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A few weeks ago our dishwasher, an old Kenmore that came with the house, gave up the ghost. After decades of barebones apartment living washing dishes by hand, the thought of not having a machine to do that chore was anathema to my middle class soul.  So my wife and I immediately purchased a new one […]

The post Worth Knowing appeared first on Waiter Rant.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®


Last year, California passed a new law, AB-5, intended to make things better for gig economy workers, such as Uber and Lyft drivers, by forcing these companies to provide employee protections and benefits for their freelance workers.

However, the narrowly-written law, which went into effect on January 2, has created unintended consequences for freelance writers, most of whom are independent by preference. If they sell 35 or more pieces to the same company in a year (which can easily happen with short blog posts or  product reviews), the company must treat them as employees rather than freelancers and pay payroll taxes as well as unemployment and other insurances. Even before the law went into effect, companies were laying off California freelancers and seeking replacements in other states.

Book writers may be affected too, under certain specific circumstances.

The article below was originally published by the Authors Guild; I'm re-printing it with permission. This is an issue all writers need to be aware of, as similar laws are under consideration in other states, including New York and New Jersey.


We have been receiving inquiries about California’s new law AB-5 and similar pending legislation in other states that require companies hiring individuals on a freelance basis for labor or services to treat them as employees, unless the individual’s work falls within one of several exceptions. Laws like AB-5 (which goes into effect on January 2) are meant to aid gig economy workers, such as Uber and Lyft drivers, who work for a single company and have no employee protections. They are well-intentioned pieces of legislation, but unless they are narrowly written, they can go beyond protecting gig workers and disadvantage many traditional freelancers who wish to remain independent by overriding existing state agency law.

To be clear, the Authors Guild fully supports employment protections for freelance journalists and authors, and will be lobbying for collective bargaining rights in 2020. Like Uber drivers, writers have no benefits and are often paid less than minimum wage. But forcing writers to work as employees, especially on a state-by-state basis, is not the way to go about it. The situation in California speaks to the importance of deliberation, careful drafting, and getting buy-ins from the various industry groups. Similar “gig worker” bills are in the works in New York and New Jersey. The new draft NJ bill includes a strict, sweeping version of the ABC test. Those working closely on the bill are concerned that freelance journalists will in many cases be treated as employees. We will watch the bill and do our best to ensure that the necessary protections for freelance journalists are added.

* The NY bill attempts to exclude freelance journalists, and we have provided comments to the drafters to make it clearer.* (correction 12.30.19)

AB-5’s 35-Submission Cap

As many of you are aware by now, much of the debate surrounding AB-5 comes down to its 35-submission cap applying to the contributions of freelance journalists, editors, and photographers. When the bill was being negotiated, a coalition of writer and photographer groups, including the Authors Guild, was able to get an exception for freelance writers. Unfortunately, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who sponsored the bill, added a cap of 35 pieces per company—meaning that once a freelance journalist or editor submits 36 articles or jobs for the same company in one year, the freelancer must be treated as an employee and the employer must pay California State unemployment and employee insurances.

Many full-time writers today patch together a living from different sources—and they want to keep it that way. Because of AB-5, California freelance journalists writing 35 or more pieces for a single company fear losing clients to writers in states with laxer laws. Indeed, some publications have already stated that they will not hire California freelance writers because of the new law. 35 articles might seem like a lot, but there are plenty of writers who write more than that. Writing a short weekly blog piece for a client could easily put a writer over this limit.

Another problem with treating writers as employees and not freelancers is that employee-writers do not own the copyright in their work; instead, the employer is considered the “author” under copyright law and automatically owns the copyright in its creation. Of course, as most major publications today insist on an assignment of copyright anyway, the practical effect, unfortunately, is the same: the writer gives up copyright. Still, freelance writers who assign copyright can reclaim it after 35–40 years, which is a benefit that employee-writers lack.

Does AB-5 Apply to Book Contracts?

Authors have raised alarm that AB-5 will apply to book writers as well. The Authors Guild has been reviewing the bill from that perspective since it was first introduced. We were assured by those working on the bill that trade book authors are not covered, and we do not see a basis for disagreeing since the bill clearly states that AB-5 applies only to “persons providing labor or services” and authors provide neither “labor” nor “services” under standard book contracts—they instead grant copyright licenses or assignments. Additionally, royalties—even in the form of advance payments—are not considered wages. It is difficult to imagine how a court would conclude that a typical book contract is for labor or services.

Writers with Service-Like Obligations Should Get a Legal Opinion

There are, however, some book-writing agreements that could be considered service agreements and arguably would fall under AB-5, such as work-made-for-hire agreements and contracts where the author has ongoing obligations and the publisher has greater editing ability or control over the content. Authors and writers working under multi-book contracts are most likely to encounter such a situation. These authors’ contracts should be reviewed by an attorney to determine whether they are subject to AB-5. Publishers and authors who want to be certain to retain a freelancer relationship should be careful to make sure the contracts are written as simple license grants and not as services agreements. For instance, the agreement should be written as a copyright grant of a defined work without interim or ongoing obligations, and remuneration should be in the form of royalties and advances against royalties. The writer should also have full control over their work and use their own workspace and tools. As a general rule, it is also recommended that freelance editors and journalists have written contracts that allow them to work when and where they want with no oversight other than approval of the finished work product.

If you have such a contract and are an Authors Guild member, remember that we do review members’ contracts for free. You can send us the agreement using our online form, and our legal team will get you comments and let you know if you need to revise the agreement.

UPDATE 1/16/20: Washington (State, not DC) is contemplating a bill like this as well. From the comments, below:

WA should be on your watchlist, too. An AB5-like bill was just re-introduced in the Senate there, even though it had been defeated last year. It, too, requires writers and other freelancers and independent contractors be hired as employees when their works contribute to the normal business of their clients. The bill ignores a study of independent contractors that was prepared by the Dept of Commerce after the bill's defeat. The study documents that 3/4 of the independent contractors in WA don't need or want the employee benefits touted by the bill's advocates. Between their own efforts and those of their families and friends, they're doing fine. Read the study yourself then write to Sen. Karen Keiser about your opposition to being made employees against your will.

The study: https://app.leg.wa.gov/committeeschedules/Home/Documents/26113?//20902
Senator Keiser: karen.keiser@leg.wa.gov

A similar law may be in the works in Illinois.

UPDATE 1/20/20: This article from Digiday explores the negative impact that AB-5 is already having on freelancers and publishers in California.

Locate S,1 “After the Final Rose” The first time I heard this song was the first time I saw Christina Schneider and Locate S,1 perform live last year, when they were opening for Of Montreal at the Bell House. I was immediately blown away by the verse melody – “women in love, women in airplanes […]

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The UK government will begin trials of its coronavirus contact-tracing app this week, but what impact it will have on slowing the spread of covid-19 is unclear

Astronomers found a star that appeared to be orbiting nothing at all – but it’s actually the closest black hole ever at just 1000 light years away

