PM unlikely to be present at Bengal biz summit; political mudslinging begins

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PM unlikely to be present at Bengal biz summit; political mudslinging begins

Of now it is almost certain that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will skip the inaugural session of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2022 on Wednesday morning, political mudslinging has started between the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress on this issue.

While on the one hand, the Trinamool leadership has alleged that the Prime Minister is ‘deliberately’ trying to ignore the attempts at industrialization in West Bengal, the BJP leadership on its part has claimed that no official invitation was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office from the state secretariat on this count.

In November last year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had gone to New Delhi where she met the Prime Minister and invited him to attend the inaugural session of BGBS-2022. After the meeting, Banerjee had told mediapersons that the Prime Minister had agreed to be present at the event.

However, till Tuesday noon, the state secretariat has not received any communication from the Prime Minister’s Office on this count.

As per PIB’s official tour information of the Prime Minister, he is slated to be in his home state Gujarat from April 18 to April 20.

BJP MP and the party’s national Vice President, Dilip Ghosh, told mediapersons on Tuesday that since the invitation was just a verbal communication from the Chief Minister, there is no question of the Prime Minister being present at the summit.

“There is a protocol in everything. No official invitation was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office from the state government on this count. So there is no question of the Prime Minister coming to attend the summit,” said Ghosh.

However, Trinamool leader Jaiprakash Majumdar said that when the Chief Minister had personally gone to Delhi and invited the Prime Minister, the latter should have honored that gesture.

“Who is Dilip Ghosh to comment on this? Is he a spokesman for the PMO? The Prime Minister often speaks of developing the nation. In West Bengal not part of his dreams,” Majumdar questioned.

India to replace China as 2nd largest SaaS nation by 2026

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India to replace China as 2nd largest SaaS nation by 2026

The Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry is likely to reach $100 billion in revenue by 2026, superseding China as the second-largest SaaS nation in the world, a new report said on Tuesday.

The early SaaS companies like Freshworks are attracting unicorn valuations and also successfully listing on the public markets.

The industry aims to attract a strong private capital infusion of close to $6.5 billion in the coming year alone — a 55 percent increase over last year’s investments of $4.2 billion, according to the report by Chiratae-Zinnov.

As the industry matures, profitability has become a real milestone for SaaS companies, and they have cracked the enterprise conundrum with over 40 percent revenue contribution.

“India is a global SaaS leader, and Chiratae Ventures has been fortunate to be at the center of this surging momentum, with over 35 SaaS companies in our portfolio,” said Sudhir Sethi, Founder, and Chairman, Chiratae Ventures.

The report noted that the next wave of digital talent is expected from tier 2 and 3 cities and an expected pool of three million digitally-skilled workforces will be perfect for SaaS companies to scale up in the coming years.

“Not only have Indian SaaS companies come of age, but they have also been at the forefront of creating new for India and new for the world products,” said Pari Natarajan, CEO, of Zinnov.

Leading SaaS firms have been at the forefront of localizing innovation by putting robust engineering and product teams in the top markets that they are catering to.

“The focus for the firms is to capitalize on the overall value delivered to consumers, thus improving their propensity to pay,” the report said.

Cloud Security and Web3 are emerging as key areas of interest for investors within the SaaS segment, it added.

Taliban denies presence of TTP fighters in Afghanistan

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Taliban denies presence of TTP fighters in Afghanistan

The Taliban government has spurned reports regarding the presence of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in Afghanistan.

However, the government’s spokesman acknowledged on Monday there could be an issue in mountainous and far-flung areas of the country, Pajhwok News reported.

Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghan forces were capable of defending their homeland. He hoped tensions with Pakistan would be defused via diplomatic channels.

“We deny the existence of TTP and will not allow anyone to use Afghan territory against any country,” the spokesman remarked.

“Even if there are issues in the mountainous terrain, they should be resolved jointly, not through airstrikes,” Mujahid said.

Also on Monday, a senior Ministry of Defence official met families of victims of alleged Pakistani raids in southeastern Khost province.

