Pak’s domestic cricket season to start from Sept 30, squads confirmed

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Pak’s domestic cricket season to start from Sept 30, squads confirmed

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced the six cricket association squads for the 2020-21 domestic season, which will commence on September 30 with the National T20 Cup. The first round of the event will be played in Multan, while the final round will be held in Rawalpindi, PCB said in a media release.

It further said that the 12-month contracts will run from August 1, 2020, to July 31, 2021.

The squads were finalized by the six cricket association coaches who took into consideration performances of the last two seasons, retained maximum players from the 2019-20 season without reshuffling the squads too much, and, where possible, providing opportunities to the centrally and emerging contracted players to represent their cricket associations.

The selectors have retained 158 players who were offered 2019-20 domestic contracts and have included 34 new players, including some who represented Pakistan in this year’s U19 World Cup.

Each cricket association squad will comprise 45 players – 32 players with domestic contracts, supported by 13 additional players – and the PCB centrally and emerging contracted cricketers, belonging to their respective regions.

The coaches will finalize the playing lineups for the events proper (National T20 Cup, Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, and Pakistan Cup One-day Tournament) in due course.

Players with the seasonal contracts will be eligible to receive match fees, daily allowances and other related benefits, wherever applicable.

The coaches, who are also members of the national selection committee, have also followed the PCB’s policy of investing in the future as the average age of the Balochistan side is 27, followed by Central Punjab 26, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 26, Northern 25, Sindh 25 and Southern Punjab 26, stated the PCB media release.

11 teenagers who participated in the U19 World Cup earlier this year, have been selected. They are Abdul Wahid Bangalzai (Balochistan); Irfan Khan Niazi, Qasim Akram and Fahad Munir (all three Central Punjab); Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Amir Khan and Mohammad Abbas Afridi (all four Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Mohammad Huraira (Northern) and Aamir Ali and Arish Ali Khan (Sindh).

Google updates Assistant Snapshot with useful tools

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Google updates Assistant Snapshot with useful tools

The search engine giant Google has announced new updates to make ‘Google Assistant Snapshot’ even more useful with more recommendations.

The initial version of Snapshot showed information like daily commute time, upcoming schedule, reminders, upcoming flights, recent online orders as well as stock market updates.

However, Google is now adding reminders for things like upcoming birthdays or holidays as well as tailored recommendations for things like recipes, restaurants, and podcasts.

The company introduced Google Assistant Snapshot two years ago.

“Now, we are adding a few updates to make Snapshot more helpful, and proactive, in keeping you ahead of your upcoming tasks while also providing you with recommended activities and more, all in one place on Android or iOS devices,” it said in a statement on Thursday.

In addition to new reminders and recommendations, Google said users can easily see their Snapshot by saying, “Hey Google, show me my day.” Users can also see their Snapshot by activating Google Assistant and tapping on the icon in the bottom left corner.

The new Google Assistant features are available now in the Assistant app on iOS as well as Android in English and will be rolling out to other languages in the coming months.

ISRO cancels young scientists’ programme due to Covid

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ISRO cancels young scientists’ programme due to Covid

The state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) canceled its Young Scientists programme (Yuvika 2020) for this year due to the surging coronavirus cases across the country, an official said on Friday.

“Though the Yuvika programme was scheduled to be held from May 11-22 for school students of Classes 8-9, we deferred by six months due to the coronavirus spread since mid-March. With the pandemic continuing, we have decided to cancel it for this year,” the official told IANS here.

Launched with much fanfare in 2019 to instill scientific temper and impart knowledge about the country’s space applications and technologies to the young students, the 12-day programme involves a visit by about 100 selected students to ISRO’s four operational centers across the country for exposure.

Three students from each state in the country are selected for the programme and are taken to Vikram Sarabhai space centre in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), U.R. Rao satellite centre in Bengaluru (Karnataka), Space Applications centre in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and the North-Eastern space centre at Shillong in Meghalaya on familiarization trip and interaction with the space scientists.

