Sen

Hand-painted works are often wildly unfaithful to the movies they portray – reinterpretations that sometimes resulted in threats, insults and even physical attacks from viewers who felt dupedSitting on his porch in Teshie near Accra, Heavy J dipped a brush into red oil paint and dabbed it carefully on to his canvas – a flour sack – adding blood to a knife being wielded by a man. Higher on the canvas, he had started on an outline of a skull.Heavy J was creating a poster, but not as you might have expected for a horror film. Instead, it was for the animated fairytale The Little Mermaid. The man with the knife wasn’t a killer but the film’s kind-hearted prince, Eric. The skull was also unrelated to the story. “We add more to make people interested,” said Heavy J, whose real name is Jeaurs Affutu. Continue reading...

• The BSE Sensex surged 965 points and the Nifty50 closed above 24,300 during a volatile trading session on Thursday. • Gains in IT stocks helped the indices remain resilient, offsetting significant profit booking in heavyweight banking and financial shares. • Market sentiment remains cautious due to geopolitical tensions in West Asia, rising crude oil prices, and pressure on global chip stocks.

• Global AI investment cooldown triggered a massive sell-off in chip stocks, causing Japan's market to briefly plunge 4% and Zhipu to drop over 12% at the open. • Significant losses were recorded by major players, including Kioxia, which hit its daily limit down, and SK Hynix ADR, which plummeted 13.69% in its previous session. • The Hong Kong market saw heavy losses in leveraged ETFs, with CSOP Hynix 2x Long falling 13.24% and CSOP Samsung 2x Long dropping 3.61%.

Sister of the South Carolina senator who died last Saturday has not previously held any elected officeDonald Trump on Friday said he had encouraged Darline Graham to run for a full six-year term representing South Carolina in the US Senate, after she was sworn in to office earlier this week following the sudden death of her brother, Lindsey Graham.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he spoken to Darline Graham at the White House. “I asked Darline, for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate in the Special Republican Primary,” he wrote. Continue reading...

Republican Josh Hawley accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s firm of relentlessly pursuing and attempting to bankrupt herA US senator has accused Meta of using lawfare in “efforts to destroy” a whistleblower who made allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers.In a letter to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, the Republican senator Josh Hawley demanded to know what measures Meta had taken to monitor Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former global head of public policy, and her family. Continue reading...

East Midlands Railway cancels trains on Midland mainline, as drivers on LNER and Avanti West Coast ballotIntercity rail travellers face potential disruption this summer across Great Britain’s three north-south mainlines, with drivers voting on strike action on two lines and timetables slashed on the other owing to malfunctioning trains.East Midlands Railway announced it will cancel hundreds of services in the coming weeks from its intercity timetable on the Midland mainline, because of continued problems with its fleet of Hitachi trains. Continue reading...

• Chelsea is finalizing the signing of 18-year-old player Denner, who is scheduled to travel to west London next week. • The move involves the player undergoing a medical examination to complete the transfer process. • Denner has recently been recovering from a knee injury after turning 18 in February.

• The Indian stock market experienced a significant rally, with the BSE Sensex surging by more than 900 points. • Simultaneously, the Nifty50 index climbed to trade above the 24,300 level, reflecting strong bullish momentum. • This surge indicates high investor confidence and positive market sentiment across key Indian benchmarks.

• The DAIHATSU Japan Open 2026, a BWF World Tour Super 750 event, is currently taking place at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. • The tournament features a high-caliber field of Olympic medalists and world champions, including Indian stars PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen. • India's PV Sindhu secured a spot in the second round after a commanding straight-game victory over Malaysia's Wong Ling Ching on the opening day.

The party’s state executive decided MP’s fate after she withdrew her legal action against the party earlier this weekGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastVictorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has been disendorsed ahead of the upcoming state election despite dropping an eleventh-hour legal challenge against her own party.The state party called a meeting for Friday afternoon where they voted to remove the MP as a candidate for the November election. Continue reading...