Ministry of Defence Deputy Chief of Staff Mali Khan said Afghanistan’s borders had been beefed up with more forces and weapons, Pajhwok News reported.

The official asked the victims’ relatives to exercise patience and restraint. No military instructions had been issued for responding to the airstrikes, he explained.

Earlier in the week, 47 Afghans were killed and over 20 others wounded in Pakistani military raids and rocket strikes in Kunar and Khost provinces.

Prabhas on ‘Radhe Shyam’ TV premiere: It’s meant to give families a good time

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Prabhas on ‘Radhe Shyam’ TV premiere: It’s meant to give families a good time

Prabhas says he is keen on looking at the reaction of viewers who will watch ‘Radhe Shyam’ on TV. The movie is coming on TV in Hindi on April 24.

Written and directed by Radha Krishna Kumar, it is a period romantic drama film that stars Prabhas and Pooja Hegde in lead roles.

“‘Radhe Shyam’ is definitely a film that is meant to grace families with a good time. I am looking forward to seeing the reactions of the audience as the fascinating plotline of ‘Radhe Shyam’ leaves them wondering and wanting for more,” he says.

Set in the background of old Europe, it is a story of Vikramaditya, a palmist who is conflicted between destiny and his love.

Prabhas adds more about the concept of the movie and how it forces an audience to think at different levels about the theories of love and faith.

He shares: “‘Radhe Shyam’ is more than just a star-crossed love story, it really challenges you to think beyond your faith and beliefs in soulmates. The fact that it was in the making for 3 years, seeing it all happen on the screens made it all worthwhile.”

After the theatrical release, ‘Radhe Shyam’ in Hindi is coming to Zee Cinema on April 24 at 12 noon.

Peeved Iyer vents his frustration after batting collapse; video goes viral

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Peeved Iyer vents his frustration after batting collapse; video goes viral

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer looked visibly upset after his 51-ball 85 against Rajasthan Royals went in vain as his team lost by just seven runs in an Indian Premier League game at Brabourne Stadium on Monday.

Chasing Royals’ 217, built on a stunning century from English batter Jos Buttler, KKR lost the match in a dramatic manner losing a clutch of wickets in the 17th over to be all out for 210 with two balls remaining.

A video has since gone viral where Iyer, apparently unhappy with the way the chase panned out after his dismissal, is seen in an animated argument with head coach Brendon McCullum sitting in the dugout.

With the helmet and bat in hand, a disappointed Iyer can be seen walking up to McCullum pointing at something on the field, and then making a gesture of helplessness before walking away.

It was in the 17th over of the match, bowled by spinner Yuzvendra Chahal that KKR shot themselves in the foot losing four wickets, including a hat-trick, as they slumped to their fourth defeat in seven matches.

Chahal dismissed Iyer, Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins off successive deliveries in the 17th over, turning the match on its head and ending up with superb figures of 5/40 in his four overs.

Earlier, Iyer and Australian limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch (58 off 28 balls) had taken KKR to the doorstep of victory, and with 40 required off the last four overs and six wickets in hand, it was expected to be a cakewalk for the two-time champions. But the 17th over collapse changed the complexion of the game.

McCullum too did not argue with a disappointed Iyer as we walked off after showing his disappointment.

Facebook reportedly losing interest in its podcasting plans

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Facebook reportedly losing interest in its podcasting plans

After foraying into podcasting and audio features, Meta-owned Facebook is likely losing interest in its podcasting plans, media reports say.

Facebook is said to be pulling back from its foray into podcasting and is looking to prioritize other initiatives in collaboration with its podcast partners, citing reports, TechCrunch reported.

According to its sources, Facebook is now focused on pursuing other opportunities with podcast partners — like events in the metaverse and e-commerce.

Facebook’s parent company Meta is also said to be prioritizing short-video projects above other initiatives, likely due to increasing competition from popular short-form video app TikTok, the report said.

