Scott R. Kurtz: Today's hilarious guest comic was created by Jamie Cosley! I love his take on PvP. Look how expressive they are. I always learn something when other artists do their take on my characters. Jamie is currently creating comic strips for Star Wars Insider and Walt Disney World Magazine. You can also find him on Instagram at @jamiecosley
Scott R. Kurtz: Today's guest comic was written and illustrated by my good friend Terry Blas. Not only is Terry the inspiration for Max's boyfriend, he's also an accomplished writer and cartoonist. His books Hotel Dare and Dead Weight are available on Amazon and are sure you lift your spirits during the quarantine. And his Instagram account is full of his amazing art. I think we're going to work together on more Max and Terry strips, so stay tuned.
Scott R. Kurtz: Today's guest strip was created by none other than smilin' Steve Conley, and I adore his take on my characters. I've known Steve for years, and have wonderful memories of both SPX and the Baltimore Comicon hanging out after the show and talking shop. Steve was a pioneer in syndicating web-content and has always been a little bit ahead of the curve. I've always been impressed with his art, his writing, and his ability to discover new ways to distribute his comics. His current book, The Middle Age, continues this trend. It's hilarious, sweet and gorgeous. Steve is creating the entire book
Belarus leader holds parade prompting safety concerns as other nations curb WW2 events; Russia records 10,000 new Covid-19 cases; Spain’s daily death toll continues to fall. Follow the latest updates
A child was among sixteen migrants rescued four miles off the coast of France when their makeshift vessel bound for Britain ran into difficulties in the middle of the night, authorities said.
The group was picked up 3.8 miles off the French port of Calais after calling for help, French maritime authorities confirmed to AFP. A French maritime surveillance vessel rescued the migrants at around 5am and transported them to the Channel port of Dunkirk, where they were handed over to border police.
Vladimir Putin has told Russians they are invincible when they stand together, as he sought to send a message of unity after the country’s tally of Covid-19 cases reached the fifth highest in the world.
Addressing the nation in a speech as he presided over Victory Day celebrations, a sombre Putin invoked the memory of the country’s veterans who fought in the second world war.
We are united by our shared memory, hopes and aspirations, as well as a sense of shared responsibility for the present and the future. We know and strongly believe that when we stand together, we are invincible.”
Continue reading...California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he had signed an executive order to mail ballots to the state’s 20.6 million registered voters, citing potential health risks due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.“There’s a lot of excitement around this November’s election in terms of making sure that you can conduct yourself in a safe way, and make sure your health is protected,” Newsom said Friday. In March, the state allowed ballots to be mailed in for its primary, which saw a record-high of 72 percent of all ballots that were cast by mail.California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who heads the state’s elections, commended the move “It’s great for public health, it’s great for voting rights, it’s going to be great for participation,” he said. California already allows for generous absentee voting, passing a 2002 decision which gives voters the option to request permanent voting by mail, regardless of the reason.While Newsom’s decision applies only to the November election, it could set a precedent for other Democratic states, with voting by mail quickly becoming a partisan issue. It comes after the state’s lawmakers and local officials requested the measure, saying coronavirus will severely hamper voting efforts, a complaint echoed by prominent Democrats.“Why should we be saying to people, ‘Stand in line for hours,’ when we don’t even want you leaving the house?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in April. But President Trump has repeatedly slammed calls for mail-in voting, saying last month that it lets “people cheat” and involves “a lot of dishonesty.”Newsom said that his order would still allow an “appropriate number” of in-person voting sites, saying that some voters, including those that are disabled, require technological help to cast a ballot.
In a joint investigation BBC Click investigates the groups behind fake news about the pandemic.
Keeping up with the promise made at its I/O Developer Conference last week, Google has now officially rolled out its "Google News" for iOS, the media reported.
The new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered app is designed with machine-learning technology to make news finding, analysing and fact-checking, crisp and to-the-point, Engadget reported on Wednesday.
"Google News" comes with three options, "For You, "Full Coverage" and "Newsstand," to help users find news of relevance based on their reading habits, let them have an in-depth read of a topic and give access to users to subscribe to a publication and view its content.
Additionally, the app comes with a "favorites section" for users to star topics across entertainment, news and academia and save stories for pocket-style reading later.