“Of the 368 eligible students, 113 were shortlisted for the programme in March before the national lockdown was enforced on March 25 and extended. Due to uncertainty over the continuation of the pandemic, the trip has been canceled,” said the official.

As part of its outreach programme, ISRO had set up space technology cells, incubation centers and regional academic centers for educating the students in space science.

According to ISRO chairman K. Sivan, the Yuva Vigyan Karyakram (Yuvika) has been pioneered to inspire young minds for taking up space science as a career subject and become space scientists.

“Science and technology are essential for the development of any country and play a major role in improving the quality of life, besides our safety and security,” said Sivan told the first batch of Yuvika students in May 2019.

Hubble Space Telescope maps giant halo around Andromeda galaxy

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Hubble Space Telescope maps giant halo around Andromeda galaxy

Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have mapped the immense envelope of gas, called a halo, surrounding the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest large galactic neighbor.

This tenuous, nearly invisible halo of diffuse plasma extends 1.3 million light-years from the galaxy — about halfway to our Milky Way — and as far as two million light-years in some directions, said the study published in The Astrophysical Journal.

This means that Andromeda’s halo is already bumping into the halo of our own galaxy.

The scientists also found that the halo has a layered structure, with two main nested and distinct shells of gas.

“Understanding the huge halos of gas surrounding galaxies is immensely important,” explained co-investigator Samantha Berek of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US.

“This reservoir of gas contains fuel for future star formation within the galaxy, as well as outflows from events such as supernovae,” Berek said, adding that it is full of clues regarding the past and future evolution of the galaxy.

A signature of this activity is the team’s discovery of a large number of heavy elements in the gaseous halo of Andromeda.

Heavier elements are cooked up in the interiors of stars and then ejected into space — sometimes violently as a star dies.

The halo is then contaminated with this material from stellar explosions.

The Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, is a majestic spiral of perhaps as many as one trillion stars and comparable in size to our Milky Way.

At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, it is so close to us that the galaxy appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky.

If its gaseous halo could be viewed with the naked eye, this would easily be the biggest feature on the night-time sky.

Antiviral drug for cats may help fight Covid-19 in humans

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Antiviral drug for cats may help fight Covid-19 in humans

Researchers are preparing to launch clinical trials of a drug used to cure a deadly disease caused by a coronavirus in cats that they expect will be effective as a treatment for humans against Covid-19.

“In just two months, our results have shown that the drug is effective at inhibiting viral replication in cells with SARS-CoV-2,” said a study researcher Joanne Lemieux from the University of Alberta (UA) in Canada.”

“This drug is likely to work in humans so we’re encouraged that it will be an effective antiviral treatment for Covid-19 patients,” Lemieux added.

The drug is a protease inhibitor that interferes with the virus’s ability to replicate, thus ending an infection, the study published in the journal Nature Communications reported.

Proteases were key to many body functions and were common targets for drugs to treat everything from high blood pressure to cancer and HIV. First studied by UA’s John Vederas and Michael James following the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the protease inhibitor was further developed by veterinary researchers who showed it cured a disease that is fatal in cats. The researchers explained that Vederas synthesized the compounds and researcher Lorne Tyrrell tested them against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in test tubes and human cell lines.

The research team then revealed the crystal structure of the drug as it binds with the protein. “We determined the three-dimensional shape of the protease with the drug in the active site pocket showing the mechanism of inhibition. This allows us to develop even more effective drugs,” Lemieux said.

She will continue to test modifications of the inhibitor to make it a better fit inside the virus, Lemieux added. But she said the current drug shows enough antiviral action against SARS-CoV-2 to proceed immediately to clinical trials.

“Typically for a drug to go into clinical trials, it has to be confirmed in the lab and then tested in animal models,” Lemieux said.

“Because this drug has already been used to treat cats with coronavirus and it’s effective with little to no toxicity, it’s already passed those stages and this allows us to move forward,” she added.

The researchers have established a collaboration with Anivive Life Sciences, a veterinary medicine company that is developing the drug for cats to produce the quality and quantity of drug needed for human clinical trials. The team said it will likely be tested in Alberta in combination with other promising antivirals such as redeliver.