In an email to TechCrunch, a Meta spokesperson said the company is seeing good engagement with its audio features and believes that audio is an important medium for expression.

The company also said it has been getting feedback from creators on what’s working well and what it can improve on. Meta did not elaborate on the matter any further.

Recently, Facebook announced several audio products like a short-form experience called Soundbites and the arrival of podcasts on its main platform. Soundbites are short-form, creative audio clips for capturing anecdotes, jokes, moments of inspiration, poems, and other things.

To kickstart Soundbites, Facebook had introduced an ‘Audio Creator Fund’ to support emerging audio creators and get early feedback on the new product experience.

IPL 2022: Karthik can do a finisher role for India in T20 World Cup, says Gavaskar

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IPL 2022: Karthik can do a finisher role for India in T20 World Cup, says Gavaskar

Dinesh Karthik, who has been finishing games for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has got praises from legendary Sunil Gavaskar. The former Indian captain Gavaskar backed Karthik, saying the wicketkeeper-batter is capable of changing the complexion of the game in the IPL 2022 with his batting exploits.

He added that the senior Indian cricketer will do the same for the national side during the T20 World Cup.

“Of course, he’ll be the RCB player to watch out for in the game against Lucknow. He’s just changing the complexion of the game with his performance. He’s doing it for his team. He said he wants to be a part of the Indian Team for the T20 World Cup. So what I am saying is don’t look at his age, just look at what he’s producing. He’s doing the job that you can expect him to do at number 6 or 7 at the World Cup,” Gavaskar said on Cricket Live on Star Sports.

Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden claimed RCB’s senior batting trio of Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, and Glenn Maxwell will fire against LSG in their upcoming contest.

“The RCB have got some good mix of talent and there are a few players who are going to have a crack in the game. RCB have their captain Faf du Plessis who scored an impressive 88 in the first game but his form has tapered off a little bit. Of course, they’ve got Glenn Maxwell there as well. He has also made a few footprints in the tournament. So with Virat, Maxi, and Faf, expect fireworks from them,” Hayden said.

Flipkart acquires e-commerce startup ANS Commerce

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Flipkart acquires e-commerce startup ANS Commerce

With the aim to boost the rapidly growing and evolving digital retail market in India, the Flipkart Group on Tuesday announced the acquisition of ANS Commerce, a full-stack e-commerce enabler that helps brands sell online.

Through this acquisition, Flipkart said it continues its efforts to strengthen the Indian e-commerce ecosystem by investing in the capabilities of technology enablers that will address the needs of the evolving digital retail market in the country.

“At Flipkart, we are committed to developing and nurturing the internet consumer ecosystem, including developing and encouraging technological innovation that helps drive the Indian digital economy,” Ravi Iyer, Senior Vice President, and Head – of Corporate Development at Flipkart, said in a statement.

“Our efforts focus on ensuring that businesses, including MSMEs and smaller brands, can leverage the opportunities that e-commerce offers, to provide greater value and deeper experiences for Indian customers who are rapidly adopting digital commerce,” Iyer added.

ANS Commerce was started in 2017 and since then has built a full-stack offering for brands across the value chain, including brand store tech, performance marketing tech and services, marketplace integrations, and warehousing and facilities maintenance capabilities.

“Our association with ANS Commerce started last year when they were part of Flipkart’s tech startup accelerator program, Flipkart Leap, and we are pleased to welcome the team to the Flipkart Group,” Iyer said.

The company’s product offerings help brands and businesses create digital brand stores/storefronts on their Kartify platform, improve return on ad spending, and manage end-to-end processes covering logistics and warehousing.

Post the acquisition ANS Commerce will continue to operate as an independent business under its existing leadership team.

Cadiz stun Barca to leave Real Madrid 15 points clear in La Liga

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Cadiz stun Barca to leave Real Madrid 15 points clear in La Liga

FC Barcelona lost 1-0 at home to Cadiz to leave Real Madrid 15 points clear at the top of La Liga with six games left to play.

