Latest news with #Wing
NDTV
16-07-2025
- NDTV
Robbers Steal Gold, Cash Worth Rs 66 Lakh From Retired Officer's Pune House
Pune: Two robbers allegedly looted gold, diamond ornaments and cash worth Rs 66 lakh from the house of a retired Wing Commander after threatening him in Wanwadi area of Pune city in the earlyhours of Tuesday, police said. The 78-year-old retired air force officer lodged a complaint in this connection, they said. As per the complaint, when he and his wife were asleep, two unidentified persons wearing black masks, sneaked into their bedroom around 2.30 am, and threatened him by waking him and demanding the keys of the cupboard. "They later opened the cupboard and decamped with gold and diamond ornaments worth more than Rs 5 lakh and cash worth Rs 7.5 lakh collectively over Rs 66 lakh," an official from the Wanwadi police station said. While leaving the house, the duo allegedly warned the couple not to make any movement and threatened them of dire consequences, he said. "Based on the complaint, we have registered a case and formed teams to conduct a probe," the official said.
The Hindu
15-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Plea for early release of water from Bhavanisagar Dam to aid farmers
The Environment Wing of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has urged the State Government to advance the release of water from the Lower Bhavani Dam (also known as Bhavanisagar Dam) to August 1, 2025, in a bid to address the escalating water scarcity affecting farmers in Erode, Tiruppur, and Karur districts. In a letter addressed to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, the wing's secretary, Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, highlighted that these key agricultural districts are situated in a rain shadow region and have been severely impacted by poor monsoon rainfall in the recent years. Despite dry conditions in the plains, he noted that the Western Ghats catchment areas have received good rainfall this season, resulting in a water level of 96.20 feet in the dam as of July 14, with a storage of 25.85 tmc ft against its full capacity of 32.8 tmc ft. 'The current storage level presents a timely opportunity to support our farmers by ensuring water availability for the upcoming agricultural season,' he said. Mr. Sivasenapathy warned that delaying the scheduled release from August 15 could disrupt crop planning and agricultural operations, further burdening the already distressed farming community. He appealed to the Chief Minister to instruct the Water Resources Department (WRD) to begin releasing water by August 1. 'An early release would provide relief to thousands of farmers, enabling them to begin their agricultural activities without delay,' he added. He also expressed confidence that the State Government would take proactive steps under the Chief Minister's leadership to safeguard farmer livelihoods and ensure water security in the regions. It may be recalled that 94% of the renovation work in the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal system has already been completed, with the remaining work expected to be finished before August 15. The WRD had earlier stated that water could be released for irrigation only after the completion of these works.
Indian Express
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Express View on Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill: Call it back
There are salient differences between Left Wing Extremism (LWE) — which has been flagged by successive governments at the Centre and in the states as a grave internal security threat — and 'urban Maoism'. The former, an insurgency against the state, has targeted security forces, government officials, civilians and politicians and invited a whole-of-government response that includes armed engagement, development work and a host of other policies and actions. The latter is a political term of relatively recent vintage that has been deployed controversially against activists, students and academics who have expressed dissent with the dominant ideology or political establishment. Disturbingly, the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, passed by the lower House, conflates the two. Its loosely defined scope and stringent provisions raise spectres of state overreach and misuse. Armed with vague and opaque definitions, it invites the danger of blurring the lines between extremist violence and non-violent dissent. The Bill fails the test established by the Supreme Court as far back as 1962 in Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar. Words and ideas, no matter how critical of the government, even the state itself, do not constitute sedition or a crime unless they can be directly linked to an incitement to violence. The Bill provides for a jail term of up to seven years for 'any action' that is 'spoken or written' or 'by visual representation' that can be construed as a 'danger to peace and tranquillity' or interferes with 'maintenance of public order', and it allows for attaching the property of an accused. In this respect, it is more stringent than the most controversial sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Democracy, in practice, is the right to speak and write, to draw and debate, to disagree and criticise. The Constitution recognises this in its guarantees of the fundamental rights to speech and expression. The Special Public Security Act violates that promise in letter and spirit. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who tabled the Bill, said that it was needed to counter organisations that are 'brainwashing the youth'. He should have more faith in the maturity of the young. He spoke of how LWE influence is waning in the state, as in much of the 'red corridor', which, he said, is down from four districts to two blocks. Why, then, raise the bogey of 'urban Maoism'? It is difficult not to see the Bill as an attempt to arrogate more powers to the state and to help it to criminalise political-ideological opponents. The Maharashtra government must rethink the law.
