Twitter testing automatic translation for tweets

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Twitter testing automatic translation for tweets

Twitter has kicked off a test with a small group of users across iOS and Android in Brazil that automatically translates tweets that are in a language they may not be able to read.

“To make it easier to understand the conversations you follow on Twitter, we’re experiencing an automatic translation for Tweets in other languages that appear on your homepage,” the company said in a statement.

The translation is already a feature of Twitter, but it’s not automatic. The platform currently supports inline translations, so users can click on any tweet written in a different language to translate it.

If the primary language of the user is set to English within Twitter, all other Tweets in different languages will have a Translate button.

However, with the new feature, users in Brazil will see English-language tweets that have been automatically translated to Brazilian Portuguese, rather than having to manually opt to translate it themselves.

Twitter is also working on a new feature where the users will be able to view retweets with quotes (formerly known as retweets with comments) on each of their posts.

The ‘quote retweets’ will now appear as “Quotes” under tweets, with their own counter, similar to how the number of retweets and likes are displayed.

Lucknow records highest spike of 831 Covid cases in a day

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Lucknow records highest spike of 831 Covid cases in a day

Lucknow has recorded an all-time high of 831 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, as it crossed the 14,000 marks. Medical experts have said that if immediate steps are not taken the state capital may soon cross the 1,000-mark in a day.

Tuesday’s figure took the caseload to 14,221 since the outbreak on March 11, of which 42 percent (6,043 cases) have been reported to date in August.

About 7,317 patients have also recovered to date, but since the transmission rate is higher than recovery, active patients have swelled to 6,743. Though asymptomatic cases are allowed home isolation, the increase in active cases added to the pressure on COVID hospitals.

Prof T.N. Dhole, senior virologist, and ex-professor at SGPGI said moisture in the atmosphere in monsoon is abetting the spread of the virus.

“The surge will continue and we may see more than 1,000 cases daily by August end. The transmission rate would peak in October,” he explained.

Experts cited three main reasons behind the spike — rainy season, negligence of safety protocol, and delay in contact tracing.

However, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Rajendra Prasad Singh denied laxity in contact tracing. “More cases are being detected because we have doubled our testing capacity to 5,000 daily which is double in comparison to July,” he said.

King George’s Medical Unit, medicine head and in charge of COVID unit, Prof Virendra Adam said, “I see people across the city crowding markets without social distancing and masks. Hand hygiene is also being neglected which explains the spread of the virus.”

Apple inks first-look deal with Martin Scorsese

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Apple inks first-look deal with Martin Scorsese

Apple has inked a first-look film and TV deal with Hollywood maestro Martin Scorsese.

Under the multi-year deal, Scorsese will produce film and TV projects for Apple TV+ streaming platform via his Sikelia Productions that he founded in 2003.

Apple is currently working with Scorsese on the highly-anticipated film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which will be directed by Scorsese and stars biggies like Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

This will be his second production for any OTT platform, the first being The Irishman on Netflix, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.

To date, Apple has signed overall and first-look deals with internationally acclaimed studios, including Appian Way, founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and co-run by Jennifer Davisson; Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures; Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions; A24 and Imagine Documentaries; as well as trusted studios for kids and family entertainment, Sesame Workshop, and Peanuts.

The new deal joins a growing list of storytellers at Apple TV+, including Oprah Winfrey, Idris Elba, Alfonso Cuaron, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Justin Lin, Kerry Ehrin, Jason Katims, Lee Eisenberg, Monica Beletsky, Sharon Horgan, Alena Smith, and Simon Kinberg, among others.

He’s off Christmas card & present list: Broad on his father who penalised him

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He’s off Christmas card & present list: Broad on his father who penalised him

Veteran England pacer Stuart Broad, who has been fined by his father and match referee Chris Broad for breaching ICC Code of Conduct during the first Test against Pakistan, has come up with a hilarious reaction.

Cricket fans’ group England’s Barmy Army on Tuesday took to Twitter and wrote,” Stuart Broad fined and given a demerit point by his dad, match referee Chris Broad! Looks like we might need to change the words to his song slightly.”

To this, the 34-year-old fast bowler replied: “He’s (father) of the Chrismas card and present list.”

