Filmmaker M J Radhakrishnan passes away at 60 following heart attack

Mumbai, Mar 14: Animal Planet has announced a new documentary "The Zoo: COVID-19 And Animals", which seeks to explore the effects of coronavirus on animals.

The special will see Dave Salmoni, Animal Planet’s big cat expert, talking to a number of experts, from the World Health Organization to wildlife biologists, in order to find out how COVID-19 is affecting animals and what pet owners can do to safeguard them.

The issue came to forefront when a four-year-old Malayan tiger tested positive for COVID-19 at Bronx Zoo in New York.

The documentary will feature chief veterinarian of Bronx Zoo, who will give an update on the big cats and their treatment, and also Dr Peter Embarek from WHO's COVID-19 Task Force, who works particularly on all aspects of the virus related to animals.

In a statement, Salmoni said, "When news about Nadia the tiger came out the questions immediately began; what about my pets? How do I keep my animals and family safe? We’re going to answer these questions and more through this documentary."

"We're speaking to a wide range of experts from the World Health Organization, to wildlife biologists, to veterinarians. We are at war with this disease and so we get down to the nitty-gritty, and discuss practical questions about daily lives with our pets," he added.

Sai Abishek, Director – Content, Factual & Lifestyle Entertainment – South Asia, Discovery, said, "We have been the forefront of busting myths around novel coronavirus with international documentaries. With this latest film, we take a hard look at how animals are being treated during such a crisis and the safety measures that can be taken to keep both, the people and their pets healthy."

"The Zoo: COVID-19 And Animals" will premiere on May 17 on Animal Planet, Animal Planet HD and Discovery Plus app.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 10: Eminent Carnatic vocalist and playback singer K J Yesudas, who has enthralled music aficionados across the world with his profound and mellifluous voice for the last six decades, turned 80 on Friday.

People from various walks of life, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and luminaries of music and film world besides socio-cultural personalities, wished the legendary singer, popularly called as 'gana gandharvan' (the celestial singer) by his fans, on his birthday.

Regional newspapers came out with special pages and television channels with exclusive programmes as a tribute to the singer, who has recorded over 80,000 songs in various genres in almost all languages of India including about 25,000 film songs, Carnatic bhajans and devotional songs.

Besides Indian languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Odia, his voice gave life to songs in Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian during a career spanning over six decades.

Yesudas, whom the country had honoured with Padma Vibhushan in 2017, is the recipient of eight national awards, 25 Kerala state awards, five state awards of Tamil Nadu and four of Andhra Pradesh.

"On the special occasion of his 80th birthday, greetings to the versatile K J Yesudas Ji. His melodious music and soulful renditions have made him popular across all age groups. He has made valuable contributions to Indian culture. Wishing him a long and healthy life," Modi tweeted.

The Left veteran also shared a photo of the veteran singer along with the tweet.

Meanwhile, Yesudas this morning visited the Mookambika Temple at Kollur in Udupi district of Karnataka along with his family, a practice he has been following for the last four decades.

Draped in the traditional Kerala style kasavu mundu and shawl, 'dasettan', as he is known among his hardcore fans cutting across ages, Yesudas offered prayers along with his wife Prabha and sons and performed special poojas at the Goddess Saraswathi temple.

Hundreds of music buffs gathered at the shrine to wish the octogenarian singer.

Considered as one of the best playback singers in the country, Yesudas had begun his music career in the tinsel town with the Malayalam song "Jathi bhedam matha dwesham" in the year 1961 and sang in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films among other languages.

Yesudas's foray into Bollywood saw him recording various memorable hits, including "Jab Deep Jale Aana" and "Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara".

Los Angeles, Mar 24: In a bizarre video shot from her rose petal filled bathtub, pop star Madonna has called the coronavirus pandemic "a great equaliser".

The music icon said the virus doesn't discriminate between rich and poor.

That's the thing about COVID-1. It doesn't care about how rich you are, how famous you are, how funny you are, how smart you are, where you live, how old you are, what amazing stories you can tell.

It's the great equaliser and what's terrible about it is what's great about it. What's terrible about it is that it's made us all equal in many ways, and what's wonderful about is, is that it's made us all equal in many ways, Madonna said in the video while having a milky bath in tub full of roses.

The 61-year-old singer, who had to cancel two of her concerts in Paris due to coronavirus outbreak, also referenced her 1995 song Human Nature in the video saying we are all going down together .

According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the death toll from the virus globally has risen to 14,641 with 336,000 cases reported in 173 countries and territories.