The Star
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
How Hong Kong eatery Wing became one of the world's best restaurants
Sometimes the best things are borne out of the worst moments, sparking ripples of change that lead to extraordinary new beginnings. This is exactly what transpired at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 when famed chef Vicky Cheng opened Wing in Hong Kong, just one floor below his French-Chinese Michelin-starred restaurant Vea. At the time, Cheng was already a vaunted, iconic chef in the city-state. His flagship restaurant Vea was opened to widespread acclaim in 2015 and is a perfect representation of who he is – a French-trained chef who has Chinese roots. But Wing? Well, that proved to be a bit of an anomaly. Wing espouses the values of progressive Chinese cuisine viewed through the lens of someone who is Chinese yet simultaneously is a product of the Chinese diaspora. At the time, opening Wing was a bold move – after all, who would have thought of opening a ground-breaking restaurant at a time when most F&B establishments were charting unprecedented losses? To top it all off, Cheng also had to deal with a whole bunch of detractors. The opening was at first met with incredulity in a city state where Cantonese cuisine – honed through generations of training and home cooking – reigns supreme. Wing was converted into a Chinese restaurant during the Covid-19 pandemic, as Cheng's bar business Vea Lounge wasn't doing well at the time. In many ways, Cheng was viewed as a bit of an interloper – having grown up in Canada, where he himself says he only ate Western food as a child. 'When I was young, instead of watching cartoons, I enjoyed watching cooking shows with Jamie Oliver. I only ate Western food because I wanted to be a French chef since I was young and never thought of another path or occupation since then. I didn't dream about anything else,' says Cheng in an email interview with The Star. But in this regard, Cheng's unique upbringing and formative years are what have proven instrumental in driving Wing's success. Different beginnings Cheng was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Canada. From the time he was a kid, he was determined to be a chef and this vein of thought never changed. As a teenager in high school, he started his culinary career working at an upscale sushi joint in Toronto, Canada. Later, he began his formal training and never looked back. 'I began my formal culinary training at George Brown College in Toronto, where chef Jason Bangerter – now a chef at one of Canada's finest restaurants, Langdon Hall – served as my first mentor. It was there that I progressed from not even knowing how to properly hold a knife to mastering every station in the brigade de cuisine. Cheng says he is able to create boundary-less Chinese food because his lens is different from his peers, having grown up in Canada. Pictured here is a dish of smoked eggplant served at Wing. 'Later, moving to New York to work in Michelin-starred Restaurant Daniel under French chef Daniel Boulud, I was given opportunities to work with ingredients in nearly every conceivable form. Through the intense and creative environment, combined with chef Daniel's guidance, my skills were further refined and elevated, forming the very solid culinary foundation I have today,' he says. It was these skills that came to the fore when Cheng first launched Vea, which was celebrated for its unique intertwining of French techniques with Chinese cuisine. When Wing was launched on the other hand, scepticism abounded everywhere. On a wing and a prayer For many purists, Cheng's advent into what he calls 'boundary-less Chinese cuisine' seemed somewhat impertinent. How could a chef who hadn't spent decades cooking Chinese food or growing up in the womb of the cuisine – now suddenly start cooking it and then open a restaurant devoted to this age-old cuisine? 'If you had asked me 10 years ago about opening a Chinese restaurant, I would have firmly said 'No'. The idea never crossed my mind until I began to deeply explore the richness of premium Chinese ingredients and their limitless potential while brainstorming potential dishes for Vea. The lion's head croaker appetiser is a delicacy from Cheng's grandmother's hometown in Shanghai. 'As I continued experimenting with incorporating Chinese ingredients into Vea's Chinese-French concept, I noticed that many of the dishes I created turned out surprisingly well but didn't quite fit into the culinary philosophy to put on Vea's menu. That's when I realised it would be a shame for these dishes to remain hidden,' says Cheng. Cheng started inviting some close friends to try out his Chinese culinary creations for supper and after receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback, he decided to convert what was originally the bar Vea Lounge into Wing. 