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Tom Cruise on landing ‘Rain Man’  Tom Cruise might owe one of the biggest roles of his career to some good old-fashioned sibling pressure. During a lively and revealing appearance at the BFI in London on Sunday, the Hollywood icon opened up about how he landed Rain Man—and, surprisingly, it all started with his sister Cass and a bold move at a New York restaurant.Back in 1984, Cruise had just wrapped filming Legend with Ridley Scott and was visiting Cass in the city when they spotted none other than Dustin Hoffman grabbing takeout.  “She goes, ‘There’s Dustin Hoffman,’” Cruise recalled.…

Listen to article RAWALPINDI: Pakistani military hit 26 Indian military facilities and dozens of Pakistani drones hovered over major Indian cities, including capital New Delhi, in the offensive operations on Saturday, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said on Sunday. The chief military spokesperson said that the Pakistan Armed Forces fulfilled the promise they made to the nation to avenge the martyrdom of innocent civilians, including children, in strikes in the night between May 6 and 7. Chaudhry spoke to the media at a joint press conference along with Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed…

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: A day after breaking the news of ceasefire between Pakistan and India, US President Donald Trump on Sunday went a step further and offered assistance to both the nuclear armed neighbours to resolving their longstanding dispute over Kashmir. Trump during his first term had offered mediation on Kashmir but this time he went a step further. India previously rebuffed his mediation offer and is unlikely to give any positive response to the fresh proposal. But the fact that Trump’s push for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute punctured the Indian narrative that made desperate attempts over the past…

COLOMBO: An overcrowded bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims plummeted into a precipice in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 21 and injuring 24, a senior transport official said. The island nation’s winding roads are among the most dangerous in the world, and the crash off a cliffside road on Sunday was among the deadliest recorded in Sri Lanka in decades. The roof and side panels of the bus were sheared off, and more than half the seats were ripped from the floor of the vehicle, which landed wheels up into a tea plantation, photos of the wreckage showed.…

A representational image of a Richter Scale can be seen measuring an earthquake. — AFP/FileBEIJING: An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 struck Tibet early on Monday, the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) said.The quake hit the city of Shigatse at 5:11am (2111 GMT), at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). Authorities have dispatched emergency response services and no casualties have been reported so far, CEA said.In January, more than 120 died in a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Tibet’s Tingri county, around 240 km (149 miles) away from Shigatse.

GAZA CITY: Hamas and US representatives have held rare direct talks in Qatar, two officials from the Palestinian group told AFP on Sunday. “Direct talks have taken place in Doha between the Hamas leadership and the United States regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, a prisoner exchange and the entry of humanitarian aid,” said a senior Hamas official, adding that the talks “are still ongoing”. A second Hamas official said there was “progress made… notably on the entry of aid to the Gaza Strip” and the potential exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, “particularly concerning Edan Alexander”, a…

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed at least 12 people, including young children, mostly in the south of the besieged Palestinian territory. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli fighter jets hit three tents overnight where dozens of displaced people were sheltering in the southern city of Khan Yunis. “Eight people, including four children aged two to five and two women” were killed, Bassal said. AFP footage showed rescuers working in the dark, evacuating a wounded baby from the site of the strike as well as two bodies, one of them…

KABUL: Taliban authorities have barred chess across Afghanistan until further notice over concerns it is a source of gambling, which is illegal under the government’s morality law, a sports official said on Sunday. “Chess in sharia (Islamic law) is considered a means of gambling,” which is prohibited according to the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law announced last year, sports directorate spokesperson Atal Mashwani told AFP. “There are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess,” he said. “Until these considerations are addressed, the sport of chess is suspended in Afghanistan,” he added. Mashwani said the national chess federation…

Marseille players celebrating. —AFP/FilePARIS: Mason Greenwood´s brilliant late strike helped Marseille beat Le Havre 3-1 in Ligue 1 on Saturday and clinch qualification for next season´s Champions League, while Monaco defeated Lyon to secure their own spot at Europe´s top table.Both sides came into the penultimate night of the French campaign knowing wins plus favourable results elsewhere could secure a top-three finish behind champions Paris Saint-Germain with a game of the season to spare. Marseille got the job done away to relegation-threatened Le Havre, but it looked set to be a frustrating night for them despite Amine Gouiri putting the…

MUSCAT: Iran and the United States wrapped up nuclear talks in Oman on Sunday with no apparent breakthrough in a public standoff over enrichment, but with both sides confirming plans for future negotiations. This was the fourth round of talks that began nearly a month ago, marking the highest-level contact between the two foes since Washington withdrew in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal, during President Donald Trump’s first term. Both sides had reported progress in the previous three rounds, and on Sunday Iran said the meeting was “difficult but useful” while a senior US official said Washington was “encouraged”.…