Kim Clijsters pulls out of Western & Southern Open

TB Team
-
0
Kim Clijsters pulls out of Western & Southern Open

Former World No.1 Kim Clijsters has withdrawn from the ongoing Western & Southern Open.

“I’m grateful to Western & Southern Open for the opportunity to play the tournament once again,” Clijsters said in a statement as per the WTA website. “I have great memories from playing in Cincinnati and was looking forward to being a part of the event this year. It’s disappointing to have to withdraw but after discussions with medical and my team, I need a little more recovery time.”

The former World No. 1 had received a wildcard for the tournament which began this week and serves as a warm-up event for players ahead of the US Open which is slated to be held from August 31 to September 13.

The 37-year-old, who was due to play Jennifer Brady in the first round and will be replaced by a qualifier or lucky loser, is however optimistic about her chances to play in the US Open.

“I’m grateful to be able to stay in the “bubble” and continue to prepare with my team here at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center,” said the Belgian.

“I want to thank the Western & Southern Open team, the USTA and WTA for all their efforts in putting these events together – they’ve worked really hard to create a great experience in a safe and healthy space for players,” she added.

Earlier this week, two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza also withdrew from the Western & Southern Open, citing a left ankle injury.

“I hope I will be able to keep improving and have the opportunity to compete at the US Open,” Muguruza said on Twitter.

Covid-19 pandemic could be over within 2 years: WHO

TB Team
-
0
Covid-19 pandemic could be over within 2 years: WHO

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic could be over within two years.

Addressing a virtual press briefing from Geneva on Friday, the WHO chief said that the Spanish flu of 1918 had also taken two years to overcome, but current advances in technology could enable the world to halt the Covid-19 pandemic “in a shorter time”, the BBC reported.

“Of course with more connectedness, the virus has a better chance of spreading,” he said.

“But at the same time, we have also the technology to stop it, and the knowledge to stop it,” he said, stressing the importance of “national unity, global solidarity”.

During the briefing, Tedros also responded to a question about corruption linked to personal protective equipment (PPE), which he described as “criminal”.

“Any type of corruption is unacceptable,” he said.

“However, corruption related to PPE… for me it’s actually murder. Because if health workers work without PPE, we’re risking their lives. And that also risks the lives of the people they serve,” the BBC quoted the Director-General as saying.

Tedros also said that the pandemic has given new impetus to the need to accelerate efforts to respond to climate change, Xinhua news agency.

“Throughout history, outbreaks, and pandemics have changed economies and societies, this one will be no different.”

Noting that the global health crisis “has given us a glimpse of our world as it could be: cleaner skies and rivers… Building back better means building back greener”.

In May, WHO published its Manifesto for a Healthy Recovery from Covid-19, with six policy prescriptions for a healthy and green recovery — protecting nature, investing in water and sanitation, promoting healthy food systems, transitioning to renewable energy, building liveable cities, and stopping subsidies on fossil fuels.

Since then, over 40 million health professionals from 90 countries have sent a letter to G20 leaders, calling for a healthy recovery from the pandemic.

The WHO chief reiterated that “Covid-19 is a once-in-a-century health crisis. But it also gives us a once-in-a-century opportunity to shape the world our children will inherit – the world we want”.

As of Saturday, the overall number of global coronavirus cases stood at 22,864,873, while the fatalities rose to 797,787.

Google shares cool handy tips for video calling app Meet

TB Team
-
0
Google shares cool handy tips for video calling app Meet

Google has listed some handy tips to make the most of its video calling app Meet, to avoid things to go wrong during a call like a shaky camera or bad lighting.

The company informed that when using Google Meet on your phone, video is now automatically enhanced to adapt to low-light conditions.

“Consider your background. Choose one that isn’t distracting — and matches your personality and mood. In the coming months, we’ll make it easy to blur your background or replace it with an image of your choice,” said Samir Pradhan, Group Product Manager, G Suite.

Meet currently enables you to see 16 participants simultaneously alongside any content that’s being presented.

“We’re planning to add more improvements here, including letting you see up to 49 participants at once and adding self-view to your tiled layout,” Pradhan said in a statement on Friday.

