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  Nepal has reported over 200 coronavirus deaths as the fatalities from the pandemic doubled in just two weeks, the Ministry of Health and Population said. Even though the fatality rate was low compared to infections in the earlier months, there has been a surge in the number of deaths in recent weeks as the virus continued to spread among communities, reports Xinhua news agency. Covid-19 deaths had crossed the 100 mark on August 15. "The current death toll has reached 207 with 12 deaths in the last 24 hours," Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the Ministry, told reporters on Saturday. The Himalayan nation reported 12 deaths on Friday and Saturday, the record high single-day fatalities. On May 16, Nepal reported the first coronavirus death -- a 29-year-old woman. Until July 21 since the first death, Nepal reported a total of 40 fatalities. But, after the lockdown was lifted on July 22 which allowed almost all economic and social activities to operate, the death toll also star

Singer-composer duo Shashi-Khushi have come up with a Punjabi song that narrates the story of love and passion, from the perspective of a girl who is calling out to her lover to get married soon. Sung and composed by Shashi-Khushi, the song titled "Soon" has been written by Aditya Ojha. The music is produced by Akull. "We are super stoked about it. This is a Punjabi melodious song put together with Akull and Aditya Ojha who have elevated the song's soundscape to a whole new level," Shashi-Khushi said. The track has an animated video, with illustrations that portray the story of two couples who are deeply in love with each other. The couples display their passion through quirky and romantic verses. Shashi is a popular name in Bollywood. Having scored music for Sanjay Leela Bansali's film "Mary Kom", he has also sung in the blockbuster "Bajirao Mastani". Khushi, on the other hand, is popularly referred to as "DJ Khushi" and is kn

  Amitabh Bachchan says he is back at work because that is what he is in the industry for, adding that it is time to come out of isolation of the dread. After fully recovering from Covid-19, the cine icon has started shooting for the 12th season of the popular quiz show, "Kaun Banega Crorepati". He has shared his thoughts on resumption of shooting along with pictures from the set, stressing that the show is being shot with due precautions, safety measures and social distancing. "The notice of extreme discipline in the execution of work is astonishing ... as I said last night the ‘fear' of the possibility pushes all into one large cubicle where the uncertainty of the outcome is unknown ... BUT … when ever did life not have uncertainty," Big B wrote on his blog. "Get down to addressing the Ef ... with what seems to be the hidden agenda in the minds of many Ef .. why ... why are you working when there is so much un safety at stake ... look .. I shall have to

  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for the recovery of tourism from the coronavirus pandemic in a sustainable way. "It is imperative that we rebuild the tourism sector. But it must be in a way that is safe, equitable and climate friendly," said Guterres in a video message for the launch of his policy brief on tourism and Covid-19. Transport-related greenhouse gas emissions could rebound sharply if recovery is not aligned with climate goals, Xinhua news agency quoted the UN chief as saying. Supporting the millions of livelihoods that depend on tourism means building a sustainable and responsible travel experience that is safe for host communities, workers and travellers, he said. He identified five priority areas: mitigating the socio-economic impacts of Covid-19; building resilience across the entire tourism value chain; maximizing the use of technology in the tourism sector; promoting sustainability and green growth; and fostering partnerships to enab

US President Donald Trump vowed to continue the America First agenda after winning renomination at the Republican National Convention on Monday, setting the stage for the November showdown with Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump made a surprise appearance interrupting the roll call of votes after enough had been recorded for his renomination and defended his record in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and building the economy besides criticising Biden. He said he would bring jobs back to the US and continue his tariff battle with other countries -- both of which would impact India. Trump, who has overwhelmed the Republican Party and rewritten the rules of political engagement and set the country on a new conservative and nationalistic path, takes on Biden with his liberal platform in one of the most divisive campaigns. Trump won 2,550 votes of delegates elected in the primaries -- the intra-party elections. Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld ran agains

   The Democratic-led House of Representatives has passed a $25 billion bill to boost the cash-strapped US Postal Service (USPS) ahead of the November 3 presidential election. The legislative move on Saturday night was aimed at preventing the agency from making any reforms which could slow delivery of mail-in ballots for the election, reports Xinhua news agency. The proposal would prevent the Postal Service from making any operational changes that would result in reduced service – such as removing mail-sorting machines, restricting overtime pay or handling election mail as anything other than first-class for prioritized delivery – until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. It would also provide $25 billion for Postal Service operations, which is an amount originally recommended by the agency's board of governors. House Democrats also included the funding in the $3.4 trillion coronavirus relief package that they passed in May. Saturday night's bill passed largely along party lines an

  Massive wildfires have continued to wreak havoc across the US state of California, with more than 1 million acres of land set ablaze and tens of thousands residents forced to evacuate. The latest flare-ups were caused by several thousand lightning strikes in recent days, Xinhua news agency reported. On Saturday, CalFire, the state's fire department, said that people should brace for more lightning till Tuesday and make further evacuation plans. According to local authorities, at least five deaths were linked to the wildfires that are believed to be the "largest ever". So far, nearly 14,000 firefighters were battling to contain the blazes. However, officials warned that their efforts could be hindered by warm, dry weather and more anticipated lightning. On Saturday, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for much of the northern half of the state which will come into effect from 5 a.m. Sunday to 11 p.m. Monday. East of Silicon Valley, the S.C.U. Lightnin

