Ahead of I-League Qualifiers, two players test Covid positive

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Ahead of I-League Qualifiers, two players test Covid positive

One player each from FC Bengaluru United and Bhawanipore FC tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the I-League Qualifiers slated to begin next week.

The qualifiers are slated to kick-off on October 8 where five teams will play in a round-robin format and face each other once. Matches are slated to take place at the VYBK Stadium in Kolkata and Kalyani Stadium till October 19. Apart from FC Bengaluru United and Bhawanipore FC, ARA FC, Garhwal FC and Mohammedan SC are the other three teams which will battle it out for a direct entry in the I-League.

“The All India Football Federation (AIFF) in close coordination with the Indian Football Association and competent medical authorities are conducting regular COVID-19 tests on all participating officials, players and support staff for the forthcoming Hero I-League Qualifiers slated to kick-off in Kolkata on October 8, 2020,” an AIFF statement read on Thursday.

“It is to be notified that one player each from FC Bengaluru United and Bhawanipore FC have tested positive,” it informed.

The statement added that all appropriate medical support was being given to the teams, and the players who tested positive are under medical supervision in a quarantined environment as required by the safety measures and COVID-19 protocols put in place for the tournament.

Now pre-book Galaxy Tab A7 Wi-Fi model online in India

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Now pre-book Galaxy Tab A7 Wi-Fi model online in India

Samsung on Thursday announced that its affordable Galaxy Tab A7 (Wi-Fi variant) is now available on Amazon.in and Samsung.com for Rs 17,999.

The customers can now pre-book the device and they can get the Book Cover at a special price of Rs 1,875 and an additional cashback up to Rs 1,500 while paying with ICICI credit and debit cards, the company said in a statement.

Galaxy Tab A7 sports a wide and immersive display and a large 10.4-inch WUXGA+ screen with 80 per cent screen-to-body ratio.

The device is light to hold, has a compact form factor and is 7mm thin.

Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662, Galaxy Tab A7 has a long-lasting battery of 7040mAh with adaptive fast charging.

The consumers will get a two-month subscription of YouTube Premium free with the device that can be pre-booked on Samsung.com, select retail stores and leading online portals.

The LTE model of 10.4-inch Galaxy Tab A7 is priced at Rs 21,999.

Pichai commits $1 billion to help publishers create quality news

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Pichai commits $1 billion to help publishers create quality news

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday announced the company’s biggest $1 billion investment for the future of news, in partnerships with news publishers that would pay them to create and curate high-quality content for better online news experience.

Pichai launched Google News Showcase that features the editorial curation of award-winning newsrooms to give readers more insight on the stories that matter, and in the process, helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences.

“We’ve signed partnerships for News Showcase with nearly 200 leading publications across Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the UK and Australia. The number of news publications will grow as we work to expand News Showcase to other countries including India, Belgium and the Netherlands,” Pichai said in a blog post.

Google News Showcase will start rolling out in Germany and Brazil from Thursday and come to other countries where local frameworks support these partnerships.

News Showcase is made up of story panels that will appear initially in Google News on Android.

The product will launch soon on Google News on iOS, and will come to Google Discover and Search in the future.

“Other components like video, audio and daily briefings will come next,” Pichai said.

The $1 billion investment is another step from Google to support the news industry.

The publications include award-winning national titles like Der Spiegel, Stern, Die Zeit, Folha de S.Paulo, Band and Infobae, alongside regionally and locally significant publications such as El Litoral, GZH, WAZ and SooToday.

The company said from sending 24 billion visits to news websites globally every month to the Google News Initiative’s (GNI) $300 million commitment, including emergency funding for local publishers globally to help with the impact of Covid-19, it is helping small and medium-sized publishers accelerate their business growth.

Google News Showcase, said Pichai, is distinct from other news products “because it leans on the editorial choices individual publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them”.