#301 — April 24, 2020 Read on the Web Database Weekly 'Things I Wished More Developers Knew About Databases' — A Google engineer (whose name may be familiar to those Go developers amongst you) shares 17 insights about databases she’s picked up over the years. I strongly recommend this piece and I identify with lots of the points myself.. Jaana B. Dogan Lambda Store: A New 'Serverless Redis' Service — This seems a neat idea. Claiming to not be just another Redis cloud service, Lambda Store applies a serverless-style pricing model which opens up a variety of neat use cases for the popular data structure server (serverless caching, for starters). The underlying system appears to be a custom clone of Redis rather than the real deal, however. Sven Anderson ???? AWS, GCP, & Azure Punch Back at the 2020 Cloud Report — AWS, GCP, & Azure each responded to the Cockroach Labs 2020 Cloud Report with instructions on how to tune their respective clouds for optimal performance. Cockroach Labs sponsor How io_uring and eBPF Will Revolutionize Programming in Linux — Even more exciting times are coming for development on Linux thanks to these technologies. A good overview from an engineer at ScyllaDB. Glauber Costa kvrocks: An Open Source, RocksDB-based, Redis-compatible Database — You know Redis’s API is good when so many projects continue to implement it for themselves. kvrocks brings the Redis API (with pretty good support) together with the RocksDB persistent key-value store. Written in C++. Bit Leak Mireo SpaceTime: An Absurdly Fast Spatiotemporal Database? — The SpaceTime database provides unprecedented analytical tools speed, sometimes outperforming other state-of-the-art solutions by three orders of magnitude. Miljen Mikić Cloud GPUs Aimed at Data Scientists — Core Scientific, an AI and cloud infrastructure vendor, is teaming with GPU-accelerated analytics specialist SQream Technologies to deliver a “GPU Cloud for Data Scientists.” Datanami An Easy Postgres 12 and pgAdmin 4 Setup with Docker — Docker provides an easy and loosely coupled way to get things set up in a development environment. Jonathan S. Katz Why We Index Everything — Tired of constantly managing indexes to speed up queries? Learn about how Rockset automatically indexes every field in a row-based store, column-based store, and search index. Rockset sponsor Redis Labs Moving RedisJSON to a New Codebase Written in Rust — RedisJSON provides a JSON data type to Redis and it’s been ported from C to Rust for better safety and developer experience. Gavrie Philipson (Redis Labs) Replicate Multiple Postgres Servers to a Single MongoDB Server using Logical Decoding Output Plugin David Zhang xsv: A Fast CSV Command Line Toolkit Written in Rust — Another ‘Swiss Army knife’ for your slightly structured data. Andrew Gallant ???? Jobs DevOps Engineer at X-Team (Remote) — Join the most energizing community for developers. Work from anywhere with the world's leading brands. X-Team Data Engineer (Remote - USA Only) — Help us architect and design “big data” systems which require queries returning within sub-second response times. Social Chorus

Bollywood's chirpy beauty Sara Ali Khan and brother Ibrahim, are keeping up with their fitness regime during the coronavirus lockdown period by working out at home. However, on Saturday, they were joined by a new friend -- Fuffy Singh, their pet dog.

The 'Love Aaj Kal' actor took to Instagram to share a picture during their workout session. In the shared picture, the 24-year-old actor can be seen posing for the camera with her 'Pilates Girl' tee. On the other hand, Ibrahim is lying on the floor shirtless in his shorts and shoes.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Knock knock 👊🏻👊🏻 Who’s there? Not us- we’re working out 💪🏻 🙌🏻 Yes, us includes Fuffy Singh 🐕 🐶 @fuffy07 #happyweekend #stayhome #staysafe #staypositive

A post shared by Sara Ali Khan (@saraalikhan95) onApr 25, 2020 at 11:10am PDT

Meanwhile, their adorable pet dog, Fluffy, can be seen watching the brother-sister duo. Taking it to the captions with another 'Knock Knock' reference, she wrote: "Knock knock Who's there?Not us- we're working out Yes, us includes Fuffy Singh @fuffy07#happyweekend #stayhome #staysafe #staypositive"

On Friday, the brother-sister pair tried to beat the lockdown blues and shared an adorably sweet video shot while playing 'Knock Knock joke.' Meanwhile, the 'Simmba' star keeps on sharing glimpses of her quarantine time to keep her fans updated on her social media.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

For now, we all live under a rock 🏡 All of us- the nerd 🤓the jock ⚽️ In the meantime Ibrahim and sister you can mock 👫🙊🙈 While we do our favourite Knock Knock🐣🤷‍♀️🚪👊🏻👊🏻 #knockout

A post shared by Sara Ali Khan (@saraalikhan95) onApr 24, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

Ahead of the Earth Day, Khan shared her love for mother Earth through a collage of beautiful throwback pictures with exotic natural beauty forming the backdrop.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

A day after Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor explained the controversies regarding her having tested corona positive last month; the Lucknow Police pasted a notice at her house, asking her to record her statement.

Kanika Kapoor has been charged under IPC Section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and Section 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the IPC.

Deepak Kumar Singh, ACP, Krishna Nagar said that the singer will have to come to the police station and give her a written statement. Further action will be taken after this.

On Sunday, Kanika took to Instagram to express her gratitude to the health workers who treated her. She also wrote that several stories were doing the rounds and she was fully aware and knew that some information has been misrepresented.

According to Kanika, she arrived in Mumbai on March 10 from the UK. During this time, she was scanned at the international airport. Until that time no advisory had been issued that required her to quarantine herself.

She had come to Lucknow to meet her family on March 11, when there was no scanning system for domestic flights. On March 14 and 15, Kanika went to lunch and dinner with her friends.

She pointed out that all the people she had interacted with in the UK, Mumbai, and Lucknow are healthy and their reports have also come up negative.

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Representational picture

Washington D.C.: While it is no secret that there are good calories as well as bad calories, turns out, in the bad category, there are variations too. According to the University of California, Davis, sugar-sweetened beverages play a unique role in chronic health problems. Calories from any food have the potential to increase the risk of obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases. The disease risk increases even when the beverages are consumed within diets that do not result in weight gain.

Twenty-two researchers explored whether all calories are equal with regards to effects on cardiometabolic disease and obesity. The study provided an extensive review of the current science on diets that can lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and Type II diabetes.

"What's new is that this is an impressive group of scientists with vast experience in nutrition and metabolism agreeing with the conclusion that sugar-sweetened beverages increase cardiometabolic risk factors compared to equal amounts of starch," said lead author Kimber Stanhope.

Another interesting point of consensus among researchers was the role of the sugar substitute aspartame.

The authors agreed that aspartame does not promote weight gain in adults. Stanhope said this might come as a surprise to most people.

"If you go on the internet and look up aspartame, the layperson would be convinced that aspartame is going to make them fat, but it's not," said Stanhope. "The long and short of it is that no human studies on noncaloric sweeteners show weight gain."

The authors also agreed that consumption of polyunsaturated (n-6) fats, such as those found in some vegetable oils, seeds and nuts, lowers disease risk when compared with equal amounts of saturated fats.

However, that conclusion comes with a caveat. Dairy foods such as cheese and yogurts, which can be high in saturated fats, have been associated with reduced cardiometabolic risk.

The paper reviewed the significant challenges involved in conducting and interpreting nutrition research.

"We have a long way to go to get precise answers on a lot of different nutrition issues," said Stanhope. "Nevertheless, we all agree that a healthy diet pattern consisting of minimally processed whole grains, fruit, vegetables, and healthy fats promotes health compared with the refined and palatable typical Western diet pattern."

The study appears in the journal Obesity Reviews.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Explore the hidden village of Chuim, a small settlement in Bandra. The former farming hamlet is mostly populated by the East Indian community, the city’s original inhabitants. Lesser known than the popular settlements of Pali and Ranwar, Chuim village offers a new and relatively unseen face of the city. Walk 221: ChuimChronicles, the 90-minute tour, involves a deep dive into Chuim and covers interactive sessions about East Indian culture, stories, traditions and the heritage of the settlement.

ON March 16, 5 pm
MEETING POINT St Vincent De Paul Church, Chuim Village, Khar West
CALL 8828100111
COST Rs 499

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Instagram has introduced a feature that allows users to make payments. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing app will now allow users to add their credit or debit card with their profile and set up a security pin. They can make purchases within the photo-sharing service and make payments without having to leave the site, Cnet reported.

Payments is the next big thing for tech giants who are looking at retaining users in the form of customers by offering them a one-stop destination for all their needs, including social, photos, and now e-commerce. The new native payments feature is currently available through limited partners and businesses on Instagram.

(Edited by mid-day online desk, with inputs from ANI)

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Voting day is here, but not all of us remember how exactly to go about it. Don't worry, mid-day's refresher has it all covered. Among the most important things to remember is to not forget to carry any one of the 11 accepted identity proof documents (see: Valid proof of identity) and to not use your mobile phone in and around the polling booth. Voting begins at 7 am sharp and will last until 6 pm.

