12 booked for killing dolphin in UP, 1 held

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12 booked for killing dolphin in UP, 1 held

Twelve persons have been booked for killing a rare freshwater dolphin from the Sharda auxiliary canal.

Freshwater dolphins are categorized as endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature red book.

The FIR was lodged after a video of the incident started doing the rounds on social media.

Sitapur superintendent of police (SP), Rakesh Prakash Singh said that one Prithivi Sahu has been arrested and two teams formed to arrest the other accused.

He said a group of villagers in the Hargaon area, on Sunday, caught the dolphin from the auxiliary canal, which passes through the district and is used for fishing by the locals, in the fishing net and killed it.

The SP further said that “The villagers apparently divided the meat among themselves. However, one of the locals recorded the act which was later circulated widely on social media platforms and caught the attention of forest officials.”

Based on the video evidence, local forest officials lodged the FIR at Hargaon Police station against 12 people who were

Indian expats in UAE warned against vax rumours for parents on visit visa

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Indian expats in UAE warned against vax rumours for parents on visit visa

The Indian Consulate in Dubai has warned Indian expatriates against a WhatsApp message that is being circulated saying that the mission is seeking applications from those who want to have their parents in UAE on visit visas vaccinated against Covid.

The mission’s advisory came after Gulf News contacted it to verify the message that had gone viral.

The message, which had a link to the consulate’s online helpline service attached to it, read: “Ladies and gentlemen, this link is for the Consulate General of India Dubai. We spoke to them a couple of days ago about trying to arrange a vaccine for our parents who are on a visit visa.

When we spoke to them they said if we have enough number of people requesting us, then we can approach the government for arranging vaccination for seniors who are here on visit visas. So please send your messages in … and type out the details and maybe our parents will have a shot or two! (sic).”

A spokesperson of the consulate dismissed the message as a rumor and urged expatriates not to believe in such communication.

“We have no such information from local authorities here and currently, only UAE residents holding valid Emirates ID are eligible for vaccination. People should not believe in such information and avoid forwarding such stories to others,” the official cautioned.

Dubai resident Rihanna J. said she got the message forwarded in a WhatsApp group.

“I passed it on to my husband because we have been trying to get my father-in-law vaccinated. He had come over on a visit visa and we didn’t send him back because of the surge in Covid cases back in India.”

Some other residents, whose elderly parents are in the UAE on visit visas, also said that they had been desperately waiting to get their parents vaccinated.

Roshni Roy, whose parents have been in Dubai on visit visas, said: “I have not been able to sponsor a residence visa for them [her parents] due to the salary requirement of Dh20,000. I am eagerly waiting for the authorities to open vaccination for elderly visit visa holders.”

Vivaan Shah: Playing a kabaadiwala made me more compassionate towards the community

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Vivaan Shah: Playing a kabaadiwala made me more compassionate towards the community

Actor Vivaan Shah says playing a scrap dealer in the film “Kabaad: The Coin” helped him know the hardships that scrap dealers as a community face in life, even as they keep the city clean.

“We see kabaadiwalas (scrap dealers) and those who collect garbage from our homes and offices every day, but we do not take a moment to pause and think about their lives. It is their relentless efforts that keep our city clean, but they live in extreme poverty and hardship,” Vivaan told IANS.

“Playing a kabaadiwala actually made me more compassionate towards them. There are people who earn less money but still have respect in society. We do not give any respect or financial support to these garbage and scrap collectors. Imagine, if they stopped collecting garbage and waste, we would almost live in a garbage yard! But do we even say ‘thank you when they collect the trash from our homes? No, right?” he continued.

For Vivaan, the role was an exciting one. “It was exciting for me to play this part who speaks in typical Bombaiya tapori dialect. Me being a Bombay boy who has grown up listing to this language, it was fun to speak in that dialect,” he said.

The story of the film revolves around a young student Bandhan, who is forced to take up the job of a scrap dealer for survival and eventually comes across a bag full of gold coins. As the film progresses, it unfolds how that changes his life – rather, puts him in danger through emotional turmoil and betrayal.

