PM condoles death of BJP leader, former Governor O.P. Kohli

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PM condoles death of BJP leader, former Governor O.P. Kohli

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday condoled the death of former Governor and BJP leader O.P. Kohli.

In a tweet, the PM said: “Saddened by the passing away of Shri OP Kohli Ji. He played a key role in strengthening our Party in Delhi. As MP and Governor, he focused on issues of public welfare. He was also passionate about the education sector. My thoughts are with his family. Om Shanti.”

Kohli passed away earlier on Monday. He was 87. The Governor of Gujarat from 2014 to 2019, he also held charge of Madya Pradesh and Goa.

A former Rajya Sabha member and ex-president of BJP in Delhi, he was also an academician.

High Court bans release of Hansal Mehta’s ‘Faraaz’ in B’desh

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High Court bans release of Hansal Mehta’s ‘Faraaz’ in B’desh

The Bangladesh High Court on Monday banned the promotion and screening of “Faraaz”, a film directed by Indian filmmaker Hansal Mehta, in the country’s cinema halls and online platforms.

Based on the real-life terrorist attack that ravaged a Dhaka cafe in 2016, ‘Faraaz’ is a hostage drama starring Juhi Babbar, Aamir Ali, Zahan Kapoor, and Aditya Rawal, among others.

After hearing a writ petition, the high court bench of justices Md Khasruzzaman and Md Iqbal Kabir delivered the order to ban the screening of the film in Bangladesh.

The writ petition was filed by Ruba Ahmed, the mother of Abinta Kabir who was killed by militants in the attack on the Holey Artisan cafe on July 1, 2016. The Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been made the defendant in the writ petition.

The film is yet to be approved by the Bangladesh Film Censor Board.

On January 19, Ruba Ahmed raised the same demand to stall the release of the film in Bangladesh claiming that it could tarnish the reputation of Bangladesh.

Later, the petitioner’s lawyer, Ahsanul Karim said the petition was filed to stop projecting the film on cinema halls in Bangladesh as well as on online platforms, Dhaka Tribune reported.

“The footage in the movie shows two militants talking, one of whom was or is in relation with Abinta. Her dress up was shown in such a way that educated families in our civilized society would never wear. The character of the girl was degraded in the movie,” said Karim, according to Dhaka Tribune.

“Also, the movie showed the failure of the law enforcement officers which poses serious questions about our sovereignty. For these reasons, this movie should not be shown on any platform in Bangladesh,” Karim added.

Women’s T20 World Cup: England still searching for ‘complete performance’, says Amy Jones

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Women’s T20 World Cup: England still searching for ‘complete performance’, says Amy Jones

England may have secured qualification for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 semi-finals but wicket-keeper batter Amy Jones says her side is still searching for a ‘complete performance’ as they prepare to conclude their group stage against Pakistan.

An 11-run victory against India at St George’s Park on Saturday made it three wins from three and England is now looking to seal the top spot with a victory over a Pakistan side whose slim qualification hopes rest on a win here and an Ireland victory over India.

Jones struck 40 from 27 deliveries against India and believes the squad is embracing head coach Jon Lewis’ aggressive batting blueprint.

“We’ve had three good games, but we keep saying we’re still searching for the complete performance. In terms of how we’ve gone about those three games, I think it’s been brilliant,” said Jones.

“It has been an exciting way to play, Sitting in the dugout watching the others bat as well is brilliant and the way everyone’s going about it means we’re in a really good place,” she added.

Despite slipping to 29 for three and 80 for four in Gqeberha, a half-century from Nat Sciver-Brunt along with Jones’ impressive knock powered England to 151 for seven.

In-form spinners Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn were key to restricting India in reply and they will now hope to keep their momentum going against Pakistan.

“The way we want to go about it, being so positive, entertaining and trying to inspire people, there could have been a bit of cautiousness. Because we’ve all bought into that, it just makes it a lot simpler and there’s not really a lot of doubt,” said Jones.

“When you know you’ve got the backing of everyone in the team to go out and stick to your strengths and you’re still trying to entertain, play the most positive cricket we can and put them under pressure at all times, it’s a fun way to play cricket,” she added.