While some of us may have got the voting slips, those who haven't got theirs need not panic. All you need to do is go up to one of the helpdesks set up at street corners and look for your name. If your name is on the list, the corresponding voting booth number and other details will be mentioned there. You can also look for your name online before leaving the house on https://electoralsearch.in. If your name is not on this list, you cannot vote. No argument. Do remember to register yourself on https://www.nvsp.in before the assembly elections.

Police officers being briefed about bandobast duty a day before voting day in the city. Pic/Sameer Marakande

No mobile phones

Mobile phones cannot be used within 100 metres of the polling booth, but for the working population of the city, who either votes on its way to or from work, you may carry your phone with you but must remember to either switch it off or keep it on silent mode. Cars and bikes, too, will have to be parked 100 metres away from polling booths. Only designated vehicles carrying people with disabilities will be allowed close to polling booths.

Only 11 valid ID documents

Please remember that the voter slip is not proof of identity. You have to also carry any one of the 11 identity cards. If you have none of them, once again, you cannot vote.

Please do not argue with the election duty staff, they have no role to play in this.

Shivaji Jondhale, Mumbai City Collector, said, "If there is no name on the electoral list, then people cannot vote. It is very important to be a registered voter. Further, if there is no voting slip but your name is on the electoral list of the Election Commission and you have a valid ID card, then by checking with the help desk you can find out the polling station and can exercise your right to vote."

Wait for the beep

The confusion about the long press while registering your vote on the electronic voting machine was cleared by Collector officials. They said your vote is considered registered once the long beep is heard. Do keep your finger pressed on the button until you hear it or your vote will not be registered.

Live Blog: Elections 2019 Phase 4 Live Updates: Anil Ambani, Rekha cast their vote

Come out and vote!

The Election Commission has taken various measures to ensure citizens come out and vote. The total number of voters in the city, is 96.39 lakh. The EC and Collector offices of the city are aiming at a voting percentage of at least 61% this time from 41% in 2009 and 51% in 2014.

Citizens, too, have come forward to help increase voter turnout. An ALM from Juhu has organised a pick-up for senior citizens to the polling booths. The EC, too, has organised help for people with disabilities. Further, in order to ensure proper transport system during the voting process, the Collector offices have organised 2,985 vehicles in Mumbai suburban district and 1,769 vehicles in Mumbai Island City.

There is a staff of 15,000 working in the island city and over 60,000 in the suburbs on election duty. There are 2,601 polling stations in the island city which has two constituencies, and 7,472 polling stations in the suburbs that have four constituencies, said officials.

Also read: Elections 2019: Mumbai Police to deploy 40,000 cops on election duty; issue guidelines

Students, take that selfie!

This year, the EC and government officials have been explaining the electoral process to young students in the hope that it reaches their parents at home. One of the initiatives is the 'selfie' movement, where students have been urged to take their parents to polling booths and put up selfies on social media with their parents after voting.

96.39l
No. of voters in Mumbai

61
Voting percentage that the Election Commission is expecting in Mumbai

Also read: Elections 2019: 422 polling stations in Mumbai declared 'critical'

Valid proof of identity

• Passport
• Driving licence
• Identity card issued by the Election Commission/Central and state government/ Public Enterprises / Local Body Institutes
• Bank passbook with photograph
• PAN card from the Income Tax Department
• ID card given by the Census Commissioner
• Job Card under Employment Guarantee Scheme
• Health card from the labour ministry
• Pension passbook or pension payment order with photograph of the retired employee
• ID card of MLA/MP
• Aadhaar card, too, will be considered as identity proof

Also read: Elections 2019: Popular politicians and key battles in Mumbai

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Revising the COVID-19 lockdown guidelines further, the state government has allowed stand-alone liquor shops to reopen in Mumbai and its metropolitan areas from Monday.

However, shops in the demarcated containment zones in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), will remain shut. Permit rooms and restaurants serving alcohol have not been allowed to operate.

The order for liquor shops also applies to Pune Metropolitan Region and other red zones. The shops will have to comply with strict measures such as social distancing.

The local authorities like municipal chiefs and district collectors have been tasked with deciding the number of shops in each area for preventing mass gathering.

This information is subject to guidelines/conditions in the state government's notification dated 02.05.2020. Imaging/Uday Mohite/Suhas Kale

Sources said the state government has convinced the Centre despite national restrictions on non-essential business in red zones.

The Centre was told red zones had non-containment clusters that were unaffected. Liquor production and sale will also replenish the state's depleted coffers.

Several ruling leaders and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray have been demanding the opening of liquor shops for revenue's sake.

Alcohol retail shops will be open from 10 am to 6 pm. Only sealed (bottled) liquor is allowed to be sold. The shops will have to work on 50% staff strength and the employees will have to be tested for body temperature and other symptoms.

Liquor factories, which give maximum revenue on site, have also been allowed to start production. Thermal screening of staff and access control will be required.

In addition, urban standalone shops selling non-essential commodities like clothes, footwear, stationery, electronic and electrical/domestic appliances will be opened in non-containment zones, but only 5 shops will operate in one lane/street. Spas, barber shops and salons will not open in red zones.

"Medical shops and and grocers will not have a five-shop restriction and no restrictions on business hours," said Bhushan Gagrani, principal secretary, in-charge of media relations for COVID-19 mitigation plan.

Travel by air, train and metro, inter-state road movement, opening of educational institutions, hotels and malls, places of worship and large gathering will not be allowed anywhere.

However, goods supply will not be affected. Industry with access control and urban industry have been allowed in orange and green zones.

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Dear Diana,
For over two weeks, I have been nursing a broken heart. My guy had kept me in the dark about the other woman in his life. He was two-timing me and I had no clue. A friend would often see him with a girl riding pillion on his bike late nights. She would often tell me, but I paid no heed. I always felt it could be one of his female pals he was dropping home or one of his office colleagues. I did not think anything was amiss till he suddenly told me that he was moving on. I was taken aback. I did not even think for even a moment what was going on his head. We were together for two years, so it has been difficult for me. I was taken for a ride by him. He cheated on me and I believed the lies that he told me. I do not know what to do. He does not respond to my calls or messages, but I still pine for him.
— Megha

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Dear Megha,
Why are you still pining for him when he dumped you and lied to you? This man is not worthy of your love. He kept you in the dark about the other woman in his life. He was two-timing you. It is clear that he was not interested in you from the beginning. You seem to be a stop-gap agreement and the day he was bored of you, he dumped you. Move on in life and next time be wary. Your friend would keep telling you about his waywardness, but you did not pay attention to her. If you had questioned him at that time, things could have been different. Get going in your life. Do not pine for him. Remember he dumped you, so why even care for this man?

Dear Diana,
I recently changed jobs and on my first day in the new office, I met this wonderful woman. She proved to be of great help to me. She made me feel comfortable and we got along well. She is a workaholic and an ambitious person. We often sit in office late as she is eager to finish off the paperwork. As we are part of a legal team, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done. I was attracted to her the moment I saw her, but now I am in love with her. I do not know how to tell her that I care for her. I have been dropping hints, but she is not reciprocating. The other day we were in the office till 10 pm and I suggested that we catch a bite. But she said no as it would get too late. I do not know if she is playing hard to get. How do I get to know what is on her mind?
– Rehan

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Dear Rehan,
First, you need to find out if there is anyone on her scene. Only then can you think of planning a future with her. There may be someone special in her life, so that could be the reason, she is not reacting. Or perhaps, she is so engrossed in work that she has no time to romance. It could also be that she just refuses to react. She may have her own reasons, so meanwhile you can continue with dropping hints. You are still relatively new in the organisation, so do not mess up things. It will have an impact on your personal as well as professional life. For now, just go with the flow, and only after it is clear that there is no one on her scene, make the move. She also may not want to rush into a relationship, so is taking time. For now, be patient.

Irrfan Khan, who was undergoing treatment for Neuroendocrine tumour for the last two months, passed away at the age of 53 on April 29, 2020. The talented actor was admitted to Kokilaben Hospital for a colon infection, and on Wednesday he breathed his last.