World Bank halts release of ‘Doing Business’ report over data fudging

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World Bank halts release of ‘Doing Business’ report over data fudging

The World Bank has announced to halt the publication of the ‘Doing Business’ report as irregularities have been reported in the changes to the data published in October 2017 and 2019.

In a statement, World Bank Group said it has asked its independent Internal Audit function to perform an audit of the processes for data collection and review for ‘Doing Business’ and the control to safeguard data integrity.

“A number of irregularities have been reported regarding changes to the data in the ‘Doing Business’ 2018 and 2020 reports published in October 2017 and 2019. The changes in the data were inconsistent with the ‘Doing Business’ methodology,” it added.

It said the World Bank will act based on the findings and retrospectively correct the data of countries that were most affected by the irregularities.

The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank has been briefed about the situation as having the authorities of the countries that were most affected by the data irregularities.

“The publication of the ‘Doing Business’ report will be paused as we conduct our assessment,” the statement added.

India was among the countries which witnessed the “most notable improvement” as per the ‘Doing Business’ 2020 report released in October 2019 with 63rd rank in the ease of doing business.

Tesla value hits $420 billion, Musk thanks hardworking team

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Tesla value hits $420 billion, Musk thanks hardworking team

Elon Musk thanked his hardworking team at Tesla as the electric car makers market cap reached $420 billion which is equal to the next top five carmakers combined together.

Musk took to Twitter, thanking the Tesla engineers and other workers.

“Thanks to a smart and hardworking team at Tesla. These sure are wild times…”

Tesla even surpassed Johnson & Johnson in terms of market cap.

There are only seven companies in the S&P 500 index worth more, including Visa at $447 billion and Apple at $2.16 trillion, reports Barrons.com.

About two months ago, the EV maker was at $200 billion. It first hit $100 billion in January.

With factories in the US and Shanghai, China, and another under construction in Berlin, Germany, Tesla has said that it will “comfortably” reach 500,000 electric vehicle deliveries in 2020.

Although this is less than 5 percent of Toyota and Volkswagen sales, the company now accounts for 41 percent of the value of the world’s top 12 carmakers.

Tesla earlier reported profits for the fourth straight quarter, making $6 billion in revenue and $104 million in net income in its June quarter even as the Covid-19 pandemic shut its factories.

The Palo Alto-based company said it delivered 90,650 vehicles in the June quarter. It achieved the feat despite its Fremont, California based factory was out of action owing to Covid-19 lockdown for the most part of the quarter.

Tesla delivered 80,050 Model 3s and Model Ys in the quarter and 10,600 of its Model S luxury sedan and Model X SUVs.

“In the second quarter, we produced over 82,000 vehicles and delivered approximately 90,650 vehicles,” Tesla said in a statement.

ODEs can help create Rs 35 lakh crore in India by 2030: Report

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ODEs can help create Rs 35 lakh crore in India by 2030: Report

As Indian enterprises speed up their digital transformation amid the pandemic, a new report on Friday predicted that by 2030, 10 high potential national open digital ecosystems (NODEs) in sectors like health, agriculture, and justice, etc can create new economic value of more than Rs 35 lakh crore.

This will be nearly 5.5 percent of the projected GDP in 2030 and also generate over Rs 15 lakh crore in savings, according to a joint report by investment firm Omidyar Network India and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

ODEs are defined as open and secure digital platforms that enable a community of actors to unlock transformative solutions for society, based on a robust governance framework.

“India has been a pioneer in the movement to build ‘digital highways.’ We were one of the first developing countries to have a population scale Digital ID initiative, and have built digital payments infrastructure such as UPI,” said Roopa Kudva, MD, Omidyar Network India.

Even during this pandemic, the government was able to transfer Rs 37,000 crore directly to the bank accounts of 16 crore citizens using India’s digital infrastructure.

“At the same time, we must take care of critical issues like privacy and agency of individuals over their personal data,” Kudva stressed.