Google News Showcase builds on the existing news licensing programme, which is paying publishers for quality journalism and other news-related efforts like Subscribe with Google, Web Stories and audio news.

“Both Google News Showcase and our financial investment – which will extend beyond the initial three years – are focused on contributing to the overall sustainability of our news partners around the world,” Pichai said, adding that the company aims to play its part by helping journalism in the 21st century not just survive, but thrive.

“I have always valued quality journalism and believed that a vibrant news industry is critical to a functioning democratic society,” he said.

GST collection in September stands at Rs 95,480 crore

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GST collection in September stands at Rs 95,480 crore

The gross GST revenue collection in September rose sequentially to Rs 95,480 crore from August’s collection, an official statement said on Thursday.

In August, the gross GST collection stood at Rs 86,449 crore.

“The gross GST revenue collected in the month of September 2020 is Rs 95,480 crore, of which CGST is Rs 17,741 crore, SGST is Rs 23,131 crore, IGST is Rs 47,484 crore (including Rs 22,442 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 7,124 crore (including Rs 788 crore collected on import of goods),” the Ministry of Finance statement said.

The government has settled Rs 21,260 crore to CGST and Rs 16,997 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by Central government and the state governments after regular settlement in the month of September 2020 is Rs 39,001 crore for CGST and Rs 40,128 crore for SGST.

The revenues for the month are four per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, the revenues from import of goods were 102 per cent and the revenues from domestic transactions, including import of services were 105 per cent of the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

Microsoft Outlook email outage hits users worldwide

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Microsoft Outlook email outage hits users worldwide

In the second major service outage hitting Microsoft in less than a week, Outlook online users worldwide on Thursday reported facing problems accessing the service.

Microsoft has confirmed the outage after its initial investigation indicated that its India-based users were the primarily impacted audience.

“We’ve collected additional data from the affected infrastructures to determine impact to our Exchange online protocols. Additionally, we’ve identified this issue to be affecting users worldwide. Further details can be found in your admin centre under EX223208,” says Microsoft’s 365 status Twitter account.

The worst impacted regions include the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, besides India, according to Downdetector which offers real-time status and outage information.

This new incident comes after a major outage that impacted several Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Office 365 and Teams earlier this week.

Microsoft blamed a software code issue for the incident.

The affected services included Outlook.com, Office.com, Power Platform, Dynamics365, and Microsoft Teams including Teams Live Event.

AI can detect Covid-19 in lungs like virtual physician: Study

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AI can detect Covid-19 in lungs like virtual physician: Study

Researchers have demonstrated that an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm could be trained to classify Covid-19 pneumonia in computed tomography (CT) scans with up to 90 per cent accuracy.

Also, it correctly identifies positive cases 84 per cent of the time and negative cases 93 per cent of the time.

The study, recently published in Nature Communications, shows the new technique can also overcome some of the challenges of current testing.

“We demonstrated that a deep learning-based AI approach can serve as a standardized and objective tool to assist healthcare systems as well as patients,” said study author Ulas Bagci from the University of Central Florida in the US.

“It can be used as a complementary test tool in very specific limited populations, and it can be used rapidly and at large scale in the unfortunate event of a recurrent outbreak,” Bagci added.

According to the researchers, CT scans offer a deeper insight into Covid-19 diagnosis and progression as compared to the often-used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR, tests.

These tests have high false-negative rates, delays in processing and other challenges.

Another benefit to CT scans is that they can detect Covid-19 in people without symptoms, in those who have early symptoms, during the height of the disease and after symptoms resolve.

However, CT is not always recommended as a diagnostic tool for Covid-19 because the disease often looks similar to influenza-associated pneumonia on the scans.

The new co-developed algorithm can overcome this problem by accurately identifying Covid-19 cases, as well as distinguishing them from influenza, thus serving as a great potential aid for physicians, the researchers said.

To perform the study, the researchers trained a computer algorithm to recognize Covid-19 in lung CT scans of 1,280 multinational patients from China, Japan and Italy.