The film is directed by Varadraj Swami and also featuring Zoya Afroz and Abhishek Bajaj. “Kabaad: The Coin” streams on MX Player.

Inzamam lashes out at Pak board for ignoring Test cricket

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Inzamam lashes out at Pak board for ignoring Test cricket

Former Pakistan and batsman Inzamam ul Haq has lashed out at Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for replacing a Test match with two T20 Internationals during the forthcoming tour of the West Indies saying that Test cricket shouldn’t be sacrificed.

Keeping in mind this year’s T20 World Cup, PCB and Cricket West Indies (CWI) swapped a Test match with two additional T20 Internationals to be played in the Caribbean in July-August.

“I don’t mind if they want to play more T20s but Test cricket should not be sacrificed for this,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.

The month-long Pakistan tour from July 21 to August 24, will comprise five T20Is and two Tests. The T20Is will be played in Barbados and Guyana while Jamaica will be the venue for the two Tests.

Inzamam, who hit 8,830 in 120 Tests and 11,739 runs in 378 ODIs, said when Mohammed Amir decided to retire from Test cricket, he faced a lot of criticism for preferring T20s and league cricket over Test matches.

“The same happened with Wahab as well. But now the PCB is giving the same message by replacing Test matches with T20s. How can you stop players from quitting Test cricket, in the future, if you are pursuing the same line of thought?,” the former Pakistan skipper asked.

He added that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and various cricket boards need to see it because eventually cricket players picking T20s over Tests will come back to hurt them.

“I request the ICC and other boards to see it because when the players will adopt the same approach, you will get hurt,” he added.

He said that Pakistan shouldn’t be too worried about the lack of T20 matches ahead of the World Cup.

“If you wanted more practice for the T20 World Cup, we should have asked them for T20s without reducing Test matches. If you ignore Test matches, it will hurt our cricket in the long run. Even if Pakistan didn’t get more T20 matches against West Indies, we still would have had enough practice with matches scheduled against England and New Zealand,” Inzamam stated.

Impossible Aus bowlers didn’t know of tampering: Fanie de Villiers

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Impossible Aus bowlers didn’t know of tampering: Fanie de Villiers

Former South Africa fast bowler Fanie de Villiers said that it is “absolutely impossible” that Australia’s bowlers did not know about the ball-tampering tactics employed in the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018.

De Villiers was part of the commentary team for the match and alerted the television crew which eventually led to Cameron Bancroft being caught by the cameras using a foreign object on the ball.

“It’s absolutely impossible for bowlers not to know what’s going on the ball because you are the person that scrutinizes it, you are the person that’s looking at it, you are the person that’s cleaning it, you are the person that knows exactly that one side looks this way because of looking after (the ball) and the other side doesn’t look a specific way because of the grass on the wicket. So it’s absolute nonsense,” de Villiers, who played 18 Tests and 83 ODIs and took 180 international wickets, told The Indian Express.

Bancroft was caught on the third day of the Test, at the end of which he and captain Steve Smith admitted to tampering with the ball in a press conference. It led to Bancroft, Smith, and vice-captain David Warner being slapped with lengthy bans from all forms of cricket. The incident came back in the news recently after Bancroft indicated that the bowlers may have also been in on the tactics.

Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon, who formed Australia’s bowling lineup in that Test, said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they were not aware that the ball had tampered.

“I think from start it was obvious that they knew, and from start, the Australian system didn’t handle it properly. They should have handled it differently, and they tried to cover everything by just making two (three actually) people the culprits. It was a combined effort… The coach knew; everybody knows in a system because you don’t hide these things in the team firstly, and secondly, it’s impossible for a bowler not to know because he can see the difference,” said de Villiers.

Rohit Sharma tells bowlers to do what their minds think: Shami

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Rohit Sharma tells bowlers to do what their minds think: Shami

Pace bowler Mohammed Shami has praised Rohit Sharma’s leadership saying that India’s opening batsman and limited-overs vice-captain gives freedom to bowlers.

“As a bowler, when I go to him for advice, he always gives positive answers. Rohit always pushes the bowlers to do what their mind tells them to, irrespective of how the batsman is playing or his strong points,” Shami said on Wednesday.

