Glad I got a voice because of my sport: Manasi Joshi

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Glad I got a voice because of my sport: Manasi Joshi

India’s para-badminton ace Manasi Joshi continues to inspire fellow para-athletes around the world. From setting examples to breaking stereotypes, Joshi has been a trailblazer ever since she took up the sport following an accident in 2011.

She grabbed headlines last year by winning the World Championships in Basel, beating compatriot and world number one Parul Parmar in the women’s singles SL3 final.

Recently, The TIME magazine featured Joshi as the ‘Next Generation Leader’, a first for a para-athlete. The occasion soon turned into a double delight as the star shuttler got a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll modeled to her likeness on the occasion of International Day of Girl Child on October 11.

“I am glad I got a voice because of my sport. I have been fortunate enough to use this voice to raise awareness about prosthetics, road safety, disability, and inclusion. To me, I am honored beyond measure to be a part of TIME 2020 Next Generation Leaders and also to make it to the cover of TIME Asia,” said Joshi as per a media release shared by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI).

“I personally think that seeing a disabled athlete on the cover of TIME will change a lot of perceptions surrounding disability and para-sports in India as well as Asia,” said the world number two, who lost her left leg in a road accident, having been hit by a truck.

With accomplishments comes responsibilities and the 31-year-old acknowledges that she would need to handle it with care and use her time and energy for the betterment of self and society.

“I hope that I keep inspiring the upcoming generation with my achievements. I think I will keep on playing my sport and speaking up about the importance of inclusion and diversity in various forums.

“To be the first para-athlete to be recognized in this list as an advocate of rights for persons with disability in India feels like a great achievement. I am glad to be able to contribute to the paralympic movement in India through my sport and voice it is providing me,” said Joshi.

She also emphasized that hard work, ambition, and perseverance are the most important things which a person requires in order to be successful.

“My message to young girls will be ‘Do not listen to anyone who says that you can’t do something. You have to dream and give it all because dreams do come true’,” said Joshi.

Samsung announces 40% festive discount on Galaxy S20+

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Samsung announces 40% festive discount on Galaxy S20+

Samsung has announced discounts and cashback offers on a wide range of products and consumers can get up to 40 percent discount on select Galaxy smartphones such as its flagship Galaxy S20+.

Consumers shopping from Samsung.com will also get two-three day delivery of company products to their doorsteps across 16,000 pin codes in the country.

“This festive season, the Samsung.com online store is going to be the go-to destination for all Samsung products. Consumers can expect to find discounts as much as 60 percent and cashback offers of up to 12.5 percent on select products, but an exciting offer on every product for sure,” Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Samsung India said in a statement.

Samsung is also offering up to 60 percent off on select accessories such as wireless chargers and JBL speakers.

Consumers can enjoy up to 45 percent discount on a range of TV and Home Appliances such as The Frame television, Spacemax Family Hub French Door refrigerator, and front-load Ecobubble with Hygiene Steam washing machine.

The discounts and offers are valid from October 15 to November 16, the company said.

Samsung on Thursday announced festive offers on its wide range of external and internal solid-state devices (SSDs), including recently-launched T7 Touch, T7 external SSDs, and 870 QVO internal SSD, and Micro-SD cards during the Flipkart and Amazon festive sales.

“Our aim is to deliver unparalleled experience and technology that meets our consumers’ expectations. We are confident that our festive offers will make our consumers’ life easier and add more joy to the festivities,” said Akash Saxenaa, Senior Director, Enterprise Sales, Samsung India.

New AI-driven security platform mimics thousands of hackers

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New AI-driven security platform mimics thousands of hackers

Breach risk assessment firm FireCompass on Thursday unveiled a new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered platform that mimics thousands of hackers trying to break into an organization, thus enabling the IT security teams to launch continuous safe attacks to identify blind spots before hackers do.

Created by a team of serial cybersecurity entrepreneurs, the Continuous Automated Red Teaming (CART) platform is already in use by top companies, including Sprint (now a part of T-Mobile), Security Innovation, and others, spanning multiple industries.

“Organisations typically conduct security testing only a few times a year on a partial list of online assets, excluding shadow IT unknown to security teams. Meanwhile, hackers are always attempting attacks on the entirety of their assets,” said Bikash Barai, Co-Founder of FireCompass.

“At FireCompass, our vision is to make the CART platform available to all so that organizations can discover and test all their assets at all times – just like real attackers do”.

