No increase in fuel prices for 2nd consecutive day on Tuesday

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No increase in fuel prices for 2nd consecutive day on Tuesday

Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for the second consecutive on Tuesday providing relief to consumers who have been facing a regular increase in fuel prices in the past few months taking the retail rates to historic high levels.

With no revision, the price of petrol in Delhi remained Rs 105.84 a litre and Rs 111.77 per litre in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. In Mumbai, diesel rates also remained static at Rs 102.52 a litre; while in Delhi it costs Rs 94.57, the same as on Sunday.

The price pause comes after the rates rose for four straight days when the rates of both petrol and diesel rose by Rs 1.40 paise per litre. There was no change in the rates also on October 12 and 13.

Diesel prices have increased on 19 out of the last 25 days taking up its retail price by Rs 5.95 per litre in Delhi.

With diesel prices rising sharply, the fuel is now available at over Rs 100 a litre in several parts of the country. This dubious distinction was earlier available to petrol that had crossed Rs 100 a litre-mark across the country a few months earlier.

Petrol prices had maintained stability since September 5, but oil companies finally raised the pump prices last week. Petrol prices have also risen on 16 of the previous 21 days taking up the pump price by Rs 4.65 per litre.

Crude prices have been on a surge rising over a three-year high level of over $ 85.7 a barrel now. It has softened a bit, falling below $ 85 a barrel now. Since September 5, when both petrol and diesel prices were revised, the price of petrol and diesel in the international market is higher by around $9-10 per barrel as compared to the average prices during August.

Kangana shares her four looks from spy thriller ‘Dhaakad’

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Kangana shares her four looks from spy thriller ‘Dhaakad’

‘Thalaivi’ is still alive in public memory and expectations are high from ‘Tejas’, Kangana Ranaut’s upcoming film on a woman pilot in the Indian Air Force, but there’s no stopping the actress. She has announced on social media that her action-packed spy thriller, ‘Dhaakad’, is releasing on April 8, 2022.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting the film since last January, when the first posters from it surfaced online. To announce ‘Dhaakad’, Kangana took to Instagram to share a symmetrical collage of her four looks from the film as she gave a sneak peek into the world of ‘Dhaakad’ and what to expect from the action flick.

Kangana captioned the image with this description of her character: “She is fierce, feisty and fearless. #AgentAgni is all geared up to set the big screen on fire. Bringing to you the action spy thriller #Dhaakad that will hit theatres on 8th April 2022!”

Apple updates Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro for new MacBook Pro

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Apple updates Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro for new MacBook Pro

Apple has announced new updates to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro to take full advantage of the power as well as performance of the M1 Pro, Max chips in the all-new MacBook Pro.

Final Cut Pro 10.6 is available as a free update for existing users, and for Rs 27,900 for new users on the Mac App Store. Motion 5.6 and Compressor 4.6 are available as free updates for existing users, and for Rs 4,499 each for new users on the Mac App Store. Logic Pro 10.7 is also available as a free update for all existing users, and for Rs 17,900 for new users on the Mac App Store.

“With the combination of powerful new features in Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, and the unprecedented performance from the MacBook Pro powered by the all-new M1 Pro and M1 Max, pros will be able to push the limits of their creativity like never before,” Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said in a statement.

Mac users can sign up for a free trial of Final Cut Pro as well as a free trial of Logic Pro.

Using the latest Final Cut Pro 10.6 update and the M1 Pro and M1 Max, video editors can now play up to seven streams of 8K ProRes or color grade 8K HDR video at full resolution.

It also introduces a new Object Tracker that uses machine learning to automatically detect faces and objects, and match their movement to create beautiful, cinema-quality titles and effects on any Mac.

Logic Pro, Apple’s pro music creation software, now comes with a complete set of tools for authoring spatial audio music – allowing anyone to mix and export their songs in Dolby Atmos for Apple Music. Now, musicians can use up to 3x as many plug-ins for recording on the all-new MacBook Pro with M1 Max.

Final Cut Pro now comes with new features that allow editors to create tracked motion graphics and edit Cinematic mode videos recorded on iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. The app also takes full advantage of the major performance gains enabled by M1 Pro and M1 Max in the all-new MacBook Pro. Video editors can now play seven streams of 8K ProRes at full resolution – over 230 million pixels – and export ProRes video over 5x faster than before.

Videos recorded in Cinematic mode on the new iPhone 13 lineup can be edited easily with Final Cut Pro and Motion, giving editors the ability to adjust the depth effect of any shot and use keyframes to change it over time.

