106 fresh Covid cases reported in Karnataka

According to the health department's Covid bulletin, 1,806 patients have recovered since the beginning of this year. There are now 398 active cases of Covid in the state.

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Daily Mirror

40 minutes ago

• Daily Mirror

28 Years Later director Danny Boyle breaks down Covid parallels in new sequel

Much-claimed director Danny Boyle has described landmarks 'being transformed' in front of our eyes during the 2020 Covid pandemic - as he reflects on the parallels to 28 Years Later lead character The film 28 Years Later explores a fictional infected mainland - and director Danny Boyle has said that the strange Covid times we lived through five years ago has helped viewers relate to the lead character Jamie. Set in a post-apocalyptic city, 28 Years Later tells the story of a highly contagious virus and its detrimental effects on the population, which leads to societal collapse. The film shows Jamie taking his 12-year-old son across a causeway to the abandoned and infected mainland. ‌ Now, Danny Boyle has spoken about the parallels to the Covid era in a Reddit Q & A, about how a city can be 'transformed overnight' yet 'still be recognisable'. During the pandemic many of us saw our towns and cities take on a new identity for a while and strange sights were spotted on high streets and of in our local supermarkets. ‌ Mr Boyle said: "What Covid did, it happened everywhere in the world, suddenly a city can be transformed overnight and still be recognisable. Suddenly it didn't just belong to movies. Who would have thought that recognisable landmarks can be transformed in front of your eyes. 'That's a wonderful opportunity for filmmakers to build on, and we duly did. That's a connection to something everyone's experienced. Over a longer period of time, after the urgency to stay safe (mask wearing, disinfecting everything, distrusting who you were meeting, was anyone sneezing in the room), you can't keep that up for very long. 'You start to explore risk. As humans, you just do. How far can I go? That increases over time. When you apply that mentality over 28 years, the amount of risks you'll take is huge. Jamie, our lead character, takes his 12-year-old son across a causeway to an infected mainland. 28 days after an outbreak he'd be a madman. But 28 years later he's a hero for bringing his son out - it reflects all our shared mentalities." Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you! 28 Years Later writer, Alex Garland, finally confirmed that recent political events influenced the making of the third instalment. While fans of the franchise initially suspected that the global Coronavirus pandemic may have served as a massive inspiration for 28 Years Later, Alex— who directed Ex Machina and Civil War — denied any links between the upcoming zombie horror film and the global lockdowns. Instead, the Academy Award-nominee was reportedly inspired by Brexit, and claims much of 28 Years Later has been inspired by Britain's decision to leave the EU back in 2016. Speaking to Empire about the script and its influences, Alex said: "Covid was not on my mind because it was too recent and too present, but Brexit was." He noted a "sense of the globe just sort of shifting its position" and "not really looking in this direction," all of which served as inspiration for the treatment of the movie.

Scottish Sun

2 hours ago

• Scottish Sun

GMB star Kate Garraway reveals she had bailiffs at her door while late Derek Draper was in a coma in hospital

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) KATE Garraway today revealed how she had bailiffs at her door while her late husband Derek Draper was in a coma. The Good Morning Britain presenter, 58, opened up about a tough time she faced while her husband was stricken in hospital with a Covid-related illness. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 Kate Garraway revealed a shocking story on Good Morning Britain today Credit: ITV 4 Kate revealed that she was faced with bailiffs as Derek was stricken in hospital Credit: PA 4 Kate with her beloved late husband before he was taken ill Credit: Shutterstock Kate - who's husband Derek sadly passed away last year - revealed her shocking story during today's GMB. Her revelation came during a chat with money expert Martin Lewis who is campaigning to change the way councils call in debts of unpaid council tax. Kate - who has been faced with a stressful £800,000 debt battle following the death of her beloved husband - then revealed how whilst her husband Derek was in a coma after being stricken by Covid, bailiffs turned up at her house. She revealed it was after she had unknowingly not paid her council tax for six weeks. More on Kate Garraway FINANCE FIGHT Kate Garraway update on her stressful £800k debt battle and £288k tax bill Kate explained the reason for the bill going unpaid, was because her husband was responsible for paying the council tax. She said she had "no idea" it was going unpaid - otherwise she would've paid it. Kate revealed how "awful" it had been for her family when bailiffs suddenly turned up at her door, especially during such a tough time. FINANCIAL NIGHTMARE This latest revelation comes after The Sun revealed how Kate had received a much-needed financial boost in her struggle to pay back huge debts. The cost of caring for Derek during his four-year health nightmare ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds. At the same time, Derek's psychotherapy firm Astra Aspera Ltd - which was jointly controlled by Kate - went bust owing hundreds of thousands to creditors, including a huge sum to HMRC. GMB's Kate Garraway reveals she still can't pay 'excessive debt' for late husband Derek Draper's care - on anniversary of his death A liquidator's report revealed how Kate has been trying to repay debts as well as a more palatable revised total. HMRC has submitted a preferential claim of £288,054, a third of its previous submission of £716,822. It's not known why the HMRC have dramatically dropped their demand. There are also creditor claims of and £196,548 from four other firms including a £50,000 bank loan. However, at this stage, there will be no pay out for any creditor after liquidator fees of £32k and 40 per cent of assets have been realised. A representative for Kate said: "Kate has met all that the liquidators of Derek's company have asked for and more over the past four years. 'She doesn't recognise these figures and is shocked that it's being presented in this way by them. "Caring for Derek and supporting her family when Derek could no longer run his own businesses has taken a huge financial toll on her but she's determined to put things right.' 4 Kate has opened up about the financial nightmare she has faced following Derek's death Credit: Shutterstock MORE MONEY WOES Meanwhile, earlier this week, Kate revealed she had been hit by another financial blow. The popular presenter told fans she's been frozen out of her bank accounts after changing her phone. Taking to social media to beg the bank for help, she wrote: 'Please please get in touch with me. 'I have not been able to access any of my Barclays accounts current or savings since Friday due to changing my phone handset and can't get through to anyone on customer service - please dm me.' Luckily Kate's plea was answered and the bank replied, telling her to send more information via direct message.

