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Showing posts from September, 2021

Katy Perry: Motherhood was my first experience of 'unconditional love'

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                                                                   Katy Perry Singer Katy Perry, who welcomed her daughter Daisy with fiancee Orlando Bloom last year, says parenthood has given her a new perspective on life. Perry told Variety: "I never really truly knew about unconditional love. Obviously my mother has that for me, but I didn't really experience it in the first-person until I had my child. And that was just a whole 'nother level. I think I see through the eyes of a child - like my life and my art always feels playful - so it's amazing to be able to relate to kids even in your deep 30s. She added: "And they still want to hang and find you the most fun adult in the room. That is just the biggest gift in the world." The 'Roar' hitmaker also said that she has been playing lots of classic tunes to her daughter, reports femalefirst.co.uk. Asked if Daisy liked music, Perry said: "Yeah, she loves music, but I'm pretty specific with i

Blue Origin's 2nd crewed flight to blast off on Oct 12

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  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space venture Blue Origin has announced its second human flight to space aboard New Shepard on October 12. This will be New Shepard's 18th mission, and the second crewed flight to space. The NS-18, will lift off on October 12, carrying four astronauts to space and back. The liftoff is currently targeted for 8.30 a.m. CDT (7 p.m. India time) from Launch Site One in west Texas. The company has also announced two names: Dr. Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs; and Glen de Vries, Vice-Chair, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Dassault Systemes and co-founder, Medidata, the company said in a statement. The two other astronauts will be announced in the coming days. "This is a fulfillment of my greatest childhood dream. More importantly, though, I see this flight as an opportunity to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM and catalyse the next generation of space explorers. After all, our future of life in space is in

Rohit Sharma losing patience with batters, says they are 'letting us down consistently'

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    Openers Rohit Sharma (42) and South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (24) managed decent scores Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma seems to be losing patience with the way his batters are letting the team down in this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and he vent out his frustration following the 54-run thrashing at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday. While MI fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah kept hitting the right line and length to torment RCB batters, snaring three crucial wickets of Devdutt Padikkal, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers and restricting the rivals to a sub-180 total -- which looked a distinct possibility at one point --, the batters were woeful with only two MI players crossing the 20-run mark. Openers Rohit Sharma (42) and South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (24) managed decent scores while no other MI batsman could reach double digits. Mumbai Indians innings folded up for 111 runs in 18.1 overs.   "Thought it was

Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram update fixes bugs for iOS 15, iPhone 13 users

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  The Instagram app was no longer playing videos with audio when the iPhone ringer switch was set to silent mod   Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram has released an update for its iOS app in the App Store that fixes two annoying bugs. The new version fixes the bug that resulted in Stories with no audio on iOS 15 and layout issues for iPhone 13 users, 9To5Mac reported on Friday. Since the first iOS 15 beta, the Instagram app was no longer playing videos with audio when the iPhone ringer switch was set to silent mode. Even if the user tried to turn up the volume, Stories and videos shared in the Instagram feed remained without sound. Luckily, version 206.1 of the Instagram app fixes this bug, the report said. Multiple users had been complaining about this issue, which has now finally been fixed by the company. Now you can listen to the audio of Instagram videos even when the iPhone is in silent mode -- as it should be. In addition to the fix for the audio bug, the Instagram

Actress Radhika Madan: When we see a love story it just feels like home

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                                                       Radhika Madan   Radhika Madan is gearing up for the release of her upcoming romantic film 'Shiddat'. The actress has talked about what makes a love story a popular genre universally. "Somewhere down the lane we love Love and that is something we all connect to and we all want in our life. The reason we do our job is because we are finding love in that," Radhika in a candid chat told IANS. The 26-year-old actress added: "Every aspect has love and I think that's what hits the chord in our hearts. So when we see a love story it just feels home and that's the reason maybe people are attracted to it." 'Shiddat' also stars Sunny Kaushal, Radhika Madan, Mohit Raina and Diana Penty. It will stream on Disney+ Hotstar from October 1.  

Over 3 Cr taxpayers successfully complete transactions: Infosys

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                                        Infosys office Under fire from the Union finance ministry, Infosys on Thursday shared updates on the progress it is making on the Income Tax E-Filing Portal. It claimed that over 3 crore taxpayers have successfully completed transactions and as many as 1.5 crore Income Tax Returns were filed without any technical glitches. "Infosys is committed to making rapid progress in further streamlining end-user experience," said the company in a press note. Over the last few weeks, the portal has seen steady increase in the usage with taxpayers' concerns being progressively addressed. Thus far over three crore taxpayers have logged into the portal and successfully completed various transactions, the note said. Even as the portal makes sustained progress with crores of taxpayers successfully performing transactions, the company said it acknowledges the difficulties some users continue to experience. It said that it is working expeditiously in

