Brittany Snow considers herself lucky to have got married before lockdown

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Brittany Snow considers herself lucky to have got married before lockdown

Actress Brittany Snow got married to Tyler Stanaland in March, and she feels extremely lucky to have tied the knot before isolation orders were put in place due to the COVID pandemic.

“In early March, before we knew how much we’d miss hugs and live in our sweatpants, I got to marry my favorite person. The whole world shut down a few days later and we were stunned at the timing. We knew we felt incredibly lucky to have found each other but we had no idea how lucky it would be to get married right before a monumental time in our history,” Brittany wrote on Instagram.

Along with it, she shared a few pictures of her wedding day, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Despite several hurdles, the couple had a perfect celebration.

“Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong that day… but it was absolutely and impossibly perfect. I knew on that day, more than ever before, there was no one else I’d rather hold my hand while in the middle of a (life) hurricane. I love you @tylerstanaland. You’re my dream come true,” she added.

Elon Musk to reveal more about brain-computer tech on August 28

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Elon Musk to reveal more about brain-computer tech on August 28

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that its most secretive brain-computer interface technology startup Neuralink will provide a key update on its progress on August 28.

To help paralyzed people control devices and empower people with brain disorders, Neuralink last year unveiled tiny brain “threads” in a chip that is long-lasting, usable at home and has the potential to replace cumbersome devices currently used as brain-machine interfaces.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk may announce human trials for the Neuralink technology that has been successful in mice and even apes.

“If you can’t beat em, join em – Neuralink’s mission statement,” Musk tweeted on Thursday. “Progress update August 28”.

In February this year, Musk promised an “awesome” update by Neuralink.

“The profound impact of high bandwidth, high precision neural interfaces is underappreciated. Neuralink may have this in a human as soon as this year,” Musk had tweeted.

“Wait until you see the next version vs what was presented last year. It’s awesome,” he added.

The technology has a module that sits outside the head, behind the ear, and receives information from “threads” embedded in the brain.

Controlled by an iPhone app, the chip called “N1 sensor” with just a USB port coming out can have as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 “threads” — each “thread” smaller than the tiniest human hair.

The chip which will be wireless in the future can read, transmit high-volume data and amplify signals from the brain.

“This has the potential to solve several brain-related diseases. The idea is to understand and treat brain disorders, preserve and enhance your own brain and create a well-aligned future,” Musk told the audience at the launch event last year.

Founded as a medical research company in 2016, Neuralink has hired several high-profile neuroscientists from various universities.

The company is focused on creating devices resembling tiny sewing machines that can be implanted in the human brain — to improve memory or more direct interfacing with computing devices.

With over 26k fresh cases, India inches closer to 8 lakh

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With over 26k fresh cases, India inches closer to 8 lakh

India recorded the highest single-day spike of over 26,502 new coronavirus cases and 475 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total tally close to eight lakh with 21,604 deaths, Health Ministry’s data revealed on Friday.

According to the data, out of total 7,93,802 cases, 4,95,513 have recovered while 2,76,685 remain active in the country. With more Covid-19 patients recovering, the gap between the number of recovered cases and active cases has increased by two lakh.

The rate of recovery among the Covid-19 patients continues to increase and has touched 62.42 percent. India, however, remains to be the third worst-affected country after the US and Brazil.

During the last 24 hours, 2,83,659 samples were tested, as the testing lab network continues to expand. As on date, more than 1,119 labs have enabled people to undergo coronavirus tests.

Maharashtra tops the chart and remains the worst-hit state, with cases reaching up to 2,30,599 and 9,667 casualties so far, of which 417 occurred in the last 24 hours. Tamil Nadu remained the second-worst hit with a total of 1,26,581 cases, including 1,765 deaths.

With 2,187 new coronavirus cases and 45 deaths in the last 24 hours, the national capital on Thursday recorded a total tally of 1,07,051 cases and 3,258 deaths.