Then they tested the algorithm on CT scans of 1,337 patients with lung diseases ranging from Covid-19 to cancer and non-Covid pneumonia.

When they compared the computer’s diagnoses with ones confirmed by physicians, they found that the algorithm was extremely proficient in accurately diagnosing Covid-19 pneumonia in the lungs and distinguishing it from other diseases, especially when examining CT scans in the early stages of disease progression.

“We showed that robust AI models can achieve up to 90 per cent accuracy in independent test populations, maintain high specificity in non-Covid-19 related pneumonia, and demonstrate sufficient generalizability to unseen patient populations and centres,” Bagci said.

E-olympiad set to quiz Indian students on GK

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E-olympiad set to quiz Indian students on GK

For school-goers, quizzes like olympiads can be both experiential and experimental learning outside the classroom. With learning having gone digital, an online nationwide GK olympiad for school students is all set to test young minds on their general knowledge, and make e-education a bit more exciting, even during school closures.

Mind Wars, a multiplatform knowledge programme promoted by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd has announced India’s largest online general knowledge Olympiad 2020, intending to identify, encourage, and promote students towards achieving a better tomorrow. The national-level championship will begin in November 2020, and it is open to students of classes 4 to 12 from all education boards across India.

The 20-minute exam comprises relevant and interesting general awareness question across 5 topics per class, that aims at improving students’ ability and growth in the coming years. Furthermore, it is formulated based on the results of a detailed survey of principals and teachers from across 5,000 Indian schools pan India.

“Quizzes and puzzles are a great way of experiential as well as experimental learning for kids. The play and competitiveness associated with quizzing also makes it fun and engaging. Knowledge gained in such engaging manner is retained better by a budding mind. Also, it helps develop positive behavioural and response patterns for kids in their formative years. The Mind Wars GK Olympiad provides platform for kids to prepare and practise for quizzes before they play the competitive Olympiad. It also provides opportunity for kids to re-try and improve their scores. In this manner the program is designed to encourage kids for pursuing a goal of continuous learning and improvement,” Umesh Kr Bansal, Sr. Vice President, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, told IANSlife.

Olympiads have been a part of the school activities for decades. They are widely accepted and respected form of evaluating and recognising the capabilities of school students. Olympiad certificates have been part of the extra-curricular achievements for children as they appear for competitive exams and higher studies, he added.

The term GK is firmly associated with general intelligence, therefore understanding the significance of things that happen in our life. Participation in test like Olympiad makes students learn it through quizzes and puzzles in turn enabling them to be more decisive and confident in career, is the driving thought behind the online olympiad.

Students from all streams and any Board can compete to be recognised at the school, state and national level.

Going with the times, the organisers have made the Olympiad completely digital from registration, to practise, to the final competitive exam as well. The participating students can give the exam on a date of their choice and from the safety of their homes.

“With kids constrained indoors for longer periods, their access and time spent on electronic devices and digital content is bound to increase. In such a scenario, isn’t it better they spend their device time on something constructive like Mind Wars?”

To participate in Olympiad, one can visit www.mindwars.co.in.

Five arrested in IPL betting racket in Goa

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Five arrested in IPL betting racket in Goa

Five people including four from Rajasthan were arrested in a raid at a Goa beach villa, where an Indian Premier League (IPL) betting racket was busted, police said on Thursday.

Raju Singh (25), Mohit Kumar (21), Ravi Mamtani (30) and Sagar Singh Rathore (28), all from Rajasthan, and Suraj Soni (28) from Nepal were arrested during the raid at the villa at Candolim beach village in North Goa on Wednesday night, a police spokesperson said.

“They were involved in IPL betting. Cash amount of Rs 95,000 , nine mobile phones, two laptops were seized by the police during the raid,” the spokesperson added.