Irrfan in an interview on the chat show Son of Abish opened up about his 1993-release Karamati Coat. "I was very happy because one just wants to work in cinema. Everyone kept appreciating me in television but I wanted to become a cinema actor. No one was offering me roles, even though everyone was appreciating me. But I got this part. So I was very happy and I thought that this is my big break," the actor was quoted by Hindustan Times.

The Piku actor had even designed his own outfit for the film. "For this, I got so excited that I made my own costume, chose the colours and everything. And the film had a walking shot; out of the three minutes, one and a half minutes was just the walking shot," he said.

Irrfan then went on to give stellar performances in films such as Haasil, Maqbool, Paan Singh Tomar, The Lunchbox, Piku and Hindi Medium. His international projects include Slumdog Millionaire, The Namesake, The Amazing Spider-Man, Jurassic World and Life of Pi. His last release Angrezi Medium too gathered critical acclaim.

It's not just Bollywood, but Irrfan Khan also took over the West with his talent and impeccable acting. In his almost three-decade career, the actor established himself as one of the most dependable performers in the Indian film industry as well as in Hollywood.

You'll be truly missed, Irrfan!

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Ace producer Ekta Kapoor shared a close bond with her family - dad Ravi Kapoor, aka Jeetendra, mum Shobha and brother Tusshar. Ekta recently shared a lovely throwback family photo, which features the four in their younger days, but looking awfully distracted!

Sharing the photo on Instagram, Ekta wrote, "Well well! We have come a long way! Guess wat my dad is thinking."

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Well well! We have come a long way! Guess wat my dad is thinking 😹😹😹😆

A post shared by Erk❤️rek (@ektarkapoor) onMay 4, 2020 at 6:28am PDT

Well, can you guess what veteran actor Jeetendra is thinking about in the photo?

Several of Ekta's industry friends and Insta followers commented on the post. Ronit Roy wrote, "Wow! Yes a loooong looooong way," while Akshay Dogra said, "Well all that matters is happiness on point here too!" while Rahul Dev commented, "She's got 'the look'."

While in lockdown, Ekta Kapoor has been entertaining her fans with some throwback memories. She recently shared a video of her dancing with close friends Anita Hassanandani and Krystle D'Souza.

 

 

 

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Not@on tik tok but got coerced into this cray video by two of my mad frns ! Since d lockdown is throwing out all old madness let it all be out there 👀😂 credit: @anitahassanandani... Girls just wanaaa have fun! #ThrowBack Merriii cuties @ektarkapoor @krystledsouza

A post shared by Erk❤️rek (@ektarkapoor) onMay 3, 2020 at 5:41am PDT

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A lot of Bollywood filmmakers and actors have said that the legacy of Hindi Cinema will now be split into pre-Corona and post-Corona. And during this lockdown, nobody will forget the fact that it was all also the time when we got the opportunity to see some unseen and amazing throwback pictures of Television and Bollywood celebrities. Joining the bandwagon is Ramayan's Sita aka Dipika Chikhlia.

For all those who grew up in the 90s, this picture will surely put a smile on your face. But here's a genuine question- How many of you knew that Superstar Rajesh Khanna also graced her wedding reception? In case you feel it's not true, here's some proof.

Have a look at the picture right here:

 

 

 

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Rare Rajesh khana attending Dipika Chikhliya Marriage photo #90s #Ramayan #ramayan #dipikachikhlia #sita #bollywoodmovies #rajeshkhanna

A post shared by The90sIndia (@the90sindia) onApr 20, 2020 at 6:02am PDT

Such was the legacy of the TV show that they all got a call from the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and he personally wanted to meet the team and facilitate them. And the actress even took to her Instagram account to share a picture with him, have a look:

 

 

 

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This is the 1st time we were felicitated ....we realized we were a part of a legacy Ramayan ..we created history ...remember the day vividly when we got a call from delhi to meet the PM ...#rajivgandhi#feliciate#delhji#ramayan#ramayanworld#sagarworld#shivsagar#lockdowndisriessa

A post shared by Dipika (@dipikachikhliatopiwala) onApr 25, 2020 at 8:39pm PDT

Ramayan and Mahabharat were truly historic in their own ways, and the reruns have been phenomenal with never-seen-before TRPs. Well, as they say- Old Is Gold!

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Given people today have the tendency to make memes on almost anything and everything, how could a tv show like Mahabharat stay away? It's a cult show and making history in terms of TRPs even in 2020. But in one of the episodes, 49 to be precise, they spotted an AC cooler and made a lot of memes on the scene.

And now, talking about this to Times of India, Khanna has broken his silence and reacted to it. He has said, "I had been hearing about a picture of mine from the sets of Mahabharat going viral where I am shown sitting in front of a cooler, for the past few days. I want to know yeh picture aayi kahan se and secondly yeh kisne spot kiya? I doubt if this picture is from a still from the show. And if it is, it is a huge mistake. But from what I can say after seeing it is that it appears to be clicked in between shots. I don't think such a glaring mistake would have happened from BR Chopra's side. He was too careful with the making and the editing of Mahabharat."

However, to bear the heat, there were AC coolers on the sets for the actors, as revealed by Khanna. "We were shooting in Film City which was fully air-conditioned. However, since I had such heavy costumes and to top it all a long beard which I had to wear most of the day I used to feel extremely hot. Especially because of the beard. So, I requested BR Chopra Ji to allow me to use an air-cooler. The beard was such that after shots I used to sweat a lot and it used to irritate me," said the actor.

Well, Mahabharat is enjoying a dream run on television and as days and episodes pass by, the TRPs are only likely to grow!

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In 2014 Irrfan Khan opted out of the Ridley Scott sci-fi spectacle The Martian which later released to raves. Ridley Scott is the director of such futuristic classic blockbusters as Alien and Blade Runner. Irrfan had told me, “Yes, I was offered The Martian. The director Ridley Scott and I met. I had a memorable conversation with him. What an inspiring man and talent. He is so many things at the same time and yet he told me he had seen my Lunchbox. I asked him how he could find the time to see films after being a producer, director and so many other things. He said films like Lunchbox were his bedtime stories. Can you believe it?”

Speaking of the role that was offered to him Irrfan had said, “It was that of a NASA scientist. While Matt Damon was in outer space my character was very much on earth. But meri baatein hawa mein ho rahi tthi (but I was talking in the air).” This was not the first time Irrfan was offered a role by Ridey Scott. “He had earlier offered me part in film with Russell Crowe which too I couldn’t do due to time constraints. Maybe I’ll be third time lucky.”

Alas, that was not to be. So why did Irrfan say no to Ridley Scott? “For Piku,” came the prompt reply. “I had committed my dates to Shoojit Sircar’s film, and no regrets about that. Piku is an important film in my career. For the first time I was seen in an overt romantic role. Not that I haven’t played romantic roles. I have, in Maqbool and The Lunchbox. But in these films I didn’t get a chance to romance my heroine with poetry and banter. Shoojit is a good filmmaker, and I’d love to work with him again. But more importantly, he is a wonderful human being.”

Irrfan has no regrets about losing out on The Martian. Weirdly the part that was offered to him, of an Indian character named Vincent Kapoor was played by an African American actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Also Read: American Indian actor Kal Penn on sharing screen space with Irrfan Khan in The Namesake

Sophie Turner, who stars as Phoenix in the film series "X-Men", has said that she would relish the opportunity to reprise her role in the future.

"I don't even know what the deal is, whether Disney wants to continue on the 'X-Men' journey. I would always be down to go back to that character and that cast and that experience ... We had the best time on those movies. I would kill to go back," she said in a video chat seen on Twitter, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Turner is currently starring in the TV series "Survive", where she plays a survivor of a plane crash who has to make it back to civilisation. She hopes the new show will make those suffering with mental illness feel "less alone".

Turner said: "What drew me to the script was the way that mental illness was written so accurately in my opinion. It felt real to me. I also loved the notion that this girl who wanted to die so badly ends up fighting for a life that she never wanted to live in the first place."