States with more than 10,000 cases include Gujarat with 39,194 cases and 2,008 deaths, Uttar Pradesh (32,362), Rajasthan (22,563), Madhya Pradesh (16,341), West Bengal (25,911), Haryana (19,369), Karnataka (31,105), Andhra Pradesh (23,814), Telangana (30,946), Assam (14,032) and Bihar (13,944) cases.

On the global front, the overall number of global Covid-19 cases has surged to over 12.2 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 5,54,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

NSNIS Patiala announces relaxation in admission criteria of coaching course

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NSNIS Patiala announces relaxation in admission criteria of coaching course

In a first-time endeavor, 46 eminent athletes, men, and women will get direct admission to the flagship diploma course in sports coaching at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NSNIS) in Patiala, from the session of 2020-21 onwards.

This decision was announced by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju in May. Now, it has been decided to relax a few of the admission criteria earlier stated.

While the educational qualification from entry to the course remains 10+2 for all eminent athletes, changes have been brought about in the sports achievements criteria so as to allow more Asian and Commonwealth medallists and participants of Senior World Championships to enroll for the course.

Earlier, it was mandatory for an applicant to have won a medal in the Senior World Championship, however, in the new criteria athletes who have participated in the event are also eligible to apply. The criteria of winning a gold medal in the Asian or Commonwealth Games have been replaced by winning a medal – gold, silver, or bronze – in either of the events. Elite athletes who have participated in the Olympics are automatically qualified to apply for the course.

The 46 eminent athletes will be chosen for 23 sports (1 male, 1 female coach in each discipline), and will not have to appear for the entrance exam, which has been made online for the first-ever time in the history of the course. All eminent athletes who are shortlisted for the course director will however have to take the medical and physical tests alongside other candidates.

In the case of two eminent athletes applying from the same discipline, a point-system has been put in place to identify the final candidate.

In view of the relaxation in the criteria for eminent athletes, it has also been decided to extend the last date of submission of online application for enrolment to the course to July 31.

For other candidates whose educational qualification required in a graduation degree, it has been decided that in keeping with the current situation of the coronavirus pandemic, candidates who are awaiting final year results of graduation level degree courses or if universities that they are enrolled in are yet to conduct final examination of the graduation-level degree courses, can also apply online for the admission to the diploma course but have to produce the final year passing certificate by September 30 to be eligible for the course.

Sony invests $250 million in Fortnite maker Epic Games

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Sony invests $250 million in Fortnite maker Epic Games

Sony on Friday announced it has made a strategic investment of $250 million to acquire a minority interest in Epic Games, creator of the popular video game Fortnite.

The investment enables Sony and Epic to broaden their collaboration with Sony’s portfolio of entertainment assets and technology, and Epic’s social entertainment platform and digital ecosystem to create unique experiences for consumers and creators.

“Epic’s powerful technology in areas such as graphics places them at the forefront of game engine development with Unreal Engine and other innovations. There’s no better example of this than the revolutionary entertainment experience, Fortnite,” Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO Sony said in a statement.

The companies noted they have “an already close relationship,” and that the investment allows them to “broaden their collaboration.”

Tim Sweeney, CEO Epic, said that both Sony and Epic have created businesses at the intersection of creativity and technology and they share a vision of real-time 3D social experiences that will lead to a convergence of gaming, film, and music. He added that the parties plan to build a “more open and accessible digital ecosystem for all consumers and content creators.”

Epic operates Fortnite, the world’s largest game with over 350 million accounts and 2.5 billion friend connections.

Epic also develops Unreal Engine, which powers the world’s leading games and is being adopted across industries such as film and television, architecture, automotive, and manufacturing for visualization and simulation.

Meanwhile, Sony is all set to launch its next-generation console PlayStation 5 later this year, with titles including Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” and Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto V.”

Quad-camera phones to push CIS sensors sales to 5bn units in 2020

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Quad-camera phones to push CIS sensors sales to 5bn units in 2020

Led by OPPO, Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung, and Realme, the global shipment of smartphone CMOS image sensors (CIS) is likely to reach 5 billion units this year as quad-camera smartphone designs witness great momentum despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report has said.

