K’taka govt to increase Covid tests

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K’taka govt to increase Covid tests

The Karnataka government has decided to conduct more Covid-19 tests in the coming 15 days in view of the huge crowds witnessed for four consecutive days after the death of actor Puneeth Rajkumar and the celebrations of bypoll results in two districts of north Karnataka.

The decision has been taken as per the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Committee. It is estimated that as many as 20 lakh people turned out to pay their last homage to Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar. People come down to Bengaluru from across the state.

Similarly, during the bypoll campaigning and results in Sindgi constituency in Vijayapura district and Hangal constituency of Haveri district thousands of people gathered to celebrate victory.

In both cases, the huge masses didn’t follow any of the set Covid guidelines. The health department is now crossing its fingers on how these incidents will lead to Covid situation in the state.

The government has been advised to conduct more number of Covid tests in Bengaluru and two constituencies.

As Puneeth Rajkumar’s untimely death was a sudden development, people landed in Bengaluru in lakhs from all across and the government could not enforce Covid guidelines and entire machinery had to be put in place to facilitate final ‘darshan’ for the masses. In view of this, it has also been advised to be extra cautious about the evolving situation in Bengaluru.

The Technical Committee earlier had recommended to conduct 1.1 lakh tests in the state everyday. It had been advised that among these 50,000 tests to be conducted in Bengaluru and 60,000 in districts with special attention to border areas. The decision has been taken to increase the Covid tests in the capital city by 20 per cent.

The government is also contemplating to issue guidelines on collecting contact numbers of people who get medicines for cold, cough and breathing problems. Further awareness will be created to get the Covid tests done.

The tests will be conducted in crowded places like markets, bus terminals and others.

Google to provide alternative payment system in S.Korea

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Google to provide alternative payment system in S.Korea

Google has pledged to provide an alternative payment system at its app store in South Korea, the telecommunications regulator said, in what could be a concession amid a tug-of-war over lucrative payment systems in the app market.

The commitment is part of follow-up measures to a new South Korean law that restricts app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing their in-app payment systems on developers.

Wilson L. White, Google’s public policy and government relations senior counsel, made the comments during a videoconference with Han Sang-hyuk, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), according to the regulator.

Google will give a choice to app developers between a third-party payment system and its own in-app billing system at its Google Play Store, the KCC said.

In September, the new law went into effect in South Korea, banning tech behemoths from forcing app developers to use the platforms’ only payment systems, reports Yonhap news agency.

South Korea was the first country to introduce such curbs on global tech giants’ in-app billing policies, which have been increasingly under scrutiny around the world.

Google and Apple have required developers on their app stores to use their proprietary payment systems that charge fees of up to 30 percent when users purchase digital goods within apps.

Developers around the world have questioned app market operators’ exclusive in-app payment systems, opposing their relatively high commissions and demanding that they should be able to freely use other systems.

Medvedev fights off Korda challenge as he eyes year-end world No.1 spot

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Medvedev fights off Korda challenge as he eyes year-end world No.1 spot

Russian world No.2 Daniil Medvedev kept alive his hopes of ending the year as the No.1 tennis player in the world, playing inspired tennis to overcome the challenge of Sebastian Korda of the United States 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 en route to the Rolex Paris Masters quarterfinals here.

The reigning US Open champion, who had beaten world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the last major of the year, will next face French qualifier Hugo Gaston, who wrote another chapter of his fairytale run here in a late Thursday-night game, coming back to defeat 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 6-4, 7-5.

Medvedev claimed a decisive break at 3-2 in the final set after losing the opening set, to make it to the last-eight. “I had adrenaline going (from another searing shot earlier in the game) and that’s how it’s possible to make these shots. It was a little bit of luck, a little bit of skill and a little bit of magic,” Medvedev said after the game to atptour.com.

The Russian was fully focused on continuing his title defence and not handing Novak Djokovic an early path to the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking. Medvedev’s loss to Korda would have guaranteed Djokovic a record-breaking seventh year-end No. 1 finish. If Medvedev wins the Paris title, his faint hopes of finishing No. 1 himself will carry over to the ATP Finals in Turin.

Medvedev made only 17 unforced errors, less than half the 40 Korda made. He earned 14 break point chances, converting five, while dropping serve twice. “It was a tough first set where I felt that I had the margin but I didn’t manage to break him (from 0/40 at 3-2) and he turned it around against me,” Medvedev said. “But I was really happy that I stayed calm and kept my level and that was enough to win today.”

World No. 103 French qualifier Hugo Gaston, egged by the Paris crowd, rallied from 0-5 in the second set to win 20 of the last 21 points of the match to stun Alcaraz 6-4, 7-5.

“(The atmosphere) was incredible. Honestly, I have been playing tennis for this. It was actually incredible. It was really wonderful to live this match with them. I actually won because they supported me from beginning to the end even when I had a letdown during the first or the second set, they were always cheering me. It’s incredible to have such a great public.”

T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka batted us out of game, says WI skipper Pollard

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T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka batted us out of game, says WI skipper Pollard

After a disappointing loss against Sri Lanka in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard on Thursday said that their opponent played smartly and batted them out of the game, adding that his team was not good enough on the day.