She also feels "Survive" will help to make people feel less alone. "I hope that the story of this girl finding something to live for helps others find the ability to do that, too," she said.

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Actor Chris Hemsworth found shooting in India "overwhelming" because of the positivity and enthusiasm that he experienced while filming the upcoming Netflix film "Extraction" in the country.

"I loved shooting in India. The people were incredible. I didn't realise how popular the Marvel films were in India. So that was, at times, overwhelming," Hemsworth told IANS during a special video call before the release of his Netflix movie.

"There was such positivity and enthusiasm for all of us and our crew… During shooting, we had hundreds and thousands of people on certain days lining up on the streets and up on top of bridges and in buildings, you know, after every takes, cheering and applauding. I've never experienced anything like it. And as I said, I have such fond memories of India and the people there," he added while recounting his time in India.

Hemsworth shot for the Netflix film in India in 2018. He shot in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The "Thor" star was scheduled to be in Mumbai on March 16 to promote the film that has been shot in India. The promotional tour was called off due to the global coronavirus outbreak.

Earlier in an interview to IANS, Hemsworth, whose daughter is named India, revealed the reason behind naming his daughter after the country.

"My wife (Elsa Pataky) spent a lot of time in India and that was where the name originally came from," Hemsworth said in that interview, adding: "I love the place and the people. It was sort of intimidating as it was exciting because there were so many people… We felt like rock stars in a stadium. But the warmth and support we got while shooting there, no matter how disruptive we were to their daily lives, it was so good. "

Originally titled "Dhaka", the film also stars Indian actors Randeep Hooda, Pankaj Tripathi, Priyanshu Painyulli, and Rudraksh Jaiswal. It revolves around Tyler Rake (essayed by Hemsworth), a fearless, black market mercenary, who embarks on the most deadly extraction of his career when he is enlisted to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord. The film, directed by Sam Hargrave, will release on Netflix on April 24.

Talking about working for a streaming platform for the first time, Hemsworth said: "It's my first time working on a streaming platform. I was excited to do it, strangely enough, you know, it's probably the best place to be at this point.

"We put in, you know, the same amount of commitment and passion and enthusiasm as we would with anything else, whether it was a cinema release or a streaming space. I am beyond proud of the film. From the very beginning, I loved the script. I love the story that we were able to tell and the opportunity to shoot action, unlike anything I'd certainly been a part of before."

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Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba is bemused as to why he remains a constant source of criticism despite missing most of the campaign through injury. The 27-year-old has been restricted to just eight appearances this season due to a persistent ankle injury. Former Liverpool captain and manager Graeme Souness has been one of the most outspoken critics of Pogba since he returned to United from Juventus for a then world record £89 million ($112 million) fee in 2016.

However, Pogba claimed he did not even know who Souness was. "I didn't even know who he was, really," Pogba told the official Manchester United podcast. "I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I know the face but (not) the name. "Like I said I'm not someone that watches a lot of (punditry), I watch a lot of football but I don't stay after the game to listen to what they say about why they did this, or why they did that. I like to focus on football." Souness - who won three European Cups, and five league titles as a player at Liverpool - responded to Pogba on Tuesday morning.

"I'm happy with that. The oldest saying in football comes to mind: 'Put your medals on the table'. I've got a big table," the former Scottish international told Sky Sports. Pogba's return to Old Trafford has failed to match the expectations of his price tag despite winning the Europa League and League Cup in his first season under Jose Mourinho. A bitter fall out with Mourinho followed in the next two seasons before the Portuguese was sacked in December 2018.

And after a brief hot streak when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge, Pogba's time under the Norwegian has been beset by a lack of form and fitness. However, the French World Cup winner still believes the criticism he has received, particularly in his absence this season, is unjustified. "It's good to hear good stuff instead of bad stuff but when you play football, you know yourself. It's what your manager and team-mates want, the rest is just talk," added Pogba.

"I guess they (the critics) miss me, I don't know? I'm not someone that looks always at Sky Sports News. "When you know football, you don't need someone to tell you what's happening. "One day maybe I will meet them and ask them because I really want to know, why?"

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba revealed while growing up he was an Arsenal fan. French international idolised Thierry Henry and wanted to follow the footsteps of the countryman.

"I will be honest. So, at the start, I was an Arsenal fan - obviously because of all the French players, you know. Me and my brother were but my other brother was a Manchester United fan," Pogba told United's official podcast.

"I couldn't say anything so I used to love Henry and, because of him, I was an Arsenal fan. Then I changed and went on to choose with my other brother. No Arsenal, I went with the other one, the United fan!" he added.

Pogba came through the youth ranks at Old Trafford while Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge but after only making a handful of appearances for the first team in 2011/12 he left for Juventus in the summer.

He re-joined United in 2016 from Juventus when Jose Mourinho was the manager as he saw it as an opportunity to finish what he had started.

Henry, who had left Arsenal for Barcelona by the time Pogba arrived in England, was not the only iconic Frenchman or all-time great that an energetic midfielder looked up to.

"I had Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, [Zinedine] Zidane, Thierry Henry, Djibril Cisse, Kaka," Pogba said.

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The Real Madrid superstar is one of the best players in the world and his talent is clear for all to see. But, these five facts about the Belgian aren’t as well-known.

Hazard was scoring goals before he was even born
Eden Hazard comes from a footballing family, with his younger brothers Thorgan, Kylian and Ethan all playing currently and with his father Thierry and mother Carine both playing football too when they were younger. Carine played in the Belgian women’s first division and stopped when she was three months pregnant with Eden, meaning that he was sort of a part of some of his mother’s final goals before he was born.

Zidane was Hazard's idol as he grew up
Zinedine Zidane is now Hazard’s boss and this must feel surreal every day the Belgian goes to work. As a kid, he grew up admiring Zizou and even possessed a France national team shirt with Zidane’s name and number on the back. Zidane has long been fond of Hazard too, expressing his love of the playmaker’s game long before he was signed by Real Madrid.

Hazard is the youngest Ligue 1 Player of the Year
The Ligue 1 Player of the Year prize is given out at the end of every season to the star of France’s top league and Eden Hazard won this award twice during his time with Lille, claiming it in back-to-back years for his displays in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons. He was just 20 years of age when he won the first one, making him the youngest ever player to claim this award.

Hazard is a New York Knicks fan
As well as his love for football, Hazard is also a big basketball fan. He enjoys the NBA and attends matches in North America when he can. The Belgian even has a team that he supports, having declared himself a New York Knicks fan.

San Diego 1904 FC is partly owned by Hazard
Hazard still has many years of playing at the top level ahead of him, but he has already stepped into the world of football club ownership, doing so with NISA side San Diego 1904 FC. He co-founded it in 2016 along with Demba Ba and other business partners.

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The Argentine forward is a true superstar of the game and one of the most famous players on the planet, but here are some things you might not already know about him.

1. He has scored at least seven goals against every other La Liga Santander team
All LaLiga teams naturally fear Messi when he comes up against them, with the No.10 having netted at least seven times against all 19 of the other sides currently in the top division. His favourite victim is Sevilla, against whom he has a whopping 37 goals in 38 appearances. Over his career, he has faced 40 different clubs in the Spanish top flight, with only three yet to concede against him: Cadiz, Murcia and Xerez.

2. He first played with fellow Barcelona captain Gerard Pique in 2000
Messi and his current Barcelona teammate Gerard Pique have spent most of their footballing lives together. They were both in the same team in Barcelona’s La Masia academy, along with Cesc Fàbregas – part of the so-called “generation of ‘87” and conquered almost every challenge in their path. It was clear from that early age that these players would go on to achieve great things and, although Pique spent time at Manchester United and Real Zaragoza before returning to Barcelona, they have both been in the Blaugrana first-team squad together since 2008, playing 471 matches together. Messi has only played more often alongside Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta.

