Chinese chopper spotted near LAC, India rushes fighters to border

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Chinese chopper spotted near LAC, India rushes fighters to border

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday scrambled fighter jets along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, after China flew military choppers close to the LAC. The IAF officials, however, termed it as a “routine affair”.

This happened following skirmishes between the Indian Army soldiers and Chinese’s People’s Liberation Army in Ladakh and North Sikkim last week.

“China military choppers fly in their territories and out fighter jets in our territories. It is normal routine affair,” said Indian Air Force (IAF) officer. He also rejected the aggressive approach at LAC.

The officer said: “On Tuesday also the Chinese military helicopters were flying close to LAC and our planes were also doing routine sortie.” When asked about the aggressive attitude, the officer speaking candidly said, “It is being unnecessarily being sensationalized. It is a routine Standard Operating Procedure”

The act of China flying military choppers near LAC is being perceived as a provocation by the Indian military establishment.

The LAC, unlike international borders, is not clearly marked. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC.

The Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in scuffles at two occasions in last one week along Line of Actual Control in north Sikkim and Ladakh.

Sources said that four Indian soldiers and half a dozen of Chinese counterparts were injured during the confrontation in North Sikkim.

It took place at Naku La sector, ahead of Muguthang, a pass at a height of more than 5,000 metres in North Sikkim. In total 150 soldiers were present when the confrontation took place.

Later, the confrontation was resolved at the local level.

Sources said that temporary and short duration face offs occur as boundary issues are not resolved.

“Incidents of face off took place. Aggressive behaviour and minor injuries took place from both sides. They were disengaged after dialogue and interaction at local level,a said the source.

Troops resolve such issues mutually as per established protocols.

The scuffle in Ladakh took place on May 5 night and was resolved by May 6 morning.

This is not the first time Indian and Chinese soldiers have exchanged blows along the border.

Back in August 2017, Indian and Chinese soldiers threw stones at each other and exchanged blows near Pangong Lake in Ladakh. The clash had aggravated tensions between the two countries as it happened at a time when they were locked in a stand-off in the disputed territory of Doklam in Sikkim.

It took two months to end the stand-off between the forces.

Australia records largest-ever drop in int’l visitor arrivals

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Australia records largest-ever drop in int’l visitor arrivals

Australia has recorded the largest drop in international arrivals in recorded history as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, official data revealed on Tuesday.

According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the number of people who arrived in the country for a short-term trip in March was down 60 percent compared to the same month last month, reports Xinhua news agency.

“In March 2020, there were 331,900 visitors who had arrived for a short-term trip compared to 836,300 12 months earlier,” Jenny Dobak, the ABS Director of Migration Statistics, said in a statement.

“The steep fall in visitor arrivals to Australia in March was from all regions around the world. Even our largest source country New Zealand recorded a 56 percent drop,” Dobak said.

“Of the top 10 source countries, China recorded the largest decrease of 78 percent followed closely by Japan with a decrease of 75 percent.”

The Northern Territory experienced the steepest decline in international visitors, down 66 percent, followed by New South Wales at 64 percent and Queensland at 63 percent.

The ABS also revealed that 538,400 Australian residents returned from short-term overseas trips in March, a record-high fall of 29 percent from March 2019.

The data comes as the number of COVID-19 cases in Australia as of Tuesday stood at 6,970, with 97 deaths.

Too little sleep may lead to asthma attacks in adults

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Too little sleep may lead to asthma attacks in adults

A good night’s sleep is crucial to good health because researchers have found that too little sleep, and occasionally too much sleep, can negatively impact adults with asthma.

Previous research revealed that poor sleep quality has a negative effect on asthma symptoms in adolescents.

“Our study shows that adults with asthma are equally affected by too little (or sometimes too much) sleep,” said study lead author Faith Luyster from the University of Pittsburgh in the US.

Compared to normal sleepers, short and long sleepers had a higher proportion of people who reported having an asthma attack in the past year (45 percent vs. 59 percent and 51 percent respectively) and had more days with impaired health-related quality of life.

According to the researchers, impaired quality of life was characterized by more days of poor physical and mental health.For the findings, published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the research team surveyed 1,389 adults who were 20 years and older who self-identified as having asthma. A Of the group, 25.9 percent slept 5 hours or less, 65.9 percent slept 6-8 hours and 8.2 percent slept 9 or more hours

Sleep duration was measured by a single question, “How much sleep do you usually get at night on weekdays or workdays?”

“Short sleepers” were more likely to be younger and non-White, while “long sleep were more likely to be older, female and a smoker. Short sleepers, as compared to normal sleepers, had a greater likelihood of an asthma attack, dry cough, and an overnight hospitalization during the past year.

Short sleepers also had the significantly worse health-related quality of life — including days of poor physical and mental health and inactive days due to poor health — and more frequent general healthcare use during the past year as compared to normal sleepers.