The accused have been booked under section 3 and 4 of the Goa Public Gambling Act at the Calangute police station.

McDonald’s introduces digital menu boards in North, East India

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McDonald’s introduces digital menu boards in North, East India

Fast food chain McDonalds has introduced digital menu boards in restaurants across North and East India as a part of its restaurant reimaging plan.

McDonald’s is geared to create a great sensory experience using vivid imagery and captivating high definition visuals of its great tasting menu items, making it easier for customers to select their favourite item quickly.

Speaking on introduction of digital menu boards, Robert Hunghanfoo, Head, Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. operates McDonald’s restaurants in North and East India (CPRL), said: “At McDonald’s, we believe creating good food moments requires capturing our customer’s imagination through show and tell format. Our customers spend considerable time looking at the menu boards before placing their order and make a big difference in what and how they order, making it an important part of our customer interaction. We are confident of enhancing that experience.”

With speed and efficiency already an inherent part of McDonald’s experience, the brand is now weaving digital technology across its business functions to enhance the overall guest experience. The digital menu boards come after McDonald’s recent introduction of 100 percent contactless ordering that enables customers to order and pay beyond the front counter.

Talking about the restaurant reimaging plan, Sanjeev Agrawal, Development Licensee, CPRL, said: “This is just the beginning of our digital journey, there are many more elements that we plan to introduce in the future to give our customers an international McDonald’s experience.”

McDonald’s will exhibit vibrant and attractive animations of its menu items on LED monitors. The new digital displays are also Energy Star certified supporting McDonald’s commitment to environmental sustainability while helping the business lower operating costs.

McDonald’s India North and East has introduced the ‘Global Safety+’ program that includes nearly 50-plus process changes in the restaurant operations. Safety+ is a Global system of enhanced hygiene and safety practices that help ensure that every part of the McDonald’s experience is safe for its customers and employees.

Amol Parashar: Theatre easiest medium for exploration

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Amol Parashar: Theatre easiest medium for exploration

Actor Amol Parashar, who rose to fame with his character Chitvan Sharma in TVF Tripling, and is currently being seen in film ‘Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare’, has also featured in the lead role in the televised play ‘Panchi Aise Aate Hai’ on Tata Sky Theatre, which is celebrating Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar’s contribution to theatre.

Sharing his thoughts on theatre, Amol shared that for exploration purposes, “theatre is the easiest and most convenient medium for an actor”.

“When working on a text, or when working on a theatrical production, the process gives you ample time and space to experiment and ‘play’ around. You can keep working on a performance or refining it as you do more and more shows of the same production. Thanks to the beauty of imagination in theatre, you can also deal with characters and themes that are far away from you physically. Film doesn’t offer you the same freedoms, at least not to the same extent,” he told IANSlife in an email.

Asked about theatre as a tool for social change and a mirror of society, Amol, 29, feels that theatre performance and watching is a much more personal experience. “You can dabble in unique and radical ideas and still find acceptance. The constraints of commerce don’t come in the way of theatre as much as they do with other forms of storytelling. That makes it a much more effective tool to drive through social change and new ideas.”

The young, promising actor also shared his perspective on Vijay Tendulkar’s contribution to Marathi theatre.

“Vijay Tendulkar is a legendary name and I am too small a fry to even have an opinion on his contribution. He had a voice of his own, and a strong one at that, taking up social and political events of his time and depicting them in his work. His plays are read, performed and analysed in a multiple languages in India and outside. There’s no doubt that he is one of the most influential playwrights of our country.”

Amol has dabbled in multiple mediums and genres, and says that it is a process to delve deeper into his craft and also himself as a human being. “I would like to be grow my skillset to a point where I should feel like nothing is unachievable.”