The newly launched "Google News" has replaced the previous "Google Play Newsstand" launched on iOS in 2014 as a news and magazine subscription hub.
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday pulled up the state for its claim that the novel Coronavirus could spread through newspapers. The state had, accordingly, banned the distribution of newspapers, while allowing its printing. The court, in an order dated April 20, directed the state to justify its claims with evidence and expert opinions instead of meagre statements.
A suo moto public interest litigation (PIL) in this regard was filed at the Nagpur bench of HC after the distribution ban was announced on April 18.
Government pleader DR Kale told the court that the order was amended on April 21 to allow "door-to-door distribution except in MMR, Pune, and other containment zones."
While Kale said that the virus stayed on surfaces for a while, and hence newspapers could be potential carriers when passed from hand-to-hand, the court said that there was no evidence to prove this.
It, however, added that door-to-door delivery could be restricted in some areas while asking the government to respond to its queries along with a report by amicus curiae advocate Satyajeet Bora.
The next date of hearing in the case is June 11.
11 June
Date of the next hearing in the case
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Thje city is facing many challenges amid the Coronavirus lockdown, but the one thing in its favour is the water stock. The lakes that provide water to the city have enough water to fulfil the city's needs through the summer.
As of Monday, the lakes have 29 per cent of the water stock, which will last for almost another 80 days, that is, until July.
This means, there will be no water cut this summer. Last year, when the city was facing a water cut, the total water stock was 19 per cent on the same date.
The BMC had imposed a 10 per cent water cut from November 2018 till July 2019. During the last monsoon, the lakes received rain till early December and as such, the water stock is still
The seven lakes — Bhatsa, Tansa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tulsi and Vihar — supply water to the city.
Their total water storage capacity is 14.47 lakhs MLD (million litres per day). As of Monday, there is 4.31 lakh MLD water in the lakes.
Last year, on the same date, the water stock was 2.88 lakh MLD.
The BMC supplies 3,800 MLD water to the city every day. Around 700 MLD water is being used by industries while the floating population — people coming from other cities — use around 50 MLD water.
"After the lockdown, the industrial water supply is obviously reduced but the city gets normal water supply. It means there is more water for residential areas," said Ashok Rathore, chief of the Hydraulic Engineering Department.
Due to the manpower crunch, the meter reading has not been taken and the exact use by industries and residences has not been measured.
As per the IMD forecast, the monsoon will be normal this year.
29
Percentage of water stock currently available
Upper Vaitarna: 2,802
Modak Sagar: 61,632
Tansa: 38,539
Middle Vaitarna: 89,953
Bhatsa: 224,881
Vihar: 10,133
Tulsi: 3,478
Total: 4,31,418
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It felt totally like a eureka moment to me at the grounds of Jaipur Literature Festival, 2012, soon as my eyes turned and I saw on stage, Oprah Winfrey, seated for a conversation, with Barkha Dutt.
Up until then, one had, of course, followed Dutt's work as an indefatigable newscaster, best known for lending a human touch to her dispatches/reports. Quite literally so sometimes — as she'd tenderly pat her interviewees on the shoulder, gently goading them to reveal issues they faced, before a camera. Audiences were hopefully moved, witnessing the plight of the socially distant other!
Many may have had issues with this style of emotional/exploitative news-casting, as if it was a Bollywood film. But the fact is the penny dropped only when I saw Dutt with Winfrey. It's totally my bad that I had misinterpreted her form of communication as journalism alone. Firstly, given the subject, no, not gonna fall into the tiring Twitter-troll trap that, for years, has been demonising Dutt and the lot as 'biased'/'paid' media. As if there can be any other!
Which loser works in a profession without ever being paid for it? And does the fact that you can't possibly publish all that's fit to print not indicate bias anyway? One only hopes this doesn't veer towards prejudices. And that whatever calls a news-outlet takes, don't involve sneaky, private deals, or peddling blatant lies in public.
Making motivations known only helps consumers make a choice. Mahatma Gandhi, like Bal Thackeray, ran one-sided newspapers. Neither is accused of bad journalism. Do the same arguments apply to news television?