Broad has been fined 15 percent of his match fee for using inappropriate language against Yasir Shah during the first Test at Manchester which England won by three wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The incident occurred in the 46th over of Pakistan’s second innings of the match when Broad used inappropriate language after dismissing Shah, stated an ICC media release.

In addition to the fine, one demerit point has been added to the disciplinary record of Broad, for whom it was the third offense in a 24-month period, taking his cumulative demerit points to three. Broad’s previous breaches were on January 27 this year during the fourth Test against South Africa at the Wanderers, and on August 19, 2018, in the third Test against India at Trent Bridge.

All 6 COVID-19 positive hockey players shifted to hospital: SAI

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All 6 COVID-19 positive hockey players shifted to hospital: SAI

All six Indian men’s hockey team players, who have tested positive for coronavirus, have been shifted to a multispeciality hospital in Bengaluru, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) informed on Wednesday morning.

Earlier, striker Mandeep Singh was hospitalized late on Monday night, owing to a dip in his oxygen level.

SAI has now said that as a precautionary measure, they shifted captain Manpreet Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, and Krishnan B Pathak to SS Sparsh multi-specialty hospital — where Mandeep is already hospitalized — on Tuesday afternoon.

“The decision to hospitalize them was taken so as to ensure that the players were attended to at all times and could be given the best possible treatment,” said SAI.

All six athletes are in good health and recovering well, it added.

The players had been diagnosed with COVID-19 following their arrival at the SAI’s National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) for the hockey national camp which began on August 4.

“I am self quarantined on the SAI campus and I am very happy with the way SAI authorities have handled the situation,” Manpreet had earlier said. “I am very happy that they made the testing of athletes mandatory. That proactive step helped in identifying the problem right in time. I am doing fine and hope to recover very soon.”

External auditors to evaluate our content review process: Facebook

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External auditors to evaluate our content review process: Facebook

Facebook has said it will go through an independent third-party audit to validate the numbers and metrics it publishes in its Community Standards Enforcement Report.

The company is issuing a Request For Proposal (RFP) to external auditors to conduct an independent audit of these metrics.

“We hope to conduct this audit starting in 2021 and have the auditors publish their assessments once completed,” said Vishwanath Sarang, Technical Programme Manager, Integrity.

Facebook said it has been working with auditors internally to assess how the metrics it reports can be audited most effectively.

“Transparency is only helpful if the information we share is useful and accurate. In the context of the Community Standards Enforcement Report, that means the metrics we report are based on sound methodology and accurately reflect what’s happening on our platform,” Sarang said in a blog post on Tuesday.

“We want people to be confident that the numbers we report around harmful content are accurate, so we will undergo an independent, third-party audit, starting in 2021, to validate the numbers we publish in our Community Standards Enforcement Report,” added Guy Rosen, VP Integrity at Facebook.

Over a year ago, Facebook worked with international experts in measurement, statistics, law, economics and governance to provide an independent, public assessment of whether the metrics it shares in the enforcement report provide accurate and useful measures of Facebook’s content moderation challenges.

“They broadly agreed that we are looking at the right metrics and provided some recommendations for improvement including launching appeals reporting,” Sarang said.

Google launches ‘The Anywhere School’ with over 50 new features

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Google launches ‘The Anywhere School’ with over 50 new features

As millions of students navigate learning from home, Google has announced a new initiative called The Anywhere School, bringing over 50 new features across Meet, Classroom, G Suite, and other products to hundreds of thousands of viewers in more than 250 countries around the world.

In September, the video-calling app Google Meet will have a larger tiled view of up to 49 people and an integrated Jamboard whiteboard for collaboration.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it will also release new controls so moderators can choose to always join first, end meetings for all participants, disable in-meeting chat, and much more.

In October, Google will launch custom and blurred backgrounds in Meet to provide some extra privacy.

“Breakout rooms and attendance tracking will also be launching for all Google Enterprise for Education customers, allowing for more engaged classes and insights on participation,” said Avni Shah, VP of Education at Google.

Later this year, the company would roll out hand-raising for all customers and Q&A and polling for G Suite Enterprise for Education customers.

“Plus, we’ll launch a new temporary recordings feature which will be available to all Education customers for free (premium recordings will still be part of G Suite Enterprise for Education),” Shah informed.

With more teachers around the world using the free “Google Classroom” web service for schools more than ever before, the company said a new “to-do widget on the Classes page” will help students see what’s coming up, what’s missing, and what’s been graded.