“This study adds solid evidence to the practice of asthma patients discussing sleep issues with their allergist to help determine if they need to change their asthma plan to achieve adequate sleep as a component of overall good asthma management,” said Gailen D Marshall, Editor-in-Chief of Annals Journal.

PM Modi to address nation At 8 p.m.,

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PM Modi to address nation At 8 p.m.,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

The information was shared by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The PMO tweeted, “Narendra Modi will be addressing the nation at 8 p.m. this evening.”

This will be the Prime Minister’s fourth special address to the nation in the last two months. His address comes a day after Modi held a video conference meeting with all the Chief Ministers.

The Prime Minister first addressed the nation on March 18 and appealed to the people to observe ‘Janata Curfew’ between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on March 22.

On March 24, he announced the 21-day nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19 and then on April 14 he announced extending it for another 19 days till May 3.

However, the government later announced the extension of the lockdown for two more weeks on May 1 till May 17.

COVID-19 infection in kids may not start with a cough

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COVID-19 infection in kids may not start with a cough

Gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea, coupled with a fever or history of exposure to COVID-19, could indicate coronavirus infection in children, according to a new study.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics, the research also suggests that the gastrointestinal symptoms first suffered by some children hint at potential infection through the digestive tract, as the type of receptors in cells in the lungs targeted by the virus can also be found in the intestines.

“Most children are only mildly affected by COVID-19 and the few severe cases often have underlying health issues. It is easy to miss its diagnosis in the early stage when a child has non-respiratory symptoms or suffers from another illness,” said study author Dr. Wenbin Li from Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China.

“Based on our experience of dealing with COVID-19, in regions where this virus is epidemic, children suffering from digestive tract symptoms, especially with fever and/or a history of exposure to this disease, should be suspected of being infected with this virus,” he continued.

In this study, the research team detail the clinical features of children admitted to the hospital with non-respiratory symptoms, which were subsequently diagnosed with pneumonia and COVID-19.

“These children were seeking medical advice in the emergency department for unrelated problems, for example, one had a kidney stone, another a head trauma,” said researchers.

All had pneumonia confirmed by chest CT scan before or soon after admission and then confirmed to have COVID-19. While their initial symptoms may have been unrelated, or their COVID-19 symptoms were initially mild or relatively hidden before their admission to hospital, importantly, four of the five cases had digestive tract symptoms as the first manifestation of this disease.

The researchers also link the children’s gastrointestinal symptoms, which have been recorded in adult patients, to an additional potential route of infection.

“The gastrointestinal symptoms experienced by these children may be related to the distribution of receptors and the transmission pathway associated with COVID-19 infection in humans. The virus infects people via the ACE2 receptor, which can be found in certain cells in the lungs as well as the intestines,” Li said.

This suggests that COVID-19 might infect patients not only through the respiratory tract in the form of air droplets but also through the digestive tract by contact or faecal-oral transmission.

“We report five cases of COVID-19 in children showing non-respiratory symptoms as the first manifestation after admission to hospital. The incidence and clinical features of similar cases need further study in more patients,” the researchers noted.

By highlighting these cases, the researchers hope that doctors will use this information to quickly diagnose and isolate patients with similar symptoms, which will aid early treatment and reduce transmission.

In March, another study from China, published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, found that diarrhoea was a prominent symptom among up to half of the patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan.

4 Andhra Ministers, 2 MPs spend night in gas leak-hit villages

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4 Andhra Ministers, 2 MPs spend night in gas leak-hit villages

Four Andhra Pradesh Ministers and two MPs of the ruling YSR Congress Party spent Monday night in villages affected by a gas leak from LG Polymers India factory to instill confidence among the villagers who returned to their homes four days after the disaster.

Ministers Avanthi Srinivas, Botsa Satyanarayana, Dharmana Krishnadas, K. Kanna Babu, and MPs Vijayasai Reddy and MVV Satyanarayana stayed in the five villages near the chemical plant, interacted with the villagers, and tried to reassure them on their safety.

Vijayasai Reddy, who spent the night outside a house in Venkatapuram, said the effort proved that the government was not merely paying compensation but also wanted to instill confidence among people affected by the gas leak.

Twelve people were killed and over 400 taken ill following the leak of styrene gas from the chemical plant on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam in the early hours of May 7.

About 10,000 people from these villages were evacuated and kept in rehabilitation camps in the city. They started returning on Monday evening after the government declared the villages safe for living.

On the direction of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Ministers and MPs spent the night in the villages to instill confidence among the people.

Tourism minister Avanthi Srinivas, who spent the night at a house in Padmanabhanagar, went around in the village on Tuesday morning and interacted with villagers to know their problems.

The Minister claimed that normalcy has returned to the village. Agriculture Minister K. Kannababu said the villagers spent a peaceful night after four days.

The ministers announced that health camps will be conducted in all villages in the next 100 days to monitor the health of the villagers.

Vijaya Sai Reddy assured the people that the villages will be developed as a green and safe zone. The government will arrange food for the villagers, provide 25 tonnes of fodder for the cattle and ensure every possible help till the situation completely returns to normal.