Though all that there is to it are debates and arguments, anyway? It's odd what the medium grew into, given satellite television in India itself owes its origin to a news event—the 1991 Gulf War, that led to an enterprising South Bombay hotel (then Taj President) placing a satellite dish on the terrace, for its guests to access news on CNN!
The first TV channel delivering 24-hours news, of course, came up only at the fag-end of last millennium. For a medium with a history as short as the story of a boy, who's grown up on steroids, neglected by parents, with a much brighter younger sibling (Internet), and having just about attained legal age for marital sex, it's impossible to tell where it stands currently, let alone where it's headed into the future.
Here are a few facts still. That in less than a decade since the launch of the first Indian round-the-clock news station, there were 300 in competition, for unique eye-balls, often across the nation. All these viewers should ideally have been interested in exactly the same visual-item on screen, while the importance of news per se, is determined by the proximity of the event to the consumer!
How does one compete then? In 2002, when the medium was too nascent, all its three main channels were accused of partisanship in reporting the Gujarat riots — ostensibly aimed at their respective viewerships. Wherein Zee and Aaj Tak were called out for mentioning the religion of victims in the Godhra carnage, but conveniently concealing so while covering the riots that followed. Likewise Star/NDTV was accused of overplaying the possible complicity of the state/police; fanning negativity against both.
But this is still within purview of news. By mid 2000s, when the scene had totally exploded with too many channels to keep count, the country, it was assumed, could only be united by cricket and Bollywood. That's what you saw a whole lot of on Hindi channels. And that you don't anymore. Also, religion (bhakti) and superstition (UFO landings/sightings) reigned supreme.
The creative crescendo of this movement away from news though occurred in July, 2006, with the fall of a five-year-old Prince, into a 55-feet pit, in a village called Aldeharhi, 150 kms off Delhi. For 50 hours that it took for the boy come out of the well, several channels had broadcast his rescue (or the lack of it) for over 24 hours! Since general entertainment had possibly failed, this was television news acknowledging its competition was reality TV. No knock.
The turning point for this genre was of course the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks—live-television for three days straight, involving cameras stationed mainly outside hotels Taj and Oberoi-Trident, but with obviously no fresh footage to upload. What do you do then? Open live commentary, package it as debate, express shock, rally around pent-up emotions. 26/11, a reporter's story, turned TV news into an anchor's medium, with Arnab Goswami at Times Now as its patron saint.
Pretty much all stations feel/sound the same since. Leader dictates competition. Goswami, a pop-culture phenomenon inspiring skits and memes, runs his own channel, heating up a studio, introducing nightly villains, firing at folk on multiple windows, picking up cues primarily from social media—feeding off the mob and feeding right back into it. But come what may, delivering weekly ratings at the box-office of television.
It's been 12 years. Obviously he's not just a journalist. Now he has a rep to protect, and expectations of core-audiences to meet. He defined the era he belongs to, and people are used to seeing him a certain way. Read again. Sounds like Shah Rukh Khan to me.
Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper
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While the COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), the Navi Mumbai police department is having a tough time dealing with rumours. In last four days, rumours claiming Janta Curfew or a complete lockdown resulted in a panic-like situation in various parts of Navi Mumbai. However, alert cops managed to tackle the misinformation by alerting the citizens and booked two people.
Despite the systematic management and strategy, COVID-19 cases in NMMC and Panvel Municipal Corporation area are on the rise with more than 250 cases in Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate area.
"On the night of April 27, a message was posted on a WhatsApp group that, as cases of Coronavirus had increased in Kamothe, to break the chain, a complete lockdown or Janta Curfew was announced from April 30 to May 3. The message further said that only medical shops and hospitals would function," an officer from Kamothe police station said.
"A police officer was part of the group who alerted us and we immediately started verifying the message which was fake. So we summoned the group admins Amol Shitole and Ganesh Shinde, who were questioned and booked," added the officer.
But as a result of the message, on April 28, several residents came out to buy groceries and other household items. To contain the situation, cops went to every shop and stores to assure people.
The same panic-like situation was observed at Kopar Khairane and Juinagar on Wednesday, after the same message with the name of 'Corona Nirmulan Samiti' went viral – with the only difference being the location. As soon as the message went viral, grocery stores ran dry within a few hours. "We don't know the origin of these messages. But some people deliberately spread such messages, which not only spreads panic but also hampers our tireless work of almost a month" a senior police officer said.