The solution runs continuously without the need for software, hardware, or additional employee resources.

It indexes the deep, dark, and surface web using similar reconnaissance techniques as nation-state actors.

The platform automatically discovers an organization’s ever-changing digital attack surface, including unknown exposed databases, cloud buckets, code leaks, exposed credentials, risky cloud assets, and open ports, etc, the company said.

The attack engine then launches multi-stage attacks, which include network attacks, application attacks, and social engineering attacks, on the discovered digital surface to identify attack paths that are otherwise missed by conventional tools.

FireCompass is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for Continuous Automated Red Teaming (CART) and Attack Surface Management (ASM).

Founded by industry veterans Bikash Barai, Nilanjan De, and Priyanka Aash, FireCompass is backed by leading investors and venture capitalist funds.

‘The Pathless’ and ‘Reigns: Beyond’ games soon on Apple Arcade

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‘The Pathless’ and ‘Reigns: Beyond’ games soon on Apple Arcade

Apple has announced two new game titles Reigns: Beyond and The Pathless which are coming soon to its Cloud gaming service Apple Arcade.

“Coming Soon to Apple Arcade: The Pathless. As the Hunter, you must explore forests and tundras with your eagle companion to uncover puzzles and hunt down corrupt spirits,” the company said in a tweet on Wednesday.

‘The Pathless’ is set to launch on November 12. It’s an open-world puzzle adventure game where players take on the role of an archer with an eagle companion and fight battles to eliminate a dark curse.

Meanwhile, ‘Reigns: Beyond’ is the fourth game in the Reigns series, which includes the original Reigns title, Reigns Her Majesty, and Reigns: Game of Thrones.

“Take on intergalactic stardom while recruiting alien band members and navigating your way through a space tour,” the company said.

‘Reigns: Beyond’ will ask players to take on the role of an intergalactic indie rock band, using decision cards to chart a path to stardom.

‘Reigns: Beyond’ is set to launch on November 6, and it will be an Apple Arcade exclusive.

Earlier, Arcade added two new games — deep-sea adventure ‘Beyond Blue’ by E-Line Media and the emotional puzzle game ‘A Fold Apart’ by Lightning Rod Games — on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.

The subscription gaming service costs $99 a month and lets people play more than 120 games across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod Touch, and Apple TV.

Giro D’Italia: Arnaud Demare takes 4th win on Stage 11

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Giro D’Italia: Arnaud Demare takes 4th win on Stage 11

A fourth stage win for Frenchman Arnaud Demare saw the in-form Groupama-FDJ rider extend his lead at the top of the maglia ciclamino standings in Stage 11 to the beach resort of Rimini in the ongoing Giro D’Italia.

One day after Peter Sagan ended his drought, normal service resumed for the Slovakian, who had to settle for a fourth-second place after the 182km stage — of the race being broadcast on Eurosport network — along the Adriatic coast on Wednesday. Having closed the gap to 20 points, Sagan now trails Demare by 36 points in the two-horse race for the purple jersey.

Once again, Demare benefitted from a flawless lead out from his Groupama-FDJ train, the 29-year-old launching from the wheels of teammate Jacopo Guarnieri on the home straight and never looking back.

Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) beat the Colombian Alvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck Quick-Step) for second place while the Italian Simone Consonni (Cofidis) and the German Rick Zabel (Israel Start-Up Nation) completed the top five.

Despite some hard work from his UAE-Team Emirates outfit, the misfiring Colombian Fernando Gaviria could only muster seventh place, while tenth-place Elia Viviani’s chances were not done any favors when the Italian sprinter from Cofidis was knocked off his bike by a race motorcycle with 32km remaining.

On the day which belonged to Demare and his Groupama-FDJ team, there was no change in the overall classification as Portugal’s Joao Almeida (Deceuninck Quick-Step) retained the pink jersey with a 34-second lead over the Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb).

Liam Livingstone returns to Perth Scorchers for BBL 10

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Liam Livingstone returns to Perth Scorchers for BBL 10

England batsman Liam Livingstone has re-committed to the Perth Scorchers for the upcoming edition of the Big Bash League (BBL).

Livingstone enjoyed a blistering debut BBL season last year, smashing 425 runs at an average of 30.36 and a strike rate of 142.62, forming an important opening partnership with Josh Inglis. His standout performance in BBL 9 game against the Adelaide Strikers when he belted seven sixes on his way to 79 in a 54-ball blitz.