They said volunteers will take up enumeration from Tuesday for payment of compensation. The government has announced a compensation of Rs 10,000 each to the people in affected villages.

The Ministers on Monday presented documents to eight out of 12 bereaved families relating to the payment of ex gratia of Rs 1 crore each. The payment for remaining cases will be made in a day or two.

As per the announcement made by the Chief Minister, those hospitalised for serious ailments would get Rs 10 lakh each and others admitted would receive Rs 1 lakh each. The entire cost of hospitalization will be borne by the government.

9 ways to combat financial anxiety during Covid-19

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9 ways to combat financial anxiety during Covid-19

As the pandemic looms large, in response to its changing dynamics, the businesses and employment sector are grappling with “tremendous apprehensions” about their future.

Sluggish economic growth in a “great lockdown” conjures up visions of a cascading fallout.

Like a millions others, you might find yourself on the sudden verge of a “lay-off” or a “pay cut” while working from home. Unlike other situations, the income level turmoil may be unpredictable and can be a devastating blow for many. This has the potential to result in a “psychosocial syndrome” i.e. financial-anxiety, a “money anxiety disorder” which cultivates a feeling of stress, worry and concern about your finances, wherein individuals have an uneasy and unhealthy anxiety about engaging with and administering their personal finance in an effective way.

Financial anxiety is a monetary monster that haunts many by stoking worry. It can be highly debilitating and can cause significant distress. For instance -, any of you might be waking up in the middle of the night, and while you try to get back to sleep, your mind wanders off to the blurry thoughts about having no funds to thrive. And before you know it, you’re in a full-blown 5 am panic attack. What begins as a passing thought to pay the bills, can suddenly leave you horrifically anxious and worried about how you’d pay those bills if you lost your job, how to climb out of debt, or how to make your budget stretch for the month. If this is regular, it can negatively impact mental and physical health and career.

Financial anxiety is common; it’s not insurmountable – and recognizing what triggers your anxiety can help you cope with it.

Acknowledge the Signs:

  • Financial anxiety shares many criteria of a generalized anxiety disorder, like excessive worry, irritability and difficulty concentrating.
  • Feeling heavily depressed or anxious about finances
  • An obsession with being frugal
  • Discomfort with accumulating wealth
  • Physical body reactions like – Intense sweating, headaches, shoulder aches or cold palms
  • Inability to change financial behavior, loss of control in one’s thoughts and feelings or loss of hope and disconnectedness.
  • Insomnia or oversleeping
  • Loss of appetite or binge eating

If the question, “how to accumulate money” leaves you in a cold sweat there may be a deeper reason behind the stress. However, the good news is that you can absolutely put your negative thoughts in full control by taking a step back from your worst fears and making sure you control your cash – and not the other way around.

Ways to manage your financial anxiety:

1. Explore your body and mind

If you have a sudden physical reaction like cold or sweaty palms, racing heartbeat due to unpleasant emotion while talking about money, acknowledge it immediately. Start paying attention to your negative emotions and how your body is reacting while discussing money. How does your mind react when you make any transaction or check account balance? Try being aware of what kind of emotions and patterns are situated inside your body and mind for example- “sweating heavily due to intense fear”. Consider the conversation that is triggering these negative feelings. Is it how you communicate with yourself while conceptualizing finance? How do you communicate with your partner? Or, are you feeling guilty or ashamed of being underpaid or pay cut?

A proper body and mental-health check, evaluating behavior teaches to work with our emotions instead of getting overwhelmed by them, and how to deal with these unwanted feelings is necessary. Clarity of what’s going on so that we’re not so consumed is essential.

2. Capture the essence of Positive thinking

Positive thinking helps with stress management. An individual must embark upon focusing on the good aspects of the finances instead of undergoing negative feelings. Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your mind in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst. Positive thinking won’t magically pay your bills or stretch your budget, but it can help capture the essence of stillness and calm over your fears. It will help you recognise and appreciate your financial strengths, which could lead to solutions to some of your problems.

3.”Square breathing” or “Box Breathing” to ease the stress & anxiousness

Deep breathing multiple times a day always helps to center oneself, when one has financial ups and downs. Square breathing also helps to relieve stress. It is a type of breathwork that can shift your energy, connect you more deeply with your body, calm your nervous system, and decrease stress in your body. It can also heighten performance and concentration while also being a powerful stress reliever.

Step 1: Slowly exhale through your mouth while being seated upright, getting all the oxygen out of your lungs.
Step 2: Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose to the count of four.
Step 3: Hold your breath for another slow count of four.
Step 4: Exhale for the same slow count of four, expelling the air from your lungs.
Step 5: Hold your breath for another slow count of four.

Repeat from step 2 till 5 for 5 times to start with.