Attacking fifties by Charith Asalanka (68 off 41) and Pathum Nissanka (51 off 41) followed by a clinical bowling by Wanindu Hasaranga (2/19) led Sri Lanka to 20 run win over West Indies in a super 12 match of the Men’s T20 World Cup on Thursday.

With this loss, defending champions West Indies have been knocked out of the tournament.

“We have been below par, in crucial games like this, we haven’t played well, we were not good enough. Was a good batting track, but 189 was a bit too much. They batted us out of the game, played smartly, 17 fours, only 3 sixes, they ran a lot of twos. That was the crucial moment there because they wouldn’t give us any chances but the bowlers kept coming. We wanted to restrict them to 120 or 140, but they batted really well,” said Pollard at the post-match presentation.

“We needed to be smart with our batting, like Hetmyer did, we knew what he could do, knock the ones and twos, and then find the odd boundaries, like Hetmyer did, that was one positive, but we need him to show more such consistency. The batting of Nic Pooran was good as well,” he added.

Pollard admitted that experienced players, including him, haven’t done well. However, he was impressed with young guys.

“We need to have batting smarts, we have the talent, we haven’t done well, we have to accept it, our experienced players haven’t done well, including myself. We need to look at those things going forward, a couple of young guys have put their hands up, that’s good news for the future,” he said.

4 in 5 firms say staying ahead of hackers ‘a constant battle’

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4 in 5 firms say staying ahead of hackers ‘a constant battle’

Four in five organisations believe that staying ahead of cyber criminals is a constant battle and the cost is unsustainable, as nation-state bad actors get more resourceful at finding new ways to carry out their attacks, a new report showed on Wednesday.

More than half (55 per cent) of large companies globally are not effectively stopping cyber-attacks, finding and fixing breaches quickly, or reducing the impact of breaches, according to research from global professional services company Accenture.

“Our analysis reveals that organisations too often focus solely on business outcomes at the expense of cybersecurity, creating greater risk. While getting the balance right isn’t easy, those who have a clear view of the threat landscape and a strong alignment on business priorities and outcomes achieve greater levels of cyber resilience,” Kelly Bissell, who leads Accenture Security globally, said.

While 82 per cent of respondents increased their cybersecurity spending this past year, the number of successful breaches – which include unauthorised access to data, applications, services, networks or devices – jumped 31 per cent over the previous year to 270 per company, on average.

“From run-of-the-mill cybercriminals to sophisticated nation-state actors, cyber adversaries are getting more resourceful at finding new ways to carry out their attacks,” Bissell added.

Despite two-thirds (67 per cent) of organisations believing that their ecosystem is secure, indirect attacks accounted for 61 per cent of all cyber attacks this past year, up from 44 per cent the prior year.

“Spending more on cybersecurity without being closely aligned to the business doesn’t make your organisation safer,” said Jacky Fox, group technology officer at Accenture Security.

“When it comes to managing cyber risks, organisations can’t afford to lean one way or the other,” he added.

KTR assures all help to family of six-year-old rape victim

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KTR assures all help to family of six-year-old rape victim

Telangana’s Industry and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday assured all support to the family of a six-year-old tribal girl who was sexually assaulted allegedly by the husband of a sarpanch belonging to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Rama Rao, who is also the Working President of TRS, visited government-run Niloufer Children’s Hospital where the victim is undergoing treatment and called on her parents.

He termed the incident which occurred in Rajanna Sircilla as shocking and promised to stand by the family in getting justice.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said that such an incident in a civilised society is shameful and the guilty, no matter who he is, should get the harshest punishment.

He directed the doctors to provide best treatment to the victim.

The minister’s visit came a day after reports that the victim was brought to the hospital after she complained of severe stomach pain and was made to wait for six hours. She was admitted after the Telangana Girijana Sangham staged a protest at the hospital, demanding immediate medical attention and justice to the victim.

BJP state President Bandi Sanjay had also visited the hospital on Tuesday. He had slammed KTR for his silence over the incident despite the fact that he represents Sircilla constituency.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader R.S. Praveen Kumar had also consoled the girl’s family at the hospital. He had demanded the government to constitute a fast-track court to deliver speedy justice to the victim and take care of her future by providing all help to the family.

The incident had occurred at a village in Yellareddypet mandal of Rajanna Sircilla district on October 27. However, it came to light two days later when the girl developed fever and she told her parents about the sexual assault.

Police arrested the 46-year-old accused on October 29. Shankar has been booked under section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and also under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

According to police, the accused resorted to the sexual assault when he was alone at home and the girl had gone there to watch television. He had threatened the victim not to reveal the incident to anyone.

However, the next day she developed fever and she told the parents about the incident. They subsequently lodged a complaint with the police.

The tribal family was living on rent in the house of the sarpanch.

Shubhangi Atre speaks on importance of National Housewife’s Day

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Shubhangi Atre speaks on importance of National Housewife’s Day

Actress Shubhangi Atre shares her perspective on National Housewife’s Day that is observed on November 3. The day is celebrated to honour those mothers and housewives who stay at home and take care of their family.