Now with a complete set of mixing and rendering tools, Logic Pro allows anyone to author their songs as Dolby Atmos music files compatible with Apple Music.

Logic users now have access to 2,800 new loops, 50 new kits, and 120 new patches they can use in their own songs – all royalty-free. The update also features the original multitrack project of the hit song ‘Montero (Call Me by Your Name)’ by Lil Nas X – including a Dolby Atmos spatial audio mix of the track.

New ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ poster reveals Nani’s second avatar

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New ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ poster reveals Nani’s second avatar

The producers of ‘Shyam Singha Roy’, a multi-lingual film starring Nani, have dropped a second poster showing the Telugu star in a completely new avatar as Vasu.

The first poster showed Nani as a Bengali bhadralok, completely different from Vasu, who’s seen romancing Sai Pallavi, the film’s female lead, in a period setting.

Billed as a supernatural thriller centred around the theme of reincarnation, the big-budget production with lots of VFX has been directed by Rohit Sankityan of ‘Taxiwaala’ fame. The cast also consists of Krithi Shetty, Madonna Sebastian and Bengali actor Jisshu Sengupta.

The film is slated for a simultaneous release in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam on December 24. It has been shot in Kolkata and Hyderabad, where a street from Kolkata with the Kalighat temple in the background was recreated at a reported cost of Rs 6 crore.

Melody songs specialist Mickey J. Meyer is on board to compose the soundtracks and Sanu John Varghese cranks the camera for what the producers promise to be a “visual extravaganza”.

Telegram crosses 1bn downloads on Google’s Play Store

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Telegram crosses 1bn downloads on Google’s Play Store

Encrypted messaging app Telegram has now surpassed 1 billion downloads on the Google Play Store.

The surge has been caused due to the recent Facebook server outage, taking down apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp for nearly six hours.

According to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the messaging app had more than 500 million active monthly users at the start of 2021.

As a result of the recent issues with WhatsApp and the outage of Facebook, Durov said more than 70 million new users have joined Telegram.

“The daily growth rate of Telegram exceeded the norm by an order of magnitude, and we welcomed more than 70 million refugees from other platforms in one day,” Durov said in a statement.

“I am proud of how our team handled the unprecedented growth because Telegram continued to work flawlessly for the vast majority of our users,” he added.

However, one billion downloads do not mean there are one billion people who are currently using the app to chat. The download figure also does not reflect the people who have sideloaded the APK from the official website either.

Telegram has also started rolling out an update that brings with it several new features, including interactive emoji and read receipts in groups.

Users can select from eight themes which apply to the chat for both users. The themes gradient message bubbles have animated backgrounds and unique background patterns.

Reuters investigation on Amazon snowballs into fiery letter by 5 US lawmakers

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Reuters investigation on Amazon snowballs into fiery letter by 5 US lawmakers

Five members of a US congressional committee have told Amazon Inc that it led them on the wrong road during a probe on business practices.

Following up on a Reuters report from New Delhi, the lawmakers shot off a blunt six-page letter as well as a press statement.

“At best, this (Reuters) reporting confirms that Amazon’s representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law.AIn light of the serious nature of this matter, we are providing you with a final opportunity to provide exculpatory evidence to corroborate the prior testimony and statements on behalf of Amazon to the Committee.

“We strongly encourage you to make use of this opportunity to correct the record and provide the Committee with sworn, truthful, and accurate responses to this request as we consider whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate,” both documents reviewed by IANS said.

In this letter, addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Sunday, the lawmakers asked Amazon to provide “exculpatory evidence” to corroborate the sworn testimony that several leaders, including then CEO, Jeff Bezos, provided to the antitrust subcommittee in 2019 and 2020.

Exculpatory evidence is evidence favourable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt.

In the US, police and prosecutors are required to disclose to the defendant exculpatory evidence they possess before the defendant enters a plea (guilty or not guilty).

Signatories included Representatives David Cicilline (Democrat, Rhode Island), Ken Buck (Republic, Colorado), Pramila Jayapal (D, Washinton), Jerrold Nadler (D, New York.) and Matt Gaetz (R, Florida). Some have spoken independently too.

“We’re giving Amazon one last chance to come clean about how they abuse other seller’s data and unfairly advantage their own products. We cannot continue to allow Big Tech to destroy small businesses,” Cicilline tweeted.

The sub-committee investigated Amazon’s use of data from third-party sellers even as it developed private-label products.

An Amazon spokesman was quoted countering Athat its executives didn’t mislead and said the company has an internal policy on use of individual seller data to develop Amazon products. Amazon also said it investigates allegations that the policy may have been violated and designs the search function on its site to feature products that customers want.