4. Reframe the limiting belief systems

Money is a form of energy. And our idea about money usually comes from our subconscious mind and consciousness of scarcity. Deep down, we might have belief systems about money that are in most probability rooted in our childhood. We might have seen how money was treated by our primary caregivers when we were small.

Even if one loses a job, he/she can handle the situation differently depending upon the belief system about money. If that person has been carrying limiting beliefs about money, then financial anxiety is suspected to hit him harder. One can take help of a professional therapist or counsellor to reframe the subconscious mind, and hence the belief system. There are many ways to do that – meditation, affirmations, mirror work, NLP, hypnosis and many more.

5. Use the Zibu symbol of Abundance

Use the Zibu Symbol of Abundance in front of your work desk to invite abundance energies into your life. You can also use the Zibu symbol of Release to remove unwanted negative energy from your mind, body and environment. You can either air-draw the symbols on your body, room, books, desk or you can also draw the symbols on a piece of paper with a pen and stick them on the wall or book or your work stuff. You can draw the symbols on your body with a pen as well.

6. Healing Crystals

Take the help of healing crystals that are good for manifesting abundance consciousness, like pyrite, citrine, green aventurine, Labradorite etc. With intention, palace them in the wealth corner (south-east) of your house or workplace for manifesting abundance.

7. Banish the financial guilt & shame

The feeling of guilt and shame or embarrassment over your mounting pile of debt or loss of job, pay cut or money mismanagement can lead to an aura of shame, whether it’s a lack of money, incorrect budgeting or simply being ignorant about proper budgeting practice. “Practice empathy”, to forgive yourself and let go of the feelings of guilt and shame. It is mandatory to develop the tendency of empathizing with yourself to nurture your inner child and make yourself productive during such looming situations. This will ultimately serve in erasing any negative feelings inside of you.

8. Visualise – “I am a money magnet”

Work upon your fears related to money. Write them down in detail. Then meditate upon those fears and visualise them melting away. Visualise yourself surrounded by money and abundance, be happy in that state for some time. Repeat to yourself multiple times everyday – “I am a money magnet”.

9. Japanese technique Arigato

Practice the Japanese technique Arigato – which essentially tells to thank the money whenever it is going from you to someone or coming to you from someone. Gratitude is one of the highest energies one can have around.

By Kuhoo Gupta ia a Healer & Founder of -The K Junction

MS Dhoni is an entertainer, he never steps over the boundary

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MS Dhoni is an entertainer, he never steps over the boundary

Mr. Cool, calm and collected — these are the adjectives which have been used for former India skipper MS Dhoni over the years.

But it turns out that even this composed captain can lose his temper. There have been many instances in his career, be it in the Indian Premier League or India, where Dhoni lost his cool.

Having played with Dhoni across all formats of the game, former India opener Gautam Gambhir said: “People say that they have never seen him lose his cool, but I have on a couple of times.

“It was during the 2007 World Cup and in other World Cups when we haven’t done well.”

“He’s human and he’s bound to react as well. It’s absolutely fair enough to do that. Even at CSK, if there’s a mis-field or if someone has dropped a catch. Yes, he’s cool, he’s probably much cooler than the rest of the other captains. Much cooler than me for sure,” he added while speaking on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.

Former Australia speedster Brett Lee agreed with Gambhir and said: “We want entertainers, we want people to do that and MS Dhoni is an entertainer.”

“He never steps over the boundary. If he does, it’s very rare. But we are all human as Gautam Gambhir said.”

In the IPL, the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar all have faced Dhoni’s wrath at some point or the other.

In 2019, Chahar bowled consecutive no-balls against Kings XI Punjab in the 19th over of the chase and Dhoni was furious. The young pacer learned quickly and bowled Chennai Super Kings to victory.

A few days later, Dhoni was at the epicentre of extra-ordinary scenes during CSK’s chase in Jaipur. After the umpire’s no-ball call was controversially over-ruled by his colleague at square-leg, Dhoni stormed onto the field from the dugout to give the umpires a piece of his mind. MSD didn’t get his way, but CSK ended up winning the game.

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan also cited an example when the wicketkeeper-batsman lost his cool during a warm-up session.

“It was in 2006-07. During the warm-up, we had a game where the right-handed batsman would bat with the left hand and vice-versa. After we finished the warm-up, we used to get into our practice. So, during the warm-ups, there were 2 teams,” recalled Pathan.

“Once MS Dhoni was given out which he didn’t think he was. He threw his bat and made a dash to the dressing room and came late for the practice. So, he does get angry,” he added.

Over the years, Dhoni has forged a close bond with Jadeja. Back in 2015, even the left-handed all-rounder got an angry stare from his skipper for not doing his job in the field.

Dhoni last played for India during the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. He was slated to lead CSK in the 13th IPL edition which currently stands indefinitely suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic.

AWS announces enterprise search service Amazon Kendra

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AWS announces enterprise search service Amazon Kendra

The Ecommerce giant Amazon’s Cloud arm Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday announced the general availability of Amazon Kendra, an enterprise search service powered by machine learning.