3. He pays tributes to his grandmother after every goal
The sight of Messi pointing towards the sky with both hands after scoring a goal has become an almost weekly occurrence in LaLiga but not many people know its meaning. It is in fact a tribute to Grandmother Celia, who Messi credits with sparking his interest in football and supporting him as he took his first steps in the game. Sadly, she passed away in 1998 and never saw him play at the top level, but his iconic celebration ensures that her spirit lives on.  

4. He could have played for Spain at international level
Messi has represented Argentina throughout his international career, but he could have been wearing the red of Spain had he accepted an offer to join the national team of the country where he has spent his entire professional career. After spending his childhood in Barcelona, he was eligible to play for the 2010 world champions, but Messi says the idea never crossed his mind. The rest, as they say, is history as he has gone on to become Argentina’s all-time top scorer with 70 goals.   

5. His footballing idol was Pablo Aimar
Many up-and-coming players consider Messi as a role model, but it’s easy to forget that he had an idol growing up too, just like any other aspiring footballer. His was fellow Argentina and former Valencia and Real Zaragoza playmaker Pablo Aimar. They faced each other in LaLiga on several occasions, including on one special night in 2004 when Aimar came up to the 17-year-old Messi, an unused sub on the night, after the game to offer him his shirt. He still treasures that jersey to this day. 

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João Félix exploded onto the scene at Benfica in 2018 before a huge summer move to LaLiga with Atlético de Madrid. Here are five things you may not know about the Portuguese superstar...

1. His idol while growing up was Kaká
The similarities between the two are clear, both in playing style and appearance… brothers, anyone? But what isn’t so known is that Kaka was actually one of Joao Felix’s biggest idols growing up: the young Felix has spoken of watching YouTube video after YouTube video of the former World Player of the Year. The 20-year-old has also named Portuguese legend Rui Costa among his other inspirations while growing up.

2. Both his parents are teachers
Carlos and Carla, Joao’s parents, are both physical education teachers and he credits them with keeping him centred growing up. He has explained in interviews that his father would give him pep talks before matches and helped him stay focused during his teenage years; at the age of just 13 years he moved away from home to FC Porto’s academy, before later making the move to the capital with Benfica.

3. His first hat-trick in the Europa League was record-breaking
In April 2019, Joao hit the headlines across Europe with a stunning performance for Benfica in a Europa League match against Eintracht Frankfurt. By scoring three times in a 4-2 victory, he became the youngest ever player to score a hat-trick in the Europa League, doing so at the age of just 19 years and 152 days. That broke the previous record set by Marko Pjaca in 2014.

4. Diego Costa has taken him under his wing
From the start of pre-season, Joao and Diego Costa have forged a strong relationship. Costa is known to be a leader in the Atlético de Madrid dressing room and he quickly took the new arrival from Benfica under his wing, spending a lot of time with him and partnering with him in various drills. Both players are native Portuguese speakers, and this has helped the youngster settle in. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that it was Costa who assisted Joao’s first official goal for Atleti, against Eibar back in September.

5. His brother Hugo is also a highly rated prospect
Hugo Felix, João’s 16-year-old brother, is also highly rated and is doing well at Benfica’s academy. João was even able to celebrate goals with his brother last season, as Hugo was a ball boy at the Estádio da Luz on some matchdays. One particular goal that he scored against Vitória Setúbal ended with an emotional embrace between the siblings.

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Consider yourself a big La Liga fan? Check out this list of expressions that no true La Liga lover should be unfamiliar with.

1. “Croqueta”
A ‘croqueta’ is a way of quickly shifting the ball between a player’s feet, especially when tempting a defender into making a challenge by first slowing down and then sprinting away. The signature move of former Barcelona captain and nine-time LaLiga winner Andres Iniesta, the word literally means ‘croquette,’ that famous staple of Spanish tapa bars and granny’s cooking.

2. “Sombrero”
In Spanish Sombrero is a hat, but in Spanish football it is where a player lifts the ball over his opponent’s head and controls it as it drops to the floor, leaving his rival confused and out of the play. A famous example would be Neymar’s goal for Barcelona against Villarreal in LaLiga in 2016, which was nominated for that year’s FIFA Puskas award.

3. “Chilena”
When a player pushes himself into the air with one foot, then acrobatically volleys it with the other, often lifting his boot well over head height. Similar to a ‘bicycle kick’ in English. Although a ‘Chilena’ literally refers to someone from Chile, its most famous exponent was Mexico international Hugo Sanchez. Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have more recently scored screamers like this.

4. “Colgarse del larguero”
Literally meaning ‘hang from the goalposts,’ the expression is used when a team brings all their players back to defend inside their own penalty area. Similar to the English phrase ‘Park the bus,’ the tactic is often used by a team defending a narrow lead or facing a much more powerful opponent and used to criticise them by managers whose team cannot find a way through.

5. “Hacer la cama”
A team thought to not be making 100% effort in games can be said to be ‘making the bed’ for their coach, which means trying – consciously or not – to get their boss fired!

6. “Zamorana”
The patented signature move of legendary 1920s and 30s Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora was to fake catch a ball, then double his arm, flex his elbow and propel the ball far up the pitch with surprising power. Besides clearing danger from his own box, the ‘Zamorana’ often helped start counter-attacks and had a highly demoralising effect on shocked opposition strikers, too.

7. “Tirarse en la piscina”
To ‘throw yourself into the swimming pool’ is a nicely poetic Spanish way of saying a player dived, or threw himself to the ground without any contact from a defender, to deceive the referee into whistling for a foul. Sometimes also described as ‘simulación’ which is closer to the English ‘simulation.’

8. “Tener flor”
A player, or more often a coach, who ‘has a flower’ is thought to have good fortune, similar to being 'charmed’ in English. The expression is also often used by defeated opposition fans or pundits as a way to avoid praising tactical or technical excellence in an opposition team.

9. “Rabona”
When a player plants one foot in front of the ball, and then sweeps his other leg around behind to spectacularly strike the ball, you have a ‘Rabona.’ One-time Barcelona winger Ricardo Quaresma is an expert, while former Villarreal midfielder Pablo Fornals scored a superb rabona against Huesca in 2019.

10. “Pase de la Muerte”
The ‘pass of death’ has a specific meaning in Spanish football. It refers to a through ball which breaks an offside trap to leave a teammate clear in front of goal. Quite a few of Barça captain Lionel Messi’s 12 LaLiga assists this season have met this description. Deadly, and very hard to defend against.

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From a childhood nickname to his world champion horse, these are some of the lesser-known facts about the Real Madrid captain and legend

1. His nickname as a child was Schuster
As a child, Sergio played up front and was nicknamed ‘Bernd Schuster’ after the great German goalscorer by the friends he played with on the grass outside his apartment block. He’d go on to play in defence throughout his career, at right-back and centre-back, but has maintained his brilliant goalscoring ability. Coincidentally, he was even coached by Schuster at Real Madrid between 2007 and 2008.

2. He’s only ever worn the number 4 shirt at Real Madrid, but never for Spain…
When Ramos arrived at Real Madrid, he was touted to fill the void left by the departing legend Fernando Hierro. Ramos wasn’t shy about taking on the challenge and adopted Hierro’s famous No.4 jersey from day one. That has been the number on his back during his entire decade-and-a-half career at the Santiago Bernabéu. Funnily enough though, Ramos picked a different number for when he plays with the Spanish national team: 15.

3. He has never scored for Spain at a major tournament
Sergio is Spain’s all-time record appearance holder (170) and has scored 21 goals for his country, a mightily impressive tally for a defender. Bizarrely enough, though, he’s never scored for Spain at a major tournament. Each of his 21 strikes has come in qualification rounds, in friendlies, or in the UEFA Nations League. Beyond penalty shootouts, he’s never scored at a World Cup, European Championship or even the Confederations Cup.