“I loved my time with Perth last season, I can’t wait to get back out there and get that orange playing shirt back on. I enjoyed opening the batting last year and formed a great partnership with ‘Ingo’, hopefully, we can pick up where we left off and continue to entertain the Perth supporters,” Livingstone said in a statement.

“The Scorchers have a rich history in the BBL, hopefully, we can start the season strong and add another Big Bash title to the collection,” he added.

Perth Scorchers coach Adam Voges said: “It’s terrific that Liam has agreed to join us again for BBL 10, he made a great impression last season finishing as one of the competition’s leading run scorers.”

“He fitted in very well with our group and along with his handy leg-spin and energetic fielding, he brings a wealth of talent to the team,” he added.

Reliance Jio-led super app battle to intensify in India in 2021

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Reliance Jio-led super app battle to intensify in India in 2021

Businesses will further accelerate the pace of their digital activities in 2021 by creating new-age apps and platforms and the world will see this battle ratcheting up in intensity in India led by Reliance Jio Platforms, a new report has said.

According to global market research firm Forrester, Covid-19 affected the Asia Pacific first, and they expect the region will also emerge from the crisis first in 2021, before the US and Europe.

“APAC will see a platform surge. APAC is already home to some of the largest platforms in places like China and India. However, we will see this battle ratcheting up in intensity, especially in India,” said Ashutosh Sharma, VP, Research Director.

Reliance’s Jio Platforms have already blazed the trail with more than $20 billion investment in their digital business.

“They are simultaneously lining up more investments for their retail platform. Tata in India has thrown their hat in the ring with the announcement of their own super-app,” Sharma said in a statement on Wednesday.

With Paytm and Walmart’s Flipkart in the fray, India will see some serious competition among these platforms.

Targeting Google’s dominance in the app distribution space in India, leading digital payments platform Paytm last week set up a Rs 10 crore fund as equity investments for mini-app developers in the country.

Paytm has also launched an Android Mini App Store to support local developers in the country.

On 5G, Forrester said the technology will finally make an impact and China will be its epicenter.

“In China, with heavy government support, rapid rollouts across the country, and evolution of supporting tech, 5G will find an ideal breeding ground for innovations across various verticals,” Sharma noted.

China’s experimentation and adoption of 5G-enabled business models and 5G-led innovation will offer valuable lessons to other countries and enterprises.

Values-focused firms will deliver higher profits than those focusing on profits alone.

“Brands can no longer work in shadows with a constant spotlight on each of their actions, statements, and associations across social media. They must show their explicit commitment to respect customers’ privacy, for example,” Sharma emphasized.

“They must tackle complex economic, environmental, and social challenges that impact all of us. They must do so with integrity, competence, and transparency to earn the trust and loyalty of these values-conscious consumers”.

The cybersecurity concerns will also dominate the agendas of businesses and governments alike.

“We will see increased adoption of Zero Trust and the evolution of regulatory frameworks for data protection and privacy. Further, we expect firms to sharpen their focus on employee experience as they struggle to deal with people’s aspect of the pandemic,” Sharma said.

IPL: Delhi Capitals moves to top; KL, Rabada stick to their Caps

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IPL: Delhi Capitals moves to top; KL, Rabada stick to their Caps

Delhi Capitals have moved to the top of the points table following their sixth win in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

On Wednesday evening, Capitals defeated Rajasthan Royals by 13 runs, and courtesy that, they now have 12 points in eight matches they have played so far in the tournament.

Mumbai Indians are placed at the second spot, followed by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both have 10 points from seven games but because of a superior net run-rate, Mumbai is placed above Bangalore.

Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul and Kagiso Rabada of Delhi Capitals continue to hold on their numero uno spots in the list of leading run-getters and wicket-takers.

Rahul continues to hold onto the Orange Cap, having scored 387 runs in seven games. He is followed by his teammate Mayank Agarwal who has collected 337 runs in seven games. Chennai Super Kings’ Faf du Plessis comes third on the list with 307 runs in eight games.

Rabada, on the other hand, continues to wear the Purple Cap, having scalped 18 wickets in eight matches. He is followed by Jofra Archer who has 12 wickets to his name. Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah, who has 11 wickets in seven games, comes third in the list.