'The location of Wing (which is one floor below Vea) was converted from Vea lounge to a Chinese restaurant during the pandemic period a few years ago when bar businesses were going down, which led to an opportunity for this space to transform into my Chinese restaurant – Wing. 'Because the location is only one floor below, we know that we had to create something very distinct to differentiate the identity of both restaurants,' explains Cheng. Cheng began on shaky, uncertain ground, but as the accolades started pouring in, his confidence in what he is doing has grown. Since its inception, Wing has become one of the hottest restaurants in Hong Kong and this year, it scooped the World's 50 Best Restaurants' Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award 2025. In the 2025 Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list, Wing is ranked No 3 and in the recent World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025, Wing is ranked No 11. Cheng now officially helms one of the globe's best restaurants, which in turn means any doubts about his Chinese culinary merit have been completely and totally eviscerated. 'In the beginning, I faced a lot of doubt due to my French culinary background. However, receiving recognition from some of the most prestigious international awards made me feel that my passion and hard work and my team's efforts have truly paid off,' he says. Learning curve It has been a weird, wonderful homecoming of sorts for Cheng, who is not trained in Chinese cuisine at all – at least not the traditional way most of his peers have earned their mettle and stripes. In contrast, everything he has learnt about Chinese cuisine has been almost entirely self-taught, although he credits friends and colleagues with helping him along the way. Cheng's goal at Wing is to make Chinese ingredients like sea cucumber more approachable to people who may be unfamiliar with the cuisine by crafting dishes like this sea cucumber spring roll. 'In the beginning, my Chinese cooking was purely from eating Chinese food and observing the dishes of other Chinese chefs in terms of techniques and flavour profiles. Later in my culinary journey, I was fortunate to learn from Chinese cuisine masters such as Chef Tam Kwok Fung from Chef Tam's Seasons (a two Michelin-starred restaurant in Macau) and Chef Adam Wong from Forum Restaurant (a three Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong, famed for creating Ah Yat braised abalone). 'They generously shared the knowledge they gained from over 30 years of experience, which greatly enriched my understanding,' he says. At Wing, the tasting menu is priced at upwards of RM1,100 per person, but Cheng says despite the opulent sheen, the dishes at the restaurant are rooted in the classic flavours of China's eight cuisines and never lose their Chinese soul or essence. In fact, some recipes are bolstered by his own family. 'As for my dishes at Wing, some of them take inspiration from the roots of my family members, like my Shanghainese grandmother, Chiu Chow (Teochew) father, and the Cantonese flavours where I was born (Hong Kong). 'An example that is influenced by my family background is the lion head croaker, a popular appetiser we introduced when Wing first opened. This small fish is a beloved delicacy in Shanghai which is originally my grandmother's hometown. 'For those unfamiliar with eating fish that have tiny bones, it can be challenging to enjoy, but once you learn, you will truly appreciate the rich and full flavour packed into this tiny yet delicious fish,' he says. Ultimately, Cheng says his goal at Wing is to make Chinese cuisine approachable for everyone, especially people who might be entirely unfamiliar with the overwhelming cornucopia of ingredients and dishes that make up Chinese food. 'Take the sea cucumber as an example. For a Westerner trying sea cucumber for the first time in its traditional form, without any modifications, it can be quite challenging due to its unfamiliar texture and the sauces used in its preparation. 'That's why we came up with our Sea Cucumber Spring Roll dish. By wrapping the jelly-like sea cucumber in a crispy spring roll, we offer a more intriguing and accessible experience. The crunchiness of the spring roll appeals to everyone, and it becomes a gateway for them to try the sea cucumber itself. All of Cheng's dishes, like this stinky tofu prawn toast, are devised through his own learning on Chinese cuisine, as he is entirely self-taught. 