The pandemic has overall affected the global smartphone industry and the market is expected to be dragged down to the level of shipments in 2014, slightly over 1.3 billion units, representing a nearly 10 percent (year-on-year) decline in comparison to 2019.

However, as a beneficiary of the continuous improvement in technology and feature sets, the sales volume of CMOS image sensors (CIS) for smartphone applications increased eightfold over the past decade, reaching more than 4.5 billion units in 2019.

“Thanks to the irreversible trend towards multi-camera setups and the spreading adoption of 3D sensing systems, the smartphone CIS segment will likely still register high-single-digit shipment growth in 2020, hitting an all-time high of close to 5 billion units,” said senior analyst Ethan Qi from Counterpoint Research.

Each smartphone shipped in the March quarter this year packed more than 3.5 image sensors on average.

The growth is primarily driven by the rising penetration of quad-camera designs in the high- to mid-end smartphones, which jumped to nearly 20 percent during the period.

Smartphone brands OPPO, Xiaomi Huawei, and Samsung were at the forefront of adopting quad-camera setups, collectively accounting for 83 percent of all the quad- and Penta-camera-based smartphone shipments during Q1 2020.

The fast-growing brand Realme was most aggressive to ride on this trend.

“Almost two-thirds of its smartphone volumes in Q1 packed a quad-lens system. The next brand squeezing more camera sensors into the rear camera module was OPPO accounting for more than half of its smartphones shipped in Q1 2020,” said the Counterpoint report.

“As camera function has become a key differentiator in smartphones, we expect the quad-camera feature will become a standard moving forward,” said Research Director, Tom Kang.

Leading smartphone brands will continue to enrich and enhance the photography and video capture experiences, as well as exploring AR applications, “by leveraging diversified lens and sensor combinations along with the increasing AI computing power”.

Google joins Canonical to bring Flutter apps to Linux

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Google joins Canonical to bring Flutter apps to Linux

Google has announced that it is partnering with open source software operating system Ubuntu maker Canonical to bring its open-source UI software development kit Flutter to Linux desktop operating system.

Google’s goal for Flutter has always been to provide a portable framework for building beautiful user interfaces (UIs) that run at native speeds no matter what platform.

“To validate this capability, we started by focusing on the mobile platforms, Android and iOS, where we’ve seen more than 80,000 fast, beautiful Flutter apps published to Google Play,” said Google’s Chris Sells and Canonical’s Ken VanDine.

Flutter is now ready to handle first-featured, full-sized desktop apps, they added.

More than 500,000 developers use Flutter each month and two million developers have used it since version 1.0 was released in December 2018.

Canonical is making a significant investment in Flutterby dedicating a team of developers to work alongside Google’s developers to bring the best Flutter experience to the majority of Linux distributions.

“Canonical will continue to collaborate with Google to further improve Linux support and maintain feature parity with the other supported platforms,” said the companies.

Flutter is Google’s cross-platform application framework that allows developers to create responsive apps for Android, iOS, and macOS.

Hours before Dubey’s encounter, plea in SC apprehended Vikas’ fate

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Hours before Dubey’s encounter, plea in SC apprehended Vikas’ fate

A plea has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking directions for the Uttar Pradesh government to conduct a thorough investigation into the killing/alleged encounter of five aides of gangster Vikas Dubey who might have been involved in the killing of eight policemen in Kanpur on July 3.

The petitioner also expressed the apprehension of Dubey’s encounter killing and sought a CBI probe into the matter. The plea was moved on Thursday evening by advocate and petitioner-in-person Ghanshyam Upadhyay seeking urgent hearing on the matter.

Hours later on Friday, Dubey was killed after being critically injured in an alleged shootout with STF officials on way to Kanpur. He was shot when he reportedly tried to flee, following a road accident in which the vehicle he was traveling in overturned.

The plea contended the debates on news channels indicate that Dubey got himself arrested by Madhya Pradesh police to avoid his encounter by Uttar Pradesh police. “Thus, there is every possibility that even accused Vikas Dubey shall be killed by Uttar Pradesh Police like other co-accused once his custody is obtained by Uttar Pradesh Police. Since the killing of the accused by the police in the name of encounter even in howsoever heinous crime is against the rule of law and serious violation of the human right and this is nothing short of Talibanisation of the country and hence the instant petition,” said the plea.