You don’t need to navigate away from your Gmail inbox to join or start a meeting.

Just click “Start a meeting” or “Join a meeting” directly from the sidebar in Gmail. Once there, you can invite more people to join.

For G Suite customers, Meet lets you use your phone for audio while still using your computer’s camera and a web browser to share and see videos and presentations in the meeting.

This can be done by dialing into the call directly or by having Meet call your phone directly.

“When presenting with Meet, you can choose to show your entire screen, a specific window, or a Chrome tab,” Google said.

Google’s Meet teleconferencing service is now adding about three million users per day.

India records nearly 70K cases again

TB Team
-
0
India records nearly 70K cases again

India recorded 69,878 new coronavirus cases in a single day on Saturday taking the total tally to 29,75,701, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

In the last 24 hours, 945 people lost their lives due to Covid-19 infection taking the toll to 55,794, the ministry said.

The total active cases from across the country stand at 6,97,330. The total number of people discharged from hospitals and quarantine centers so far is 22,22,577. In the last 24 hours, 63,631 people recovered. The recovery rate stands at 74.69 per cent.

The government stated that 3,44,91,073 cumulative total samples have been tested up to August 21, and 10,23,836 samples were tested on Friday.

Andhra Pradesh, one of the worst-hit states, has recorded 87,803 active cases so far. A total of 2,44,045 people have recovered from the deadly virus in the state so far. In the last 24 hours, 8,827 people recovered from the infection of the virus. The state has recorded 3,092 deaths so far and in the last 24 hours 91 people succumbed to the infection

In Karnataka, the total active cases are 83,082. So far 1,76,942 people have recovered from the infection, of whom 6,561 left hospitals and quarantine centers in the last 24 hours when 93 people succumbed to the disease taking the toll to 4,522 so far in the state.

The state of Maharashtra has 1,64,879 active cases. A total of 4,70,873 people recovered from the virus infection and in the last 24 hours, 11,749 people left the hospital after recovering. A total of 21,698 people have lost their lives as 339 died in the last 24 hours.

The national capital has 11,426 active Covid-19 cases. So far, 1,42,908 people have recovered, of which 1,082 in the last 24 hours. The capital has reported 4,270 deaths so far as 13 died in past one day.

This Facebook ‘home robot’ can find your lost ringing phone

TB Team
-
0
This Facebook ‘home robot’ can find your lost ringing phone

Researchers at Facebook AI have developed a home robot that can move through an unmapped environment to find a sound-emitting object, such as a phone ringing.

Called ‘SoundSpaces,’ the first audio-visual platform for embodied AI can accomplish a task like checking to see whether you locked the front door or retrieving a cell phone that’s ringing in an upstairs bedroom.

AI assistants of the future must learn to plan their route, navigate effectively, look around their physical environment, listen to what’s happening around them, and build memories of the 3D space.

These smarter assistants will require new advances in embodied AI, which seeks to teach machines to understand and interact with the complexities of the physical world as people do.

Leveraging SoundSpaces, Facebook introduced a new task for embodied AI: AudioGoal.

“To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to train deep reinforcement learning agents that both see and hear to map novel environments and localize sound-emitting targets,” Facebook AI said in a statement.

With this approach, the researchers achieved faster training and higher accuracy in navigation than with single modality counterparts.

‘SoundSpaces’ provides a new audio sensor, making it possible to insert high-fidelity, realistic simulations of any sound source in an array of real-world scanned environments.

Unlike traditional navigation systems that tackle point-goal navigation, the home robot doesn’t require a pointer to the goal location.

This means an agent can now act upon “go find the ringing phone” rather than “go to the phone that is 25 feet southwest of your current position.” It can discover the goal position on its own using multi-modal sensing.

To build ‘SoundSpaces’, Facebook used a state-of-the-art algorithm for room acoustics modeling and a “bidirectional path tracing algorithm” to model sound reflections in the room geometry.

With ‘SoundSpaces’, researchers can train an agent to identify and move toward a sound source even if it’s behind a couch, for example, or to respond to sounds it has never heard before, said Facebook AI.