Barca was poor in the first half against a rival struggling against relegation on Monday night, and in the second half when they finally woke up, they were denied by a series of excellent saves by Cadiz keeper Jeremias Ledesma.

The game kicked off with protests against Barca president Joan Laporta following the presence of around 30,000 Eintracht Frankfurt fans in the stands during the club’s UEFA Europa League exit to the German club on Thursday.

Barca coach Xavi Hernandez was still without the injured Gerard Pique, while Pedri is likely to miss the rest of the season with injury and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on the bench, with Memphis Depay making a rare start, Xinhua reports.

The first half offered little, with Cadiz looking very solid in defense and Barca lacking their usual threat with the exception of Ousmane Dembele, who was constantly probing with his pace and control.

Despite Dembele’s efforts, the best chance of the first half fell to Cadiz forward Lucas Perez, who sliced his effort high and wide when he should have at least worked Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Cadiz took the lead in the 48th minute after Perez beat Ter Stegen, who had done magnificently to deny Ruben Sobrino, who had got the better of Clement Lenglet after a cross from the left.

Xavi brought Aubameyang on for Memphis, but Dembele continued to be their main threat, with Cadiz keeper Ledesma parrying one effort from the winger, while at the other end Alex Fernandez fired wide after an assist from Ivan Alejo.

Big striker Luuk de Jong came on for Barca and was unlucky to see his header from a corner go straight at Ledesma in the 78th minute before Ter Stegen produced a reflex save to deny Sobrino.

Ledesma saved Eric Garcia’s long-range effort with six minutes left of normal time as Barca finally stepped up their game, and the keeper did even better to deny Aubameyang’s volley from Jordi Alba’s cross, moments after Carlos Akapo’s cross hit the outside of the post at the other end.

Premier League welcomes designation of hate crime in football as priority illegal content

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Premier League welcomes designation of hate crime in football as priority illegal content

The English Premier League has welcomed the ‘Online Safety Bill’, which it hopes will receive strong support from MPs during this week’s Second Reading in the House of Commons so that online abuse — a serious issue in football — can be curbed.

A statement put out by Premier League on Monday said that “Online abuse is a serious issue in football, from the grassroots and throughout the professional game and we commend the government for bringing forward this world-first legislation to create a safer online environment and hold social media companies to account.”

The government has strengthened the bill in a number of important areas, and the Premier League said it welcomed the designation of ‘hate crime’ as priority illegal content.

“We welcome the designation of hate crime as priority illegal content on the face of the Bill, which means that platforms have an active duty to minimize exposure to such content. We welcome the new anonymity provisions, which mean that ID verification must be offered as an option and users will have greater control over who can contact them and what they see online,” said the Premier League statement.

“We are pleased that the government has accepted the Law Commission’s recommendations to reform the communications offenses to include threatening and harassing behavior online more clearly and that these will be included in the bill. This legislation is a promising first step towards creating a new era of accountability online,” said PL in the statement.

Vijay Deverakonda-Samantha project set to be launched

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Vijay Deverakonda-Samantha project set to be launched

‘Majili’ director Shiva Nirvana has cast Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the lead roles in his upcoming film.

According to rumors, the untitled film will be launched in a formal muhurat event in Hyderabad on April 21 in a big way. The regular shoot of the romantic drama will begin a few days later, the sources added.

The filmmakers have also planned a lengthy schedule in Kashmir, where Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha will appear in some key scenes very soon.

The film’s plot is a love story set against the backdrop of the Army. Other details related to this movie are for now kept under the wraps.

The ‘Arjun Reddy’ actor, on the other hand, will be seen as a soldier in Puri Jagannadh’s directorial ‘Jana Gana Mana’. Also, his movie ‘Liger’ will hit the screens this year.

Shruti Haasan is back on the sets of ‘Mega 154’

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Shruti Haasan is back on the sets of ‘Mega 154’

Shruti Haasan took to Instagram on Tuesday morning to announce that she is back on the sets of ‘Mega 154’ which is billed as a mass entertainer.

Posing in her gym attire, Shruti is seen all masked up, as she poses for a picture with the update on the film.