Finally, sharing his thoughts on theatre’s new televised avatar that he’s now featuring in, the actor shared that, “Every art form and medium goes through a process of evolution. With new technology at our disposal, it is our duty to experiment and see if we can come up with newer and newer ways to reach the audience. It is a great initiative by Tata Sky to this purpose, especially because classic texts and playwrights are being made accessible to a large audience. These texts would otherwise just become an archive in a library. It’s invigorating to see them being packaged in a certain way and made accessible to the large audience that Tata Sky enjoys.”

Delhi riots: Court extends Sharjeel Imam’s judicial custody

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Delhi riots: Court extends Sharjeel Imam’s judicial custody

A Delhi court on Thursday extended till October 22 the judicial custody of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) research scholar Sharjeel Imam, arrested under the anti-terror law, in connection with the communal violence in the Northeast area of the national capital in February.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Sharjeel on August 25 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in connection with the riots, a day after being brought to the capital city from a jail in Assam on a production warrant.

Sharjeel, a PhD student at the JNU’s Centre for Historical Studies, was produced before the court through video conferencing from jail number one of the Tihar complex at the end of a month-long judicial custody.

“Never have I understood why I am in the case,” Sharjeel’s counsel Surbhi Dhar said on the behalf of her client. She also opposed the extension of judicial remand and protested why the remand copy has not been supplied to them.

The case pertains to a ‘conspiracy’ to incite the riots, which had left 53 people dead and 748 injured. Even though the police have filed a voluminous charge sheet in the matter, his name is not mentioned in it and will be added in the supplementary charge sheet.

Sharjeel’s name, however, cropped up in the disclosure statements and statements of the witnesses in the charge sheet, involving 15 accused, including Tahir Hussain, Safoora Zargar, Ishrat Jahan and others.

Imam had come into the limelight for his alleged inflammatory speech in Delhi’s Jamia Millia against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens on December 13 and subsequently on January 16 at the Aligarh Muslim University, where he allegedly threatened to “cut off” Assam and the rest of the northeast from the country.

On July 25, the police had filed a charge sheet against Imam in connection with a case related to his alleged inflammatory speeches during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at several places.

The 600-page charge sheet was filed, under section 124A (Sedition), 153(A) (Promoting enmity), 153 (Assertion prejudicial to national integration) (promoting enmity, Hatred between different communities, 505 (spreading rumours) IPC and Section 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in Delhi’s Patiala House court.

Goa govt launches initiative to make villages self-sufficient

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Goa govt launches initiative to make villages self-sufficient

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday launched the state government’s ambitious ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Swayampoorna Goa’ initiative, which aims at making every village in the coastal state self-sufficient, in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a self-reliant nation.

Sawant said that as part of the initiative 41 village panchayats had been identified for the early phase of the government’s self sufficiency initiative, which will involve creating a detailed dossier on each village, listing existing infrastructure, potential and seeking inputs on the requirements to make it self-sufficient.

“Today, Goa has to rely on importing goods from other states, because we have neglected our own produce. Every day, we need two lakh litres of milk to be imported. 1.5 lakh eggs are a daily requirement during the (tourism) season in Goa. Why can’t we produce this in our villages,” Sawant said during a virtual launch of the initiative.

Sawant said that as per the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Swayampoorna Goa’ initiative, government officers and school teachers will travel to 41 villages and seek feedback on the existing infrastructure as well as identify potential sectors for furthering the self-reliance agenda.

“All government officers should be ‘karmayogis’ in their efforts to conduct the exercise to make Goa Swayampoorna,” Sawant said.

The Chief Minister added that one of the key agendas of his government was to eliminate poverty in the state.

“We want to eliminate poverty. We are completing sixty years of Liberation (from Portuguese rule), and if a resident of Goa is still below the poverty line, we need to change this and increase his income,” Sawant said.

SC: How can court give direction to WHO, China on Covid-19 pandemic?

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SC: How can court give direction to WHO, China on Covid-19 pandemic?