    India's challenge at the ongoing ATP Challenger Prague Open came to an end after all the three players -- Sumit Nagal, Divij Sharan and N Sriram Balaji -- suffered defeats in their respective singles and doubles matches. Top-seeded Sharan and Robin Haase lost their quarterfinal clash 3-6, 6-7(8) to Jiri Lehecka and Tomas MacHac on Thursday, thus bowing out of the competition. In other match, Balaji and his partner Kimmer Coppejans also suffered a straight-sets defeat in their last-8 clash as they went down 4-6, 3-6 to Steven Diez and Blaz Rola. Earlier in the day, Nagal suffered a 6-2, 0-6, 1-6 defeat to world no. 17 Stan Wawrinka to bow out of the singles event. Nagal, who faced Wawrinka's illustrious fellow countryman Roger Federer at the 2019 US Open and took a set off him as well, had the upper hand in the first set but could hardly compete in the second and third. "It was a tough start again," said Wawrinka after the match as per the ATP Tour website. "

  Texas-based startup OnwardMobility has announced its agreement to release a new Android-based BlackBerry smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard and 5G support in the first half of 2021. Under the terms of the agreement, BlackBerry has granted OnwardMobility the right to develop, engineer, and bring to market a BlackBerry 5G mobile device. "BlackBerry is thrilled OnwardMobility will deliver a BlackBerry 5G smartphone device with a physical keyboard leveraging our high standards of trust and security synonymous with our brand," John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry, said in a statement on Wednesday. "We are excited that customers will experience the enterprise and government level security and mobile productivity the new BlackBerry 5G smartphone will offer". Earlier, Chinese company TCL reached an agreement with BlackBerry to manufacture BlackBerry-branded devices in 2016 and this partnership is set to expire at the end of August, paving the way for

  India's star batsman Rohit Sharma , wrestler Vinesh Phogat, 2016 Rio Paralympics gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu and table tennis sensation Manika Batra have been recommended for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. According to sources, the National Award Committee met in the Capital on Tuesday and named the four athletes for the prestigious award. More details are awaited. Rohit was the star performer for India in the 2019 World Cup, scoring 648 runs in the tournament while Vinesh sealed qualification to the Tokyo Olympics with her bronze medal win at the 2019 wrestling World Championships. Vinesh also remains one of the biggest medal hopefuls for the country going into the Games which has been postponed to next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Manika won two golds at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and subsequently won bronze at the 2018 Asian Games. She, however, is yet to seal qualification to the Tokyo Olympics after losing in the quarter finals of t

  Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday announced his retirement in an Instagram post. Dhoni posted a video montage with pictures at different points of his career along with a caption: "Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired (sic)." The two-time World Cup winning skipper didn't give details of the development as to whether he is retiring from the game entirely or if he is only bowing out from international cricket. Dhoni is currently part of the Chennai Super Kings training camp at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and is expected to lead the team in the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League which is set to start on September 19. CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan had recently said that the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman would be a part of the franchise, even for the 2021 and 2022 editions of the IPL.   Captain. Legend. Inspiration. As former  #TeamIndia  captain  @msdhoni  retires from international cricket, we wi

   President Donald Trump said he has heard Democratic running mate Kamala Harris "doesn't qualify" to serve as US vice-president, amplifying a fringe legal theory critics decry as racist. Harris was born to a Jamaican father and Indian mother in Oakland, California, on 20 October 1964. But a constitutional law professor has questioned her eligibility. For years, Trump promoted a false "birther" theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the US. At Thursday's press conference, Trump was asked about the argument against Harris, who is a California senator, the BBC reported. The Republican president said: "I just heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements and by the way the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer. "I have no idea if that's right. I would have assumed the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice-president. "But that's a very

  In an attempt to assist states effectively address the situation arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre on Wednesday released the fifth instalment of their share of revenue deficit grant, amounting to over Rs 6,000 crore. The grant had been released for 14 states - Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and all northeastern states excluding Arunachal Pradesh. "The government on August 11, 2020 released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the fifth equated monthly instalment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. This would provide them additional resources during the Corona crisis," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's office said in a tweet. The money has been released ahead of schedule and as a special dispensation to meet immediate funding needs of the state governments looking to restore economic activity and minimise losses to its citizens due to disrupti

  Rising French star Fiona Ferro registered a straight-sets victory over No.4 seed Anett Kontaveit in what turned out to be a rather one-sided final of the 31st Palermo Ladies Open. Ferro defeated Kontaveit 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and 43 minutes on Center Court on Sunday to secure her second career WTA title in an outstanding fashion. The 23-year-old, who had been undefeated in two regional exhibition tournaments held while the WTA tour was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rode that momentum through five more wins with the loss of just one set in Palermo. "I think it was my best match of the week," Ferro said after the match as per the official WTA website. "I was feeling relaxed; I don't know why because it was a final! I wasn't really feeling pressure. It was a tough match because she's a really consistent player who doesn't give you too many points. "I had a good intensity throughout the whole match, I didn't miss a lot, made a lot of win

  Twitter discussed a "potential combination" with China-based TikTok, currently facing immense political heat in the US, a new report has claimed. According to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, "Twitter Inc. has had preliminary talks about a potential combination with TikTok". "It is unclear whether Twitter will pursue a deal with TikTok, which would face significant challenges," the report claimed on Saturday. While Twitter declined to comment, a TikTok spokesperson told The Verge "the company does not comment on market rumours". The US President Donald Trump issued two executive orders last week prohibiting transactions in the country with the Chinese companies that own WeChat and TikTok. Bytedance is the parent company of the Chinese app TikTok that has nearly 80 million users in the US. TikTok on Friday threatened legal action against the executive order that prohibits the China-based company from doing bu