'This approach allows us to introduce ingredients in a way that guests are more willing to give them a try. This is just one example of our approach to creating dishes that are unique to us while remaining respectful of tradition,' he says. Cheng says what was once viewed as his weakness is something that has instead given him a key point of differentiation and a superpower of sorts. Because, as it turns out, not having grown up surrounded by Chinese cuisine or even learning how to cook it means he is able to see things through vastly different optics compared to his peers. 'Rather than being more creative, I would describe my approach, infused by my background, as distinctive and unique – presenting Chinese cuisine in a way that others have yet to see before,' he says.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Netanyahu stresses Hamas's military capabilities must be destroyed ahead of US visit
PM: Israel committed to remaining vigilant, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons • 'Opportunity to expand circle of peace' We are determined to bring all hostages home, but are firm in eliminating Hamas's military capabilities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said while preparing to board Israel's state plane, Wing of Zion, to travel to Washington on Sunday. "We are still focused on the Gaza arena. We have also achieved great successes there, but there are still tasks to complete. To date, we have freed 205 out of 255 hostages, including 148 alive. There are 20 hostages still alive and 30 deceased. I am determined, and we are determined, to bring them all back," Netanyahu stated. "We are also determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. This means we will not allow a situation where there are more kidnappings, more killings, more beheadings, or more invasions. This means one thing: the destruction of Hamas's military and governmental capabilities. Hamas will not be there," he continued. "I am committed to these three tasks: freeing and bringing all our hostages, both the living and the fallen, eliminating Hamas's capabilities – removing them from Gaza, and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," he added. "We are working to secure the deal under the terms we agreed to. I sent a team for negotiations with clear instructions, and the conversation with US President Donald Trump can certainly advance the outcome we all hope for," Netanyahu said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks to press before boarding Wings of Zion to travel to Washington, July 6, 2025. (credit: VIA AMICHAI STEIN) "In my conversation with President Trump, I will first thank him for his strong commitment to Israel. We have never had a friend like this in the White House. Our joint efforts led to a tremendous victory over our common enemy – Iran," Netanyahu added. "Iran has made the destruction of Israel its goal. For years we were concerned – what will we do about Iran? Can we handle Iran? And now, our heroic pilots have flown over Iran's skies, and the IDF excelled, as did the Mossad and all our security branches. Not only there, but also against Hezbollah in Lebanon. For years we were concerned – what will Hezbollah do and how can we stop them? We could stop them. And we also struck Hamas," he continued. "This creates a great commitment and also great opportunities. The commitment is, first and foremost, to preserve the achievement, to remain vigilant against Iran's efforts to renew its pursuit of nuclear weapons aimed at our destruction," he stated. "This is one commitment, but there is also a great opportunity. The opportunity is to expand the circle of peace, far beyond what we could have imagined before. We have already dramatically changed the face of the Middle East, and we now have the opportunity and ability to change it even more and bring a great future for the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and the entire Middle East," he continued. "This is my third visit with the president since he was elected a little over six months ago. I will also meet with senior administration officials, key members of Congress from both parties, and many other figures," Netanyahu noted. US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, also boarded Wing of Zion. During the boarding process, The Jerusalem Post asked Huckabee his feelings towards the delegation's visit. Mike Huckabee speaks to The Jerusalem Post while boarding Wings of Zion plane, joining delegation to Washington, July 6, 2025. (credit: AMICHAI STEIN) "Looking forward to it, it's going to be a great trip," Huckabee responded. "Do you expect any announcements to be made?" the Post asked. Huckabee smiled and stated, "I don't want to make any predictions."