4. He didn’t win a Champions League knockout tie until the age of 25
Ramos has four Champions League titles to his name, winning the tournament in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. He may undoubtedly be one of the all-time greats of the competition, but it’s easy to forget that he didn’t reach the competition’s quarter-final until the age of 25. He never played in the Champions League with Sevilla, then his first few years at Real Madrid coincided with a barren spell for the capital city club in which they were consistently knocked out in the first knock-out phase. Finally, in 2010/11 after the arrival of Jose Mourinho, Ramos made it to his first quarter-final, against Tottenham Hotspur. He’s certainly overcome that initial disappointment as the years have gone on.

5. His horse Yucatán de Ramos is a world champion
Like any true Andalusian, Sergio loves horses and has done since childhood. He owns stables near his hometown of Seville, and Yucatan de Ramos, his star horse, won a world championship at the 2018 Interntional PRE Horse Fair recognising it as the finest pure-bred Spanish horse in the world.

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Representational picture

A bottle gourd or dudhi as we call it is one of the healthiest vegetables. When it is fresh, the fruit has a light green smooth skin and white flesh. Doodhi is about 92 percent of water and minerals which keeps your body hydrated. The bottle gourd or doodhi has a long list of health benefits. Dr. Manoj Kutteri, Wellness Director at Atmantan Wellness Director lists some of them

• Cooked bottle gourd aids for better digestion. It is cooling, calming, diuretic and anti-bilious (reduces bile and stops indigestion). The B vitamins assist in increasing the body’s metabolic rate to better digest fats, proteins, sugar and carbohydrate.
• Like cranberries, bottle gourd supports the kidneys and the urinary system of our body by reducing burning sensation from high acidic urination. It also reduces the chances of urinary infection because it is alkalizing and has a diuretic effect. Consume if you have high creatine and uric acid.
• A nutritious vegetable for the female reproductive system.
• It is extremely popular for weight loss especially the bottle gourd juice.
• Bottle gourd is extremely popular for reducing high blood pressure and bad cholesterol in some people.
• Bottle gourd is known to combat excessive thirst in diabetic patients.
• The fiber and the minerals in the bottle gourd support healthy digestion and combats constipation, colic pain and ulcer.
• Helps to prevent premature greying and improve hair growth.
• The Vitamin C and Zinc in lauki prevent pre mature aging and wrinkles as well.
• Bottle gourd is recommended for reducing liver inflammation.
• Lauki juice taken with ginger or black pepper can help with respiratory health.
• Bottle gourd is over 90% water therefore it is easy to digest
• The vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre in lauki keep the body well-nourished and curb unnecessary appetite, especially if you drink its juice in the morning on an empty stomach.
• It also contains sodium, potassium, essential minerals and trace elements, which regulate blood pressure and prevent the risk of heart ailments.
• High in sodium and potassium, bottle gourd is also an excellent vegetable for people with hypertension.
• Mixing the juice with sesame oil provides an effective medicine for insomnia. Massage the scalp with this preparation every night.

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I request you to kindly give me your advise on GST which is going to be implemented very shortly. Thanks and Regards, Varadarajan Kasturi..

Coronavirus fears have spooked the investors worldwide with BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty falling over 25% this month, in line with many other global indices.

After sharp corrections in three trading sessions on March 9, March 12, and March 16 by 5.1%, 8.1% and 7.9% respectively, the Sensex crashed by an overall 22% this month.

Let's dive a bit deeper and look at how the impact has been on individual sectors...

1. While all sectoral indices are in a sea of red since the outbreak of coronavirus, here's a look at the worst hit sectors since coronavirus outbreak:

   Sector	Since 1 March (%)	Since 1 Jan (%)
   BSE Metal	-30%	-45%
   BSE Bankex	-31%	-37%
   BSE Oil & Gas	-24%	-36%
   BSE Auto	-24%	-36%
   BSE Finance	-30%	-36%
   BSE Realty	-31%	-36%
   BSE Capital Goods	-25%	-33%
   BSE Power	-22%	-32%
   BSE Basic Material	-26%	-32%
   BSE Consumer Discretionary	-24%	-28%
   BSE IT	-25%	-27%
   BSE FMCG	-18%	-22%
   BSE Consumer Durables	-24%	-20%
   BSE Healthcare	-15%	-15%
   BSE Telecom	-18%	-14%

   *Note that prices are as on 19 March 2020
2. As you can see in the table above, metal sector has been hit the worst on year-to-date (YTD) basis. Note that, the sector has been witnessing selling pressure since last two years. The coronavirus situation has only exacerbated the situation.
3. Another sector that is largely impacted is banking and NBFCs. After being the most preferred in the Indian equity indices for over half a decade, things have changed for stocks in the financial sector. In India it is a double blow for financial sector in the form of YES Bank fallout and prolonged slowdown which increased the chances of credit quality deterioration.
4. To put things into context, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were heavily positioned in the Indian financial space, and stocks in the sector witnessed maximum inflows during good times. Downward spiral for financial sector began since IL&FS crisis.
   
   Both, BSE Bankex and BSE Finance Index have plunged over 30% since the beginning of the month.
5. Shares of most hotel, leisure and airline firms have tumbled over 60% year-to-date, as the coronavirus outbreak across the world has forced people to cancel vacation plans. India also stand to lose foreign tourists due to the entry restrictions that have been put in place. And this has meant things getting worse for hotels and airlines sector.
6. Out of the 90 stocks listed on BSE from tourism, hospitality and film distribution segments, only 15 have given positive returns YTD.
7. Another sector that's facing the brunt is the automobile sector. Coronavirus couldn't have come at a worse time for India's auto sector that is battling a prolonged slump in demand. The virus outbreak has added to the pain, hitting production and lowering the demand even further as consumer spending is unusually low. Reportedly, the correction in the auto index is now close to what was seen during the 2008 global financial crisis. BSE Auto Index is down 36% on a YTD basis.
8. The fall in other indices like FMCG, consumer durables, capital goods and IT is relatively moderate as they do not have any direct impact of the pandemic. However, they too have been witnessing selling amid the sharp correction in Indian share markets.
9. Interestingly, Indian pharma has been doing much better than the overall index. Since the beginning of March 2020, the Sensex is down by 26% while the BSE Healthcare index is down only by 15% (till 19 March 2020).
   • One factor is the rupee weakness which has weakened well beyond the Rs 75/$ mark. A weak rupee helps exporters and pharma obviously benefits.
   • Another factor is the spread of the novel coronavirus has led global investors to rush for pharmaceutical stocks recently, on back of a rise in demand for generics and branded generics leading to shortages and over-pricing for drugs.
10. However, as the markets took a breather on Friday, the sectors that rallied the most were BSE FMCG, BSE IT and BSE Oil & Gas indices, gaining over 8% each.

What do you think will be the long-term impact for these sectors? Well, you can let us know by dropping your views in the comments section below.

While most sectors have been falling, our co-head of research, Tanushree Banerjee believes in long term, Indian auto ancillaries, textiles, chemical companies, Pharma R&D contract manufacturers, will all be the major beneficiaries of what she calls the Rebirth of India megatrend.

Also, in times like these, our special report, How to Trade the Coronavirus Crash, will help you get a grip on the current market situation...and figure out ways to profit from it.

This is the most comprehensive report on how to trade the coronavirus, both from a short-term and long-term perspective. I strongly recommend you read it now. Claim your FREE copy here...

Happy Investing!

This article (Worst Hit Indian Sectors Amid Coronavirus Pandemic: 10 Points to Know) is authored by Equitymaster.

Equitymaster is a leading 'independent' equity research initiative focused on providing well-researched and unbiased opinions on stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Most sectors in the Indian share markets have been drowning in a sea of red due to the crash led by coronavirus outbreak. The biggest blow, however, has been felt by the banking sector.

The sector was already reeling under pressure due multiple factors for quite some time. And things started getting worse since the start of 2020.

Here's a timeline showing some major events that happened in the Indian banking sector and led to the slowdown we are witnessing in the past few months...