We’re proud of you hitman: BCCI congratulates Rohit Sharma

TB Team
-
0
We’re proud of you hitman: BCCI congratulates Rohit Sharma

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has congratulated star opener Rohit Sharma who has been chosen for this year’s Khel Ratna Award, country’s highest sporting honor.

Rohit has become just the fourth cricketer who will be conferred the prestigious award after Sachin Tendulkar (1997-98), MS Dhoni (2007) and Virat Kohli (2018).

India’s limited-overs vice-captain had an outstanding 2019 where he scored 1,490 runs in ODIs at an average of 57.30, and also finished as the highest run-getter in the 2019 World Cup with five centuries in the tournament. He was also promoted as an opener in Test cricket where he made 556 runs in five matches.

“Congratulations Rohit Sharma for being conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 2020, India’s highest sporting honor. He is only the fourth Indian cricketer to receive this award. We are proud of you, Hitman!” said BCCI in a tweet.

“Congratulations on being conferred with the prestigious #KhelRatnaAward partner! Proud of you bro,” said Shikhar Dhawan.

“A record-breaking 5 centuries at the World Cup & a smashing debut as a Test opener. Highest sporting honor of India – Rohit Sharma is now a #RajivGandhiKhelRatna awardee,” tweeted his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

Meanwhile, pacer Ishant Sharma and women’s team all-rounder Deepti Sharma have been chosen for the Arjuna Award. Ishant picked up 25 wickets in six Tests last year at an impressive average of 15.56.

On the other hand, Deepti, who was part of the side that reached the Women’s T20 World Cup final in Australia, picked up 19 wickets in T20Is and 15 wickets in ODIs last year.

“Congratulations to our senior-most Test bowler Ishant Sharma for winning the prestigious Arjuna Award for 2020. Keep going, champ!” BCCI tweeted.

In another tweet, BCCI wrote, “Congratulations to our all-rounder Deepti Sharma on being conferred upon with the prestigious Arjuna Award for 2020. May you continue soaring new heights.”

Head coach Ravi Shastri tweeted: “Congratulations! The SHARMAAAAAS – Well done Ro for Khel Ratna and Ishi for Arjuna – Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma.”

The award ceremony will be held virtually on August 29 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

46 fresh Covid-19 cases in Mathura, 24 in Agra

TB Team
-
0
46 fresh Covid-19 cases in Mathura, 24 in Agra

The Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations will be a low-key affair this year here as authorities have banned processions due to the rising Covid-19 infection graph.

In the last 24 hours, Mathura reported 46 fresh cases of Covid-19 while Agra reported 24, Mainpuri 32, Etah 23, Firozabad 33, and Kasganj 13.

The total number of cases in Agra district now stands at 2,445 with 105 deaths. The number of active cases is 271. The number of recoveries stands at 2,069. So far, 92,013 samples have been tested. The overall recovery rate is 84.62 percent. The total number of containment zones now is 152 in the district.

Mathura district administration has clarified that no processions will be allowed and temples will remain closed to pilgrims. On Radhaashtmi (birthday of Radha), generally a big day in Braj Mandal, celebrations will remain confined to the temples. Pilgrims won’t be allowed entry into the Radha Rani temple in Barsana.

Meanwhile, the state government has directed the state health department to carry out an extensive Sero Survey in several UP districts including Agra, to ascertain the actual infection spread at the community level.

Where ‘local’ leads to international for artist Ashim Purkayastha

TB Team
-
0
Where ‘local’ leads to international for artist Ashim Purkayastha

In the year 2014, Delhi-based artist Ashim Purkayastha started collecting stones from different streets in Delhi. At that time, he had no idea that his work ‘Shelter’ would be a part of the Indian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale.

A physical experience, the making of which involved moving around the city and collecting materials, ‘Shelter’, which is now being exhibited at KNMA’s online exhibition ‘City Tales’ included time and experience of different events. “While picking up stones from Delhi’s roadsides, ‘identity’ was at the center of the thought,” says Purkayastha.