• Democratic senators have criticized Donald Trump ahead of his scheduled speech to the nation, predicting it will contain "election denialism" and portray him as a "sore loser." • Major networks NBC and ABC have confirmed they will stream the address on their digital platforms, with NBC planning a follow-up special report to fact-check the claims. • This broadcasting decision follows a 2022 precedent where NBC, ABC, and CBS declined to pre-empt regular programming for a speech by President Joe Biden regarding threats to democracy.

• A Federal Reserve inspector general's report revealed that the central bank failed to protect critical economic data from "foreign adversaries." • A senior advisor named Rogers allegedly leaked interest rate decisions to Chinese state actors via email and hand-delivery between 2017 and his 2021 retirement. • The report also highlighted a 2018 breach where confidential brief books containing sensitive forecasts and economic analyses were shared with unauthorized outsiders.

• Indian benchmark indexes opened higher on July 16, 2026, with the Sensex surging 260 points and the Nifty rising 80 points. • The gains follow a positive trend from Wall Street, as investors prioritize strong corporate earnings over escalating geopolitical tensions between Iran and the US. • Market sentiment remained mixed across Asia, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rising 1.40% while Japan's Nikkei 225 plummeted 2.84%.

Liz Oyer tells of how she refused to ‘rubber-stamp a political favor’ in gun rights case involving Trump ally Mel GibsonFormer pardon attorney Liz Oyer condemned Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, over his Wednesday testimony to the Senate judiciary committee. Blanche fired Oyer after she refused to recommend restoring firearms rights to the actor and Trump ally Mel Gibson, who was previously convicted of domestic violence.“I declined to rubber-stamp a political favor for a friend of the president, and it cost me my job,” the former US pardon attorney told the committee on the second day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing. Continue reading...

• Vice President JD Vance has urged Republicans to attach White House-backed voter identification legislation to a partisan funding bill for the Iran war. • The move aims to advance the administration's election priorities and appease President Donald Trump, who is expected to further challenge the 2020 election results. • This strategy creates a potential conflict with Senate Republicans, who have resisted Trump's efforts to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Mike Collins’ son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II, has shared antisemitic conspiracies and Nazi imagery onlineUS politics live – latest updatesThe Republican Senate nominee in Georgia, Mike Collins, who has been plagued by a string of controversies in his time in public office, has close ties with a white nationalist influencer – his son-in-law, David Alan Scheer II – it has transpired.A trucking executive and one-time “Freedom caucus” conservative endorsed by Donald Trump, Collins has been the GOP representative for Georgia’s 10th congressional district since 2023. In that time, the anti-abortion hardliner has drawn scrutiny over his associations with far-right and extremist figures, incendiary social media activity and accusations of antisemitism, which he has denied. He has also denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election and defended January 6 rioters, who he has said deserved pardons. Continue reading...

Giovanni Castellucci among 32 people convicted over the 2018 Morandi Bridge collapse, which killed 43Thirty-two people, including the former chief executive of Italy’s motorway operator, have been convicted over the 2018 collapse of a Genoa bridge in which 43 people died.In a hushed courtroom on Thursday in the north-western Italian city, Giovanni Castellucci, former boss of Autostrade per l’Italia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the highest in the case. Continue reading...

Few know who will get top jobs when new PM enters No 10 and the vacuum of information has its downsidesAs Labour MPs filed out of Portcullis House on the last day before parliament rose – and Andy Burnham ascends – one said they were struggling with a metaphor for how concentrated Burnham’s power had become. Flailing for something that did not sound insulting, he gave up and likened Burnham’s absolute control to North Korea’s Kim dynasty.It is a very congenial and receptive kind of dictatorship. But never in British politics has such power been concentrated in the hands of such a tiny number of individuals. Never in British politics have so many of Labour’s biggest beasts had so little influence or leverage. Continue reading...