On the other hand, Pakistan all-rounder Aliya Riaz insisted they will not change their own approach following slender defeats to the West Indies and India which have left their qualification hopes out of their hands.

“We have the same plan. We will aim for a win in the next match and we will try to finish the tournament on a good note,” said Aliya.

“The way we played the first two matches well, the way we played attacking cricket, with the same strike rate, fast and quick, we will play matches in the same way and win,” she added.

Aliya was almost the hero for Pakistan in the final over of their match against the West Indies, hitting consecutive boundaries to leave them needing five runs from the last two balls for the win.

She was subsequently dismissed by Shamilia Connell as Pakistan fell just short but spin bowler Sadia Iqbal said her side will need a similar level of effort and courage to challenge England.

“England is a very big side and a top team. They have won all their matches in the pool, so it will be a good match and a tough match like the previous matches,” she said.

“The team is doing its best and we will do our best against England too,” she added.

Israel won’t authorise new West Bank settlements ‘in coming months’

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Israel won’t authorise new West Bank settlements ‘in coming months’

Israel has informed the US that it won’t approve new settlements in the occupied West Bank “in the coming months”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Monday.

On February 12, Israel’s far-right coalition government legalized nine settler outposts that have been built without permits by granting them retroactive authorization. The move drew sharp condemnations from the Palestinians and world powers, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the statement issued by Netanyahu’s office, Israel has informed the United States that no new settlements will be authorized beyond the nine settlements that have already been approved. The office did not elaborate on a specific timeframe.

Outposts are settlements built by ultranationalist settler activists without official permits from Israeli authorities and are deemed illegal under Israeli law.

There are dozens of unauthorized outposts and some 140 Israeli-authorized settlements scattered around the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and where the Palestinians wish to establish their future state.

Most of the international community regards all Israeli settlements as illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace. However, Israel maintains that the settlements are legal.

Bengaluru Open 2023: Prajnesh qualifies for main draw; Tseng, Nardi, Polmans advance

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Bengaluru Open 2023: Prajnesh qualifies for main draw; Tseng, Nardi, Polmans advance

Top-seed Chun-Hsin Tseng of Taipei and Australias Marc Polmans advanced to the Round of 16 of the Bengaluru Open 2023 with comprehensive wins, here on Monday.

There was some good news for local tennis fans as India’s Pranjesh Gunneswaran qualified for the main draw by winning his final qualifying round match. But the focus was on Tseng, a World No 131, who did not have to break much sweat in warding off Frederico Silva of Portugal in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

Tseng bagged the first set 6-4 with the help of a single break. The Taipei player was in full control of the proceedings, sending down 3 aces and winning a humongous 93 percent of first serves.

The second set started in a rather bizarre manner with both Tseng and Silva trading breaks in the first five games. Both the players committed a slew of unforced errors in that passage of the game.

Tseng made the decisive break in the 6th game of the second set after saving 6 breakpoints, which gave him a 4-2 lead. Tseng swelled the lead to 5-3 with another easy hold in the 8th game.

In the other Round of 32 matches of the day, world number 284 Marc Polmans of Australia defeated sixth-seeded Francesco Maestrelli of Italy in a lop-sided match 6-1, 6-2 to enter the Round of 16.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Luca Nardi of Italy also advanced to the Round of 16 with a facile 6-4, 6-4 win over Miljan Zekic of Serbia.

Prajnesh qualifies, Sasikumar ousted

India had a mixed day in the second round of Qualifying matches on Monday (February 20). Prajnesh Gunneswaran breezed past Carlos Sanchez Jover of Spain 6-4, 6-3. M Sasikumar went down to Jason Jung in straight sets 5-7, 4-6.

Other results (qualifying):

Giovanni Perricard bt Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5, 6-1; James McCabe bt Hiroki Moriya 6-1, 6-3; Nikola Milojevic bt Yunseong Chung 7-6 (2), 6-4; Albek Kachmazov bt Colin Sinclair 7-5, 6-2.