Indian Express

2 hours ago

• Indian Express

Calcutta High Court's MGNREGA order underlines people shouldn't suffer for the corruption of a few

Written by Purbayan Chakraborty and Mrinalini Paul In a recent verdict, the Calcutta High Court has directed the Centre to resume work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme in West Bengal from August 1. The Centre, through an earlier order dated March 9, 2022, stopped releasing funds for the scheme, citing irregularities under Section 27 of the Act. In May 2023, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, a rural workers' trade union, filed a petition in the HC challenging the suspension. The HC order is a much-awaited relief for the state and its millions of NREGA workers. The Right to Livelihood is a fundamental right that flows from Article 21 of the Constitution. Any executive action that seeks to curtail a fundamental right must pass the proportionality test as laid down and consistently employed by the Supreme Court in a series of cases like Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India (2024). The test requires that any such executive measure hold a legitimate objective and follow suitable means. It also mandates the use of an equally effective alternative. The impact on the individual's right must not be out of proportion to the objective being pursued. The irregularities were found in only a few of West Bengal's more than 3300 gram panchayats. Instead of taking targeted corrective action, the Centre chose to issue a state-wide blanket stoppage of funds under MGNREGA, rendering millions of rural workers unemployed. This action was neither the least restrictive nor proportionate to the objective that was being pursued. Hence, it failed the proportionality test on both counts. Section 27 of the Act empowers the Centre to stop the funds under the MGNREGA scheme as a last resort in cases of proven irregularities. But it also places a corresponding duty on it to employ remedial measures in a time-bound manner and resume implementation of the scheme within a reasonable period of time. However, in this case, even after more than three years, the Centre failed to resume funding. Therefore, the HC rightly held: 'The scheme of the act does not envisage a situation where it would be put to cold storage for eternity.' Section 27 balances accountability with livelihood — that balance was breached in this case. The HC's order is a reaffirmation that executive in the exercise of their discretionary powers cannot go beyond statutory or constitutional limitations. Corruption is grave but not uncommon in our country. But should the vulnerable people suffer due to corruption at higher levels? The funding was stopped at a time when the MGNREGA could have been a coping mechanism, especially for the thousands of poor rural workers who had returned home due to Covid. Unpaid wages and no new work in sight forced them further towards a vicious cycle of poverty, indebtedness, migration and malnutrition. The deprivation of the state and its population doesn't stop in MNREGA; it extends to other central schemes as well. The Ministry of Rural Development has informed a parliamentary panel that almost Rs 8,000 crore is yet to be released under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMA-G) for West Bengal. In 2023, the state accused the Centre of stopping funds for Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). However, the then Union Minister Smriti Irani refuted these allegations, saying that the state government was misusing funds and Rs 260 crore 'were lying unused'. West Bengal is also one of the three states in the country that refused to comply with the PM SHRI scheme and, as a result, has not received any funding for the Samagra Shiksha scheme (2024-25). However, the state government's response has been very confusing. Apart from playing the victim, it has rarely seemed to pursue logical or legal action. Often, it rushed to launch the state equivalent of the schemes that are blocked by the Centre. This happened even in the case of MGNREGA. The state launched the Karmashree scheme in 2024, under which every MGNREGA job cardholder household is supposed to get 50 days of work in a year. Launched just before the general elections, in no way, does it match the meticulous provisions of MGNREGA. For instance, Karmashree does not have any separately allocated budget |nor any mention of unemployment allowance. While the HC Order comes as an immediate respite to the state's 257 lakh registered NREGA workers, governments should read its larger message against 'weaponising schemes'. That corruption will not be tolerated is explicit in the order, as the HC empowered the Centre to impose special conditions on the state so that past issues do not recur. But that doesn't mean that people's lives and livelihoods could be compromised. With the assembly elections scheduled next year, the order has been hailed as a victory by both the TMC and BJP, but the real victory lies in the warning of the judiciary that they dare not mix up the politics of corruption and politics of welfare further. Chakraborty is a Kolkata-based lawyer and Paul is a researcher at TISS