the plate and instead, it was the rest of the Padres’ lineup that showed how fearsome it can be around him. From before the game started through the end, it was a raucous event in San Diego. The announced attendance was 44,652, which is a sellout.
Eyewitness accounts pegged the atmosphere as “electric” and the Padres broadcasters noted multiple times that it’s probably the most amped they’ve ever seen Petco Park. This was before the game even started.
Here’s Soto heading out to right field for his first inning with the team.
He came to the plate with one out in the bottom of the first and the entire crowd was standing. Many fans could be seen holding their phones to record the occasion. When Rockies pitcher Chad Kuhl ran the count to 3-0, he was showered with boos before the Padres faithful shifted to chants of “SOTO! SOTO! SOTO!”
Soto surely had the green light on the aforementioned 3-0, but ball four wasn’t even close. His first plate appearance with the Padres was a walk.
Of course, that walk ended up as the catalyst for a huge inning. Following the Soto walk, Machado doubled, Bell walked, Jake Cronenworth was hit with a pitch and then Drury, in his very first pitch as a Padre, hit a grand slam:
That inning set the tone for the rest of the game. Machado would go 3 for 4 with a home run and double. Cronenworth homered and drove home three runs. Trent Grisham had an RBI double. Bell was on base twice and scored both times.
Soto lined a single to right field for his first hit as a Padre in the bottom of the eighth.
He ended up 1 for 3 with two walks and a run scored. Even if he was overshadowed, that’s a very good debut.
On the mound, Padres lefty Blake Snell kept his nice little run going. In July, Snell went 3-0 with a 2.81 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings. On Wednesday, he allowed just one run on four hits in six innings while striking out nine without issuing a walk. He got into a bit of trouble in the third, but otherwise dominated.
Soto didn’t star in the game, but he didn’t need to. That’s the beautiful thing about baseball. He had a perfectly solid game while Machado, Cronenworth and Drury went nuts. There will be games where Soto is the star all the same. The point of acquiring Soto, Bell and Drury was to make the lineup as fearsome as possible. For the first day with the new-look lineup, it was mission accomplished.
The Padres have now won five straight games and get the Rockies at home again in a matinee on Thursday before heading to L.A. for a three-game series against the first-place Dodgers.
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Dhaakad movie review: Kangana Ranaut, Divya Dutta do the heavy lifting in this slick action film
A slick action film that is also coherent is a hard nut to crack for even Hollywood. Dhaakad then is an achievement, in getting those two things right, in chucking the melodrama for spare blood-letting, in heading for the relatively new location of Bhopal and its surroundings, in getting the mood right by dipping into the coal mines there, and even giving us a glimpse of the life in that city with its mixed communities, which seamlessly live together. It should not be this rare, but it is.
And while much has been said about Dhaakad (a formidable name indeed) being India’s rare woman-centric action film, there are actually two women who do most of the heavy-lifting here, and pretty effortlessly at that – Kangana Ranaut as the protagonist Agent Agni, and Divya Dutta as Rohini, the brain, financial mind, emotional support and much, much more of a criminal ring dealing in coal and trafficking of women.
The two confrontations between Agni and Rohini are the film’s highlights, even though Dhaakad makers are clearly going for Agni’s fighting abilities, and Rudraveer’s villainy, played to hamming over-effect by Arjun Rampal. We are getting used to this off-kilter Rampal now, covered in tattoos, rings, fur-lined long coats and experimental hair styles.
WATCH | Dhaakad trailer here
But the surprise here is Kangana Ranaut, who is very sombre, very understated as the agent running from a tortured past — unlike how the film promotions might have themselves suggested, and unlike how the actor seems to see herself lately. Dutta, of course, is just good, period. And her Rohini is no exception, her role of a former prostitute who now runs the business with an iron hand, with little mercy and lot of cunning, suggesting layers and layers which deserve a film of their own. Now here is a kothewali who gets her hands dirty, talks dirty, and knows dirty, unlike the pristine purity of a Kathiawadi.
The simple, uncomplicated storyline is that Agni became an agent after a shocking incident from childhood, when her parents were shot by a man of whom she has a faint memory of. Now, she is leading the Agency’s investigation of a trafficking ring running out of central India, and reaching up to Budapest (that keeps popping up almost like a backyard to Bhopal) and a Sheikh with origins in the Middle East.
Agni leads the search from Budapest to Bhopal and beyond, helped along by a local Bhopal resident Fazal (Sharib Hashmi, of The Family Man fame). Agni immediately finds herself pulled to his mother-less daughter Zaira, for obvious reasons.
However, what seemed like a quick extraction and termination operation turns out to be not so simple, as Rudraveer and Rohini unleash carnage, helped by informers of their own.
When the film gets into twists-and-turns territory, and becomes a one-woman revenge saga, Dhaakad offers no surprises. We know that whatever you might throw at Agni, she will bounce back, however improbable or incredible that is.
If the film’s first 20-odd minutes are rip-offs of Hollywood’s assembly line action thrillers, where people kill and die before you have even settled down for your popcorn, Dhaakad’s last 20 are an exercise in overkill.
That the middle holds so well is a tribute to its actors, its efforts at giving us some human characters, and its story that trots along nicely (credit to debutant director and co-screenwriter Razneesh Ghai). At one place, we come to know of a medical condition where a person’s heart is tilted more towards the right than normal, which saves their life. Dhaakad has its heart in the right place.
Dhaakad movie cast: Kangana Ranaut, Arjun Rampal, Divya Dutta, Sharib Hashmi, Saswata Chatterjee
Dhaakad movie director: Razneesh Ghai
Dhaakad movie rating: 3.5 stars
Court grants temporary order blocking Biden administration from lifting Title 42 before May 23
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Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Monday that his office obtained a temporary restraining order blocking the Biden administration from lifting Title 42, a public health order that has allowed the federal government to quickly expel migrants since March 2020.
The Centers for Disease Control announced earlier this month that it would terminate Title 42 on May 23, saying that the order “suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary” due to “an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19.”
The temporary restraining order granted Monday prevents the Biden administration from taking any action on Title 42 before a hearing on May 13, which will determine whether the public health order can be lifted later in the month.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Missouri, Louisiana, and Arizona in the U.S. District Court in Louisiana. Several other states have since joined the lawsuit.
Border Patrol is already not using Title 42 to expel some migrants from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, instead processing them via Title 8 and expedited removal, Fox News reported last week.
“We applaud the Court for approving our request for a Temporary Restraining Order to keep Title 42 in place,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Monday. “The Biden administration cannot continue in flagrant disregard for existing laws and required administrative procedures.”
The Biden administrations’ announcement that it would end Title 42 came under fire from Republicans and Democrats alike amid a historic surge in migrant encounters at the southern border, which topped 221,000 in March.
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus threw its weight behind a bill last week that would prevent the Biden administration from lifting Title 42 until 60 days after the CDC has formally ended the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration.
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Several Democratic Senators are backing companion legislation in the upper chamber.
“I warned the administration about this months and months ago, and they still don’t have an adequate plan,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told Fox News Digital earlier this month. “They say they are working on it. My guess is that we’ll get to May 23, there probably is not going to be an adequate plan in place and, if that’s the case, I don’t think we should lift Title 42.”
Fox News’s Adam Shaw and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.