S.Korea plans to launch 6G network service in 2028

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S.Korea plans to launch 6G network service in 2028

South Korea plans to launch the sixth generation network service in 2028, two years earlier than its original schedule, in a bid to secure an early dominance of the future wireless frequencies, the ICT ministry said on Monday.

Under the K-Network 2030 plan, the South Korean government will advance the launch of the commercial service of the 6G network by two years through securing world-class 6G technologies, innovating the software-based next-generation mobile network, and strengthening the network supply chain, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

At the same time, the government will also encourage local companies to produce materials, parts, and equipment for 6G technology in the country and develop an open RAN, or open radio access network, which is compatible with any mobile device and enables mobile carriers and enterprises to offer flexible services, reports Yonhap news agency.

For the plan, a feasibility study for a research and development project on core 6G technologies worth 625.3 billion won ($481.7 million) is underway, the ministry said.

The ministry said the advanced plan is aimed at helping the country retain the leading position in the global competition for future network infrastructure, following the 5G network race, to meet rising demand for higher speed and lower latency in wireless communications.

According to the German analysis firm IPlytics, South Korea has led 5G development with a high number of 5G patents, while previous 4G technology development was mostly dominated by U.S. and European companies.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy accounted for 25.9 percent of the number of 5G patents last year, closely following the market leader China with 26.8 percent.

The South Korean government said it will raise the figure to 30 percent or over in the upcoming 6G network patent competition.

Insta restores Pornhub account ‘in error’ for few hours, shuts down again

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Insta restores Pornhub account ‘in error’ for few hours, shuts down again

Meta-owned Instagram reinstated the adult website Pornhub account on the platform in “error” on Sunday for a few hours but then shut it down again.

The company said that Pornhub’s Instagram account came back online for a few hours Sunday — but that was a mistake, reports ‘Variety’.

“This was done in error, a Meta spokesperson was quoted as saying.

“As we’ve said previously, we permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies,” it added.

In September last year, Instagram permanently disabled the account of Pornhub for repeatedly violating its policies.

Pornhub defended its position, stating that those in the adult industry “have for years been undermined by Instagram’s opaque, discriminatory and hypocritical enforcement of its own Terms and Policies”.

Moreover, a representative from Pornhub stated that “within hours of reinstating our Instagram account, Meta has demonstrated that its policies have no rhyme or reason when they deactivated our account again, despite not violating any guidelines. This comes at a time of increased censorship and discrimination against performers in the adult space when platforms like Instagram should be inclusive and provide safe communities for creators to express themselves”.

“Instead, Meta and Instagram’s haphazard and irrational enforcement of their policies place undue hardships on the livelihoods of those in the adult industry, an already marginalized group. We call on Meta to once again reverse its decision,” it added.

In December last year, YouTube banned Pornhub’s channel due to multiple community guidelines violations.

According to Google, Pornhub’s account violated YouTube’s external link policy, which forbids users from linking to content that is not allowed on the platform such as pornography.

Upendra Kushwaha resigns from primary membership of JD

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Upendra Kushwaha resigns from primary membership of JD

JD(U) rebel leader Upendra Kushwaha on Monday resigned from the primary membership of the party.

The decision was taken after a two-day meeting of his supporters in Patna’s Sinha Library and the announcement was made at a press conference, during which Kushwaha also said that he will soon resign from the post of MLC as well.

“I have requested the speaker of Bihar Vidhan Parishad to give me the time so that I can hand over the resignation letter to him. As far as the primary membership of the party is concerned, I have informed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and national president Lalan Singh,” he told reporters.

Kushwaha also hinted that he will form a new political party in the state, adding that his supporters have authorized him to select a name and flag.

“When I merged my party RLSP with the JD(U), the initial period in the party was good. Nitish Kumar then announced to hand over his political legacy to Tejashwi Yadav in 2025. I informed him that it would deeply hurt JD(U). The party will be destroyed after Tejashwi becomes the Chief Minister of Bihar but he ignored my suggestion. I do not want the boat of JD(U) to drown but Nitish Kumar has already drowned it,” he said.

“The Samata Party and JD(U) emerged against the ‘Jungle Raj’ of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Now, Nitish Kumar has joined hands with him. The moves of Nitish Kumar will destroy his political legacy in Bihar. He is taking decisions only on the suggestions of two to four leaders who are surrounding him.”