Recalling the overwhelming response his work received in Venice, the artist says, “While ‘Shelter’ was displayed on the floor, the canvas ‘Untitled’ was on the wall. When I decided to paint on the wall, it was the more conceptual part of the work which had to be done at one go. Considering the fact that it could not be repainted, there was a certain conflict in my mind, it was also important that the stones should be scattered all over. During the exhibition’s opening, it was interesting to see the reactions of the viewers — such an incomparable experience.”

Purkayastha, who is known for his work on Gandhi including ‘Gandhi/Man Without Specs’ says that till now he is yet to experience any movement or protest, that does not have his name or image. He adds, “However, in face of this pandemic — when so much is happening — lockdown, migration and protests, it is for the first time we do not have any mention or reference to Gandhi.”

Known for highlighting social and political issues in his work, while laying stress on the local, the artist feels that the post-COVID times for artists and exhibitors would mean far more dependence on the virtual medium. “However, despite such a tough scenario, we may see the Kochi Biennale materializing.”

While he has experienced ‘lockdowns’ frequently considering he is from Assam, Purkayastha says the one in wake of the COVID pandemic is different for him. “There is this realization that the whole world is going through it. I have been using this time to collect material for my future work.”

Talk to him about the pathetic state of young artists in face of no measures announced by the government for the art community when the country was put under lockdown, and he laments, “The government is just highlighting its ‘success’ rate when it comes to a lower mortality rate and not talking about several related key issues. He adds, “Lakhs of people have become jobless, we saw the walking migrants, and now many migrant workers are back in the cities trying to look for work. These issues need to be addressed, no?”

WordPress Founder slams Apple for cutting off updates

TB Team
-
0
WordPress Founder slams Apple for cutting off updates

Apple has cut off all updates to the WordPress app on its App Store, its Founder Matt Mullenweg tweeted on Saturday, saying Apple will not approve updates until his app includes in-app payment options.

WordPress lets people build and manage websites and blogs for free, and also sells portal domain names.

Mullenweg accused Apple of cutting off the ability to update the app to get its 30 percent fee on the App Store.

“Heads up on why @WordPressiOS updates have been absent… we were locked by App Store,” he tweeted.

“To be able to ship updates and bug fixes again we had to commit to supporting in-app purchases for .com plans. I know why this is problematic, open to suggestions,” he added.

Apple charges App developers a 30 percent fee on purchases on its App Store but ironically, WordPress does not sell anything.

“I am a big believer in the sanctity of licenses. (Open source relies on licenses and copyright.) We agreed to this license when we signed up for (and stayed in) the app store, so going to follow and abide by the rules. Not looking to skirt it, hence doing what they asked us to,” Mullenweg elaborated.

Ben Thompson who is the owner of Stratechery, a subscription-based newsletter/podcast featuring commentary on tech and media news, also slammed Apple.

“I am admittedly puzzled as to why Apple is denying me updates to the open-source app for my open source web site because one user of that app happens to sell domains. Also, I thought Apple wasn’t going to hold bug updates hostage anymore?” he tweeted.

“To be clear, the app doesn’t sell anything, and why would it? It’s an open-source project. Apple is requiring the addition of functionality that has no plausible reason to exist,” he added.

Top media trade body Digital Content Next that includes newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post this week joined the fight against Apple for its unfair and allegedly anti-competitive App Store policies.

News publishers joined the companies and app developers like Fortnite game owner Epic Games that has filed a lawsuit against Apple.

Microsoft Bing data reveals changing human needs during pandemic

TB Team
-
0
Microsoft Bing data reveals changing human needs during pandemic

Microsoft researchers have revealed how people changed their aspirations during the pandemic when the expression of basic needs increased “exponentially” while higher-level aspirations declined.

Using data from Microsoft search engine Bing, the team developed a framework to characterize the changes in people’s physiological, socioeconomic, and psychological needs during the pandemic, reports VentureBeat.

The researchers discovered the changing patterns of human needs after applying the framework to over 35 billion Bing web searches spanning roughly 36,000 ZIP codes in the US.

The framework tagged searches with categories like self-actualization needs, cognitive needs, social/emotional needs, safety needs, and physiological needs.