At issue is how Amazon responded to accusations that it uses the data of third-party sellers on its site when creating private-label products. Amazon executives are on record telling members of the subcommittee in testimony and in written responses that the company doesn’t use the data of individual third-party sellers to inform its own brands.

The letter names Bezos, Nate Sutton, Amazon’s associate general counsel, who testified in July of 2019, and David Zapolsky, the company’s general counsel, and Brian Huseman, Vice President for Public Policy. The letter states that the committee is considering “whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate”.

The committee gave Jassy until November 1 to provide a sworn response to clarify “how Amazon uses non-public individual seller data to develop and market its own line of products”, and how Amazon’s search rankings favour those products.

Last week, another group of lawmakers, comprising both sides of the US political aisle, led by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, Republican, announced plans to float legislation to bar Big Tech platforms like Amazon and Alphabet’s Google from favouring their own stuff.

The Klobuchar-Grassley measure aims at reining in tech firms, including industry leaders Facebook and Apple. Past attempts on these lines have failed although one, a broader measure to increase resources for antitrust enforcers, has passed the Senate.

Amazon, as per a Reuters investigation, is accused of using data from third-party sellers to determine products it would create.

Reuters said it reviewed “thousands of internal Amazon documents, that the US company’s India operations ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs and manipulating search results to boost its own private brands in the country, one of the company’s largest growth markets”.

Jassy, 53, a Harvard MBA is a classic insider. His Amazon journey began in 1997 as a marketing manager alongside others from his class. By 2020 he had turned AWS, his baby, into a $45 billion milch cow. Jassy succeeded Bezos July 5.

God has decided who will win Goa Assembly polls: BJP leader

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God has decided who will win Goa Assembly polls: BJP leader

Amid a raging debate on the alleged denigration of indigenous deity Shantadurga in the politically charged atmosphere in Goa, a BJP leader has said that God has already decided who will be the victor and the vanquished in the upcoming 2022 state Assembly polls.

Goa BJP general secretary and spokesperson Damu Naik’s comments come at a time when politicians across party lines in the state, have been debating controversial utterances made by working president of the Goa Forward party Kiran Kandolkar, who recently compared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to both Durga and her indigenous avataar Shantadurga.

“I urge them to not involve God in (politics). God will decide on whom it will save or sink. You will see it after the Assembly elections,” Naik said on Monday.

The BJP official also condemned Kandolkar’s statement.

“We condemn the statement made by the working president of the Goa Forward party. Every Goan woman worships Shantadurga. She is not calm, as people are being led to believe. Go to any temple, you will see Shantadurga with a sword and a shield,” Naik also said.

Earlier, Kandolkar, in an obvious, but unnamed reference to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the ‘real Durga’ from Kolkata needed to be brought to Goa to destroy a government run by bhasmasura (demon).

“Anything can happen in the coming days. Navaratris are going on…I feel that we will have to get Durga to Goa. The Durga in Goa is referred to as Shantadurga. She is calm. We will have to get the real Durga from Kolkata to Goa to destroy this bhasmasur-like government.,” Kandolkar said.

Kandolkar’s party Goa Forward, is in talks with Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress for an alliance for the 2022 Assembly polls, with the sources even suggesting that the Goa-based party may even merge into the Trinamool Congress ahead of the polls.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has also weighed into the debate criticising Kandolkar.

“Devi Shantadurga is our prime deity. We worship Devi Shantadurga. Goans will not like Shantadurga being compared to someone, especially a human being. No one will accept it. Goans will not tolerate comparing Devi Shantadurga to a human being,” the Chief Minister said.

Another BJP MLA Nilkanth Halarnkar said while it was unfair to compare Banerjee with Shantadurga, he also said that the comparison of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lord Rama was also incorrect, when asked about former Uttarakhand’s BJP Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat’s comparison of Modi with Lord Rama.

“In Hindu mythology Ram is the avatar of God. Ram is not a man. So we cannot compare him with anyone,” Halarnkar said.

According to BJP’s Ports Minister Michael Lobo however, every woman in Goa resembles Durga.

“Every lady in Goa is a Durga. Every woman is a Durga in Goa. I believe in that way. When they want to stand for their rights, they can become Durga.

“Otherwise they are all calm, all peaceful, very loving and they take care of this beautiful state of Goa very well. We do not want a special Durga. I do not believe in that,” Lobo also added.

T20 World Cup Warm-up: Ishan, Rahul star as India beat England

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T20 World Cup Warm-up: Ishan, Rahul star as India beat England

Brilliant fifties by Ishan Kishan (70) and KL Rahul (51) helped India beat England by seven wickets in the ICC T20 World Cup Warm-up match here on Monday.