Reacting to his relationship with the BJP, Kushwaha said that he has learned from his elder brother (Nitish Kumar).

“He (Nitish Kumar) did the meeting with the party’s alliance partners (BJP) in the evening. After one hour, he held a meeting with the RJD and formed the government the next day at 10 a.m.”

Kushwaha, for the last month, had shown a rebellious attitude against Nitish Kumar.

He had raised strong objections over the announcement of Nitish Kumar who said to hand over his political legacy to Tejashwi Yadav in 2025.

Kushwaha claimed that the Lav-Kush equation of JD(U) will be badly hit after his decision as the Lav-Kush people are arch-rivals of the Yadavs in Bihar.

Prime Volleyball League: Upbeat Bengaluru Torpedoes face Hyderabad Blackhawks

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Prime Volleyball League: Upbeat Bengaluru Torpedoes face Hyderabad Blackhawks

Bengaluru Torpedoes, on the back of a hat trick of wins in the ongoing second season of the Prime Volleyball League, take on Hyderabad Blackhawks at the latter’s backyard in their penultimate match of the league stage at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, here on Tuesday.

The match assumes importance as both sides have six points from five matches with Torpedoes placed at fourth, a shade ahead of Blackhawks who are fifth based on set difference.

The Bengaluru side who have three wins and two losses from their previous games, look to continue their winning momentum.

“The boys have worked hard at ironing their mistakes from the previous games. Their concerted effort has paid rich dividends and we hope to be in the reckoning in the playoffs,” said a confident David Lee, head Coach of the Torpedoes team.

With Tsvetelin Tsvetanov and Ibin Jose dishing out some deadly strikes with Srajan Shetty and Midhun Kumar handling the defense to perfection, and able leadership from Pankaj Sharma and cameos from Mujeeb MC and Vinayak Rokhade, the team is peaking at the right time.

“We know that we are up against the home team who would have the support of the local fans. But the support poured out by our followers both online and offline is overwhelming and is keeping our spirits up. We will go all out and try to top the table,” said Pankaj.

Meanwhile, the host team is also coming into the match with a win against Chennai Blitz in their last encounter.

Users can soon earn money from Twitter, says Musk

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Users can soon earn money from Twitter, says Musk

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Monday said that the micro-blogging platform is “spinning up subscriptions” so that users can “charge” their followers for specific content.

When one user posted a long tweet with the new Blue feature that allows subscribers to create tweets of up to 4,000 characters.

Musk replied, “Good use of a long tweet! The next update will allow much longer tweets with basic formatting, so you can post any content on Twitter.”

“We’re also spinning up subscriptions, so you can charge people for some content and they can easily pay with one click.”

Many users expressed their thoughts on Musk’s post.

While one user asked, “Charging to read a tweet? Or paywall?”, another commented, “Great idea. Now an author can publish his entire book on Twitter perhaps one chapter at a time. Leave the first few tweets as free and the rest paid.”

The upcoming feature will be a great opportunity for users to earn money from their followers on the micro-blogging platform.

Meanwhile, last week, the micro-blogging platform announced that it will no longer allow non-Twitter Blue users to use text messages as a two-factor authentication (2FA) method, after March 20.

Earlier this month, Twitter confirmed that it will charge Rs 650 per month for its Blue service with verification on the web and Rs 900 on Android and iOS mobile devices in India.

Moreover, Blue subscribers in the US can create long tweets of up to 4,000 characters.
Blue users will also see 50 percent fewer ads in their home timeline.

US proposal to train Indian astronaut is not for Gaganyaan, India’s first human space mission

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US proposal to train Indian astronaut is not for Gaganyaan, India’s first human space mission

The US has proposed training to an Indian astronaut as part of future cooperation in the space sector. But the proposed activity is not for the astronauts who are part of India’s first human space mission Gaganyaan, said a senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

“The US has proposed to train an Indian astronaut. It is part of the future engagement and not for Gaganyaan. No plan has been finalized on the training of the Indian astronaut by the US,” the ISRO official told Media.