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a PIL that alleged that the Covid-19 pandemic is a human created genocide and urged the top court to issue directions to the World Health Organization (WHO) and China.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and comprising of Justice Hrishikesh Roy told the petitioner-in-person Raman Kakkar, “You may be a doctor, but not a lawyer, which is evident from the prayers in the PIL.” The petitioner had moved the top court seeking to pass directions against the WHO officials, who failed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 disease in the world.

The bench observed that the plea which sought compensation from China to India, for losses incurred due to the pandemic, could not be maintained. The bench said the court has no jurisdiction to summon China and asked the petitioner, “this court is not the government and how can it say what the WHO and China should do?”

The petitioner claimed that the WHO had delayed by a month in declaring Covid-19 as a health emergency that threatened the world. The bench reiterated that the petition is not maintainable.

Many reports have emerged stating that China hid crucial information about Covid-19, including the discovery of the initial outbreak and the country’s first death for several days. Even, the US has blamed China for the Covid-19 outbreak across the globe.

In June, the apex court had declined to entertain a plea seeking direction to the Centre to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and file a USD 600 billion compensation case against China. The plea had alleged COVID-19 pandemic was “deliberately created” by China. Chief Justice S.A. Bobde had dismissed the petition, however granted liberty to the petitioner to make a representation before the Centre.

The plea had claimed there was strong evidence that COVID-19 originated from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, and also alleged that it had been deliberately created by China as a biological weapon against India.

Setback for Pinarayi as HC says let CBI probe into Life Mission continue

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Setback for Pinarayi as HC says let CBI probe into Life Mission continue

Let the CBI probe continue, was the statement that came from the Kerala High Court on Thursday after Life Mission moved the court to plead for the quashing of an “illegal” FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation over its housing project at Thrissur.

With this, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has suffered yet another blow in his attempts to show everything in his pet project – Life Mission – as normal and transparent, despite vociferous allegations of corruption in the project by the opposition Congress and the BJP.

It was on Wednesday that the state government after taking advice on the matter from legal brains, who pointed out that the FIR could be quashed as it was illegal and that the government had no role in the matter, gave the nod for Life Mission to file this petition.

Moving the petition, Life Mission which brought in a senior counsel from the apex court, pointed out that this is a politically motivated probe and the state government has no role in this.

But the court which not only did not intervene in the petition, directed Life Mission to cooperate with the probe and said let the CBI investigation continue. It posted the case for further hearing on October 8.

Life Mission CEO UV Jose, a senior IAS officer, has been summoned to appear before the CBI with all the relevant documents on October 5.

The Mission’s contention is that the agreement for the construction was inked between UAE-based charity Red Crescent, which is funding the construction at Wadakkancherry in Thrissur district, and Unitech Builders. The state has no role and hence the FIR is illegal and should be quashed.

Earlier this week, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala warned of legal and political steps against any move by the Vijayan government to bring an ordinance to keep the CBI out of the probe.

Reacting to the turn of events in the high court on Thursday, Chennithala said it is a setback for the Vijayan government in its attempt to keep the corruption in this project under wraps.

“Now that the attempt to run away from the CBI probe has failed, the Vijayan government should withdraw the case and cooperate with the CBI. The state government is spending a huge amount of money to bring in counsel from outside the state and this is happening when the state is precariously placed as far as its finances are concerned. What all fail to understand is, the Vijayan government is saying there is no corruption at all and if so, then why are they trying to run away from the ongoing CBI probe,” asked Chennithala.

The Life Mission project, a pet project of Vijayan ever since he assumed the CM’s office in 2016, was floated to build houses for the homeless and landless, using funds raised through sponsorships. The state’s role was limited to only providing the land.

The project, however, ran into trouble when Anil Akkara, a Congress legislator, first raised questions about alleged wrongdoings in a building project in his Wadakkancherry constituency, for which funds came from Red Crescent.

The project was routed through the UAE Consulate, where smuggling case main accused Swapna Suresh and PS Sarith earlier worked. It turned murkier when news surfaced that a son of Industries Minister EP Jayarajan was also close to Swapna.

