rithu gossip

Bollywood star Salman Khan gets five years in jail for poaching

An Indian court has sentenced Bollywood superstar Salman Khan to five years in jail for poaching rare antelope back in 1998.

The court in Jodhpur also fined him 10,000 rupees ($154; £109) for the crime. He has since been taken to jail.

Khan killed the two blackbucks, a protected species, in the western state of Rajasthan while shooting a film.

Four other actors who starred with him in the movie and were also charged with the offence have been acquitted.

Khan, 52, can appeal against the verdict in a higher court.

Correspondents say he will have to spend at least a few days in prison.

What is behind the Salman Khan case?

This is the fourth case filed against the actor in connection with poaching animals during the filming of the 1998 movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.

He has been acquitted in three of them.

In 2006, a trial court convicted the actor in two cases of poaching and sentenced him to five years in prison. The Rajasthan high court suspended the sentence the following year, and eventually acquitted him in 2016.

The state government has appealed against that order in the Supreme Court.

The original poaching case against him was filed by the local Bishnoi community, who revere and worship the blackbuck.

Has he been accused of anything else?

In December 2015, Khan was cleared in a 2002 hit-and-run case in which a homeless man died and four others were in injured. His car allegedly ran over them while they were sleeping on a street in the western city of Mumbai.

A lower court had convicted him in May 2015. During his trial, Khan had argued that his driver had been behind the wheel, but the judge said it was the actor who had been driving under the influence of alcohol.

Seven months later, the high court acquitted him. It said that key evidence - including testimony from a policeman who had since died - was not reliable.

In January 2017, Khan was also acquitted in another case that charged him with using illegal firearms to kill the blackbucks.

How big is Salman Khan?

One of Bollywood's biggest stars, the actor has appeared in more than 100 films and has a huge fan following across the vast spectrum of Indian society.

His fans include the middle-class English-speaking audiences as well as poor slum dwellers for whom the 350-rupee ($5.20; £3.40) tickets do not come cheap.

Known for his romantic roles as well as action films, Khan has won several prestigious Indian cinema awards.

The eldest of the three sons of well-known screenplay writer Salim Khan, he is a hit on social media too - his Facebook page is liked by more than 36 million fans, while on Twitter he has 32.5 million followers.

Will it dent his popularity?

Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News, Delhi

Every day in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra, fans flock to Salman Khan's apartment building to catch a glimpse of the Bollywood actor.

I once met a group of fans who had travelled more than five hours by bus, to wait in the searing heat in the hope he would wave at them from his balcony.

His films continue to draw mass audiences, across urban and rural India. In a country where Bollywood is revered, Khan is one of the most worshipped.

While his time in the spotlight has attracted praise and controversy in equal measure, this latest conviction is unlikely to dent his popularity or damage his career due to the cult-like status he enjoys.

What has the reaction been?

Khan's conviction is making waves on both mainstream and social media.

The hashtag #BlackBuckPoachingCase is the top trend on Twitter India while #Salman Khan is also trending.

Many of the tweets addressed the fact that the case has gone on for years.

Others welcomed the verdict.

Some celebrities, including friends of the actor, took Khan's side.

However, most Bollywood actors have refrained from commenting.

Russian spy poisoning: Yulia Skripal 'getting stronger daily'

UK police have issued a statement on behalf of Russian spy Sergei Skripal's daughter, the first since the pair were poisoned by a nerve agent in March.

The statement quoted Yulia Skripal as saying her "strength is growing daily".

The news came hours after Russia TV aired a recording of an alleged phone conversation, which it says took place between Ms Skripal and her cousin.

Ms Skripal, 33, and her father are in hospital in Salisbury, southern England, where the attack took place.

Mr Skripal, 66, remains critically ill but stable.

The UK government has accused Russia of being behind the 4 March attack, but Russia's ambassador in the UK said Moscow had no nerve agent stockpile.

The incident has sparked an international diplomatic crisis.

'Respect my privacy'

Ms Skripal said she was grateful for the many messages of goodwill she had received.

"I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily," the statement said.

"I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated," it went on.

"Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism.

"I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence."

Earlier on Thursday Russian TV released a recorded phone call alleged to have taken place between Ms Skripal and her cousin Viktoria, who lives in Russia.

The alleged Yulia says: "Everything is ok. He [her father] is resting now, having a sleep. Everyone's health is fine, there are no irreparable things. I will be discharged soon. Everything is ok."

Viktoria Skripal has said she hopes to travel to the UK to visit her relatives, if she can get a visa, but the alleged Yulia tells her that no-one will give her one.

Correspondents say that what the alleged Yulia says about her father "resting" does not chime with what we know of the Skripals' health, and the conversation about the visa is strange.