Teachers can now share a link to invite students to their class, which makes joining a class much easier.

The classroom will soon be available in 10 additional languages, for 54 languages in total.

With “G Suite Enterprise for Education”, educators will be able to see matches for potential plagiarism not only against webpages but between student submissions at their school.

Google has introduced a new product for non-Classroom users called Assignments, an application for the learning management system (LMS) that gives educators a faster, simpler way to distribute, analyze, and grade student work.

“This time-saving application helps educators automatically create and distribute personalized copies of classwork to each student’s Google Drive folder, quickly provide feedback, and keep grading consistent and transparent with originality reports,” explained Shah.

Google recently launched “SmartCompose” and “AutoCorrect in Docs” for educators and students to help them compose high-quality content faster by cutting back on repetitive writing while reducing the chance of spelling and grammatical errors.

By the end of this month, admins will be able to disable both “SmartCompose” and “AutoCorrect” if they choose.

“Soon we’re also launching citations so students can format and manage their sources directly in Docs,” said Google.

Google has also created the “Tech Toolkit for Families and Guardians”, which helps parents better understand the technology that their kids use in the classroom.

Facebook removes 22.5mn hate speech content, 1.5bn fake accounts in Q2

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Facebook removes 22.5mn hate speech content, 1.5bn fake accounts in Q2

Facebook on Tuesday said that it purged 22.5 million pieces of hate speech content in the second quarter (April-June) this year, increased from 9.6 million pieces of content in Q1, and its proactive detection rate for hate speech increased 6 points from 89 percent to 95 percent.

When it comes to fake accounts, Facebook said it removed 1,5 billion such accounts in Q2, down from 1.7 billion accounts in Q1.

The reason for the decline the social network gave was that when it blocks more attempts, there are fewer fake accounts for it to disable, “which has led to a general decline in accounts actioned since Q1 2019”.

“We estimate that fake accounts represented approximately 5 percent of our worldwide monthly active users (MAU) on Facebook during Q2,” Guy Rosen, VP Integrity at Facebook, said in a blog post detailing the sixth edition of ‘Community Standards Enforcement Report’.

On Instagram, the proactive detection rate for hate speech increased 39 points from 45 percent to 84 percent in the June quarter, said Facebook.

It resulted in action on 3.3 million pieces of hate speech content in Q2, up from 808,900 in Q1.

“These increases (on Instagram) were driven by expanding our proactive detection technologies in English and Spanish,” Rosen said.

Another area where Facebook claimed it saw improvements was content related to terrorism.

“On Facebook, the amount of content we took action on increased from 6.3 million in Q1 to 8.7 million in Q2,” Rosen informed.

“We saw increases in the amount of content we took action on connected to organized hate on Instagram and bullying and harassment on both Facebook and Instagram”.

Facebook said that since it prioritized removing harmful content over measuring certain efforts during this time, it was unable to calculate the prevalence of violent and graphic content, and adult nudity and sexual activity.

“We want people to be confident that the numbers we report around harmful content are accurate, so we will undergo an independent, third-party audit, starting in 2021, to validate the numbers we publish in our Community Standards Enforcement Report,” Rosen said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook sent its content reviewers home in March and relied more heavily on the technology to review content.

The company said it has since brought many reviewers back online from home and, where it is safe, a smaller number into the office.

The company admitted that the number of appeals against the removal of accounts etc was much lower in Q2 “because we couldn’t always offer them”.

“We let people know about this and if they felt we made a mistake, we still gave people the option to tell us they disagreed with our decision”.

UPSRTC to sell reusable masks to passengers

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UPSRTC to sell reusable masks to passengers

The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC), in view of the increasing number of Coronavirus cases, has initiated the selling of reusable protective face masks at its major bus stands across the state.

UPSRTC Managing Director Raj Shekhar said: “The masks will be available at COVID help desks and inquiry counters at 100 prominent bus stations of the corporation. The move is aimed at ensuring that passengers traveling in roadways buses strictly adhere to the Covid-19 guidelines and wear masks for their safety as well as that of the co-passengers.”

Shekhar said that the staff deployed in the roadways’ buses have been directed to sensitize passengers on the importance of face masks while in public to combat the spread of the virus that has so far infected nearly 1,32,000 people in the state.