‘Mega 154’ is an upcoming Telugu film directed by Bobby and produced by Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar. It stars Chiranjeevi in the lead role.

Shruti Haasan will be seen opposite Chiranjeevi for the first time. Fans are excited about how the pair would create their chemistry on screen.

The film features music by ‘Rockstar’ Devi Sri Prasad, who has worked with Chiranjeevi on several chartbuster albums.

Shruti was last seen in ‘Krack’ starring Ravi Teja. She will be seen opposite Balakrishna in his upcoming movie directed by Gopichand Mallineni.

India sees sharp decline in Covid cases, records 1,247 fresh infections

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India sees sharp decline in Covid cases, records 1,247 fresh infections

India recorded a steep decline in Covid-19 cases as it recorded 1,247 infections in the past 24 hours, against 2,183 reported the previous day, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday.

In the same period, one Covid fatality was recorded, taking the death toll to 521,966.

Meanwhile, the active caseload has risen to 11,860 which is 0.03 percent of the country’s total positive cases.

A total of 928 patients have recovered in the same time span and the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic is now at 4,25,11,701. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.76 percent.

Also in the same period, a total of 4,01,909 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 83.25 crore cumulative tests.

The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.34 percent. Meanwhile, the daily positivity rate has reported considerable decline at 0.31 percent.

On the vaccination front, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 186.72 crores as per provisional reports till 7 a.m. This has been achieved through 2,27,79,246 sessions.

Over 2.47 crore adolescents have been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since the beginning of the vaccination drive for this age bracket.

More than 20.52 crore balance and unutilized Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs.

Arjun Kapoor: Manali would act as a perfect backdrop for us to shoot ‘The Lady Killer’

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Arjun Kapoor: Manali would act as a perfect backdrop for us to shoot ‘The Lady Killer’

Actor Arjun Kapoor is excited to start his next, ‘The Lady Killer’ for which he is heading to Manali. This is the first time in his life that the actor will be visiting this picturesque hill station, which he feels will act “as a perfect backdrop” to the film.

Arjun says, “I’m quite excited to shoot and explore Manali because I will be visiting the city for the first time! From what I have seen and heard, it’s a beautiful place and I think it would act as a perfect backdrop for us to shoot the kind of film that we have at hand.”

Arjun is looking forward to collaborating with actress Bhumi Pednekar for the first time on screen for this project.

He says, “‘The Lady Killer’ is one of the most exciting scripts of my career and I’m thrilled to be collaborating with Bhumi and my director Ajay Bahl for the first time. I can’t wait to work with them and get to know them better.”

Arjun adds, “I think we will have an amazing time in Manali & also have a fantastic shoot schedule. My role in the film is very intense and something unexplored for me. It is layered and it will empower me to do something new on camera in a new place with new people.”

‘The Lady Killer’ chronicles the story of a small town playboy who falls in love with a ‘self-destructive beauty’ as they embark on a whirlwind romance.

Ajay Bahl, who previously helmed movies like ‘BA Pass’ and ‘Section 375’, is directing this film that is being produced by Bhushan Kumar and Shailesh R Singh.

‘Are these guys above law’, KTR asks Amit Shah

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‘Are these guys above law’, KTR asks Amit Shah

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday wondered if the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is above the law of the land.

He was reacting to a report about VHP threatening to launch a battle against the Delhi Police if any action is taken against its activists in connection with the violence during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri.

He also has asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah if he would tolerate outrageous nonsense against the Delhi Police.

“Are these guys above the law of the land & IPC Home Minister Amit Shah Ji?,” asked Rama Rao through a tweet on Tuesday.

“Will you tolerate such outrageous nonsense against Delhi police which reports to you directly?,” asked KTR, as the TRS leader is popularly known.

The VHP issued the threat after police registered an FIR against the organizers for taking out the procession without permission and arrested a local VHP leader.