About 9.1 percent of the search queries — 3.2 billion searches — matched at least one of the needs categories.

“Indicators of social-economic instabilities like searches for ‘unemployment site visits’ and ‘food assistance’ still haven’t returned to their baseline levels,” according to the researchers, nor have searches reflecting needs to satisfy lockdown-induced isolation.

The researchers found that queries about educational degrees, job searches, job search sites, and housing dipped 34 percent and haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

They noticed heightened physiological and safety needs during the first four weeks of the pandemic.

Toilet paper purchases saw a 127 times uptick and stimulus-related searches (including terms like ‘loan forgiveness’) reached 287 times the baseline, a level that they sustained at least through July.

“As regions prepare recovery efforts from the current pandemic or make plans for future disruptions, the methodology we describe can be harnessed to monitor or anticipate a spectrum of needs at various geo-temporal granularities,” Microsoft researchers said.

The framework could be used to quantify how much social and economic distress a community might be able to endure and examine disparities in the impacts of policies on highly vulnerable populations.

Epic Games puts entire App Store model at risk: Apple

TB Team
-
0
Epic Games puts entire App Store model at risk: Apple

Apple has hit back at Epic Games for filing a lawsuit against its App Store policies, saying the Fortnite game developer has created its own problems and Epics actions are putting the “entire App Store model at risk”.

In a response filed in the court, Apple said that in the wake of its own voluntary actions, Epic Games now seeks emergency relief.

“But the ‘emergency’ is entire of Epic’s own making. Developers who work to deceive Apple, as Epic has done here, are terminated,” said the Cupertino-based iPhone maker that has become the first US company to reach the $2 trillion mark.

In the declaration to the court, Apple executive Phil Schiller wrote that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney asked for a “special deal with the only Epic that would fundamentally change the way in which Epic offers apps on Apple’s iOS platform”.

Sweeney took to Twitter, saying Apple’s statement is misleading.

“You can read my email in Apple’s filing, which is publicly available. I specifically said in Epic’s request to the Apple execs, ‘We hope that Apple will also make these options equally available to all iOS developers…'” he tweeted.

The Epic CEO said that he hopes Apple will reflect on its platform restrictions and begin to make historic changes “that bring to the world’s billion iOS consumers the rights and freedoms enjoyed on the world’s leading open computing platforms including Windows and macOS”.

Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple last week, alleging that the tech giant is threatening to terminate its developer account by August 28 which would cut the company off from iOS and macOS development tools.

Apple earlier said in its response that the App Store is not simply a marketplace.

“We cannot be confident that Epic or any developer would uphold the same rigorous standards of privacy, security, and content as Apple”.

Launched in 2017, Fortnite features a battle royale format where 100 players compete to survive as the last player standing on a remote island.

The popular game has amassed a huge following of 350 million players and is available on multiple platforms.

Soon after Apple removed the popular video game Fortnite from its App Store for allegedly violating in-app payment guidelines, Epic Games has announced a free Fortnite tournament on August 23 where players can compete to win anti-Apple prizes.

Shruti Haasan on the price of sacrifice every profession demands

TB Team
-
0
Shruti Haasan on the price of sacrifice every profession demands

Actress Shruti Haasan says all professions come with a price, and that mostly involves what you are willing to sacrifice.

“I think that the price of what you are willing to sacrifice is a personal choice that comes with every profession,” Shruti told IANS.

The actress, who is the daughter of veteran stars Kamal Haasan and Sarika, shares it is mostly the personal life one sacrifice.

“Mostly it is time and relationships that you sacrifice. Whether you work in a bank or you work in the movies,” she added.

Shruti has completed 11 years as an actor. She says she is always looking to improve herself. The actress recently starred in the digitally-released film, “Yaara”, which also featured Vidyut Jammwal, Kenny Basumatry, Vijay Varma, and Amit Sadh.

The Tigmanshu Dhulia directorial is a Bollywood remake of the French film “Gang Story”. The story of the film is set in North India and is about the rise and fall of a group of four friends operating along the Indo-Nepal border.