“I think that is very important for the confidence of a fast bowler,” he told India TV.

The 30-year-old pace bowler, who has recovered from a forearm fracture and played in the Indian Premier League for Punjab Kings, is part of the India squad for the tour of England where the Virat Kohli-led side will play six Test matches, starting with the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton on June 18.

Shami called Sharma different from Kohli who he says is aggressive.

“Rohit is a different character. He is a cool person, except when he comes to bat!” said Shami while adding that Kohli is as aggressive as fast bowlers.

“Fast bowlers are very aggressive, both old and new. But the one player who could probably emulate their aggression is our own captain! Sometimes, when a picture of Virat’s celebration of a wicket goes viral on social media, I funnily ask him, “Was it my wicket or yours?” Shami said.

“He celebrates more than the bowlers! Sometimes he points out that you don’t look too happy with the wicket, so I simply tell him, ‘You did all the celebration for me!’.

“But it is important to have fun on the field. Virat shows aggression, obviously, but as a unit, he has led the team brilliantly so far. In addition, he is a very aggressive batsman too,” he added.

BCCI to fly in players to Mumbai in charter flights

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BCCI to fly in players to Mumbai in charter flights

India men and women’s cricket teams are being ferried in charter flights to Mumbai, where they will serve quarantine before departing to England together on June 2, also in a charter flight.

India women Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj and her deputy Harmanpreet Kaur confirmed this on Twitter.

“The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has organized charter flights to ferry both men and women players to Mumbai before we leave for the UK. Considering the distance and individual convenience, players have made their own choice,” tweeted Harmanpreet who is also the captain of India women’s T20 International squad.

Teammate Mithali also confirmed that regular RT-PCR tests have been organized at home for players besides the charter flights.

“Travelling is a challenge in the pandemic but it is reassuring to see elaborate measures by BCCI for our health and safety. A charter airplane to Mumbai and UK and regular RT-PCR Tests at home. #LetsDoThis” wrote Mithali on her Twitter handle.

India women are scheduled to play a one-off Test in Bristol from June 16-19. It will be followed by three ODIs and three T20 Internationals. The ODIs will be played in Bristol (June 27), Taunton (June 30), and Worcester (July 3). The T20Is will be played in Northampton (on July 9), Hove (July 11), and Chelmsford (July 15).

The men’s team begins its England sojourn with the World Test Championship final in Southampton from June 18. They will then play five Test matches against England in August-September.

Some of the players are expected to reach on Wednesday whereas others are expected to join in on May 24.

Sundar Pichai draws roadmap for future of work at Google I/O

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Sundar Pichai draws roadmap for future of work at Google I/O

Reiterating that his home country India as well as Brazil are going through their most difficult moments of the pandemic, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have laid down a detailed roadmap on how the future of work will unfold for millions across the globe.

Kicking off the I/O Developers Conference from the Mountain View campus late on Tuesday, Pichai said that Covid-19 has deeply affected the entire global community over the past year and continues to take a toll.

“Places such as Brazil, and my home country of India, are now going through their most difficult moments of the pandemic yet. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by COVID and we are all hoping for better days ahead,” he stressed.

Pichai said that the company continues to build a more helpful Google, for everyone.

“One of the biggest ways we can help is by reimagining the future of work. Over the last year, we’ve seen work transform in unprecedented ways, as offices and coworkers have been replaced by kitchen countertops and pets,” he noted.

“Many companies, including ours, will continue to offer flexibility even when it’s safe to be in the same office again. Collaboration tools have never been more critical, and today we announced a new smart canvas experience in Google Workspace that enables even richer collaboration,” Pichai told the virtual audience of over 2,00,000 people.

He informed that there are 150 million students and educators learning virtually over the last year with Google Classroom.

“Other times it’s about helping in little moments that add up to big changes for everyone. For example, we’re introducing safer routing in Maps. This AI-powered capability in Maps can identify the road, weather, and traffic conditions where you are likely to break suddenly; our aim is to reduce up to 100 million events like this every year,” he said.