Vijayan’s media adviser John Brittas had claimed that Rs 4.25 crore in commission was paid in the project, a stand endorsed by two state Ministers.

The CBI has already questioned Santhosh Eapen, whose company was given the contract to build the houses.

Vijayan is Life Mission Chairman while his trusted aide and Local Self-Government Minister AC Moideen is the Vice-Chairman. Incidentally, the project MoU was inked in Vijayan’s office.

Rahul Gandhi pushed on ground, detained en route Hathras

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Rahul Gandhi pushed on ground, detained en route Hathras

High drama prevailed on Thursday After Uttar Pradesh Police personnel pushed former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the ground on the Yamuna Expressway and detained him, while he was walking towards Hathras to meet the family of the rape victim.

Gandhi, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior leaders had left Delhi on Thursday to meet the family of the Hathras rape victim.

However, they began marching towards Hathras after their vehicle was stopped near the Yamuna Expressway.

Visuals of the incident clearly show Uttar Pradesh Police personnel pushing both Rahul and Priyanka. After the push Rahul can be seen falling on the ground.

Later Rahul Gandhi told the media, “Just now police pushed me, lathicharged me and threw me on the ground. I want to ask, can only (Narendra) Modiji walk in this country? Can’t a normal person walk? Our vehicle was stopped, so we started walking.”

The Uttar Pradesh Police Personnel also told Gandhi he was being detained as he was marching in an area where section 144 has been imposed. The section relates to assembly of not more than five people at one place.

Gandhi said that even if Section 144 had been imposed, he will walk alone towards Hathras to meet the family of the rape victim.

The Congress leaders then had a heated exchange with police personnel.

According to Ranvijay Singh, Additional DCP, Gautam Budh Nagar, Rahul Gandhi has been taken into custody and he won’t be allowed to go further as the police have a letter from DM Hathras saying that if Gandhi goes there, it may disturb the law and order situation in the district.

Also, there is the issue of providing security cover.

Rahul Gandhi along with Priyanka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rajiv Shukla and several other top leaders were walking towards Hathras to meet the family of the victims a day after the last rites of the rape victim was allegedly performed during the night in the absence of her family members.

Woman found hanging along with her threee kids in UP

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Woman found hanging along with her threee kids in UP

In a shocking incident, a woman was found hanging in her house along with her three kids at Dibiyapur area of Aurraiya district in Uttar Pradseh.

According to the police, the bodies were found hanging with a saree from a hook in the room at their house on Thursday afternoon.

Police officials have so far, refused to comment on the incident and other family members also did not say a word on what happened.

The bodies have been sent for postmortem and further, probe is on, police addded.

New NASA project allows public to search for new worlds

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New NASA project allows public to search for new worlds

You can now help discover new worlds beyond our solar system from the comfort of your home, thanks to a new citizen science platform called Planet Patrol launched by NASA.

The Planet Patrol platform allows members of the public to collaborate with professional astronomers as they sort through a stockpile of star-studded images collected by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

“Automated methods of processing TESS data sometimes fail to catch imposters that look like exoplanets,” said project leader Veselin Kostov, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

“The human eye is extremely good at spotting such imposters, and we need citizen scientists to help us distinguish between the look-alikes and genuine planets.”

Volunteers will help determine which TESS snapshots include signals from potential planets and which ones show planet impersonators, NASA said on Wednesday.

TESS uses its four cameras to take full images of one patch of sky, called a sector, every 10 minutes for a month at a time.

This long stare allows TESS to see when planets pass in front of their stars, or transit, and dim their light.

Over the course of a year, TESS collects hundreds of thousands of snapshots, each containing thousands of possible planets — too many for scientists to examine without help.

On the new website, participants will help astronomers sift through TESS images of potential planets by answering a set of questions for each – like whether it contains multiple bright sources or if it resembles stray light rather than light from a star.