Execution, not planning, reason behind loss in opening ODI: Mithali Raj

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On Tuesday., Mithali Raj herself took 107 deliveries to notch up her 63 runs   India's ODI skipper Mithali Raj said that execution, rather than planning, was the reason behind the team's nine-wicket loss to Australia in the first One-Day International here on Tuesday. Australian opening batswomen Rachael Haynes (93 not out) and Alyssa Healy (77) and No. 3 Meg Lanning (53 not out) pulverised the Indian bowlers, especially spinners, as they took the host to a resounding win to take a 1-0 lead in the bilateral ODI series. India women had, earlier, crawled to 225/8 in 50 overs. "We do have plans but it's about executing them on the ground. Sometimes the bowlers don't get the rhythm, and sometimes they get the rhythm but the plan isn't working. But we do have a lot to work on in the bowling department, because predominantly we are spinners, and the spinners are getting hit everywhere, so that is something we need to tweak," Mithali told cricket.com.au. While th

Tahir Raj Bhasin: Working with Nawazuddin Siddiqui on 'Manto' was a live masterclass

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                                                            Tahir Raj Bhasin Tahir Raj Bhasin has gone down memory lane as his movie 'Manto' has completed three years of its release in Hindi cinema. He says working with actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui on the film was a live masterclass. 'Manto', released in 2018, is a biographical drama about the prominent Indo-Pakistani, author and writer Saadat Hasan Manto directed by Nandita Das. Nawazuddin plays Saadat Hasan Manto and Tahir essays the role of 1940s Bollywood superstar Shyam Chadda. Tahir said: "Working with Nawazuddin Siddique on Manto was a live masterclass. Shyam Chadha, the 1950's film star (Tahir's character in the film), and Manto were a real life duo who had epic adventures with the backdrop of 50's Bombay cinema." "Translating this friendship on screen meant doing a range of scenes from a brotherly bond to a drastic conflict and a sudden parting of ways. To explore all of these shades wit

We did not finish well with ball and bat: Kieron Pollard

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Pollard, who led the side as the team management decided to give regular skipper Rohit Sharma some rest   Mumbai India's stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard said his team failed to grab its chances both with the bat and ball after putting Chennai Super Kings under pressure during their 20-run defeat in the first match of the UAE leg of the IPL 2021 here on Sunday. Pollard's bowlers had reduced CSK to 24/4 in the powerplay and with Ambati Rayudu injured after being hit on his elbow by Adam Milne, Mumbai Indians had the opportunity to restrict CSK to a low score. But they allowed opener Ruturaj Gaikwad to bat through the innings for an unbeaten 88, and he, helped by useful cameos by Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, guided Chennai to 156/6 in 20 overs. In response, Mumbai lost three quick wickets and though Saurabh Tiwary struck an unbeaten fifty, others failed to give him support and they fell short by 20 runs. Pollard, who led the side as the team management decided to give regular

Antibodies from Covid's original strain don't bind to variants: Study in the journal Nature Communications

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  Those antibodies don't bind well to newer variants, finds a new study, published in the journal Nature Communications   People infected with the original strain of the SARS-CoV2 virus that caused Covid-19 early during the pandemic outbreak produced a consistent antibody response, making two main groups of antibodies to bind to the spike protein on the virus's outer surface. However, those antibodies don't bind well to newer variants, finds a new study, published in the journal Nature Communications. According to researcher Nicholas Wu from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, characterising what kinds of antibodies the body is most likely to make to fight a natural infection is an important roadmap for vaccine design. For the study, the researchers mined published papers about Covid-19 patients for data about the sequence of the antibodies they produced. They focused on antibodies against the spike protein, the part of the virus that binds to receptors on human

GST Council meet today: Covid-19 relief, bringing oil and gas indirect tax regime on agenda

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                                                              Suresh Khanna   The GST Council will meet in Lucknow on Friday to take decisions on issues related to duty revision that were put on the back burner in earlier meetings to focus on the Covid relief measures amid rising cases during the second wave of the pandemic. The meeting, however, is expected to announce a few more Covid relief measures particularly on compliance matters. It will also announce a few measures to correct the inverted duty while discussing the compensation cess dues arising in 2021-22. Two other important items, including lowering of GST rates for two-wheelers and bringing natural gas into the indirect tax fold may also be included in the agenda for discussion. "Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman will chair the 45th GST Council meeting at 11 AM in Lucknow today. The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri @mppchaudhary besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Governmen

Champions League: Messi, Neymar fail; Kylian Mbappe injured as PSG held to draw

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  ) At Barcelona, Messi had teamed up brilliantly with Neymar and Luis Suarez, the trio being famously called MSN Lionel Messi's first UEFA Champions League match for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) did not produce the desired result as the star-studded French club were held 1-1 by modest Belgium Champions Club Brugge in a Group A clash. The Argentine star started his first match for PSG, teaming up with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, but they failed to click together as the star-studded French outfit could not quell the stiff resistance put up by the Belgian club. At Barcelona, Messi had teamed up brilliantly with Neymar and Luis Suarez, the trio being famously called MSN. There were hopes that his association with Neymar and Mbappe could turn out to be a big threat to the opponents. But going by the evidence from their first outing together, such a thing may take time to happen or even fail to do so. The three stars failed to gel and the result was PSG struggled to have enough shots at the