The ODE approach suggests that the government should focus on creating the ‘digital commons’ and enable interoperability between siloed systems, so that innovators can build on top, by leveraging open source software, data, standards, licenses, and APIs (application programming interfaces).

“We need to raise the bar from systems-thinking to ecosystems-thinking. Digital ecosystems can evolve faster if we create the right environment, which includes open-standards-based architecture, data policies, collaborative design, and innovation,” said J Satyanarayana, Advisor, National Digital Health Mission and former chairperson, UIDAI.

According to Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, MEITY, ODEs are an important area of work for India with the potential to make governance and service delivery truly citizen-centric across sectors.

The report envisioned three layers – digital platforms, community, and governance – to transform service delivery through ‘Responsible ODEs’.

“The ODE approach holds tremendous potential for India across sectors, including agriculture, logistics, smart cities, skilling and employment, and MSMEs,” added Saibal Chakraborty, Managing Director and Partner, BCG.

Petrol price goes up again, diesel on hold

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Petrol price goes up again, diesel on hold

Petrol price has maintained its rise with the fuel price increases again on Friday, while diesel is holding on to its price line that it has maintained since July 30.

In the international market, the crude price has also remained firm with benchmark Brent crude hovering close to $ 46 a barrel.

State-owned oil marketing companies on Friday increased the price of petrol by 11 paise per liter in Delhi while 10 paise per liter in Mumbai and Kolkata and by nine paise per liter in Chennai.

According to the IndianOil website, petrol prices in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai increased to Rs 81.94, Rs 83.43, Rs 88.58, Rs 84.91 per liter respectively. However, diesel prices are holding steady in these metros at Rs 73.56, Rs 77.06, Rs 80.11, and Rs 78.86 per liter.

Petrol prices have now risen in 11 of the last 13 days and in the national capital, it is now expensive by Rs 1.51 per liter during the period.

Benchmark Brent crude has remained firm and contracts for November delivery on the intercontinental exchange have risen to $ 45.75 a barrel. The US WTI crude is also holding up at over $ 43 a barrel.

TikTok deal a double-edged sword for US tech firms

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TikTok deal a double-edged sword for US tech firms

In an interesting turn of events as far as TikTok in the US is concerned, retail giant Walmart (and not its arch-rival Amazon) which has no tech or social media product in its kitty has joined Microsoft to bid for the Chinese short-video making app. After the Cloud major Oracle, Walmart came as a second surprise contender in the race.

However, will the TikTok deal be worth during a politically-heated atmosphere, a trade war, and an ensuing legal battle?

Its users are shifting away to new platforms as uncertainty looms over the creators’ community at large. It has been banned in India (it once had its largest 120 million-strong user base in the country) and claims 100 million users in the US.

Americans turn to TikTok for entertainment, inspiration, and connection and countless creators rely on its platform to express their creativity, reach broad audiences, and generate income.

According to reports, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is inching closer towards a pact amid the 90-day deadline set by the US President Donald Trump to sell its US, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand operations in a deal that is likely to be in the “$20 billion to $30 billion range”.

However, its future is uncertain at the moment amid a lawsuit that the company has filed against Trump’s first executive order (August 6) that prohibited ByteDance from conducting any transaction in the US within 45 days.

Another big blow came to TikTok as its CEO Kevin Mayer, who joined the company from the Walt Disney Company only in May this year, decided to call it quits amid the political turmoil and sales talks.

According to Neil Shah, VP Research at Counterpoint, by the time companies will buy TikTok, it will be interesting to see how dwindling its base would be.

“It will also be interesting to see how much of the IP (intellectual property) TikTok sells to these companies,” he said.

According to experts, the TikTok case demonstrates that any Chinese company may attract the attention of the US government, and the US government has an arsenal of tools that might be used to threaten the success of the business.

Dan Rules, the managing partner of the Shanghai Office of Squire Patton Boggs, told Xinhua: “I see the TikTok situation as a wake-up call for Chinese companies”.