“The masks, which are made of washable quality fabric, are available at a cost of Rs 6 per piece. The roadways passengers will be informed about the newly-introduced service through announcements at the bus stations,” the official said.

According to sources with the UPSRTC headquarters, around 10,000 masks have been sold in the past 24 hours. There is a high demand for masks since most passengers tend to ‘forget’ to wear masks when they travel.

Besides face masks, the UPSRTC is taking various measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 by making regular announcements at bus stations for the passengers to follow the safety guidelines, displaying ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ on LED TVs installed at the high-end bus stations, ensuring fumigation at bus stations, a sprinkling of disinfectants in waiting lounges, sanitization of buses, among others.

SSR’s flatmate Pithani at ED for 2nd day

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SSR’s flatmate Pithani at ED for 2nd day

Siddharth Pithani, who was late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s flatmate, on Tuesday once again deposed before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to record his statement in a money-laundering probe.

Pisani, an IT professional, who was in Sushant’s flat on June 14, when the actor was found dead, was questioned by the financial probe agency officials on Monday for over five hours.

An ED official requesting anonymity said that Pithani was asked about the financial details of Sushant and if he had used or borrowed money from the late actor. He was also questioned about the investments made by Sushant in the companies in which the late actor was a director along with his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik Chakraborty.

The ED officials also wanted to know from Pithani about Rhea’s relationship with the late actor and his family members. The ED is also zeroing in on Innsaei Ventures, which Sushant launched with Varun Mathur in 2018. The ED wants to know about the kind of investment Sushant made in the firm.

The ED could also ask Pithani if Rhea used Sushant’s credit cards and other financial transactions for her expenses and if she used the bodyguards and his other staff.

The ED has to date questioned six people in its probe in the case. It will also record the statement of Sushant’s sister Mitu Singh for the first time in the case later in the day.

Earlier in the day, Shruti Modi, Sushant, and Rhea’s ex-manager also deposed before the ED for questioning in the case. She was also questioned on Friday and Monday by the ED.

The ED and the CBI are probing the death of the late actor, who was found hanging in his Bandra flat in Mumbai on June 14 on the complaint of Singh filed at the Rajeev Nagar police station in Patna on July 25.

Sushant and his family hail from Purnea district in Bihar. Both agencies have taken over the probe on the basis of the Bihar Police FIR.

The CBI on Monday visited the Faridabad home of the late actor’s brother-in-law, O.P. Singh, who is a top police officer in Haryana. They recorded the statement of Sushant’s father and sister in connection with the case.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources, the family members have claimed that Sushant’s death was not suicide but a murder. However, the CBI officials remained tight-lipped on the development.

The ED had on July 31 registered a case on the basis of a Bihar Police FIR on his father’s complaint that Rs 15 crore was withdrawn or transferred from his son’s Kotak Mahindra Bank account. The ED registered the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Rhea and her family members, among others.

Sushant’s father has accused Rhea of taking money from his son and also threatening to disclose his medical reports to the media. The late actor’s family has also accused her of keeping him away from them.

The case was transferred to the CBI from the state police on August 7.

Fawad Alam should get a chance in 2nd Test, says Wasim Akram

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Fawad Alam should get a chance in 2nd Test, says Wasim Akram

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram feels middle-order batsman Fawad Alam should be included in the playing XI for the second Test against England starting Thursday.

The hosts won the first Test in dramatic style in Manchester to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The last two matches will now be played at the Ageas Bowl and Akram stated ball won’t turn as much at the venue so the visitors will have to include an extra batsman.

“In the next match, you won’t find a turning wicket,” Akram told Samaa TV. “You will play with one spinner and you will have to play with an extra batsman.

“You need a middle-order batsman and Fawad Alam is the one. He is also a left-hander, so the team can have a left-right combination.

“He has an average of 56 in first-class cricket, has a hundred on Test debut, so you will have to give him a chance. So if I was the captain, I would include him in the middle order,” he added.

26-year-old Alam has so far played three Tests and scored 250 runs, including one century. He is, however, a mainstay in the ODIs, having played 38 matches and scoring 996 runs in the process.

Meanwhile, former great Rashid Latif has urged the team management to include Haider Ali in the playing XI for the crucial game.

“Haider Ali is missing from this team. His time to play is now and if he doesn’t play, you will waste one year of his career,” Latif said on his YouTube channel ‘Caught Behind’.