Global Covid-19 cases top 22.8mn: Johns Hopkins

TB Team
-
0
Global Covid-19 cases top 22.8mn: Johns Hopkins

The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 22.8 million, while the deaths have increased to over 797,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Saturday morning, the total number of cases stood at 22,864,873 and the fatalities rose to 797,787, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 5,621,035 and 175,350, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in second place with 3,532,330 infections and 113,358 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (2,905,825), and is followed by Russia (944,671), South Africa (603,338), Peru (567,059), Mexico (549,734), Colombia (513,719), Chile (393,769), Spain (386,054), Iran (354,764), Argentina (329,043), the UK (325,241), Saudi Arabia (305,186), Pakistan (291,588), Bangladesh (290,360), France (271,960), Italy (257,065), Turkey (255,723), Germany (233,029), Iraq (197,085), Philippines (182,365), Indonesia (149,408), Canada (126,319), Qatar (116,481), Ecuador (106,481), Bolivia (106,065), Kazakhstan (104,071), Ukraine (102,948) and Israel (100,716), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the Mexico (59,610), India (54,849), UK (41,491), Italy (35,427), France (30,508), Spain (28,838), Peru (27,034), Iran (20,376), Russia (16,148), Colombia (16,183), South Africa (12,843) and Chile (10,723).

Quickfix books on Sushant Singh Rajput flood the market

TB Team
-
0
Quickfix books on Sushant Singh Rajput flood the market

To provide fodder to the growing curiosity among the people about the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, a number of books have mushroomed in the market over the past couple of months since his death.

The 34-year-old actor was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14. The books released soon after his death are available in hard copy as well as e-book format. With Sushant being in the headlines currently, people, in general, are curious to know more about the late actor.

On cue, the books available in the market talk of the kind of person he was, his thoughts, goals and ambitions, his personal life, professional life, struggles, heartbreaks, failures and success, and more.

Most of these books are rush jobs, poor research and not much ground-breaking information since the case is still to be solved. In many cases, the author admits having never met Sushant!

One such book is titled “The Legend Sushant Singh Rajput: The Heist Of National Treasure” written by Delhi-based author Pradeep Sharma, whose pen name is Walking. This is Sharma’s first book, published on July 16. The author claims he did not know Sushant personally but felt intrigued enough to write a book on him after the actor’s death.

“I didn’t know SSR personally, nor did I ever meet him. But, when I heard about the news of his death, I was not able to accept it and faced severe anxiety, and I thought I would write a blog or an article and post it on social media. But later it occurred to me that I can write a book on him, as a tribute,” Sharma told IANS.

“This book is all about how I feel after his death as a die-hard fan, and how he inspires me. You will find in the book, his achievements, passion, lust to explore new things, his dreams, and how he wanted to help others. In short, this is a tribute to SSR,” the author claimed.

Sharma admitted he has faced widespread criticism that he is “trying to mint money and get fame overnight”.

Is it a good strategy to release books about the late actor right now, even though the case is yet to be solved?

“Sushant’s untimely death has affected people from all walks of life. Right now, everybody is shocked. So naturally, people are curious to know more about him. However, writing books on him at this point in time, I feel, is a temporary trend aimed at grabbing the limelight quickly. This kind of literature is short-lived and doesn’t have a long term impact,” explains Tridib Chatterjee, President of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, Kolkata, who has been into the business of book publishing for over 40 years.

A book written in Hindi by Harsh Vardhan Chouhan is titled “Sushant Singh Rajput: Mystery”. That there can be doubt about the credibility of the work is obvious from the spelling and grammatical gaffes in the book description on an online shopping site: “This book is about the mystery of Sushant Singh Rajput and we solve the mystery.” The claims of solving the ‘murder’ mystery seem a tad tall considering the book was published on July 29, just above a month after Sushant died.

Khushal Chawla has penned a book titled “Sushant’s Depression Story: Possible Reasons Behind Sushant’s Depression”. The author describes it as “a short book that tells you stories on Sushant’s depression. I write this book because I feel that his depression story needs to be told to the world. The book has an important message at the end which I feel will change the way people see Indian cinema.” However, Chawla cannot substantiate how he can be so sure the death was caused by suicide.