Amazon Kendra uses machine learning to enable organizations to index all of their internal data sources, make that data searchable, and allow users to get precise answers to natural language queries.

Amazon Kendra is currently available in US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), and EU West (Ireland), with other regions coming soon.

“We’re excited to make Amazon Kendra available to our customers and enable them to empower their employees with highly accurate, machine learning-powered enterprise search, which makes it easier for them to find the answers they seek across the full wealth of an organization’s data,” explained Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President, Amazon Machine Learning, AWS.

Companies like 3M, PwC and Allen Institute are among the customers and partners who are already using Amazon Kendra.

According to AWS, businesses can use Amazon Kendra to search internal documents spread across portals and wikis, research organizations can create a searchable archive of experiments and notes, and contact centers can use Amazon Kendra to find the right answer to customer questions across the complete library of support documentation.

Amazon Kendra requires no machine learning expertise and can be set up completely within the AWS Management Console.

“Using keywords is counterintuitive, and the results returned often require scanning through many irrelevant links and documents to find useful information,” said Sivasubramanian.

Amazon Kendra provides a wide range of native cloud and on-premises connectors to popular data sources such as SharePoint, OneDrive, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Amazon Simple Storage Service, and relational databases, with more being added throughout this year.

Developers can quickly and easily add data sources to their Amazon Kendra search index by selecting the connector type, and those connectors will maintain document access rights.

Vivo launches V19 in India, price begins from Rs 27,990

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Vivo launches V19 in India, price begins from Rs 27,990

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo on Tuesday launched Vivo V19, the latest addition to the V-series portfolio in India.

The smartphone will be available in two color options – piano black and mystic silver for Rs 27,990 (8+128GB) and Rs 31,990 (8+256GB), respectively.

The device will go on sale starting May 15 on Vivo India e-store, Amazon.in, Flipkart and other major e-commerce websites along with all offline partner retail stores across India said the company.

“Our V-series has always surprised the audience with its path-breaking camera features and the latest V19 is a splendid addition which will enhance customer experience further,” Nipun Marya, Director Brand Strategy, Vivo India, said in a statement.

The smartphone features a 6.44-inch LIV Super AMOLED FHD+ display is made of the latest E3 OLED and features an aspect ratio of 20:9.

It also offers to bring vibrant and authentic colors to come to life with its 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut and supports HDR 10 standard.

The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 series processor paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB/256GB internal.

The smartphone houses quad rear camera setup — 48MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, 2MP macro camera and 2MP bokeh camera. V19 also offers the 120-degree ultra-wide lens to capture everything in one frame.

The device also features dual front camera setup, 32MP main camera and an 8MP super wide-angle camera.

V19 runs on 4,500mAh battery and has 33W Vivo FlashCharge 2.0 technology.

Experts tell why some states recovering faster from COVID-19

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Experts tell why some states recovering faster from COVID-19

Even as the Health Ministry said there were 70,756 cases of novel coronavirus so far in India, health experts on Tuesday said there were various reasons why states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu had reported the highest number of cases while others had lesser cases as well as better recovery rates.

Speaking to IANS, Dr. Vivek Nangia, HOD and Director of Pulmonology Department at Fortis Hospital, said: “There can be different possibilities — better control of lockdown, better contact tracing and isolation, lesser number of people returning from abroad and hotspot zones and, finally, a younger population in which recovery rate is higher.”

It is pertinent to mention here that Goa is COVID-free since all 7 corona patients were cured and no casualty was reported. Similarly, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram is at present coronavirus-free. In Manipur also, two patients have since recovered.

Kerala set an example of constantly improving the recovery rate. It was the first Indian state to report corona positive case and saw a sudden spike afterward. But, the state not only flattened the curve but bent it. Of the total 519 cases so far, 489 people have recovered, with only 4 deaths. The recovery rate, based on the total cases, till Tuesday, is 94 percent.

Speaking on this trend, Dr. Nangia said that the primary reason is a better containment strategy adopted by the state. “Kerala specifically has had episodes of Nipah and Zika virus outbreaks in the past. They have learnt how to contain such pandemics in a more effective manner by early identification, contact tracing, and isolation or quarantine.”

As for temperature or climate playing an important role in the transmission or killing of the virus, Dr Nangia said” “It is a novel virus — we are still learning about it. As of now, there does not seem to be much influence of weather or climate on the infection potential of the virus.”

Dr. Saurabh Jain of Indegene, a health tech solutions company, told IANS that robustness of health infrastructure, immunity levels among the population, strict adherence to isolation and quarantine, and aggressive testing seem to be the reason for varying rates of infections and recovery in different states.

“States not able to get suspected patients to hospitals early enough or with not enough healthcare infrastructure could have high incidence and low recovery rates. In states which have high public awareness, robust public health system and extensive testing of symptomatic cases could have better outcomes.”