Refuting a news report that states the Gaganyaan astronauts to be trained by the US, the official said the US proposal is only in the discussion stage.

Four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots have undergone astronaut training in Russia for the Gaganyaan mission.

India plans to send two/three astronauts to space under its first human space mission.

In 1984, an IAF pilot Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly into space on a Soviet Union’s Soyuz T-11 spacecraft.

The only Indian citizen in outer space is Rakesh Sharma, a former Air Force pilot who flew on a Soviet Soyuz mission in 1984.

Sharma and another IAF pilot Ravish Malhotra underwent training at a Soviet Union facility.

Kamal Haasan tells cadre to hoist MNM flags at their homes on Founding Day

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Kamal Haasan tells cadre to hoist MNM flags at their homes on Founding Day

South Indian superstar and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder President Kamal Haasan has called upon his cadres to hoist the party flags in their homes on February 21 to mark Founding Day.

“Like beautiful white clouds let our Maiam flags fly across Tamil Nadu,” he said in a statement on Monday while also urging the MNM cadres to visit villages where the party has not developed

He said that with the feeling of ‘our party, our flag’, the cadres of MNM must fly the party flag at more places than those of other political outfits.

Kamal Haasan launched MNM on February 21, 2018, in Madurai as a political alternative to the DMK and the AIADMK.

However the superstar did not taste success in any of the electoral hustings for the party and in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and in the 2021 Assembly elections, the party lost miserably.

Kamal Haasan also lost in Coimbatore to Vanathi Sreenivasan, the BJP Mahila Morcha leader. He has now extended his support to the DMK, and Congress combine.

The actor-politician campaigned actively for the Congress leader EVKS Elangovan for the February 27 Erode East bypoll.

Sonam Kapoor celebrates six months of her ‘biggest blessing’ shares video

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Sonam Kapoor celebrates six months of her ‘biggest blessing’ shares video

Bollywood actress and new mom Sonam Kapoor shared a heartwarming note as her son Vayu Kapoor Ahuja turns six months old. She expressed that being a mother was the best job in the world and called her son her “biggest blessing”.

Sharing a photo and video of Vayu on Instagram, Sonam wrote: “6 months of my Vayu. The best job in the world.. my biggest blessing.. love you my darling boy…your papa and I couldn’t have asked for more…”

In the photo, the mother-son duo looked adorable as she was wearing yellow pyjamas, while Vayu looked cute in a white onesie. Sonam also shared a short video of Vayu crawling, while playing with his toys.

Sonam’s husband Anand Ahuja commented with heart eyes emojis and wrote: “pajama party.”

Sonam and Anand got married on May 8, 2018, after dating for a few years. They welcomed their son Vayu on August 20, 2022.

Women’s T20 World Cup: Sophie Devine proud of White Ferns’ comeback

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Women’s T20 World Cup: Sophie Devine proud of White Ferns’ comeback

New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine is exceptionally proud of her team’s comeback at the ongoing ICC Women’s as they stayed in the Group 1 fight with a thumping win over Sri Lanka.

The White Ferns grasped an outside chance of sealing progress to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup with a 102-run win on Sunday night.

Having picked themselves up off the canvas following defeats in their first two games, Devine lauded her side’s resilience to stay alive in South Africa.

“We just wish that was how we played in the first game! I was embarrassed after the first game but now I just feel extreme pride, to be able to bounce back in the way we have,” said Devine.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance. Even if it’s a tiny, small chance, we’re still in with a shout and that’s why I’m really proud of this group. The partnerships we built were outstanding and we always felt 160 was the target, we knew it was a tough wicket and that would be a competitive total. The bowlers were also outstanding,” she added.

Amelia Kerr won the Player of the Match for a sublime 66 with the bat as New Zealand posted a towering 162 for three. She then took two wickets for just seven runs with her leg-spin as Sri Lanka was rolled for just 60.

“It’s nice to get a big win for the team. It was a tough start to the tournament, so getting that win was awesome,” said Kerr.

“I’ve been a bit light on runs myself so it was great to get that time in the middle and bat with Suzie, who is a class act. With the ball, it feels like it’s coming out really well. Our spin coach Craig Howard has done some great work with our young spin group and I’m loving bowling more than ever,” she added.