The plea contended that acts of Uttar Pradesh Police/administration of pulling down/demolishing the residential building, shopping mall of Dubey and also his expensive cars/vehicles and various other movable/immovable properties with the help of a bulldozer, JCB, Poclain machines is highly illegal and impermissible in law.

“Punishing the accused/culprit after his crime being proved, is the function of the competent court of law and thus, police cannot usurp jurisdiction to itself to punish the accused by killing him in the name of the encounter before his crime being proved in accordance with the law,” said the plea.

The petitioner urged the top court to direct the UP police to register an FIR in the incident of pulling down/demolishing the residential building, shopping mall of accused Vikas Dubey and so all his expensive cars/vehicles and various other movable/immovable properties with the help of a bulldozer, JCB machines and further killing of five co-accused, who were alleged to be involved in the killing of eight policemen and transfer the investigations to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Inter Milan held by Verona 2-2 in Serie A

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Inter Milan held by Verona 2-2 in Serie A

Inter Milan have slipped to the fourth place in the Serie A after playing out a 2-2 draw against Hellas Verona in a topsy-turvy thriller.

On Thursday, Antonio Candreva took center stage, scoring one goal and setting up another, but it was not enough as Miguel Veloso came up with the equalizer before the whistle, reports Xinhua news agency.

Inter’s coach Antonio Conte surprisingly dropped playmaker Christian Eriksen and hitman Lautaro Martinez, as Borja Valero and Alexis Sanchez stepped in.

It took Verona just two minutes to break the deadlock as Darko Lazovic dribbled past Milan Skriniar near the by-line, bursting into the box and drilling home from a tight angle.

Inter got back on level terms straight after the restart when Romelu Lukaku smacked the woodwork, and Candreva turned in the rebound.

The away side quickly rode the momentum in the 55th minute and it was Candreva again, as his cross-shot accidentally took a deflection off Inter’s loanee Federico Dimarco to wrong-foot Verona’s goalie Marco Silvestri.

When the Nerazzurri were about to take the three points, Veloso ruined their victory as the Portuguese smashed home in the 86th minute on Amir Rrahmani’s assist, leaving Inter’s goalkeeper Samir Handanovic stranded.

The draw, coupled with Atalanta’s 2-0 victory over Sampdoria on Wednesday, sent the Beneamata into fourth place with 65 points.

In an earlier fixture on Thursday, Udinese enjoyed a 3-0 away triumph over SPAL.

UK entering severe recession: Sunak

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UK entering severe recession: Sunak

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the country has entered a “severe recession” and was “sorry” for not helping “everyone in exactly the way they would have wanted”.

Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, the Chancellor said the government was “throwing everything” at stemming job losses with a 30 billion pounds stimulus package.

But Sunak added that he will not be able to protect “every single job”, as the UK was “entering one of the most severe recessions this country has ever seen”.

“If you’re asking me ‘can I protect every single job’ of course the answer is no,” he told the BBC.

“‘Is unemployment going to rise, are people going to lose their jobs?’ Yes, and the scale of this is significant.”

Sunak’s remarks come as figures released by the Treasury revealed that public spending on the battle against the coronavirus pandemic has risen to nearly 190 billion pounds.

And the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned the UK was not in a “normal recession” but “the deepest in history”.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that unemployment in the UK will reach “record highs” of up to 11.7 percent by the end of 2020, without a second COVID-19 wave.

On Wednesday, the Chancellor announced a series of measures to help the economy, including a VAT cut for the hospitality and tourism sectors, a bonus scheme for employers, and an eating out money off scheme for August.

Sunak said the 1,000-pound bonus being offered to businesses that keep furloughed staff in jobs until January 2021 would be a “dead weight” cost, as some employers who intend to retain workers anyway would benefit.