1. Mounting Pile of Bad Loans: Indian banks have for years worked to beat down mounting piles of bad loans of the sort that led to the Yes Bank fallout. The ratio of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at Indian banks rose to 11% in 2018 from about 2% in 2008, before starting to ease off.
2. IL&FS Crisis Kicks Off the Downward Spiral: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were heavily positioned in the Indian banking and financial space, and stocks in the sector witnessed maximum inflows during good times. However, they started noticing cracks with consistent negative performance in the banking and financial sector and started moving out of them. The downward spiral for these sectors began since IL&FS crisis camec out into the open.
3. Credit Quality Deteriorates: After being the most preferred sector for over half a decade, things started changing for stocks in the banking sector since 2020. This came as the sector witnessed a double blow in the form of YES Bank fallout and prolonged economic slowdown. And all this only led to credit quality deterioration for banks.
4. YES Bank Crash: The Yes Bank crisis and the sight of Rana Kapoor being taken to court in early March came in as one of the worst months for India's banking sector.
5. Bailout for Yes Bank: To save Yes Bank, a range of Indian lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI), infused funds in return for an equity stake. The episode came as a jolt to investors, who worried it could exacerbate vulnerabilities in the financial system.
6. Panic Selling Amid SC Order: Then came another blow. Before the dust settled on Yes Bank, the Supreme Court ruled that telecom operators must pay dues worth billions owed to the government. This caused panic-selling in bank stocks due to their heavy exposure to the telecoms sector.
7. Coronavirus Threat: The challenges now facing India's banking sector have reached another order of magnitude due to the coronavirus threat to the economy. Banking stocks have been among the hardest hit.
8. Sharp Fall for BSE Bankex: The BSE Bankex has fallen about 46% so far this year, outpacing the 32% fall in the BSE Sensex. Shares of Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank have lost the most during this period.
9. Relief Measures: Owing to all these shocks, banks have sought various relief measures. On 27 March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came out all guns blazing to arrest a potential slowdown caused by coronavirus (Covid-19). It did not just lower the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 1% to 3% but also cut the repo rate by 0.75%. Also, there is a three-month moratorium on payment of loan installments.
10. PSB Merger: Then came the major announcement effective from 1 April 2020. First announced in August 2019, the government's ambitious plan to merge 10 state-owned banks into four came into effect from 1 April 2020. The move, aimed at strengthening the banking system and creating more large institutions with size and scale, has seen...
    • Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India merged into Punjab National Bank,
    • Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank merged into Union Bank of India,
    • Allahabad Bank merged with Indian Bank, and
    • Syndicate Bank amalgamated into Canara Bank

So, that were some top pointers on what the Indian banking sector has been going through amid the coronavirus led stock market crash.

I reached out to Tanushree Banerjee, who is closely tracking the banking sector in the current scenario. Here's her view on the sector...

• The Covid-19 lockdown has hit cash flows of both individual borrowers and corporates. This, in turn, will impact their loan repayment capability.
  
  The RBI's repo rate cut came as a temporary lifeline for Indian companies with debt on books. It will offer both companies and retail borrowers some breather. If banks use this phase judiciously, it may save the NPA ratios from worsening significantly.
  
  However, only the banks that have adequate capital and provisioning cushion may be able to tide over the economic crisis. Eventually, another round of consolidation in private sector banks, like the one after 2002, cannot be ruled out.

Tanushree's latest StockSelect recommendation is one such midcap bank.

You can read the entire report here (requires subscription).

Also, speaking of ongoing stock market crash, our special report, How to Trade the Coronavirus Crash, is the most comprehensive report on how to trade the coronavirus, both from a short-term and long-term perspective. You can claim your FREE copy here...

And rest assured, Equitymaster is with you all the way on this journey. To that end, we have decided to offer you two of our premium learning courses free!

From the comfort of your home, you can learn the basics of fundamental investing with Equitymaster Secrets and the ins and outs of making money using derivatives with Derivantage. Get started right away.

Happy Investing!

This article (Indian Banking Sector Amid the Corona Crash - 10 Points to Know) is authored by Equitymaster.

Equitymaster is a leading 'independent' equity research initiative focused on providing well-researched and unbiased opinions on stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to haunt the global financial markets, the rupee has been hit badly.

The domestic currency has been continuing its downtrend and hit its record low level against the dollar last week.

Here's a timeline showing how the Indian rupee has performed lately and the factors behind it...

1. Rupee in 2018:
   
   

   The Indian rupee was the worst performer in Asia in 2018. As can be seen from the chart below, it fell by around 12% against the US dollar. This was seen due to a strong dollar and high oil prices in 2018. Similarly, the spill-over from the emerging-market turmoil in Argentina and Turkey weighed on the rupee in 2018.

   Indian Rupee: The Worst Performing Currency in Asia in 2018

2. Rupee in 2019:
   
   

   The rupee traded on a volatile note last calendar year. However, for most of 2019, it traded on a negative note against the US dollar.

   While it started the year at 69.71 against the US dollar and also witnessed some uptrend from April 2019 to August 2019, it went on to depreciate during the end of the year. On December 2019, it ended at 71.31 against the US dollar.

   Rupee Trades was Volatile in 2019

3. Rupee in 2020 So Far:
   
   

   On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the rupee has depreciated sharply against the US dollar. While it started the calendar year 2020 at 71.28 against the US dollar, it is currently trading at 76.27 against the US dollar. This translates to a depreciation of around 7% for the domestic currency.

   YTD Performance of the USD/INR

4. Downtrend in March 2020:
   
   

   The massive sell-off in equities and bonds led to a huge fall in rupee against the dollar in the month of March 2020. Most of the selling pressure was due to the slump in equities and currencies globally.

   Investors were concerned that support measures from governments and central banks may be insufficient to halt the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

   Here's how the currency performed in the month of March:

   Huge Depreciation of the Rupee in March 2020

5. Rupee Hits Record Low in April 2020:
   
   

   The rupee fell to a new record low of 76.55 against the US dollar on 9th April, 2020.

   This was seen as a rise in coronavirus cases fanned fears of the government extending the lockdown to contain the pandemic.

6. Factors Behind the Rupee's Fall:
   
   

   Some major factors behind the recent fall in rupee are...

   • Weak sentiments in the currency markets due to global risk aversion
   • Sharp fall in the Indian stock markets
   • Sharp fall in global financial markets due to coronavirus fears
   • Strengthening dollar
   • Thin liquidity due to reduced participation

These are some top pointers on how the Indian rupee has been performing in recent years and amid the coronavirus led stock market crash.

I reached out to Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts, who is closely tracking the Indian rupee in the current scenario. Here's what he has to say...

The onset of Corona virus has not been kind to the INR.

The Rupee futures (USDINR ) opened in March at 72.36 and have closed at 76.61 on April 09 2020. That is a decline of 5.87% in 6 short weeks.

The implications of the same will be widespread. India is a net importing Country. Everything that we import will now be more expensive. Approximately two thirds of all our imports are fossil fuels. Fuels are what we call multiplier effect commodities. If fuel prices rise at the petrol pumps, everything from fruits, vegetables, grains to dairy and poultry products get expensive.

That impact will be felt at a later date. I expect the trickle down effect to start appearing in prices after the April-June quarter is over.

I have already factored in this aspect in my statistical data model and plan to identify such events to generate profitable trading opportunities for my WCA plan subscribers.

Vijay has also talked about the Indian currency in a special edition podcast from Investor Hour. He shares what's around the corner for Indian rupee and how to should position oneself for potential gains.

You can listen the entire episode here...

Speaking of ongoing stock market crash, our special report, How to Trade the Coronavirus Crash, is the most comprehensive report on how to trade the coronavirus, both from a short-term and long-term perspective. You can claim your FREE copy here...

And rest assured, Equitymaster is with you all the way on this journey. To that end, we have decided to offer you two of our premium learning courses free!

From the comfort of your home, you can learn the basics of fundamental investing with Equitymaster Secrets and the ins and outs of making money using derivatives with Derivantage. Get started right away.

Happy Investing!

This article (The Sharp Fall in Indian Rupee: 6 Points to Know) is authored by Equitymaster.

Equitymaster is a leading 'independent' equity research initiative focused on providing well-researched and unbiased opinions on stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.