Shubhangi who is known for her role of ‘Angoori bhabhi’ in the show ‘Bhabi ji Ghar Par Hain’ and ‘Kasturi Chawla’ in ‘Kasturi’ opens up about the relevance of this day and how much responsibilities a homemaker has to carry to run the family.

She says: “I feel housewife is not an identity, it is an emotion. When a girl gets married to a man she becomes responsible for the house. And no doubt whatever the financial condition is she rules it like a queen, and the house is her kingdom. There is a myth that working women are not good housewives. But I am working myself; I feel equally responsible towards my house, my duties. I cook for my family; I care to check if everything is proper, clean, and available in my house. I feel equally devoted.”

She further says that even working women can perform their duties well professionally as well as personally.

“A large section of people have this misconception that a married girl can only be a good housewife if she is not working and dedicating them completely by taking care of household work. But I don’t agree with that. A working woman is also a housewife as she responsibly handles her house as she handles her work,” she adds.

“When people say once you become a housewife your career is over I feel amazed. I am somebody who got married and became a housewife and then later started my career as an actress. Fortunately, the success I am enjoying is all because of what I got to learn as a housewife. With these, I would just like to add that housewives deserve to be celebrated every day,” she concludes.

Kartik Aaryan wraps up the first schedule of ‘Shehzada’

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Kartik Aaryan wraps up the first schedule of ‘Shehzada’

Kartik Aaryan seems to be unstoppable. The actor has a release due this month in the form of Ram Madhvani-directorial ‘Dhamaka’, and he has ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ in his kitty and now he has wrapped the first 20-day schedule of ‘Shehzada’ which also stars Kriti Sanon.

After completing this schedule, the team will next shoot the exterior portions of the film in Delhi where the film is based.

Kartik took to his Instagram to share the news of the schedule wrap. He posted a picture with is director Rohit Dhawan, he captioned it, “And thats a happy director #BecauseOfMe Schedule wrap #Shehzada (sic)”

Speaking about the film’s first schedule, producer Bhushan Kumar says, “It has been a wonderful first schedule of ‘Shehzada’. Kriti, Kartik and the rest of the cast have created wonderful moments.”

Says producer Aman Gill, “We have mounted and shot the interiors of the mansion portions of the film wonderfully and are excited about Shehzada’s larger-than-life scale. We are eagerly waiting to kick off the outdoor schedule of the film in Delhi.”

‘Shehzada’ is an action-packed family musical film directed by Rohit Dhawan and features music by Pritam.

The film produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Allu Arvind, S. Radha Krishna and Aman Gill is slated to release in November, 2022.

Samsung adds option to move its mobile web browser address bar to bottom

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Samsung adds option to move its mobile web browser address bar to bottom

South Korean tech giant Samsung is now following Apple with a new option to move the address bar of its mobile web browser to the bottom — just like Safari.

The new layout was added with an update to the Samsung Internet beta app, which is now available for the company’s Android smartphones, reports 9To5Mac.

By going to the Layout and Menu settings in the browser preferences, there is now an “Address bar position” option. There, users can choose between the classic web browser layout and the new one with the unified address bar at the bottom of the screen.

With the “Bottom” option enabled, the Samsung Internet app looks quite similar to Safari in iOS 15. The address bar is displayed on top of the navigation controls and buttons for managing tabs, sharing, and other app settings.

It is worth noting that Apple was not the first company to try out a similar layout for a mobile web browser, as other companies such as Google have tried this years ago, the report said.

However, Samsung seems to have decided to change the layout of its web browser soon after Apple did so, it added.

After several complaints, Apple let users revert Safari to the old design in iOS 15, although the new layout still comes enabled by default.

The company has also released updates to the iPadOS and macOS versions of Safari that reverts the controversial design changes.

Lockdown was blessing in disguise for Abhimanyu in ‘Meenakshi Sundareshwar’

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Lockdown was blessing in disguise for Abhimanyu in ‘Meenakshi Sundareshwar’

The whole world stopped back in the first quarter of 2020. As the pandemic ravaged the world, India too went into a nationwide lockdown. This affected many film productions that were either underway or were about to start. The soon to release film ‘Meenakshi Sundareshwar’ too hit a roadblock as the film’s unit had to be called back.

One would think that the lockdown toppled the production schedule of the film and its budgets but, in hindsight it helped the team to get a more solid grip on the film. Abhimanyu Dassani, who plays the titular role of Sundareshwar in the film, spoke with IANS and revealed how the lockdown gave them the time to reflect and set a new perspective.

The actor said, “We had intense readings before we started shooting for the film. The film was actually supposed to be shot before the first lockdown. Half of the people (from the film’s unit) had left Bombay to shoot for the first schedule but they were called back because the lockdown was happening.”

“So, we got enough time during the lockdown to understand the characters and live with them for a while, which in this day and age is tough to do because we’re moving on from one project to another. Getting enough time to live with the characters, empathise with them, and understand them”, he concluded.

Directed by debutant Vivek Soni, ‘Meenakshi Sundareshwar’ also stars Sanya Malhotra and will be available to stream on Netflix from November 5.

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