• The Nifty and Sensex indices ended the trading session largely unchanged, reflecting a mixed market sentiment driven by weak global cues. • Mid-cap stocks saw declines, with the Nifty MidCap 150 falling nearly 0.5%, led by significant drops in ITC Hotels (5.5%) and HDFC AMC (4.5%). • Market stability was noted in the rupee and India VIX, while MSCI adjustments for RBL Bank and Torrent Pharma were implemented at the close.

• Indian stock markets saw gains with the Sensex rising 200 points and the Nifty climbing above 24,100, driven by strong performances from ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. • Sectoral trends were mixed, as Nifty Financial Services, Auto, and Bank indices rose by 1.08%, 0.90%, and 0.83% respectively, while Nifty IT dropped 1.51%. • Global sentiment was bolstered by a rebound in semiconductor stocks, highlighted by an 11% surge in South Korea's SK Hynix following a volatile week in US tech.

• AgEagle Aerial Systems (UAVS) stock rose 3.73% to $0.78 today, driven by increased investor interest and the company's recognition as a major competitor in drone software. • This upward movement follows a period of sustained bearish momentum, though recent technical shifts are creating a more balanced outlook for the stock. • The price action is significant as it tests a critical resistance level at $0.82, which analysts identify as a key threshold for bullish sentiment.

• RB Leipzig has set a minimum asking price of £51m (€60m) for winger Antonio Nusa amid reported transfer interest from Arsenal and Liverpool. • In international football, the USA was eliminated from the World Cup last 16 after suffering a 4-1 defeat to Belgium. • Despite Balogun's efforts, the USA failed to achieve their goal of winning two consecutive World Cup knockout matches for the first time.

• The Indian stock market closed with mixed results, as the BSE Sensex ended 100 points higher while the NSE Nifty50 remained flat. • Market volatility was driven by a combination of geopolitical developments, macroeconomic trends, crude oil fluctuations, and foreign institutional investor activity. • Despite the Sensex gain, broader markets and several sectoral indices declined, signaling widespread caution among investors.

• Indian badminton players Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty were eliminated in the first round of the Japan Open. • Ayush Shetty suffered a defeat against Thailand's second seed, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, while Lakshya Sen also exited early following a match against Koki Watanabe. • These losses mark a difficult period for India's top talent, following Sen's recent first-round exit at the Indonesia Open.

The R&B singer was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and producing child abuse images, with his lawyer lobbying the US president for more than a yearR Kelly has formally appealed to the US president, Donald Trump, for a reduction of his 31-year prison sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking and child abuse images, in a filing to the Department of Justice.The 59-year-old R&B singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in 2021 of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and pornography, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2022 he was found guilty on three counts of child abuse images and three counts of child enticement and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he is serving nearly entirely concurrently but for one additional year.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

State MP abandons supreme court challenge, saying her party ‘can now decide whether to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse me’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastVictorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has dropped legal action against her own party as she seeks to make a last-ditch appeal to avoid being disendorsed before the state election.Deeming launched an 11th-hour supreme court challenge against the Victorian Liberal party president, Brian Loughnane, on 3 July after she made an assault allegation against former leader Matthew Guy and subsequently rejected calls to apologise after Victoria police determined “there was no offence detected”. Continue reading...

• The U.S. Senate is scheduled to convene at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, to continue proceedings on judicial nominations. • Senators will resume consideration of Jeffrey Kuntz's nomination to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, with a cloture vote set for 12:00 noon. • Additionally, a cloture request was filed on Tuesday regarding the nomination of Kara Westercamp to the U.S. Court of International Trade.

• The Sensex and Nifty 50 indices recovered from a sharp decline on Tuesday to close higher on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. • Gains were primarily driven by strong performance in bank stocks and the Bank Nifty index, though benchmark indices retreated slightly from their intraday highs. • The market rally was fueled by softer-than-expected US inflation data, which increased investor confidence that the Federal Reserve will adopt a less aggressive monetary policy.