“China’s government has generally exercised considerable restraint in recent months with respect to the US. But, at some point, the Chinese government may feel impelled to take action or to speak out more forcefully on behalf of Chinese companies in the US,” he said.

Mayer clearly mentioned in an internal letter that in recent weeks, the political environment has sharply changed.

“I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for. Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company.”

The TikTok saga is one-of-its-kind and has generated tremendous news value and attention worldwide.

However, whether this is going to be a profitable acquisition for US companies is too early to say.

“It will be the biggest forced scam of the history if the inherent value of the TikTok platform after the acquisition is nothing or has been significantly diminished,” Shah said.

Punjab Police busts biggest illegal pharma-opioids manufacturing unit

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Punjab Police busts biggest illegal pharma-opioids manufacturing unit

Punjab Police on Friday said it has arrested a father and son who allegedly ran the country’s biggest illegal pharma-opioids manufacturing unit in Delhi.

They have been identified as Krishan Arora and his son Gaurav Arora.

“Happy to announce arrests of father & son duo of Krishan Arora @ Clovidol Badshah & Gaurav Arora, owners of Neutec Healthcare, Narela (Delhi), India’s biggest manufacturers & suppliers of illegal pharmaceutical drugs,” Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta informed in a tweet.

“We shall continue our relentless fight against drugs,” he added.

Gupta said the two men controlled up to 60-70 percent of the illegal pharma drug trade and were diverting around Rs 18-20 crore worth of pharma drugs monthly across 17 states through various drug supply gangs, including the Mathura gang and Agra gang, busted earlier by the state police in July.

Bengaluru’s Covid-19 positivity rate at 15.55% : Official

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Bengaluru’s Covid-19 positivity rate at 15.55% : Official

Karnataka’s coronavirus epicenter, Bengaluru, has a positivity rate of 15.55 percent after the completion of 7.6 lakh tests, an official said on Friday.

Meanwhile, the number of containment zones in the city has been increased to 40,563, though the active ones are only 15,723.

Active containment zones amount to 39 percent while the balance 61 percent of zones returned to normal.

Out of a total of 1.18 lakh cases, Bengaluru recorded an impressive recovery rate of 68.13 percent as only 35,989 are active cases.

Amid spiking cases in the city on a daily basis, Bengaluru has narrowed the gap with Chennai in the total number of caseloads, with only a difference of some 11,000 cases existing between cities.

As part of the COVID treatment protocol, the health department traced the contacts of 6.75 lakh people in the city.

Primary contacts amounted to 2.94 lakh and secondary contacts 3.8 lakh people.

On Thursday, Bengaluru registered 3,357 new infections.

Philippines govt official caught having sex during Zoom meet

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Philippines govt official caught having sex during Zoom meet

In yet another case of a Zoom meeting gone awry, a government official in the Philippines was caught having sex with his secretary during a regular virtual session, the media reported.

According to a report in the Sun on Thursday, the incident came to light as the official, Captain Jesus Estil of the Fatima Dos village council in the province of Cavite, appeared to be unaware that his camera was on.

Footage shows that the person had sex in a far corner of the room while the meeting was on.

Before engaging in the actual act, Estil approached the device in what appeared to be an attempt to turn off the camera.

The call that took place on August 26 was reportedly part of a regular council meeting.

Unaware that the camera was on, Estil and the woman attended to the urgent call of their carnal desire, while other participants continued with the council meeting.

Estil rejoined the call after completing his task at the far corner of the room.

But a staff member who attended the call recorded the scene and the video eventually became public, which led some villagers to file a petition to oust the official for the misconduct.

The pair reportedly asked for forgiveness, but the country’s Department of Interior and Local Government appears to have made up its mind to relieve Estil from his duty.

“This is not simple misconduct, but grave misconduct,” DILG Barangay Affairs Summons and Complains Chief Richard Geronimo was quoted as saying by The Sun.

Earlier, a similar incident was reported from Brazil when a pair was caught having sex during a Zoom meeting of the Rio de Janeiro city council.