These questions help the researchers narrow down the list of possible planets for further follow-up study.

Citizen scientists can dive even deeper by learning more about the star in each image and by engaging with the Planet Patrol community, NASA said.

ShareChat inks music licensing pact with Times Music

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ShareChat inks music licensing pact with Times Music

Users of ShareChat and its short video platform Moj can have access to library of Times Music and leading Punjabi Music catalog Speed Records to create content on the two platforms, the home-grown social media venture said on Thursday.

The move is in line with ShareChat’s strategy to expand its music library by collaborating with the leading music label companies in India, and across the globe.

“Our partnership with Times Music is one such step to bolster our music library and give wings to our creator’s creativity,” Berges Malu, Director, ShareChat, said in a statement.

Times Music is home to a music library that represents Bollywood, spiritual, indie, pop, rock and other non-film music genres.

Speed Records, which boasts of largest market share in Punjabi music, has some of the top Punjabi hits like “Lamberghini” and “Mann Bharrya”, among others.

ShareChat last month announced music licensing deal with Saregama.

Currently, ShareChat and Moj together have a huge base of over 240 million monthly active users (MAUs).

The social media venture late last month announced closure of a new funding round of $40 million.

After Paytm, Google goes after Zomato, Swiggy on IPL cashbacks

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After Paytm, Google goes after Zomato, Swiggy on IPL cashbacks

After a face-off with leading digital payments platform Paytm, Google sent notices to Zomato and Swiggy for running cashback-based IPL games and both the food aggregator platforms have decided to pause their virtual gaming leagues.

While Zomato was running Zomato Premier League on its app, Swiggy offered ‘Match Day Mania’ during the ongoing IPL 13 matches.

“Yes, we have received a notice from Google. We believe that the notice is unfair, but we are a small company and have already realigned our business strategy to comply with Google’s guidelines. We will be replacing Zomato Premier League with a more exciting programme by this weekend,” a Zomato spokesperson told IANS.

Sources said that Swiggy has also temporarily paused its ‘Match Day Mania’ on its platform and the company is currently in discussion with Google to sort out the issue.

The latest stand-off came after Google pulled the Paytm app from the Play Store for not complying with its gambling policies.

Paytm alleged that it was “arm-twisted” by the search engine major to comply with what it called “biased Play Store policies that are meant to artificially create Google’s market dominance”.

The Paytm app was restored on the Play Store after a gap of a few hours.

Daring Google, the financial services platform this week brought back the Paytm Cricket League with UPI cashback and scratch cards.

Paytm said that the cashback was being given following all rules and regulations set by the government.

“We maintain that our promotional campaign was within guidelines and there was no violation. We believe that such arbitrary actions and accusatory labelling go against the laws of our country and acceptable norms of fair competition by arbitrarily depriving our users of innovative services,” a Paytm spokesperson said.

2 soldiers killed in Pak firing at LoC in J&K

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2 soldiers killed in Pak firing at LoC in J&K

Two soldiers were killed and four injured in Pakistani firing at the Line of Control (LoC) in the Naugam sector of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Thursday, the army said.

“Pakistan initiated an unprovoked ceasefire violation along LoC in Naugam Sector, Kupwara today morning by firing mortars and other weapons. Two soldiers were fatally injured. Four soldiers were injured, being evacuated. Befitting response is being given,” the Army said.

Earlier, one soldier was killed in the ceasefire violation by Pakistan in the Krishna Ghati sector along the LoC in Poonch on Wednesday night. He has been identified as Lance Naik Karnail Singh.

There has been a spurt in ceasefire violations along the LoC in the Kupwara district of Kashmir valley and to the south of Pir Panchal in Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu with Pakistan targeting civilian areas and defence positions with long range mortars and small arms.

The Army says it is giving a befitting response to all acts of aggression by Pakistan along the LoC.

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