“Throughout this crisis, I’ve had decisions to make and whether to act in a broad way at scale and at speed or to act in a more targeted and nuanced way,” he told the BBC.

“In an ideal world, you’re absolutely right, you would minimize that dead weight and do everything in an incredibly targeted fashion.

“The problem is the severity of what was happening to our economy, the scale of what was happening, and indeed the speed that it was happening at demanded a different response,” Sunak added.

Bolsonaro reiterates need to reopen country

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Bolsonaro reiterates need to reopen country

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier this week, reiterated the need to reopen the country’s economy despite the worsening COVID-19 situation.

In an online broadcast on Thursday, the President emphasized that a potential economic crisis was more dangerous than the ongoing pandemic, warning the consequences will be harmful to the country, reports Xinhua news agency.

Bolsonaro, who repeatedly played down the risks posed by the virus which he termed “little flu” and asserting that he would not be seriously affected by it, was tested positive on Tuesday after undergoing a fourth test after he showed symptoms, including fever, cough, and headache.

His report came as he urged regional governors to ease lockdowns and diluted directions on face masks.

In fact, the President has frequently appeared in public events without donning a mask, including the Independence Day celebration at the US Embassy last week.

Brazil currently accounts for the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world at 1,755,779 and 69,184, respectively, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, Sau Paulo, one of the worst-hit cities in Brazil, announced on Thursday that the return to the “new normal” will include the reopening of 70 parks, squares, and gyms from July 13 onwards.

Sao Paulo Mayor Bruno Covas was authorized by the city government to reopen the public areas with restrictions as the occupancy of intensive care beds in the city’s hospitals has dropped below 65 percent.

“We will do everything with the necessary care so that there are no crowds,” Covas said at a press conference.

The reopening of parks and squares is part of an array of measures, including the opening of street shops and shopping malls for a limited time per day, as well as bars and restaurants, which are now authorized to operate until 5 p.m.

Visitors in parks will be monitored for compliance in performing permitted activities, such as running, walking, or biking, and group activities in parks will still be prohibited.

“The drinking fountains will be out of operation and it will be mandatory to wear a mask,” said Covas.

Gyms and fitness centers were also beginning to adopt the necessary biosecurity protocols for their reopening next week.

Strict 3-day lockdown to be enforced in Agra

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Strict 3-day lockdown to be enforced in Agra

After the Agra District Magistrate’s stern warning on Wednesday that another lockdown was inevitable if people continued to violate the ICMR guidelines, and moved around markets without masks, the city will be under strict lockdown for three days beginning Friday evening.

The decision to enforce the restrictions strictly came after the Yogi Adityanath government on Thursday announced a three-day lockdown in the state from 10 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

In the Taj city, the continued surge in the number of Covid-19 cases after the Unlock-1 was the causing alarm, and threatening to foil all governmental efforts to contain the infection, as widespread laxity and a violation of the guidelines was noticed.

In the past 24 hours, there were 16 fresh cases, taking the tally to 1,357. The number of active cases is 167. The number of containment zones in the city has gone up to 76.

So far 28,294 samples have been tested. The recovery rate is 80.99 percent.

District officials said during the total lockdown for three days no one would be permitted to move around freely. Only essential services will remain operational.

The markets in the interior city were seen flouting guidelines, as customers crowded the narrow streets without masks and following social distancing norms. The Covid-19 cases in the past week have come from these densely populated areas.

The three-day shutdown would be used to sanitize localities and screen people in the containment zones, officials said.

The local tourism industry had been persistently asking the administration to open the Taj Mahal and other monuments, but the district authorities were reluctant all the while, as they feared the move could only add to the pressure on the fragile health infrastructure in the city. “The lockdown will allow some breathing time to set things right. Experts had been warning that July would see the peak and the numbers would surge. We are gearing up to face any situation,” a health official said.

Only essential services would be allowed to remain operational. All markets will remain closed and no movement would be permitted within the city, district officials clarified.