Indian cricket cannot wait endlessly (Column: Close-in)

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Indian cricket cannot wait endlessly (Column: Close-in)

Preparations for Indias premier cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL), are underway in full swing. The eight franchise teams seem to be doing a remarkable job as organizing and executing the transportation, stay, and travel of their players, and support staff must be quite an arduous task. To do so in the limited time they had is even more credible, as planning for a major tournament normally requires several months of brainstorming and preparations.

The players participating in the IPL are going through a novel experience. They need to travel clad in a protective suit and face gear, masked underneath, and their photographs have shown them as a team ready to embark on a journey to outer space rather than to the modern cities of the United Arab Emirates. This understandably is the only way that cricketers could be safely transported to finally make it to the first destination and that is to get them into the bio-secure bubble.

The difficult situation that each one of them will need to face would be six days of quarantine and mandatory isolation. To be confined all alone, with no interaction can be a very depressing experience for an extrovert person or one who enjoys the company of others. This will be the first of the mental ordeals that the cricketers and the support staff will need to confront.

Thereafter, they may feel better once they can mingle with their teammates, coaches, and trainers, but restrictions for well over two months at a stretch could be frustrating for many. The mental aspect of how the cricketers will face and absorb the on-field pressures as well as the off the field conditions could play a major role in how teams will fare in the IPL.

One feels, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has been very sensible. He has taken his family with him and in doing so he has eliminated the loneliness that many others may confront as the tournament goes on.

The difficult task for the franchises, administrators, and organizers will be to ensure that the 300 and more players and participants of the IPL 2020 pantomime do not err in any way. Virat Kohli very rightly said recently that just one mistake could jeopardize the entire tournament.

This is a major responsibility on the shoulders of each person who enters the scary bio-bubble. Once there, they are engulfed in a world of their own. Maybe a few tips from India’s famous actress Shilpa Shetty would have been useful. After all, she did win the famous UK reality show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ and hosted the popular Indian show ‘Bigg Boss’. This is where housemates or contestants are isolated in a house to compete and survive till the end to aspire to be the winner.

The art of surviving and the mental constraints that arise in such a situation is what could be the differential factor in one’s performance on the field as well. The winners of this contest would be just the right people to consult and learn from.

While the hustle and bustle of the IPL are underway, August 17 was earmarked to be the date for the Supreme Court to give a ruling/final verdict on some major issues that were put up to them by the BCCI. Once again, the highest court of India did not bring it up for hearing, leaving the cricket administration in a state of complete uncertainty.

Cricket in India is a religion and is followed by millions. The Supreme Court over the last four years has dilly-dallied in making a firm decision on the way Indian cricket should be administered/governed. They did give a judgment in 2018, but it is yet to be implemented fully and completely. This has given opportunities to administrators at all the centers to interpret and run their organizations in whichever way they feel.

Cricket is just not only a sport but also a huge business in India. Time has come when it needs to be operated in a professional manner with complete transparency. The delay in issuing a final verdict by the Supreme Court is creating an atmosphere in the Indian cricket diaspora that if not curtailed quickly it could lead to complete mayhem. Many of the cricket associations around the country are running them as their personal fiefdom and many who did so earlier are back in the driving seat.

The BCCI, the controlling body, is itself in a state of uncertainty with both their president and secretary having to operate even after their official tenures have expired. The irony of it is that not a single cricket related committee has been put in place apart from the Apex Council and selection committee and the Cricket Advisory Committee that chooses the selectors.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the Indian domestic cricket in a major way. Normal club tournaments and the build-up to the first-class season have all gone awry. Cricket has come to a standstill and the uncertainty of getting it started is worrying.

The task of creating a bio-bubble for domestic cricket would need a herculean effort. The Indian government has tried many methods for curtailing and eradicating the deadly virus but with very little success.

Cricket in India cannot wait endlessly. One wonders as to how it will make it rear its head once again.

‘Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare’ to have OTT release in September

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‘Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare’ to have OTT release in September

The Bhumi Pednekar and Konkona Sensharma-starrer Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare will have an OTT release next month.