Meanwhile, it was a difficult day at the office for Chamari Athapaththu’s side, who saw their semi-final hopes go up in smoke.

Athapaththu felt a lack of big-stage experience hampered her team.

“It was a tough day. As a bowling unit, we wanted earlier wickets and we felt 140 was a good score to chase. It’s not easy to chase anything more than that and as a batting unit, we had to stick to our plans and play our natural game. Early wickets stopped us doing that and that’s why we lost,” she said.

“The game plan didn’t come together. As a captain, the players need some experience. I have only a few senior players on the team, a lot of them are very young and haven’t played a lot of cricket.

“They don’t have enough experience for this kind of game. This game was very crucial for us. As a team, we need to stick to our plans and not take too much pressure on our shoulders. We played some good cricket in this tournament. We’ve learned a lot of things and we’ll try to carry those things forward and play good cricket in the future,” she added.

Sehban Azim was ‘quite conscious doing a scene like that’ in ‘Dear Ishq’

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Sehban Azim was ‘quite conscious doing a scene like that’ in ‘Dear Ishq’

When Sehban Azim had to shoot for an intimate sequence for the series ‘Dear Ishq’, he said that he was conscious of doing such a scene.

Talking about shooting for this particular sequence, Sehban said: “I was quite conscious doing a scene like that. Firstly, I am a little shy doing such scenes and also I don’t have much reel experience on how to enact them.”

“So, initially I said no to it until my director and the creative convinced me on the fact that whatever they will be shooting is the requirement of the story of the show and it’s not just a random scene to catch the eyeballs and also that they believe in shooting it aesthetically. They made sure everyone was comfortable doing the scene with minimal crew and experienced professionals and it was designed in a way that it was easy to shoot for us.”

‘Dear Ishq’ streams from Monday to Saturday on Disney+Hotstar.

Netflix CEO calls on I&B Minister in Delhi

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Netflix CEO calls on I&B Minister in Delhi

The global CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, on Friday called on Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, a ministry official said here on Friday.

During the meeting, Thakur highlighted the expanding creative economy and how India has emerged as a content and post-production hub.

“Thakur and Sarandos also discussed how India’s regional content is a global favorite today, which is among the most viewed content globally apart from being dubbed in dozens of foreign languages,” said the official.

Sarandos is one of the founding members of Netflix.

In 2016, Netflix launched its service in India and the first Netflix Original series was launched in 2018. Through an initiative called ‘Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan’, Netflix has committed to producing 25 short, inspirational videos for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

“These videos are used by government agencies on their social media platforms apart from being broadcast on Doordarshan and distributed to public and private schools. The first set of videos were on women changemakers and the second set on freedom fighters of the first war of independence (1857),” said the official.

Covid virus can be detected in tears sampled by ocular swab: Study

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Covid virus can be detected in tears sampled by ocular swab: Study

A team of researchers found that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 can be detected in tears sampled by ocular swabs, a new study has shown.

The researchers analyzed samples from patients diagnosed with the disease by conventional methods and admitted to the Hospital, according to the study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 18.2 percent of the samples, suggesting this method could be an alternative to the conventional swabbing method, which is unpleasant.

“Initially, we set out to develop a diagnostic test based on an easier collection of material without causing patient discomfort. Nasal and nasopharyngeal swabbing is not only unpleasant but also often performed incorrectly. For people with a nasal septum deviation, it can be a problem,” said Luiz Fernando Manzoni Lourencone, the last author of the article.

“We took the view that tear sampling would be easy to execute and more tolerable. We succeeded in showing this to be feasible. Among the limitations of the study was not knowing whether the amount of liquid collected for the test influences its result,” he added.

Moreover, the study cohort comprised 61 hospitalized patients, with 28 testing negative and 33 positives for Covid-19 by RT-qPCR via nasopharyngeal swab.

Tears were analyzed from all 33 positives and from 14 of the 28 negatives.

The findings suggest that the probability of detecting the virus in tears is greater when the patient has a high viral load, which can lead to viremia in body fluids, Laurence said.