India’s Covid cases doubling in over 70 days

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India’s Covid cases doubling in over 70 days

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said the country’s doubling time of Covid-19 cases has sharply increased to 70.4 days from 25.5 days in mid-August, which is nearly thrice the time being taken earlier.

“This indicates a substantial fall in the daily new cases and the consequent increase in time taken to double the total cases,” the Ministry tweeted as India recorded a spike of 67,708 coronavirus cases and 680 deaths in 24 hours, as the tally mounted to 73,07,097 cases.

A graph along with the Ministry’s tweet showed India’s doubling rate was 27.7 days on August 18; 32 on August 30; 35.6 on September 17; 51.4 on October 2; and 70.4 on October 14.

Out of the total cases, 8,12,390 are currently active, 63,83,441 have been discharged, while 1,11,266 lost the battle against the pandemic.

While the recovery rate stands at 87.36 per cent, the fatality rate is 1.52 per cent, the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Maharashtra continued to be the worst-hit with a total of 15,54,389 cases, including 40,859 deaths; followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. There has been a resurgence of sort in Kerala as cases have started increasing and it now shares half the caseload of the country along with Maharashtra and Karnataka.

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted 11,36,183 sample tests in a single day on Wednesday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 9,12,26,305.

It was after nearly two months that the daily spike had dropped below 60,000 on Tuesday. Active cases have remained below nine lakh for almost a week, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data showed.

The fatalities have come down below 1,000 for nearly a fortnight now. India had recorded a spike of 97,894 cases on September 17.

NASA awards $370mn to 14 US firms for 2024 Moon mission

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NASA awards $370mn to 14 US firms for 2024 Moon mission

NASA has picked 14 US companies, including several small businesses, as partners and awarded them $370 million in total to develop a range of technologies that will help forge a path to sustainable Artemis operations on the Moon by the end of the decade.

The space agency selected partners to develop technologies in cryogenic fluid management, lunar surface, and closed-loop descent and landing.

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate will negotiate with the companies to issue milestone-based firm-fixed-price contracts lasting for up to five years.

“NASA’s significant investment in innovative technology demonstrations, led by small and large US businesses across nine states, will expand what is possible in space and on the lunar surface,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

“Together, NASA and industry are building up an array of mission-ready capabilities to support a sustainable presence on the Moon and future human missions to Mars.”

Bridenstine announced the selections during a keynote address at the virtual fall Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium meeting on Wednesday.

The selected companies include SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Nokia, Sierra Nevada, SSL Robotics, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), among others.

“This is the most Tipping Point proposals NASA has selected at once and by far the largest collective award value,” said NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Technology Jim Reuter.

The majority of the funding will help mature cryogenic fluid management technologies via in-space demonstrations led by small business Eta Space, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, and ULA.

The ability to store these super-cold liquids, whether they are launched from Earth or produced in space, for an extended period and transfer propellant from one tank to another, is crucial for establishing sustainable operations on the Moon and enabling human missions to Mars.

Intuitive Machines will develop a small, deployable hopper lander capable of carrying a 2.2-pound payload more than 1.5 miles.

As part of its Artemis program, NASA plans to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024 and establish a sustainable presence there by the end of the decade.

The agency will use the Moon to prepare for its next giant leap — a human exploration of Mars.

Para-archer Ankit tests positive for Covid-19, hospitalised

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Para-archer Ankit tests positive for Covid-19, hospitalised

Para-Archer Ankit, who is a part of the national camp underway at the Sports Authority of India’s Northern Regional Centre, has tested positive for coronavirus and subsequently, he has been hospitalized.

“To ensure proper treatment and close monitoring of his vitals, he (Ankit) was shifted to the Bhagwan Dass Hospital in Sonepat on Wednesday,” SAI said in a statement.

The para-archery camp had commenced with eight athletes on October 5.

“As per the SOPs set up for the camp, samples of all campers were taken on October 12th for re-testing where Ankit’s report was found to be positive,” the SAI statement read.

“He was immediately shifted to the isolation ward created above the medical center at the SAI NRC Sonepat, before being moved to the hospital,” it added.

The sporting activities of Tokyo Olympics bound athletes and para-athletes were resumed by SAI at its National Centre of Excellence (NCOEs) in a phased manner last week.