He added: “Eastern states, especially like Odisha, face a majority of India’s natural disasters, which means that crisis precautions were already in place. Most of this infrastructure was used to fight against COVID – 19.”

Another expert, Oommen John, Senior Research Fellow at George Institute for Global Health, said: “In some of these states, it is likely that they were able to identify those at risk early on and so intervene early. States with high mortality could be those with a large number of very seriously ill patients at the time of hospital admissions. Therefore, their outcomes are worse.”

Indian Railways earns Rs 16 crore on day 1 of booking

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Indian Railways earns Rs 16 crore on day 1 of booking

The Indian Railways, which started the booking for the 15 pairs of Special trains almost two months after suspending the passenger, mail and express train services, have earned Rs 16.15 crore from over 45,500 tickets booked on Monday, officials said.

The railways have started taking bookings for the 15 pair of Special air-conditioned trains on Monday at 6 p.m. online on its IRCTC website. A senior railway ministry official said that on Monday tickets valued at Rs 16.15 crore were sold with 45,533 PNR generated.

He said, for 45,533 PNRs a total of 82,317 passengers will be traveling in the first week from these Special AC trains. The railways have on Sunday announced to partially operate 15 pairs of Special trains from May 12.

The railways has asked the passengers to arrive at the railway station 90 minutes prior to the departure of the train. Thermal screening of passengers will be done before they will be allowed to enter the station premises. The official said that wearing masks has been made mandatory. Passengers have been encouraged to carry their own blankets, water and food for the travel.

The national transporter has set special norms for air-conditioning inside the coaches and temperatures will be kept slightly higher than the usual. The official said that the Special trains will run at full capacity, but railway zones have been instructed to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at stations to the extent feasible so that there is no face-to-face movement or contact of passengers.

For now, the Indian Railways have issued a timetable for trains to be run between May 12 and May 20. They will run as daily, weekly or bi-weekly trains.

These trains will run between New Delhi and all major cities across the country: Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

We will do everything to make podium finish in Tokyo: Nikki

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We will do everything to make podium finish in Tokyo: Nikki

India women’s hockey team midfielder Nikki Pradhan that all the members of the squad want to be known as Olympic medallists, and not just Olympians and that’s why they would do everything to make it to the podium in the Tokyo Games.

The 26-year-old was a part of the team which qualified for the Rio Olympics 2016.

“It was a huge moment for all of us in 2016, I think we were overwhelmed that we had made it there after 36 years. But I believe that was just the start,” said Nikki.

The Tokyo Games were scheduled to take place in July-August this year but due to the coronavirus pandemic, they have been postponed to next year.

“I have always dreamt of an Olympic medal, and I know the rest of the girls also want to be known as Olympic medallists, and not just Olympians. So whenever we step foot in Tokyo, we will do everything to make it to the podium,” she added.

Having grown up in the district of Khunti in Jharkhand, Nikki remembered she wasn’t always that confident, and had to take the hard road during her journey to the Indian team, but says it was worth it. “I come from a place which is actually the hotbed of women’s hockey, and it was definitely a very tough journey because back then you would have limited resources.

“At times it was difficult for me to imagine being a professional hockey player, but I think the hard work that I put in, and the support that I received from everyone around me, really proved to be a boost. I started representing the state, which eventually led me to a national team call-up,” said Nikki.

“I think another factor was that I had some big names from my state that I looked up to, especially in women’s hockey. I decided I would do everything possible to give my best and represent India one day, and here I am,” added Nikki, who has over 110 international caps for India.

Having witnessed a lean phase, Nikki said that hockey is on the rise again in Jharkhand, and she expects more girls to make it to the national set-up.

“With Salima (Tete) in the squad, you can see how talented the players in Jharkhand are. She (Salima) has developed really well in the past couple of years, and its good to see someone from my region in the team,” she said.

“It also proves that the sport is again developing constantly and that players are taking it seriously. I certainly expect a lot more players to make it to the squad in the upcoming years.”

Personal data of top celebrities including Priyanka Chopra hacked

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Personal data of top celebrities including Priyanka Chopra hacked

A large media and entertainment law firm in the US representing top-notch celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Bruce Springsteen, and more has experienced a major data breach where hackers got access to personal data of these celebrities.

The trove of data stolen from the New York-based firm by hackers “a total of 756GB” includes contracts, nondisclosure agreements, phone numbers and email addresses, and “personal correspondence “, reports Variety.

The law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, or gsmlaw.com for short, experienced a ransomware attack that apparently involved the appropriately named REvil malware.

Other celebrities whose sensitive personal data has been hacked are Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson, Naomi Campbell, Robert De Niro, Sofia Vergara, Spike Lee, the Osbournes (Ozzy, Sharon and Kelly), and several more.

Representatives for the law firm did not issue comment and their website gsmlaw.com was effectively offline, displaying only its logo.

In addition, top companies on the firm’s client list include Discovery, EMI Music Group, Facebook, HBO, Imax, MTV, NBA Entertainment, Playboy Enterprises, Samsung Electronics, Sony Corp. Spotify, Tribeca Film Festival, Universal Music Group and Vice Media Group, among others.