Kenneth Branagh: New normal won’t be abnormal

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Kenneth Branagh: New normal won’t be abnormal

The whole world is trying to adapt to the new realities in the post-COVID-19 era, and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kenneth Branagh feels that the new normal will not be as “abnormal as people fear”.

As cinemas remain closed in several places around the world, the pandemic is changing the way people consume talent, with OTT emerging the big winner.

“It’s significantly changing it right now,” Branagh said while talking about the future of the movie industry after the pandemic.

“(The truth is ) your guess is as good as mine. When the ban is lifted, will you rush back to see a movie in a theatre? Or has your life made you think ‘I rather like home entertainment’. I personally want to get back to the movies. But I don’t know how widespread that will be. If there is risk involved, of course, people will be cautious and if that happens, it will change things. But I believe that the new normal won’t be as abnormal as people fear,” he explained.

Branagh’s own film “Artemis Fowl”, which was planned for a theatrical release, went the digital route due to the disruptions caused by the virus crisis. The movie was released in India on June 12 on Disney+ Hotstar.

“It just became inevitable for this film… From my beginnings with the movie, which was to read the book in the company of my nephews who said you got to make this film, this is before anybody talked to me about it from Disney, to all the way to now those same nephews saying ‘when can we see it?’… When they heard it was going on Disney Plus, they were very excited. So I’m glad that a movie went to family audiences in these circumstances with its energy, its velocity, and its sense of adventure,” he added.

Branagh is credited for translating several works of literature into cinematic gems — from Shakespearean classics to superhero comic books to Agatha Christie whodunit to fantasy stories. His filmography is filled with critically-acclaimed projects, including “Henry V”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Othello” and “Hamlet”, “Murder On The Orient Express”, “Thor” and “Cinderella”.

Talking about his evolution, he said: “Evolution for me is to try and be quicker to find what is the essential point of something and trying to reduce that to its essence and make it as tight, short and rich as possible. So, it’s, I guess, heading towards a simpler approach to storytelling that doesn’t mean that it cannot be complex. But your entry point is something very direct, simple, honest, and universal.”

Tocilizumab drug black market racket in Gujarat unearthed

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Tocilizumab drug black market racket in Gujarat unearthed

The Foods and Drugs Control Authority (FDCA) of Gujarat has unearthed a black market racket of the drug – Tocilizumab, considered to be quite effective in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

The FDCA got the information about Tocilizumab being sold in the black market in Surat and following the tip-off, it had set up a trap to nab the culprits involved.

A decoy customer in the guise of a pharma trader was sent by the FDCA to a chemist store – Sarthak Pharmacy in Surat on Wednesday.

After several negotiations, the deal between the proprietor Uma Kejriwal and the decoy trader was struck at Rs 57,000 for a 400 ml vial of injection. The regular price of the vial is Rs 40,000 in the market.

The FDCA nabbed the woman proprietor Uma Kejriwal, who tried to sell the injection to the decoy customer.

At the store, the FDCA confiscated, three vials of Tocilizumab drug.

Sarthak Pharmacy is a wholesale pharmacist in Surat. The proprietor could not furnish the bills of the confiscated drug. On inquiry, she told the FDCA that she had procured the drug from a medical representative (MR) of a private pharma company in Adajan, Surat.

When the FDCA nabbed that MR, upon inquiry, he said about another person from a pharma agency in Ahmedabad, and from him another name of an employee of the TB hospital in Ahmedabad Civil hospital campus also emerged.

The FDCA has registered a case against Sarthak Pharmacy, under the Drugs (Prices Control) order for overcharging against MRP and have initiated the investigation against Uma Kejriwal, Mitul Shah of New Shanti Medicines, Adajan, Amit Mancharamani of Ahmedabad and Ghanshyam Vyas, a pharmacist in TB hospital, Ahmedabad Civil hospital campus.

“The drug was obtained from the Indian supplier’s stock at Ahmedabad by an ex-employee in Ahmedabad, where the TB hospital employee’s bank accounts were used to carry out a transaction. Besides, overpricing offense, there are many other rules and regulations being violated in the entire shoddy business. The FDCA is investigating all those,” Hemant Koshia, Commissioner, FDCA told IANS.