Google Play saw 28.3bn downloads in Q3, Apple App Store at 8.2bn

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Google Play saw 28.3bn downloads in Q3, Apple App Store at 8.2bn

Google Play store saw 28.3 billion downloads in the third quarter this year, a 31 percent increase compared to last year. Apple App Store managed 8.2 billion total downloads in Q3.

According to data gathered by SafeBettingSites, Google Play registered downloads three times more than Apple App Store.

Over 80.6 billion apps have been downloaded on Google Play since the beginning of the year, while the Apple App Store saw 26.6 billion combined downloads to date, reports GSMArena.

Google Play has the largest app portfolio with over 2.7 million total apps (a 5.85 percent increase compared to the previous quarter), ahead of the App Store’s 1.82 million apps.

The most downloaded category of apps on the Play Store belongs to gaming with 13.49 percent downloads, followed by education (9.11 percent) and business (6.95 percent).

App Store downloads peaked at 9.3 billion in the first three months of the year. However, the number of downloads has been falling since then, reaching 8.2 billion in the third quarter.

Windows Store and Amazon Store follow with 669,000 and 450,000 available apps, respectively.

Ronaldo returns to Juventus on special medical flight

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Ronaldo returns to Juventus on special medical flight

Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo, who tested positive for Covid-19 while leading Portugal in the UEFA Nations League, has returned to Italy via a special medical flight.

Ronaldo, who is under contract with Juventus for 31 million euros ($36.6 million) per year, returned from Portugal on Wednesday and will continue his coronavirus quarantine under the care of Juventus physicians, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Portugal skipper first tested positive for the virus on Monday, but his status was not revealed until the result of Tuesday’s second test was available.

Italian media reported that within hours of the second test, Juventus began arranging a special flight for him to return to Italy.

“Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Italy with a medical flight authorised by the competent health authorities at the request of the player and will continue his fiduciary isolation at his home,” Juventus said in a statement.

The team said Ronaldo was asymptomatic and in good health, despite the positive test.

Italian media speculated that Ronaldo may have been infected by two members of the Portuguese national team who tested positive on Monday.

Portugal beat Sweden 3-0 on Wednesday night in Lisbon without the three infected players.

Juve doctors will oversee Ronaldo’s recovery, along with that of teammate Weston McKennie, a member of the United States’ national team.

Juventus revealed Wednesday that McKennie had also tested positive for Covid-19.

Juventus, who will play its next game on Saturday against winless Crotone, is currently in a three-way tie for third place just three games into the Serie A season, with two wins and one loss.

Nearly 700k children in US test Covid-19 positive

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Nearly 700k children in US test Covid-19 positive

Nearly 700,000 children in the US have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic earlier this year, according to a new report.

The report released on Wednesday by the American Academy of Paediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association said that a total of 77,073 new child cases were reported from September 24 to October 8, a 13 percent increase in over two weeks, reports Xinhua news agency.

So far, a total of 697,633 child Covid-19 cases had been reported in the US, and children represented 10.7 per cent of all those infected, said the report.

The overall rate was 927 cases per 100,000 children in the population.

Children accounted for 0.9 per cent to 3.6 per cent of total reported hospitalizations, and 0 to 0.23 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths, said the report.

“At this time, it appears that severe illness due to Covid-19 is rare among children. However, states should continue to provide detailed reports on cases, testing, hospitalizations, and mortality by age and race/ethnicity so that the effects of coronavirus on children’s health can be documented and monitored,” it added.

The report comes as the US remains the world’s worst-hit country with the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths.

As of Thursday morning, the total number of cases in the country stood at 7,911,497, while the death toll increased to 216,734, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Trump slams Facebook, Twitter for restricting Joe Biden article

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Trump slams Facebook, Twitter for restricting Joe Biden article

US President Donald Trump has slammed Facebook and Twitter for restricting the distribution of a New York Post article criticizing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The New York Post published a series of stories on Wednesday citing emails, purportedly sent by Biden’s son.

The reports claimed it got those emails from Trump’s private lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon reports NPR.org.

Facebook limited the spread of the story which was liked, shared, or commented on almost 600,000 times on Facebook, according to data from CrowdTangle.

In an unprecedented step, Twitter blocked users from posting pictures of the emails or links to two of the New York Post’s stories, citing its rules against sharing “content obtained through hacking that contains private information.”

Twitter said that the “images contained in the articles include personal and private information — like email addresses and phone numbers — which violate our rules”.

However, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey acknowledged that the company’s communication about why it was blocking the articles “was not great”.

“Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable”, he tweeted.

The action by Facebook and Twitter resulted in a political storm in the US.

Trump tweeted that it was “so terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story”.

Although Facebook did not remove it from its platform but limited its spread.

“REPEAL SECTION 230!!!” Trump said in a tweet.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri sent letters to Facebook and Twitter, pressing them on the decisions to reduce distribution and block the story.

Twitter and Facebook have been acting more aggressively to curb the spread of false claims and manipulation related to the election.

Rasika Dugal: No two actors experiences can be similar

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Rasika Dugal: No two actors experiences can be similar

Actress Rasika Dugal feels the careers of no two actors are ever the same, and no actor can have the same experience as others in the profession.

Rasika made her Bollywood debut in Bollywood in 2008 with “Tahaan”. She was then seen in projects like “Tu Hai Mera Sunday” and “Hamid”. She was also seen in the OTT series as “Mirzapur” and “Delhi Crime”, and the digitally-released film “Lootcase”.

Rasika says she doubts herself almost “every day”.

“I just think that because I have had many years of experience I know how to possibly manage my self-doubt around certain things a little better than others, but as the years go by your career changes. There are new challenges every day and the difficult thing and interesting thing about this career is that there is no one way to do it,” Rasika told IANS.

“Your career cannot be a mirror image of somebody else’s. No actor’s experiences can be similar to the others,” she pointed out.

“There is no benchmark, So, every actor’s journey is unique and it throws unique challenges at you. So, self-doubt is always around,” she said.

Punjab to keep multiplexes, cinema halls shut

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Punjab to keep multiplexes, cinema halls shut

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday decided not to open multiplexes and cinema halls.

“Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government decides not to open multiplexes, cinema halls and entertainment parks in the state yet,” Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Raveen Thukral informed in a tweet.

“However, Ramlilas to be allowed with strict Covid protocols,” he added.

The Centre had allowed the opening of the cinema halls and multiplexes across the country from October 15 but with certain conditions, including 50 percent occupancy. However, the exhibition of films was not allowed in the containment zones.

The cinema halls and multiplexes have been shut since the end of March due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Man claims harassment by wife in FB post, consumes poison

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Man claims harassment by wife in FB post, consumes poison

A 30-year-old social worker shared a suicide note on Facebook before consuming poison in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur city.

In his post, Chandan Singh Verma claimed that he was being harassed by his wife Kalpana Verma, who was demanding Rs 20 lakh for giving him a divorce. They got married in 2014.

When his friends and relatives saw the post on Wednesday, they immediately started calling him, but he did not answer the calls. Some of them reached his house and found it locked from inside.

The police were informed and Chandan was found lying unconscious on his bed.

He was immediately taken to a district hospital and later referred to a higher center in Bareilly, but he died on his way.

Station House Officer (SHO) Kotwali police station Pravesh Singh said, “We have sent the body for autopsy and have filed an FIR against his wife under IPC section 306 (abetment of suicide). The suicide note is evidence and we will include it in our investigation.”

UP cinema halls, multiplexes get licence fee exemption

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UP cinema halls, multiplexes get licence fee exemption

In a major relief to cinemas and multiplexes, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh government has announced an exemption of license fees from April to September.

The cinema halls and multiplexes have been shut since the end of March due to the Covid-19 lockdown and are now beginning operations from Thursday.

Yogi Adityanath announced the exemption of fee for six months in view of the fact that cinema halls and multiplexes did no business in this duration due to the lockdown.

The exemption has been announced under the provisions of section 10 of the UP Cinema (Regulation) Act 1955.

The cinemas and multiplexes have finally been allowed to start operations from Thursday, but the permission has come with several riders to enforce sanitation and social distancing.

An auditorium can only be filled to 50 percent of its capacity while ticket sales will largely take place online or through contactless payment mode. Face masks will be compulsory for all guests and staff.

Mulayam, wife now stable after testing Covid-19 positive: Family

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Mulayam, wife now stable after testing Covid-19 positive: Family

After testing positive for the novel coronavirus, Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his wife Sadhana, were now “stable”, a family source said on Thursday.

The couple had tested positive on Wednesday.

“Both of them were asymptomatic but have been admitted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram because of the age factor.

“We are in touch with the doctors and both are stable,” the source added.

The SP supremo and his wife were recently hospitalized in Lucknow for comorbidities, including hypertension.

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