Stressing on the role of AI, Pichai said the company has used the technology to improve the core Search experience for billions of people by taking a huge leap forward in a computer’s ability to process natural language.

“Yet, there are still moments when computers just don’t understand us. That’s because language is endlessly complex: We use it to tell stories, crack jokes, and share ideas — weaving in concepts we’ve learned over the course of our lives. The richness and flexibility of language make it one of humanity’s greatest tools and one of computer science’s greatest challenges,” Pichai elaborated.

He then introduced the latest research in natural language understanding: LaMDA.

LaMDA is a language model for dialogue applications. It’s the open domain, which means it is designed to converse on any topic.

“We’re focused on ensuring LaMDA meets our incredibly high standards on fairness, accuracy, safety, and privacy, and that it is developed consistently with our AI Principles,” he added.

Several years ago, Google kicked off a project called Project Starline to use technology to explore what’s possible.

Using high-resolution cameras and custom-built depth sensors, it captures your shape and appearance from multiple perspectives and then fuses them together to create an extremely detailed, real-time 3D model.

“The resulting data is many gigabits per second, so to send an image this size over existing networks, we developed novel compression and streaming algorithms that reduce the data by a factor of more than 100,” said Pichai.

Amyra Dastur: If a film doesn’t do well I get ready for the next

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Amyra Dastur: If a film doesn’t do well I get ready for the next

Actress Amyra Dastur says she has reached a point in her career where she is unaffected by a film not doing well.

“I think I have had enough films not do well and do well, and realize that it is part and parcel of the job. One film works and one doesn’t. I just laugh and get ready for the next film. As long as I get work, I am happy. The day I don’t, that’s the day I will be worried,” she told IANS.

The actress adds that there is a lot more she has to achieve.

“At the end of the day, I feel I still haven’t reached that position where I wanted to be,” she says.

” I am proud of how far I have come without knowing anyone. It is about hard work and I believe you create your own luck. I am happy to see where my career is going. Hopefully, I will have a long career with different roles,” she adds.

While she has worked on projects in different languages and platforms, Bollywood will always be special.

“Bollywood would always be my number one. It’s home. Hindi cinema toh meri Khoon main hai (Hindi cinema runs in my blood), but I love working in Tamil and the other industries. But at the end of the day, home is home,” she says.

Bollywood apart, Amyra has worked with martial arts superstar Jackie Chan in the film “Kung Fu Yoga”.

Google unveils exciting updates to make collaboration seamless

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Google unveils exciting updates to make collaboration seamless

Google on Tuesday launched nearly a dozen updates to make collaboration more seamless in the remote work and learning era amid the pandemic.

You can now present your content to a Google Meet call on the web directly from the Doc, Sheet, or Slide where you’re already working with your team.

“In the fall, we’re bringing Meet directly to Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web, so people can actually see and hear each other while they’re collaborating,” said Erika Trautman, Director, Google Workspace, on the first day of the virtual Google I/O developer conference.

Google currently offers live captions in five languages, with more on the way.

“We’re introducing live translations of captions later this year, starting with English-language live captions translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, or German, with many more languages to follow,” the company announced.

Teams can now jump from a discussion in Google Chat directly to building content together.

“Creating and editing Sheets and Docs from Google Chat rooms is already live in our web experience, and we’ll enable it for Slides in the coming weeks,” Google said.

Google also introduced new smart chips in Docs for recommended files and meetings.

“With our new pageless format in Docs, you’ll be able to remove the boundaries of a page to create a surface that expands to whatever device or screen you’re using, making it easier to work with wide tables, large images, or detailed feedback in comments,” the company said.

To gauge the team’s reactions as you work together, Google is also introducing emoji reactions in Docs in the next few months.

Starting this week in Docs, checklists are available on the web and mobile.

You’ll soon be able to assign checklist items to other people and see these action items in Google Tasks, making it easier for everyone to manage a project’s To-Do list.

“Coming soon, we’ll also introduce table templates in Docs. Topic-voting tables will allow you to easily gather team feedback while project-tracker tables will help you capture milestones and statuses on the fly,” Google said.

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