Tocilizumab drug is said to be very effective in the treatment of Corona infection and is right now being imported from Switzerland through a single Indian firm.

However, the demand far outweighs the supply which is very limited. This is the reason for the drug being sold in the black market.

The Gujarat government had ordered and procured 5,000 injections from the Indian supplier, out of which 2,900 were for the government hospitals, chiefly for the Civil hospital Ahmedabad and 2,100 for private hospitals that were treating Corona patients.

For some time, there were many complaints regarding the unavailability of the Tocilizumab in the state.

Vikas Dubey killed in police encounter

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Vikas Dubey killed in police encounter

Gangster Vikas Dubey was killed on Friday morning after being critically injured in an alleged shootout with STF officials. He was shot when he reportedly tried to flee, following a road mishap in which the vehicle he was traveling in overturned.

Dubey was taken to the emergency ward of the Hallett Hospital in a blood-soaked condition.

SSP Kanpur Dinesh Kumar said that the doctors have confirmed the death of Vikas Dubey.

As media persons converged at the hospital, the gates were closed and STF officials refused to comment on the developments.

According to reports, as the convoy bringing Dubey from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain reached the Bhauti area under Barra police circle in Kanpur on Friday morning, the vehicle in which Vikas was seated, overturned after skidding on the road due to heavy rains.

Vikas, along with two other police personnel in the vehicle, was injured in the mishap.

As soon as Vikas was taken out of the vehicle, he allegedly snatched a pistol from the STF team and tried to fire at the police. He was fatally injured in retaliatory firing.

Vikas received a bullet injury on the chest which proved fatal.

Two STF personnel were also injured in the encounter.

STF officials admitted to the mishap but refused to say the extent of injuries suffered by the gangster.

None of the officials were willing to comment on the development.

Earlier, five members of the Vikas Dubey gang have been killed in police encounters over the past seven days.

19 Covid-19 patients discharged in Chinese mainland

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19 Covid-19 patients discharged in Chinese mainland

The National Health Commission said on Friday that 19 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery in the Chinese mainland on Thursday.

There were 342 patients still being treated, including four in severe conditions, the commission said in its daily report, Xinhua reported.

Altogether 78,609 patients had been cured and discharged from hospitals by Thursday, the report said.

As of Thursday, a total of 83,585 confirmed Covid-19 cases had been reported on the mainland, among whom 4,634 died of the disease.

TikTok pulled 16mn videos from Indian users in 2019’s 2nd half

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TikTok pulled 16mn videos from Indian users in 2019’s 2nd half

TikTok removed 16 million videos from Indian users in the last six months of 2019 for violating its content policies, the short video-sharing platform said in a transparency report on Thursday.

The total number of videos removed globally during the same period stood at 49 million, according to the report.

The report also revealed that TikTok received a total of 302 requests from India and the platform complied with 90 percent of the requests. With 100 requests, the US came second to India in terms of the number of requests.

The number of videos that TikTok removed globally represented less than 1 percent of videos uploaded during the six-month period, The Verge reported.

Compared to the 49 million videos removed by TikTok, YouTube pulled around 14.7 million videos during the second half of 2019.

TikTok said it did not receive any takedown requests or user information requests from China.

“We do not and have not removed any content at the request of the Chinese government, and would not do so if asked,” a TikTok spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Verge.

India recently banned TikTok, along with 58 other China-linked apps, over national security concerns.

“TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese Government,” Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok India, said in a statement following the announcement of the ban by the Indian government.

“Further if we are requested to in the future, we would not do so,” he added.

BCCI CEO Rahul Johri asked to leave via mail

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BCCI CEO Rahul Johri asked to leave via mail

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri has been asked to leave over mail. John had earlier tendered his resignation but was asked to continue. But the recent leak over the tender with regards to team sponsorship looks like one of the major reasons for the current office bearers asking him to leave.

Speaking to IANS, a board official said that the leak of confidential financial information was like the nail in the coffin as the current dispensation believes in utmost transparency in its functioning.