Meanwhile, KTR in another tweet described the NDA government as NPA. “Unemployment in India at a 45 year High, Inflation at 30 year High, Fuel Prices all-time High, LPG Cylinder price Highest in the World, RBI says consumer confidence is at its lowest,” he wrote.

“Should we call this NDA Govt or NPA Govt? For Bhakts NPA Non-performing Asset,” added KTR, who is also state minister for information technology, industries, municipal administration, and urban development.

5.9-magnitude offshore earthquake jolts southern Philippines

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5.9-magnitude offshore earthquake jolts southern Philippines

An offshore earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 jolted Davao Oriental province in southern Philippines on Tuesday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

The institute said the quake, which occurred at 9.23 a.m. local time, hit at a depth of 49 kms, about 54 kms southeast of Manay town in the province, Xinhua news agency reported.

It further said the tectonic quake will trigger aftershocks and can cause damage.

The Philippines has frequent seismic activities due to its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.

Hackers steal $180 mn in crypto from Beanstalk Farms

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Hackers steal $180 mn in crypto from Beanstalk Farms

Hackers have stolen nearly $180 million in cryptocurrency from Beanstalk Farms, decentralized finance (De-Fi) project.

Beanstalk operates a system where participants earn rewards by contributing funds to a central funding pool that is used to balance the value of one token at close to $1, reports The Verge.

“Beanstalk suffered an exploit. The Beanstalk Farms team is investigating the attack and will make an announcement to the community as soon as possible,” the company admitted in a tweet.

The hackers exploited Beanstalk’s majority vote governance system, a core feature of many DeFi protocols.

The attack was first spotted by blockchain analytics company PeckShield.

The Beanstalk attacker “used a flash loan obtained through the decentralized protocol Aave to borrow close to $1 billion in cryptocurrency assets and exchanged these for enough beans to gain a 67 percent voting stake in the project”.

The attacker then instantly repaid the flash loan, netting an $80 million profit, the report said.

In January this year, hackers stole crypto tokens worth $120 million from the Blockchain-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform BadgerDAO. Several crypto wallets were drained before the platform could stop the cyber attack.

In December last year, cybercriminals stole cryptocurrency worth $80 million from Qubit Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform.

The US this week blamed North Korean hacker group, Lazarus, for stealing $625 million in cryptocurrency from the Ronin Network, owned by developer group Sky Mavis.

Podcasts, short-form Soundbites arriving on Facebook soon

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Podcasts, short-form Soundbites arriving on Facebook soon

Taking on popular audio chat platform Clubhouse, Facebook has announced several audio products like a short-form experience called Soundbites and the arrival of podcasts on its main platform.

Soundbites are short-form, creative audio clips for capturing anecdotes, jokes, moments of inspiration, poems, and other things.

“We’ll start testing Soundbites over the next few months with a small number of creators and refine the product with their input before making it available to everyone,” Fidji Simo, Head of Facebook App, said in a statement late on Monday.

To kickstart Soundbites, Facebook is introducing an ‘Audio Creator Fund’ to support emerging audio creators and get early feedback on the new product experience.

Currently, more than 170 million people are connected to hundreds of thousands of podcast pages on Facebook, and more than 35 million people are members of fan groups around podcasts.

To date, one had to leave the Facebook app to listen to these podcasts.

“Within the next few months, you’ll be able to listen to podcasts directly on the Facebook app — both while using the app or when the app is backgrounded,” the social network announced.

Facebook will also help users find new podcasts and episodes based on their interests.

“We’re also going to start testing Live Audio Rooms and we expect it to be available to everyone on the Facebook app by the summer,” said Simo.

Facebook will test Live Audio Rooms in Groups, making it available to the 1.8 billion people using Groups every month and the tens of millions of active communities on Facebook.

In addition to bringing this to Facebook, the company also plans to release Live Audio Rooms on Messenger this summer.

The company said it is building a set of new audio creation tools.

“You will be able to use music from Facebook’s Sound Collection in the background of your story to set the tone. And with the ability to mix audio tracks, a growing collection of sound effects, voice effects, and filters, it should be a lot of fun too,” Simo explained.