According to global cybersecurity firm Sophos, rather than simply knocking the law firm out of action temporarily, the ransomware crooks have stolen personal data from a laundry list of celebrity clients.

In such ransomware attacks, said Sophos, cybercriminals use the threat of releasing the stolen data as leverage to extort payment.

REVil, also known as Sodin or Sodinokibi, isn’t just operating on the old-school ransomware model of “scramble your files and offer to sell you back the decryption key”.

The latest trend in ransomware attacks is to use a double-barrelled weapon that gives victims two reasons to pay up.

According to Sophos, the original criminal plot behind ransomware was that if you didn’t have reliable backups that you could restore quickly, then you might have little choice but to pay up to decrypt all your scrambled files and get your business moving again.

In recent months, however, the cybercriminals have doubled down on their leverage.

Before scrambling all your files as a way of grabbing your attention, the crooks quietly upload huge troves of so-called acetrophy data” that they use to blackmail anyone who is hesitant to pay up.

In other words, the financial extortion is no longer just a “kidnap ransom” to get your files back, but also a blackmail demand to stop the crooks leaking your data – or, worse still, your customers’ data – to the world.

“Indeed, the REvil crew has already followed through on its threats to embarrass victims who don’t pay,” Sophos said in a statement on Tuesday.

Given that ransomware crooks are no longer just keeping you away from your data but also threatening to put the rest of the world in touch with it, prevention is very much better than cure, said Sophos.

Less star-studded but no less worrying is a simultaneous report that global mailing equipment company Pitney Bowes has experienced an attack by the Maze ransomware.

According to Sophos, Maze is another cybercrime gang that goes in for huge ransoms and threatens to expose stolen data, infamously demanding about $6,000,000 last year from cable and wire manufacturer Southwire.

Southwire hit back by filing a so-called John Doe (the name used in the USA where defendants haven’t yet been identified) civil lawsuit against the as-yet-unknown criminals behind Maze.

I’m back: Mike Tyson hints at comeback in training video

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I’m back: Mike Tyson hints at comeback in training video

Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has once again teased fans about his possible comeback to the ring by posting a cryptic message on social media.

In the latest video put on Instagram, Tyson can be seen growling through a workout hitting the pads. “Anything is possible when you are smart about it. Train Smart. Recover Smarter,” he wrote as the caption.

Towards the end of the video, he can be seen saying: “I am back.”

Last week, the 53-year-old had hinted about a possible return to the boxing world when he posted a short video of a workout.

If Tyson does make a return to the boxing ring, New Zealand rugby player Sonny Bill Williams, Australian former NRL player Paul Gallen and Evander Holyfield could be one of his potential opponents.

Tyson, who became the youngest heavyweight champion of all time when he defeated Trevor Berbick in 1986 aged 20, won 50 of his 58 professional fights before retiring after his loss to Kevin McBride in 2005.

Apple may invest $330mn in Taiwanese Mini LED, micro LED factory

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Apple may invest $330mn in Taiwanese Mini LED, micro LED factory

Apple is reportedly planning to invest nearly $334 million in a Taiwan-based factory, owned by Hsinchu Science Park, to produce both LED and micro-LED displays for future devices.

The factory will be built in conjunction with Taiwan’s LED lighting manufacturer Epistar and flat-panel maker AU Optronics, according to a report in Economic Daily News on Tuesday.

Apple has also sent a development team to Taiwan to work on the project and the new factory is aimed at expanding the company’s operations in the area.

Meanwhile, famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo now claims that iPhone maker’s plan to adopt mini-LED display technology for future hardware products has been pushed back to 2021 owing to the global health crisis.

In a research note with TF International Securities, Kuo said mini-LED chip, panel, assembly, and terminal assembly are expected to begin mass production in the third quarter of 2020, the fourth quarter, the end of the fourth quarter, and the first quarter of 2021, respectively.

Aarogya Setu mandatory for passengers of special AC trains

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Aarogya Setu mandatory for passengers of special AC trains

Even as the 15 pairs of special trains would be operated on select routes from Tuesday nearly two months after all regular passenger services were suspended by the Indian Railways amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the national transporter has made it “mandatory” for passengers to download the Aarogya Setu app.

A senior railway ministry official told IANS, “Aarogya Setu application is mandatory for all passengers traveling by the Special AC trains.” He said it has been made mandatory by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Indian Railways shared the link of downloading the mobile application on its Twitter handle on Monday night.

The official also said that as per the MHA guidelines, on arrival at their destination, the traveling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination state or the union territory. “Before commencing the journey, passengers are advised to check their destination state regarding all such protocols,” the ministry said in a tweet.

The railways has asked the passengers to arrive at the railway station 90 minutes prior to the departure of the train. Thermal screening of passengers will be done before they will be allowed to enter the station premises.