“We are waiting for Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq to retire before including Haider Ali but by then it will be too late,” he added.

Galaxy Note20 pre-booking notifications hit 5 lakh in India: Samsung

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Galaxy Note20 pre-booking notifications hit 5 lakh in India: Samsung

Samsung on Tuesday said that the pre-booking notifications for its ‘Make in India Galaxy Note20 smartphone crossed more than 5 Lakh this year, which is more than double the figure the company achieved last year with Galaxy Note10.

The South Korean major last week opened pre-booking for its Galaxy Note20 series in India, The 6.7-inch Galaxy Note20 (8GB+256GB) was launched at the original price of Rs 77,999 while the 6.9-inch Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (12GB+256GB) is available for Rs 104,999 in the country.

“We are very excited as the latest series has received an overall good response from the audience and the pre-booking notifications of the devices were double than that of Galaxy Note10 last year,” Aditya Babbar, Director, Mobile Business, Samsung India, told IANS.

Samsung on Monday unveiled a mystic blue color edition of the newly-launched Galaxy Note20 in India. The smartphone that comes in mystic bronze, mystic green, and now mystic blue will be available for Rs 64,999 with the exciting voucher and credit/debit card offers.

“The new Note 20 series is made for millennials. It is for someone who is ‘life maximizer’ and uses a wide range of apps and does most of the tasks on the smartphone rather than on PC,” Babbar said.

Customers pre-booking Galaxy Note20 will be eligible for benefits worth Rs 7,000 that can be redeemed on Samsung Shop app on a set of products, including Galaxy Buds+, Galaxy Buds Live, Galaxy Watches and Galaxy Tabs, among others.

In addition, when paying with HDFC Bank Credit and Debit Cards, consumers will be eligible for cashback up to Rs 6000 on the purchase of Galaxy Note20.

With bank cashback and Samsung Shop benefits, the Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G will cost Rs 85,999 in the country.

According to Babbar, there are five major qualities of Galaxy Note20 that makes it stand out in the crowd.

“The 120Hz refresh rate, AMOLED display, amazing camera, work like a computer, powerful battery, S Pen, and 8K video support are the 5 major features in Galaxy Note20,” he said.

With the S Pen, one can use it as a remote control. The powerful battery will help you stay connected for a long time.

“We are also giving Microsoft subscription for one year at a subsidized rate in India along with YouTube Premium for four months to make our users remain connected,” Babbar added.

The smartphone features a 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,400 pixels) Infinity-O Super AMOLED+ flat display with a 60Hz refresh rate and 20:9 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, there is an octa-core Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ SoC — depending on the market.

The phone also has 8GB RAM and comes with up to 256GB of onboard storage that isn’t expandable via micro-SD card.

Bengaluru Zoo to gift lions to safari

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Bengaluru Zoo to gift lions to safari

The Bengaluru Zoo will gift three lions and a lioness. A pair to the Gadag zoo, and two lions to a Shimoga safari, both within the state limits under animal exchange program earmarking the just celebrated World Lion Day, an official said on Tuesday.

“Bengaluru Bannerghatta Biological Park has decided to gift two male lions — Dharma and Arjuna to lion and tiger safari Tyavarekoppa in Shimoga, which is 320 km northwest of Bengaluru,” said Executive Director Vanashree Vipin Singh.

It will also gift a lion and a lioness — Nakula and Nirupama to Gadag Zoo which is located 391 km northwest of the city.

According to Singh, the gifts were meant to celebrate the World Lion Day that was celebrated on Monday.

A proposal recommending the exchange is being submitted to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) in New Delhi for approval.

The biological park has four units — a zoo, safari, butterfly park, and a rescue center sprawling over 732 hectares of land and accommodates 2,279 animals. The zoo is nestled in the forests of Champakadhama Hills inside the Bannerghatta National Park.

B’desh CJ orders resumption of in-person HC hearings

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B’desh CJ orders resumption of in-person HC hearings

Bangladesh Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain has ordered the resumption of in-person hearings at the High Court from Wednesday after case proceedings in the e-justice system continued for three months amid the coronavirus pandemic.

He formed 18 regular High Court benches along with 35 virtual ones for the hearings, according to notices issued by the Supreme Court’s Deputy Registrar Mohammad Aktaruzzaman Bhuiyan on Monday.