However, Russian news agency Interfax also quoted the cousin as saying in an interview that they had spoken and that Yulia had told her that all was well.

She expressed surprise that the phone call had come a day after she had told media that she was not allowed to speak to Yulia, Interfax reported.

"Do you believe in coincidences? I don't," it quoted her as saying.

Viktoria is said to be one of their closest living relatives after a series of family deaths. Both Yulia and Viktoria are Russian citizens.

Transcript of recorded conversation

The hosts of the 60 Minute show on state-owned Rossiya 1 - Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeyeva - said they were unable to confirm the authenticity of the phone call.

Viktoria: Hello?

"Yulia": Hello. Can you hear me?

Viktoria: Yes, I can hear you.

"Yulia": It is Yulia Skripal.

Viktoria: Oh, Yulka [diminutive of Yulia] it's you! I can tell it's you from your voice but I don't understand. So, they gave you a telephone, did they?

"Yulia": Yes, yes.

Viktoria: Thanks God! Yulyasha [diminutive of Yulia], is everything okay?

"Yulia": Everything's ok, everything's fine.

Viktoria: Look, if tomorrow I get a [British] visa, I'll come to you on Monday.

"Yulia": Vika, no-one will give you a visa.

Viktoria: Well I thought so too. Oh well.

"Yulia": Most likely.

Viktoria: If they do, I need you to tell me whether I can visit you or not, tell me that I can.

"Yulia": I don't think so, that's the situation at the moment, we'll sort it out later.

Viktoria: I know, I know.

"Yulia": Later, we'll get it sorted later, everything's fine, we'll see later.

Viktoria: Is that your phone?

"Yulia": It's a temporary phone. Everything's fine, but we'll see how it goes, we'll decide later. You know what the situation is here. Everything is fine, everything is solvable, everyone is recovering and is alive.

Viktoria: Understood. Is everything ok with your dad?

"Yulia": Everything's ok. He's resting now, having a sleep. Everyone's health is fine, there's nothing that can't be put right. I'll be discharged soon. Everything is ok.

Viktoria: Kisses, babes.

"Yulia": Bye.

The recording was reportedly made on the morning of 5 April

The incident, which the UK blames on Russia, has led to worsening relations between Moscow and many Western countries, with more than 150 diplomats expelled on each side.

Speaking shortly after the alleged conversation was released, Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko denied statements by UK officials that Russia did not respond to the poisoning allegations immediately.

He read out a letter which he said Russia had sent denying involvement, adding that claims that Russia had a nerve agent stockpile were not true.

The UK Foreign Office has said it is considering a request by the Russian embassy to visit Ms Skripal.

Scarlett Johansson :-

Born	Scarlett Ingrid Johansson November 22, 1984 (age 33) New York City, New York, U.S.
Citizenship	American Danish
Occupation	Actress singer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Ryan Reynolds (m. 2008; div. 2011) Romain Dauriac (m. 2014; div. 2017)
Children	1

Scarlett Johansson was born in New York City. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, is from a Jewish family from the Bronx, and her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish-born architect, from Copenhagen. She has a sister, Vanessa Johansson, who is also an actress, a brother, Adrian, a twin brother, Hunter Johansson, born three minutes after her, and a paternal half-brother, Christian. Her grandfather was writer Ejner Johansson.

Johansson began acting during childhood, after her mother started taking her to auditions. She made her professional acting debut at the age of eight in the off-Broadway production of "Sophistry" with Ethan Hawke, at New York's Playwrights Horizons. She would audition for commercials but took rejection so hard her mother began limiting her to film tryouts. She made her film debut at the age of nine, as John Ritter's character's daughter in the fantasy comedy North (1994). Following minor roles in Just Cause (1995), as the daughter of Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw's character, and If Lucy Fell (1996), she played the role of Amanda in Manny & Lo (1996). Her performance in Manny & Lo garnered a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female, and positive reviews, one noting, "[the film] grows on you, largely because of the charm of ... Scarlett Johansson", while San Francisco Chronicle critic Mick LaSalle commentated on her "peaceful aura", and wrote, "If she can get through puberty with that aura undisturbed, she could become an important actress.".

After appearing in minor roles in Fall (1997) and Home Alone 3 (1997), Johansson garnered widely spread attention for her performance in The Horse Whisperer (1998), directed by Robert Redford, where she played Grace MacLean, a teenager traumatized by a riding accident. She received a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress for the film. In 1999, she appeared in My Brother the Pig (1999) and in the music video for Mandy Moore's single, "Candy". Although the film was not a box office success, she received praise for her breakout role in Ghost World(2001), credited with "sensitivity and talent [that] belie her age". She was also featured in the Coen Brothers' dark drama The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand. She appeared in the horror comedy Eight Legged Freaks (2002) with David Arquette and Kari Wuhrer.