Ishan Martin has gone with the Mumbai Police theory in deciphering the death while writing “RIP Sushant Singh Rajput: The Life Of Bollywood Actor SSR”.

The description of Martin’s book mentions: “The news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s sudden demise comes as a shock for the entire film industry and his fans. The news comes just a few days after Sushant Singh Rajput’s former manager Disha Salian passed away. The news has left the actor’s fans heartbroken. Sushant Singh Rajput Bollywood Actor has killed himself in his home. His body was found at his Bandra home. Mumbai police confirmed it…”

Funnily, perhaps because most of these books were in a competition to hit the market first, all the works conveniently go with the initial police deduction that Sushant committed suicide.

Parikshita Garud describes her book, “Remembering: Sushant Singh Rajput”, saying: “This book is related to the legendary Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. I am going to publish some important points of his life in series. This is the first series where I have introduced about Sushant Singh Rajput and depression. Nowadays depression and suicide are the most sensitive topics. I’m just trying to motivate people out there with the help of the remembering Sushant Singh Rajput.”

Currently, the death of the actor is being investigated by the CBI, as per the Supreme Court’s order. While fans wait with bated breath for answers to the yet unsolved mysteries surrounding his death, be sure there will be more books on Sushant coming up. Let’s hope those works are better researched.

S.Korea reports 332 more Covid-19 cases; 17,002 in total

TB Team
-
0
S.Korea reports 332 more Covid-19 cases; 17,002 in total

South Korea reported 332 more cases of the Covid-19 on Saturday, raising the total number of infections to 17,002, officials said.

The daily caseload soared in triple digits for nine straight days, topping 300 for two days in a row. It was the highest in more than five months since March 8, Xinhua reported.

The number of confirmed cases for the past nine days reached 2,232 due to infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province traceable to church services of Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul and the massive rally held in central Seoul on August 15 by conservative voters and politicians.

Of the new cases, 127 were Seoul residents and 91 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Seventeen were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 2,716.

No more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 309. The total fatality rate stood at 1.82 percent.

A total of 49 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 14,169. The total recovery rate was 83.33 percent.

Since January 3, the country has tested more than 1.77 million people, among whom 1,716,371 tested negatives for the virus and 42,427 are being checked.

US stocks finish higher amid economic data

TB Team
-
0
US stocks finish higher amid economic data

US stocks ended higher on Friday as Wall Street digested a slew of economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 190.60 points, or 0.69 percent, to 27,930.33. The S&P 500 was up 11.65 points, or 0.34 percent, to 3,397.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 46.85 points, or 0.42 percent, to 11,311.80, Xinhua reported.

Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors advanced, with technology closing up 1.21 percent, leading the gainers. Energy sank 0.63 percent, the worst-performing group.

US-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher, with seven of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P US Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.

On the data front, Flash U.S. Composite Output Index registered 54.7 in August, up from the July reading of 50.3, London-based global information provider IHS Markit reported on Friday.

US total existing-home sales completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, jumped 24.7 percent from June to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.86 million in July, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Kerala govt’s bid for T’puram airport was 19.64% lower than Adani’s: Minister

TB Team
-
0
Kerala govt’s bid for T’puram airport was 19.64% lower than Adani’s: Minister

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday that the Kerala government’s bid for Thiruvananthapuram airport under PPP was 19.64 percent lower than Adani’s winning bid.

The revelation by the minister came after the Kerala government opposed the handing over of Thiruvananthapuram airport under public-private partnership (PPP) to Adani Enterprises.

In a statement, the minister said: “If Kerala government is against privatization, then why did it participate in the bidding process? The state government was given a fair chance and ‘Right of First Refusal’ (RoFR) if their bid was within 10 percent below the range of the highest bid. However, they bid 19.64 percent below.

“Then they approached the Kerala High Court which dismissed the petition in December 2019. The petitioners then filed an SLP in the Supreme Court. The apex court remitted the matter back to the Kerala High Court. There is no stay in the case either by SC or Kerala High Court.”