Biggest Oscar-nominated films to showcase at 2023 edition of Oscars Film Fest

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Biggest Oscar-nominated films to showcase at 2023 edition of Oscars Film Fest

The biggest Oscar-nominated films will be showcased at the 2023 edition of the Oscars Film Fest by PVR Cinemas.

Every year the Academy Awards celebrate films for their outstanding achievement, honoring the best and brightest, across various categories every year.

Scheduled from February 17-23, the first phase of the PVR Oscar Film Festival will offer a unique opportunity for cinema lovers to enjoy their favorite Oscar-awarded movies come alive on the big screen.

To add to the fervor, PVR is also introducing an ‘Oscars Festival Pass’ for patrons to enjoy all these movies at an unbelievable price of INR 699. The pass can be purchased from the PVR Website or PVR Mobile App.

The festival will screen 11 Oscar-nominated films across 30 cinemas in 18 cities namely, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Indore, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Jaipur, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Rourkela.

The 11 films that would be screened as part of the multi-city film festival include ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, ‘Elvis’, ‘The Fablemans’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, ‘The Whale’, ‘Batman’, ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ and ‘Mrs Harris goes to Paris’. These films represent some of the finest achievements in filmmaking. From gripping dramas to heart-warming tales, there’s something for everyone.

Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR Limited, said: “Every year it has been the constant endeavor of PVR Cinemas to bring Indian audiences closer to globally acclaimed movies from the Academy Award nominees. Keeping up with our promise, we are delighted to announce a week of celebration for movie patrons in India.”

“As we look forward to another successful edition, the intent is to showcase the best cinema from across the world across different genres to entertain our discerning audiences and match the thrill and excitement of Oscars.”

Iranian president says China visit ‘successful’

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Iranian president says China visit ‘successful’

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has described his state visit to China as “very successful and fruitful”.a

Raisi made the remarks in an address to reporters upon arrival in Tehran from his Beijing visit on Thursday, according to the website of the Iranian president’s office, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Noting that he held meetings with Chinese leaders, Raisi said the strategic level of the two countries’ communication had given a strategic aspect to bilateral talks so that the two countries could pursue issues of common interest.

He said Iran’s foreign policy is to build trust in neighbors and economic convergence in Asia, emphasizing that “the trip to China was very important in order for Iran to play an effective role in the field of regional and global economic and commercial issues because China is one of the world’s largest economies that plays an important role in the field of trade in Asia and the international stage.”

The Iranian president noted that another topic of the talks of this trip was related to the cooperation between Iran and China in international organizations.

During his visit, the two sides held numerous meetings and negotiations at different levels, and Raisi also met with Chinese business executives, as well as Chinese intellectuals and academics, which he hailed as “significant” and “effective.”

Raisi arrived in China on Tuesday for a three-day state visit.

Surf excel becomes HUL’s first $1 billion brand

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Surf excel becomes HUL’s first $1 billion brand

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) on Friday announced that its leading laundry detergent brand, Surf excel has crossed the $1 billion turnover mark.

With this, Surf excel becomes one of the few brands in the entire consumer packaged goods sector in India to achieve this distinction.

Purpose-driven marketing, on-trend innovations, and superior product quality have fuelled the brand’s journey to this milestone, HUL said.

The brand has developed a strong emotional resonance with consumers consistently building on the purpose of ‘Daag Acche Hain’ conveying the message that ‘if you get dirty while doing something good, then dirt is good’.

Over the years, the brand has leveraged Unilever’s expertise in R&D to design unique solutions for India and has deployed them effectively across the country. With the establishment of the largest manufacturing plant in Uttar Pradesh, Surf excel has further widened its manufacturing and distribution network.

Deepak Subramanian, Executive Director, Home Care, Hindustan Unilever Limited, said, “Surf excel has not just addressed societal and parenting tensions through its communication, but has also led the innovation agenda in the category by being obsessed with emerging trends and consumer pain points. Surf excel has played a pioneering role by being the first to launch and scale up superior bars through proprietary technology, washing machine specialist products, detergent liquids, liquid capsules, and stain-removing sprays, thereby reshaping the market through premiumization.”

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