Speaking with mid-day, Sanjay Kumar, Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner said, "We have noticed the spread of messages in the social media groups of non-existent curfew and are dealing strongly with such rumour mongers. People should keep track of official accounts and words about such important decisions."
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Eminent industrialist Ratan Tata, on Sunday took to Instagram to call out a fake news article and a quote which was attributed to him. Taking to the gram, the 82-year-old business veteran shared a picture of a news clipping that read, "Ratan Tata's message: 2020 is the year of survival, don’t worry about profit and loss."
A screengrab of Ratan Tata's Instagram story
While sharing a story on Instagram, Ratan Tata wrote, "The following article has not been written or said by me. He also shared a picture of the article with 'Fake News' written on the newspaper cutting. Urging people to always verify news sources, Ratan Tata said, "I will endeavour to call out fake news whenever I can."
Talking about the fake article which has a quote attributed to him, Ratan Tata stated, "My picture alongside a quote does not guarantee me having said it, a problem that many people face." The business magnate also called out the fake news and shared it with his 8.5 million followers on Twitter.
I’m afraid this too, has not been said by me. I will endeavour to call out fake news whenever I can, but would encourage you to always verify news sources. My picture alongside a quote does not guarantee me having said it, a problem that many people face. pic.twitter.com/pk0S75FxPA
— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000) May 3, 2020
Since being shared online, Ratan Tata's tweet has garnered over one lakh likes and about 25,000 re-tweets and counting. This isn't the first time that the senior statesman has taken on fake news circulating under his name. Earlier, Mr. Tata had shared another fake article attributed to him and which spoke about the impact of coronavirus on the economy.
In the spirit of solidarity pic.twitter.com/1Svx5JZ0Vb
— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000) April 5, 2020
While sharing that the article was fake, the industrialist stated that if he has to say something, he would say it on his official social media channels. Debunking the false article, Mr. Tata urged people to stay safe and take care of themselves amid the coronavirus crisis.
Nearly a month ago, Ratan Tata shared a beautiful picture of India's COVID-19 warriors. While sharing the picture with his followers, Mr. Tata urged people across the country to unite in the battle against the global pandemic.
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Superstar Mahesh Babu is one of the most critically acclaimed actors of the southern film industry and cherishes a humongous fan following throughout India. His social media is popular to spread messages that support certain social causes. The actor and his fans are known to storm social media with their social campaigns.
Recently, Mahesh Babu took to his social media to share a post about wiping away fake news and gossip websites that often spread misinformation and lies about celebrities.
These blogs or gossip websites leech off the actor's popularity and spread misinformation about them to gain views on their respective pages. It is crucial that these websites and rumors be put to a stop so that they can stop spreading fake rumors. Mahesh Babu shared the post on social media under the tag of "#KillFakeNews" against misinformation being spread with the caption.
Have a look at his tweet right here:
I stand by you brother @TheDeverakonda #KillFakeNews #KillGossipWebsites https://t.co/mk5enwj5Pm pic.twitter.com/ESYodVIQbw
— Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) May 4, 2020
It's highly commendable someone has finally spoken against these lies and false news!
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The Philippines Ministry of Finance has said that a lower value-added tax rate may be possible once the tax base is broadened and wider tax system changes are implemented.
President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte revealed during his recent State of the Nation address that tobacco firm Mighty Corporation had agreed to settle three cases of tax evasion with the Filipino government.
FIlipino lawmakers are expected to soon sign off on a long-awaited tax reform bill to bring about personal income tax regime reform and broaden the value-added tax base.
Having accepted a settlement from the tobacco firm, the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Justice on October 2 dropped three tax evasion cases against Mighty Corp.
The governments of India and the Philippines on November 22 announced that they would be cooperating more closely on customs matters.
The Philippines' Senate on November 28 approved its version of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) bill, which is expected to exempt 6.8 million workers from paying income taxes.
US business associations say the Philippines' proposed sugar-sweetened beverage tax may infringe World Trade Organization rules and would dent the country's competitiveness.
The Philippines is to take forward its tax reform agenda in January, with a second package of proposals to be tabled before Congress, after the first package was endorsed with some vetoes by President Rodrigo Duterte.