Set in a developing industrial area on the outskirts of New Delhi, “Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare” chronicles the quiet transgression of two women who are cousins, and who find freedom through complicated love-hate equations.

Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava of “Lipstick Under My Burkha” fame, the film also stars Vikrant Massey, Amol Parashar, and Aamir Bashir.

Amid the ongoing COVID pandemic and closure of cinema halls, the makers have opted for a Netflix release. The final date in September will soon be announced.

Bhumi has welcomed the decision and said that she is okay with any platform being the vehicle of her creative expression.

“As an artist, I only look to entertain the audience every time I am on the screen and I am okay with any platform becoming the vehicle of my creative expression. In this day and age, producers will do what is needed, and we must all support each other’s decisions,” Bhumi said in a statement earlier.

UP cop booked for social posts against PM, CM

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UP cop booked for social posts against PM, CM

A suspended sub-inspector of Uttar Pradesh Police has been booked for posting derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media.

According to police, sub-inspector Vijay Pratap had also made a derogatory remark against a particular religion.

A case has been registered following complaints by district BJP President Ajay Pratap Dhakre and Shailendra Chowdhary, president Akhil Bhartiya Brahmin Sabha at Kotwali police station.

Circle officer (City) Vaibhav Pandey that the guilty police official has been booked under various sections of the IPC and IT Act.

Vijay Pratap had made headlines when he embarked on a 65-km run to protest his transfer to Bitholi police station in November 2019.

He had then also posted a tweet stating, “I am being transferred due to the dictatorial attitude of RI (reserve inspector of police). I was asked by the SSP to stay back at reserve police lines but I am being forcibly transferred to Bitholi by the RI. You can call it my anger or unhappiness but I will run and go to Bitholi.”

SP (City), Etawah, Ram Yash Singh said, “The sub-inspector was transferred from reserve police lines to Bitholi. Instead of accepting the transfer order like any disciplined officer, he posted a message on social media.”

AirPods 3 may drop force detection control for touch sensors

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AirPods 3 may drop force detection control for touch sensors

Apple is reportedly working on future AirPods that could come with simple touch sensors instead of force detection for control for an improved experience.

A new patent suggests that the tapping that is currently required to control the AirPods may be changed next time, reports Apple Insider.

The current system uses a force sensor, combined with an accelerometer, to effect a change when a user double-tap on an AirPod stalk.

“AirPods have an exterior surface that defines the shape of the earbud such that the earbud is sized and shaped to be at least partially inserted into a user’s ear. And a touch-sensitive sensor positioned within the housing and adjacent to the exterior surface,” reads the patent application.

With the upcoming feature changing the volume on a pair of AirPods might be done by simply swiping across the surface of one.

According to the report, Apple’s patent application is more concerned about the specifics of how such sensor routes data to the device than it is about the practical uses of the idea.

Apple is also reportedly planning to add Ambient Light Sensors in future versions of AirPods to monitor data such as blood oxygen level and heart rate.

IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals announces partnership with TV9 Network

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IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals announces partnership with TV9 Network

Rajasthan Royals have announced that TV9 Bharatvarsh will be the principal partner for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be held in UAE from September 19 to November 10.

The Royals will wear TV9’s logo on the front of the team’s jersey in the 13th edition of the IPL. TV9 Bharatvarsh replaces EXPO 2020 Dubai as Royals’ front of jersey brand after the much-awaited mega-event was postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Expressing his pleasure at adding another strong brand to the Royals partner family, Rajasthan Royals’ COO Jake Lush McCrum, said: “We’re happy to have TV9 on board with us at Rajasthan Royals this season. It’s one of the most well-renowned networks across India and presents a fantastic opportunity for us to express the story and the culture of Rajasthan Royals to a wider audience.”

“TV9 is deeply integrated into different regions across India, enabling us to give our fans and cricket fans in general in these locations curated, exclusive content. Our Royals Family will grow, while our content will help TV9’s already large viewership scale even further. We are delighted with the synergies in this partnership,” he added.