Chasing 189, the Men-in-Blue got off to a superb start as openers KL Rahul and Ishan played some brilliant shots to put on 59-runs inside the first six overs.

Rahul (51) brought up his half-century in the 9th over of the innings. But he got out by Mark Wood after reaching the landmark, which also brought an end to the 82-run opening stand.

However,’Rahul’s wicket did not slow down the run rate for the Men-in-Blue as Kishan kept on going and he brought up his half-century in just 36 balls. Indian skipper Virat Kohli joined Kishan. But i’ didn’t last long.
‘
England’s Liam Livingstone got the better of Virat (11), ending the 43-run second-wicket stand.

Kishan then retired hurt after playing a knock of 70 runs. Sura Kumar Yadav came into bat when Indian was 39 runs for the win. But he also got out after scoring just 8.

Then Rishabh Pant (29*) and Hardik Pandya (12*) guided Team India home with six balls to spare.

Earlier, Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone played knocks of 49 and 30 respectively as England posted a total of 188/5.

Brief scores: England 188/5 (Jonny Bairstow 49, Moeen Ali 43*, Mohammed Shami 3-40); India: 192/3 (Ishan 70, KL Rahul 51, Rishabh Pant 29, Willey 1-16).

Trump sues to block Congress from obtaining documents related to Capitol riot

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Trump sues to block Congress from obtaining documents related to Capitol riot

Former US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the National Archives and a House special committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot in a bid to block Congress from obtaining certain documents related to the insurrection.

“The Committee’s request amounts to nothing less than a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition openly endorsed by Biden and designed to unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his administration,” the lawsuit, filed on Monday, read.

“Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former President and his close advisors.”

In August, the committee had requested that the National Archives, which is the custodian of the Trump White House’s records, submit a long list of records from the former President’s time in office and the aftermath of the Capitol riot, reports Xinhua news agency.

The request is part of the panel’s ongoing and intensifying investigation into how a mob of Trump’s supporters breached the Capitol on January 6 trying to stop a Congressional joint session from certifying the 2020 presidential election result.

Trump has said he would assert executive privilege to shield the documents requested by the committee, but Biden, who legal experts said has the ultimate say over whether the information sought by the panel is covered by the executive privilege, determined that Trump’s effort to conceal the documents was neither in the best interest of the US nor justified.

In an October 8 letter to Archivist of the US David Ferriero, White House Counsel Dana Remus demanded that he turn over a subset of the required documents that Trump identified as privileged to Congress.

Remus added that those documents should be submitted 30 days after Ferriero notified the former president.

Trump, however, claimed in the lawsuit filed in the DC District Court that Biden has an interest in preserving his executive privilege, saying it amounted to “a political ploy to accommodate his partisan allies”.

“As it relates to any materials being sought in situations like this, where fundamental privileges and constitutional issues are at stake and where a committee has declined to grant sufficient time to conduct a full review, there is a longstanding bipartisan tradition of protective assertions of executive privilege designed to ensure the ability to make a final assertion, if necessary, over some or all of the requested material,” the lawsuit read.

In addition to seeking documents from the Trump White House, the special committee also sent subpoenas to and asked depositions from several former senior officials in the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist who defied the subpoena and did not show up at the scheduled hearing last week.

Bannon’s no-show infuriated the Democrat-led panel, prompting it to set up a vote Tuesday to recommend criminal contempt charges against him.

In what could potentially be another blow to the former President, Democrat Bennie Thompson, who chairs the special committee, did not rule out subpoenaing Trump.

First look of Punjabi film ‘Fuffad Ji’ out ahead of Nov 11 premiere

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First look of Punjabi film ‘Fuffad Ji’ out ahead of Nov 11 premiere

After the overwhelming response to recent back-to-back hits “Puaada” and “Qismat 2”, another Punjabi film, “Fuffad Ji” is all set to premiere on November 11.

Starring Binnu Dhillon and Gurnam Bhullar, “Fuffad Ji”, a comedy of errors, is a Zee Studios-K. Kumar Studios co-production directed by Pankaj Batra.

Taking to social media, Bhullar shared his excitement tweeting: “Team #Fuffadji is ready to entertain your family, we’ll be waiting at your nearby theatres.” Jasmin Bajwa plays the female lead and model Sidhika Sharma will make her debut in it.

Commenting on the impending release, Batra said: “I feel fortunate to be able to release our film which we started making even amidst the pandemic. I hope people shower it with love.” Shooting for the film had started in June.

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