The regular benches include 13 division benches and five single-judge ones while the virtual benches will have 24 division ones and 11 single-judge benches, bdnews24 reported.

The authorities must ensure that everyone follows the instructions issued by the High Court on the safety of people on the court premises and inside the courtrooms.

It comes six days after the lower courts returned to normal proceedings.

The three months of e-justice system followed a suspension for another month amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Supreme Court went on a general holiday after the government announced a 66-day lockdown in late March after the first coronavirus cases were detected in Bangladesh.

The country’s judiciary entered a new era with the launch of e-justice as the lower courts began hearing cases remotely on May 11 following the Chief Justice’s directives, said the bdnews24 report.

Lawyers filed pleas online for hearings in courts remotely via video conferencing and other digital means.

The lawyers demanded reopening of the courts as the types of cases for the virtual hearing were limited, and there were certain issues related to the use of ICT, new to many of the senior advocates.

The courts, however, continued virtually even after the general holiday of offices and workplaces ended on May 30.

The Supreme Court Bar Association also demanded the reopening of the top court last month.

Vrindavan temple sealed as 22 persons test corona positive

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Vrindavan temple sealed as 22 persons test corona positive

A day ahead of the Janmashtami festival, an ISKON temple in Vrindavan was sealed on Tuesday after 22 persons, including its priests, tested positive for coronavirus, officials said.

According to the health officials, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple was sealed after test reports of these persons came in on Tuesday morning.

A majority of main temples in Vrindavan have been shut for devotees due to the pandemic.

Vrindavan’s Chandrovodaya temple has reportedly planned a virtual tour of the city for the devotees to coincide with the Janamashtami to mark Lord Krishna’s birth.

The main temples included in the virtual tour of the Vrindavan Dham are Vaishno Devi temple, Chandroday temple, Prem Mandir, ISKCON temple, Krishna-Balaram tree, Kaliya Dah Ghat, Madan Mohan temple, Banke Bihari temple, Radha Damodar Dev Ji temple, Nidhivan temple, Radha Gopinath temple, Chir Ghat, and the Yamuna river flowing in the holy city.

Janmashtami will be celebrated on Tuesday and Wednesday across India.

8 more COVID deaths, 1,896 new cases in Telangana

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8 more COVID deaths, 1,896 new cases in Telangana

Telangana reported 1,896 new COVID cases on Tuesday, taking the state’s tally to 82,647, even as eight more fatalities pushed the state’s death toll to 645.

Active cases in Telangana now total 22,628, including 15,554 in-home or institutional isolation. More than 84 percent of those put in home isolation are asymptomatic.

While the number of new cases in Greater Hyderabad continues to decline, there has been a big spike in the daily count in several districts.

The state capital saw 338 new cases during the last 24 hours ending 8 pm on Monday. It had reported 389 of the 1,256 new cases the previous day.

Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri bordering Greater Hyderabad reported 147 and 119 cases respectively. Sangareddy, another district that shares borders with the state capital, reported 49 new infections.

The steep hike in several districts continued to be a concern for health authorities. Karimnagar, for instance, saw 121 new cases followed by Warangal Urban (95), Jogulamba Gadwal (85), Kamareddy (71), Peddapalli (66), Khammam (65), Siddipet (64), and Bhadradri Kothagudem (60).

According to the media bulletin released by the Director of Public Health and Family Welfare, the new cases were reported from all 33 districts.

The coronavirus fatality rate in the state stands at 0.78 percent as against a national average of 2 percent. Officials said 53.87 percent of the deceased had comorbidities.

A total of 39 testing laboratories and 323 rapid antigen testing centers conducted 18,035 tests as against the state’s target of 5,600 as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark of 140 tests per million per day.

Test results of 959 samples are awaited. The state has so far conducted 6,42,875 tests.

Officials said 1,788 more corona patients recovered from COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative recoveries to 59,374.

The state’s recovery rate at 71.84 percent is higher than the national average of 69.33 percent.

Official data shows that 65.9 percent of positive cases were in the age group of 21-50. Those above 51 accounted for 24.4 percent of the cases. A little over 10 percent were aged below 20.

Officials said 65.10 percent of those who tested corona positive were males and the remaining females.