“Cricket is not just a sport in India. It’s a religion. That’s why the TV9 Network, India’s largest news network, has partnered with Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming IPL. The meteoric rise of our national Hindi news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh to the No. 2 position shows that the news viewers not just expect but reward innovation in their daily news experience,” said Barun Das, CEO, TV9 Network.

Arshad Shawl, founder, Alliance Advertising conceived the deal for TV9 and said, “This tie-up with Rajasthan Royal sets the game to exponentially increase channel footprint nationally and further accelerate the growth trajectory for the channel.”

Sony PlayStation 5 to support Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1

TB Team
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Sony PlayStation 5 to support Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1

Sony is all set to launch its next-generation gaming console PlayStation 5 (PS5) and a report has claimed that the console will come with support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 as well as Bluetooth 5.1.

The support for Wi-Fi 6 is definitely an upgrade given that the PS4 supports Wi-Fi 4 while the PS4 Pro supports Wi-Fi 5, reports GizmoChina.

The sixth-generation of Wi-Fi is capable of a maximum throughput of 9.6 Gbps across multiple channels, which is around nearly 32 times faster than the Wi-Fi 4 support present in the PlayStation 4.

Bluetooth 5.1 is also a great improvement over Bluetooth 2.1 in PS4 and Bluetooth 4.0 in PS4 Pro.

The PS5 will feature a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU clocked at 3.5GHz and a custom GPU based on AMD’s rDNA 2 architecture hardware that promises 10.28 teraflops and 36 compute units clocked at 2.23GHz.

It will also have 16GB of GDDR6 RAM and a custom 825GB SSD.

The PS5 will also feature 4K Blu-ray drive and will still support discs, but those games will still require installation to the internal SSD.

Sony has opened invite-only online registration for customers to be one of the first to pre-order the upcoming PlayStation 5 console directly from the company.

Google runs largest chemistry calculation on quantum computer

TB Team
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Google runs largest chemistry calculation on quantum computer

Google has successfully performed the largest chemical simulation on a quantum computer to date, a feat that can unlock new frontiers in chemistry, improving a wide variety of industries.

The Google AI Quantum team used a noise-robust variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) to directly simulate a chemical mechanism via a quantum algorithm.

Though the calculation focused on the “Hartree-Fock” approximation of a real chemical system, it was twice as large as previous chemistry calculations on a quantum computer and contained 10 times as many quantum gate operations.

In computational physics and chemistry, the ‘Hartree-Fock’ is a method of approximation for the determination of the wave function and the energy of a quantum many-body system in a stationary state.

“Importantly, we validate that algorithms being developed for currently available quantum computers can achieve the precision required for experimental predictions, revealing pathways towards realistic simulations of quantum chemical systems,” the Google team wrote in a paper that appeared in the journal Science.

The experiment was run on the Sycamore processor that was recently used to demonstrate quantum supremacy.

Sycamore has 54-qubits and consists of over 140 individually tunable elements, each controlled with high-speed, analog electrical pulses.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted: “Proud to share @GoogleAI team’s recent advances in quantum chemistry: the largest quantum computation of chemistry to date & the first time a quantum computer has been used to model a chemical reaction pathway”.

According to the researchers, unfortunately, the exact solution of quantum chemical equations for all but the smallest systems remains out of reach for modern classical computers, due to the exponential scaling in the number and statistics of quantum variables.

“However, by using a quantum computer, which by its very nature takes advantage of unique quantum mechanical properties to handle calculations intractable to its classical counterpart, simulations of complex chemical processes can be achieved,” they stressed.

While today’s quantum computers are powerful enough for a clear computational advantage at some tasks, it is an open question whether such devices can be used to accelerate current quantum chemistry simulation techniques.

Furthermore, the team has released the code for the experiment, which uses “OpenFermion”, Google’s open-source repository for quantum computations of chemistry.

“We hope that this experiment serves as a blueprint for how to run chemistry calculations on quantum processors, and as a jumping-off point on the path to physical simulation advantage,” they wrote.

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