“He has been informed of the decision by email. He had resigned earlier and was asked to continue in the interim. However, the leak of confidential financial information of a bid that was being prepared accelerated the decision. Highest levels of confidentiality are expected when any bid takes place in an organization,” the official said.

“This was considered to be scandalous and had the potential to compromise the bid. Financial matters if you cannot keep confidential, then it is a serious lapse that cannot be excused, especially with the new BCCI.”

A BCCI functionary said that maybe he was a little overconfident ever since he escaped with gender sensitization after allegations of sexual harassment against him.

“Maybe he was a little overconfident. He was able to survive despite his earlier conduct and there was an inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment against him. The reports of which were not even made available to the complainants which were found to be very surprising. Yet, he was asked to undergo gender sensitization.

“We felt that to have a CEO who has undergone this punishment was not appropriate for a role which requires you to give a fillip to women’s cricket. And as CEO he had to meet market leaders. He is certainly not the man who is capable of leading India towards the resumption of cricket. The female cricketers and women working in BCCI must be feeling relieved,” the functionary told IANS.

Former CoA member Diana Edulji said that justice has finally prevailed. “Women cricketers and staff will heave a sigh of relief and after all this indiscipline during the nomination of coaches and all, he was rewarded with an increment which I was against. Better later than never. Justice has been done,” she told IANS.

NY prosecutors can see Trump’s financial records: US SC

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NY prosecutors can see Trump’s financial records: US SC

The US Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s financial records can be examined by prosecutors in New York.

In a related case, the court ruled that this information did not have to be shared with Congress, the BBC reported on Thursday.

Trump has come under fire for not making his tax returns public like his predecessors.

His lawyers had argued that he enjoyed total immunity while in office and that Congress had no valid justification to seek the records.

Two Democratic-controlled House of Representatives committees and New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance – also a Democrat – had demanded Trump’s tax documents over several years in order to determine whether current conflict-of-interest laws on a US president were tough enough.

Trump, a Republican, denies wrongdoing and has called the investigation into his tax affairs a “witch hunt”.

“The Supreme Court sends the case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution,” he wrote in a series of tweets following the court rulings.

In the case regarding the request from the New York prosecutors, the Supreme Court ruled by a majority of seven to two that the president did not have absolute immunity from criminal investigation.

“Two hundred years ago, a great jurist of our Court established that no citizen, not even the President, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding,” the court said.

“We reaffirm that principle today.”

But the two cases regarding Congressional committees were closely watched, as they could have had implications on how far US lawmakers could scrutinize the activities of a sitting president.

The court ruled that Congress had significant, but not limitless, the power to request the president’s personal information. In this case, the court returned the case to the lower courts.

Director Mukesh Chhabra recalls starting ‘Dil Bechara’ shoot two years ago

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Director Mukesh Chhabra recalls starting ‘Dil Bechara’ shoot two years ago

Mukesh Chhabra, the director of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film “Dil Bechara”, has taken to social media to reminisce the day they had begun shooting a couple of years ago.

“9th July, today we complete exactly 2 years from when we started the shoot in Jamshedpur ! Sab Badal Gaya (how everything changed)” tweeted Mukesh Chhabra on Thursday.

Sushant Singh Rajput passed away in Mumbai on June 14, a month ahead of the release of his last film.

Lead actress Sanjana Sanghi also took to Instagram to remember her co-star Sushant.

“Life, indeed, is seri-real. 2 years ago, July 9th, 2018, was the first day of Sushant and Sanjana, becoming Manny and Kizie in front of the camera, on set in Jamshedpur. My life since that day has never been the same for a second. Kizie & Manny truly believed there never will be a greater love than their’s, but they love all of you, all over the world have shown us? It really does come close. It feels like a long, warm embrace,” the actress wrote on Instagram.

Directed by Mukesh Chhabra, “Dil Bechara” is the official remake of the 2014 Hollywood romantic drama “The Fault in our Stars”, based on John Green’s popular novel of the same name.

The film is slated to release on an OTT platform on July 24.

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