According to the media bulletin, out of 20,396 beds in government-run hospitals, 17,767 beds were vacant.

While 112 private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients have a total of 7,657 beds, 3,212 of them were vacant.

Svetlana Kuznetsova pulls out of US Open due to COVID-19

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Svetlana Kuznetsova pulls out of US Open due to COVID-19

World No.32 Svetlana Kuznetsova has become the latest female tennis star to pull out of this year’s US Open due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The US Open is currently scheduled to be held behind closed doors from August 31 with the Cincinnati Open being held at the Flushing Meadows before that from August 22. However, due to rising COVID-19 cases in the country, tennis stars have been apprehensive about participating in the tournament.

Kuznetsova, a 2004 US Open winner, took to social media to announce her decision to not take part in the event.

“I feel very sad, because I have been (waiting) for these tournaments so much, but the pandemic changes all plans,” Kuznetsova wrote in an Instagram post.

World No.1 Ashleigh Barty was one of the first to withdraw and she was followed by a lot of tennis players around the world who opted against taking part in the tournament.

Last week, No.5 Elina Svitolina and No.7 Kiki Bertens also decided against traveling to New York this year.

Svitolina took to social media to announce her decision and her Twitter post read: “Considering all the aspects, I have decided not to play the US Open 2020. I want to thank the USTA, organizers, and the WTA for giving the players a chance to play and the fans a chance to watch this great event.

“I understand and respect all the efforts they are putting to make it happen in a safe environment, but I still don’t feel comfortable to travel to the US without putting my team and myself at high risk,” she added.

Bertens, too, announced her decision on social media via a long post on Instagram last week.

“After long consideration, I have decided not to go to the States for Cincinnati and US Open. The situation around COVID-19 is worrying and the heath of everyone and control over this virus is a priority,” Bertens wrote.

“Our prime minister indicated yesterday that we should be quarantined for 14 days after coming back from the States. Of course, we respect this as a team and this would disturb our preparation for my beloved clay-court tournaments in Rome and Paris.

“I hope the situation will soon take a positive turn and wish everyone good health,” she added.

Confidence of Indian workforce steadily rising: LinkedIn survey

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Confidence of Indian workforce steadily rising: LinkedIn survey

As restrictions in lockdown slowly lift, the confidence of the Indian workforce, be it towards finances or individual confidence, is steadily rising, a LinkedIn survey said on Tuesday.

The composite score in the latest LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index went up to over 53 – from over 50 in the fortnight of June 15-28, said the report.

The findings are based on survey responses of over 5,500 professionals in India during the weeks of June 1- July 26.

The results showed that nearly one in three professionals is anticipating their personal savings to increase, while two in five expect their personal spending to stay the same in the next six months.

Small business employees are witnessing a lift in their overall individual confidence levels — up from +49 to +58 since June 15-28 — as well as confidence towards finances — up from +35 to +51.

However, this optimism fades when it comes to job security, as the report showed that employees in small and medium-sized businesses are less confident about holding on to their jobs than workers in large enterprises with 10,000 or more employees.

With low cash reserves and on-off lockdowns across several cities, business sustenance for SMBs continues to be a challenging affair.

Findings from the survey underscored a pronounced difference in how professionals from different industries feel about returning to the physical workplace.

The results showed that 46 percent of professionals from recreation and travel, and 39 percent of professionals from the consumer goods industry will return to work as soon as they are allowed to.

However, 50 percent of software & IT employees said they will continue working remotely for now.

This could be due to the fact they have transitioned to working remotely in a smooth manner, among other reasons.

Joining them in their cautious approach, professionals from transportation & logistics, and media & communications were seen wary about returning to the physical workplace.

Risk of exposure, poor sanitation, and lack of workplace policies worry most professionals who are reluctant to return to the physical workplace, showed the survey.

AI can improve CT screening for COVID-19 diagnosis

TB Team
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AI can improve CT screening for COVID-19 diagnosis

Researchers are developing a new technique using Artificial Intelligence (AI) that would improve CT screening to more quickly identify patients infected with COVID-19.

The new technique will reduce the burden on the radiologists tasked with screening each image, according to a research team from the University of Notre Dame in the US.

Testing challenges have led to an influx of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 requiring CT scans which have revealed visual signs of the disease, including ground-glass opacities, a condition that consists of abnormal lesions, presenting as a haziness on images of the lungs.