The official said that wearing masks has been made mandatory. Passengers have been encouraged to carry their own blankets, water and food for the travel. The national transporter has set special norms for air-conditioning inside the coaches and temperatures will be kept slightly higher than the usual. The official said that the Special trains will run at full capacity, but railway zones have been instructed to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at stations to the extent feasible so that there is no face-to-face movement or contact of passengers.

For now, the railways has issued a time table for trains to be run between May 12 and May 20. They will run as daily, weekly, or bi-weekly trains. These trains will run between New Delhi and all major cities across the country: Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

The Indian Railways has suspended the passenger, mail and express train services since March 25 amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19. Only freight and special parcel trains were running to ensure the supply of the essential items across the country. From May 1, the railways started running the Shramik Special trains to transport the stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists from several states. Till date, the railways has run over 513 Shramik Special trains and transported over six lakh people.

New York to end statewide shutdown on Friday

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New York to end statewide shutdown on Friday

New York, the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, will end its statewide shutdown on Friday by reopening three regions where the health crisis has shown signs of weakening, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Addressing the media on Monday, Cuomo said three regions in the northern part of the state — the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley, and the Finger Lakes — will enter the first of four reopening phases, reports Xinhua news agency.

Some low-risk businesses including landscaping and gardening, as well as recreational activities such as tennis, can also resume across the state on Friday, said the Governor.

“We are starting a new chapter in the fight against this virus — we’ve worked together as a state to flatten the curve and the decline has finally reached a point where it is just about where we started this journey, so now we can turn to reopening,” said Cuomo.

The seven metrics for determining whether a region could reopen include a decline in total hospitalizations, decline in deaths, new hospitalizations, hospital bed capacity, ICU bed capacity, diagnostic testing capacity and contact tracing capacity.

Industries including construction, manufacturing, wholesale supply chain, agriculture, forestry and fishing could restart operating during the first phase, and a two-week monitoring period is required before entering the next phase, Cuomo said.

If a region sees a failure in meeting all the seven metrics, the reopening effort would be paused until those metrics are met again, he said.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday that non-essential businesses will not reopen before June “unless something miraculous happens”.

He said that the city, which has reported over 185,000 COVID-19 cases, was “clearly not ready yet”, while “by June we will make progress if we keep up what we have been doing”.

New York state has also reported as many as 93 cases of children with a rare inflammatory syndrome likely linked to COVID-19, said Cuomo.

He said at least three children have died, while two more fatalities were under investigation.

According to Cuomo, the syndrome has features that resemble those of Kawasaki Disease or Toxic Shock Syndrome.

Most of the kids have tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies or novel coronavirus, though the connection between the disease and the virus is not yet determined.

This new condition has been reported from across the country during the past week, and the state’s health department is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop national criteria to help health experts in other 49 states to identify and respond to the disease.

So far, a total of 337,055 COVID-19 cases have been reported in New York state, accounting for 25 percent of the national total, with 26,721 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Equity indices fall, Sensex down 600 points

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Equity indices fall, Sensex down 600 points

The key Indian equity indices plunged on Tuesday morning tracking weakness in the Asian markets, with the BSE Sensex falling over 600 points.

Around 10.05 a.m., Sensex was trading at 30,900.41, lower by 660.81 points or 2.09 percent from the previous close of 31,561.22.

It had opened at 31,342.93 and touched an intra-high of 31,342.93 and a low of 30,895.17.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 9,054.60, lower by 184.60 points or 2 percent from its previous close.

UK coronavirus recovery plan unveiled in detail

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UK coronavirus recovery plan unveiled in detail

The UK government has published a detailed document of the long-expected COVID-19 recovery plan, hoping to gradually ease the lockdown measures while at the same time getting the pandemic under control.

Named as “Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy”, the document published on Monday sets out the three-phase approach, starting this week with further lockdown easing at the start of June and further changes potentially from July 4, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the 50-page document, those with jobs in food production, construction, manufacturing, logistics, distribution and scientific research in laboratories should return to the workplace from this week.

People should aim to wear a face-covering in enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible and they come into contact with others that they do not normally meet, for example on public transport or in some shops, according to the document.

For students, the government wants children of key workers and those who are vulnerable to go back to school at once and all English primary school children to have at least a month’s teaching before the summer holidays.

Homemade cloth face-coverings can help reduce the risk of transmission in some circumstances, said the government.

People can exercise outside as many times each day as they wish from Wednesday instead of just once a day, according to the government.

Depending on the situation, the government is also planning to allow cultural and sporting events to take place behind-closed-doors for broadcast from June.

The third phase, starting at the earliest by July, may see the government reopen some of the hospitality industry and other public places.

Those measures will for now be carried out in England only.

And when traveling to outdoor spaces, the document said it is important that people respect the rules in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and do not travel to different parts of the UK where it would be inconsistent with guidance or regulations issued by the relevant devolved administrations.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 224,332 COVID-19 cases in the UK with 32,141 deaths.

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