According to the minister, the Union Cabinet has given its go-ahead for awarding the airport to the private party subject to the outcome of the writ petition and in accordance with the provisions of the undertaking given by the concessionaire.

“If the petitioners succeed and the outcome of litigation leads to annulment/cancellation of the bidding process, then the concessionaire will handover the possession of the airport to AAI. They will be entitled to refund of the amount paid to AAI and additional investments made in the assets.

“The concessionaire will also not demand any damages from AAI. Here it should be borne in mind that these airports will come back to AAI after the lease period of 50 years,” the statement said.

On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to lease out Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram airports through the PPP mode to Adani Enterprises.

The approval is for their operation, management, and development by Adani Enterprises, which was declared the successful bidder in a ‘global competitive bidding’ conducted by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a period of 50 years.

Amanda Seyfried on what makes dogs great characters on screen

TB Team
-
0
Amanda Seyfried on what makes dogs great characters on screen

Actress Amanda Seyfried says dogs make great characters on screen because of their playfulness and curiosity.

“It’s a dog, it’s their smell, their wide-eyed innocence, their playfulness, and their curiosity. They just want to love you and live in the present and we could all learn that. That’s a big giant challenge for us, humans, to live in the present and they just do it naturally and it’s a beautiful thing to watch,” Seyfried said while talking about why dogs make for great characters.

That’s what made Seyfried take up “The Art Of Racing In The Rain”, directed by Simon Curtis.

The film follows Denny Swift, an F1 driver and his dog, Enzo, who believes in the legend that the dog will be reincarnated in his next life as a human.

“It didn’t take me much to sell me on it. I mean if a story is good and I mean I didn’t even really care to read the script at that point because it just seemed like a perfect little package. The script ended up being great too so then it was just one of those gems that don’t come along very often and it’s really true to the book which is special and I think fans of the book are going to love the movie,” she said of the film, slated to air in India on Star Movies.

Brazil reports over 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths

TB Team
-
0
Brazil reports over 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths

Brazil on Friday recorded 30,355 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the national caseload to 3,532,330, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, 1,054 more people died of the disease, pushing the death toll to 113,358, the ministry said, Xinhua reported.

Brazil has the world’s second-worst outbreak, after the US, in terms of both cases and deaths.

The southeast state of Sao Paulo, the most populous state in the country, is the epicenter of the national coronavirus outbreak, with 28,155 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 15,202 deaths.

Was model Jameela Calcuttawala the ‘mystery woman’ outside Sushant’s home on June 14?

TB Team
-
0
Was model Jameela Calcuttawala the ‘mystery woman’ outside Sushant’s home on June 14?

Fans of Sushant Singh Rajput have been speculating about the mystery woman who was spotted outside his Bandra residence on the day of his demise, June 14.

Reports doing the rounds in the media and social media seem to suggest the girl could be Jameela Calcuttawala, rumored girlfriend of Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Show.

The speculations stem from a pair of slippers! Jameela is a model, and her unverified private Instagram account has the late Sushant Singh Rajput, his girlfriend Rhea, and her brother Show among followers.

A group photograph posted on Instagram by Sushant in May last year (which is now deleted from the late actor’s account), and which was reposted by Rhea on her verified Instagram account on May 4 last year, reportedly features Jameela alongside Sushant, Rhea, and other friends. Not only this, several other posts on Rhea’s Instagram credit Jameela as the photographer, hinting at the model’s association with Rhea and her family.

Back to June 14, 2020, videos and photographs of a woman clicked outside Sushant’s residence on the day of his death, have led to conjectures over who she might be. The woman was wearing a COVID mask, along with a sleeveless blue top with white stripes, paired with khaki lowers. She slips into the building premise and disappears inside.

It is her slippers that have been drawing attention. Many are certain that the woman in blue top wears the same slippers that she is seen wearing in the group photograph shared by Sushant and reposted by Rhea on May 4, 2019.

For the past few days, fans of the late actor have been sharing both photographs together on social media speculating Jameela could be the mystery woman spotted outside Sushant’s residence on June 14.

The plot thickens.

1...1,5231,5241,525...2,190Page 1,524 of 2,190