“Most patients with coronavirus show signs of COVID-related pneumonia on a chest CT but with a large number of suspected cases, radiologists are working overtime to screen them all,” said study lead author Yiyu Shi from the Notre Dame.

“We have shown that we can use deep learning — a field of AI — to identify those signs, drastically speeding up the screening process and reducing the burden on radiologists,” Yiyu added.

The research team is working to identify the visual features of coronavirus-related pneumonia through the analysis of 3D data from CT scans.

The team is working to combine the analysis software with off-the-shelf hardware for a light-weight mobile device that can be easily and immediately integrated into clinics around the country.

The challenge, Shi said, is that 3D CT scans are so large, it’s nearly impossible to detect specific features and extract them efficiently and accurately on plug-and-play mobile devices.

“We’re developing a novel method inspired by Independent Component Analysis, using a statistical architecture to break each image into smaller segments, which will allow deep neural networks to target COVID-related features within large 3D images,” Shi wrote.

The research team is collaborating with radiologists at Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital in China and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre, where a large number of CT images from COVID-19 pneumonia are being made available.

The team hopes to have development completed by the end of the year.

Majority of parents oppose reopening schools

TB Team
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Majority of parents oppose reopening schools

Only 33 percent of parents support the reopening of schools from September 1, according to a survey by LocalCircles.

Risk and unknowns of Covid-19, and hard to implement social distancing norms in schools pose risk to seniors in the family are among the top reasons why parents don’t want schools starting from September 1.

Many schools started online sessions for the children to ensure that learning does not stop. As per the latest media reports, the central government is now considering opening schools from September 1 as part of its final unlocking measures starting with Classes 10-12 and Classes 6-9 with a 15-day gap.

As a reaction to the media reports, many parents raised the issue of schools restarting on September 1, and subsequently, LocalCircles decided to conduct a survey to get the collective parent pulse on how they feel about reopening of schools in less than a month.

The survey received over 25,000 responses from parents and grandparents in different parts of India.

With a total number of Covid-19 cases at 2.2 million and a daily caseload of approximately 65,000, India now has the highest number of daily cases in the world.

The infection is spreading so fast in the country that it took only 20 days for the number of infected to increase from 1 million to 2 million and as per the WHO guidelines, children fall in the high-risk category.

Children if infected can be carriers of the virus and spread it to other members of the family with grandparents being the most vulnerable as many families in India have a joint family structure.

Parents were asked if they approve of the reported Government plan of restarting schools from September 1 for Classes 10-12 and for Classes 6-10 after 15 days. In response, 58 percent said ‘no’ while only 33 percent answered ‘yes’.

With the majority of the parents opposing the reopening of schools from September 1, parents were also asked for the reason as to why they are opposed to schools in India starting from September 1, 2020.

In response, 13 percent said they cannot afford to take chances with children given the risk and unknowns related to Covid-19, while 1 percent said there is a serious risk with seniors in the family in case a child in the family gets infected. A 9 percent said social distancing will not be possible in schools, 5 percent said the Coronavirus spread will increase even faster if schools were reopened, and 2 percent said they believe online education is a good substitute given the situation.

47 percent said all of the above were valid reasons for them as 23 percent said they are not opposed to the opening of schools from September 1.

As schools in America begin reopening, dozens of students and school staff have started testing positive for Covid-19, while hundreds have been ordered home quarantine.

In early May, Israel became the first country to restart schools and within a few days, hundreds of students and teachers got infected. Kenya has decided to cancel the entire school year to protect the kids from the infection.

Like the earlier Unlock guidelines, the states may be given the authority to decide if they want to reopen schools in different districts, depending on the prevailing caseload. Whatever decision is taken, the majority of parents are against the restarting of schools.

The issue with children in villages and schools is that they do not have an online education facility. Parents strongly feel that the Government via radio, television, and financial support should enable online classes in such schools.

The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds being deployed via a centralized mission into online school education was also discussed. Some parents even suggested these funds being utilized to furnish low-cost computing devices in schools. A combination of such enablement along with a channel for each class on television and radio can play a role in educating children while schools stay shut.

To the majority of the parents, while it is important that children don’t fall behind on their education, it is critical that their health doesn’t take a hit, especially at a time when the long-term impact of COVID-19 is still unknown.

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