Additionally, Facebook will put captions on all audio experiences to make them accessible to all.

When Live Audio Rooms launch, fans will be able to support their favorite creators and public figures through Stars or donate to causes they care about.

“Soon after launch, we’ll also offer other monetization models, like the ability to charge for access to a Live Audio Room through a single purchase or a subscription,” said Facebook.

Equity indices largely steady in early trade after a storm

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Equity indices largely steady in early trade after a storm

After a bloodbath the previous day, benchmark equity indices traded largely steady in early trade on Tuesday.

At 9.30 a.m., Sensex was at 57,195 points, up 0.05 percent, whereas Nifty was at 17,212 points, up 0.2 percent.

On Monday, both indices declined 2 percent each.

A rise in inflation, as well as a fresh spike in global crude oil prices, seemed to have dented investors’ sentiment.

As a result of which investors have shredded around Rs 2.5 trillion from their portfolio cumulatively.

Veteran Indian golfer Arjun Atwal to compete in Zurich Classic of New Orleans

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Veteran Indian golfer Arjun Atwal to compete in Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Veteran Indian golfer Arjun Atwal will tee up with young Australian Lucas Herbert in what will be his first PGA Tour start in six months at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans starting on Thursday.

Atwal, 49, will partner the 26-year-old Herbert at TPC Louisiana in the only official FedEx Cup event to feature a two-player team format. A total of 80 teams (160 players) will compete for USD 8.3 million, with the first and third rounds using the Four-Ball format and the second and final rounds using Foursomes (alternate shot).

As India’s lone winner to date on the PGA TOUR — Atwal triumphed in the 2010 Wyndham Championship — he is presently preparing for life on PGA Tour Champions (over-50 circuit) but the opportunity to play alongside Herbert, currently 46th in the world, was too enticing for him to pass over.

“I’ve been practicing and working out,” said Atwal, who now lives in Orlando.

“Lucas is a member at Isleworth too, and I’ve gotten to know him pretty well. And since I haven’t played in a while, I thought it would be nice to play my way back in a team format with a young stud like him … he’s a really, really good player.”

Herbert found initial success on the DP World Tour by winning the 2020 Dubai Desert Classic and 2021 Irish Open before playing his way onto the PGA Tour. He then earned his maiden PGA Tour title by winning the Butterfield Bermuda Championship last October, which coincidently was Atwal’s last appearance on Tour where he finished tied 71st.

While Atwal has kept himself fit in preparation for life in his 50s, he has continued to keep close tabs on compatriot, Anirban Lahiri who is currently the only Indian with a full playing card on the PGA Tour. Atwal is also supporting his son, Krishen’s dream of trying to make it onto the NBA.

“I’m looking forward to turning 50. I’ll get enough starts out there on PGA Tour Champions to do what I need to do,” said Atwal, who hits the half-century mark next March.

“Right now, we’re supporting Krishen’s dreams and goals as parents. He has set his path for himself.

“It was also really good for Anirban to have his best finish at The Players Championship recently. Congratulations to him on his biggest achievement!”

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans will feature a star-studded line-up. 2022 Players Championship winner, Cameron Smith is back to defend his title with a partner and fellow Aussie, Marc Leishman. Smith, who won in the inaugural year of the team format in 2017 with Jonas Blixt, is the only two-time winner in the team format. Smith leads the Presidents Cup International Team standings, while Leishman is currently No. 12.

Six of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are also in the field, but only two of those players are teaming up; World No. 2 Collin Morikawa and World No. 4 Viktor Hovland will compete together for the highest-ranked pair in the history of the team format.

2021 FedEx Cup Champion, Patrick Cantlay and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Xander Schauffele team up for the second straight year after finishing T11 last season. The duo who have been paired together in the last Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup events won both Foursome matches at the 2020 Ryder Cup. FedEx Cup and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who won the Masters recently, will pair up with Ryan Palmer, who won the event in 2019 alongside Jon Rahm.

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