Venezuela has accused the US of being behind a botched raid to oust President Maduro.

Shah Rukh Khan's trademark wit was at work when he commented on Salman Khan's new song, Pyaar karona. SRK's quip came during an interactive Twitter session with fans titled "#asksrk", when a user asked him what he thought of the new song that Salman has released on the coronavirus outbreak, titled "Pyaar karona".

"Bhai kamaal ka Single aur Singer hai..." was Shah Rukh's reply.

Many fans feel SRK was playing a pun using the word "Single" -- which could refer to the song, as well as Salman's bachelor status. "Bhai" could be a reference to Salman, of course, but Shah Rukh could also be addressing the fan.

Among several other interesting questions, SRK was asked who he would love to work with -- Martin Scorsese or Christopher Nolan. His reply, again, was a cryptic one, and many users felt he is hinting at a possible collaboration with Rajkumar Hirani in the future.

Replying to the question about Scorsese or Nolan, Shah Rukh tweeted: "Wow both are awesome and I have met them... but Raju apna sa lagta hai... nahi?"

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A group of 22 people from Mumbai and Thane district went for a picnic at Tandulwadi Fort in Palghar district where they lost their way out of the jungle in the dark. They called up the police control for help and the local Safale police of Palghar district rushed to their rescue and escorted them out safely.

According to the Safale police sources, "A group of 22 people from Mumbai and Thane district visited Tandulwadi Fort situated in Safale Palghar district for a trek on Saturday where they decided to walk through the jungle around 7:30 pm but after sunset, they lost their way out of the jungle.

Fearing of being lost, they contacted the police control for help and senior inspector Sandeep Sanap from Safale police station despatched a team of officers to their rescue. Constable SU Solkhe, SB Bhavar, NL Dhongde reached the spot at around 9 pm and rescued the group. Their respective parents were contacted after which they were returned home safely," said Hemant Katkar PRO of Palghar district police.

Also Read: Six rescued, one missing as tugboat capsizes off Mumbai

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Representational picture

San Francisco: Global wearable brand Fitbit has announced to use Google's new Cloud Healthcare API to help the company integrate further into the healthcare system, such as by connecting user data with electronic medical records (EMR). Combining Fitbit data with EMRs can provide patients and clinicians a more comprehensive view of the patient profile, leading to more personalised care, the company said in a statement late Monday.

"Working with Google gives us an opportunity to transform how we scale our business, allowing us to reach more people around the world faster, while also enhancing the experience we offer to our users and the healthcare system," said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit.

"This collaboration will accelerate the pace of innovation to define the next generation of healthcare and wearables," he added.

The companies will also look to help better manage chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension by using services such as Fitbit's recently acquired "Twine Health".

Using Google's Cloud Healthcare API, "Twine" can make it easier for clinicians and patients to collaborate on care, helping lead to better health outcomes and positive returns for employers, health plans and hospitals.

"At Google, our vision is to transform the way health information is organised and made useful. By enabling Fitbit to connect and manage key health and fitness data using our Google Cloud Healthcare API, we are getting one step closer to this goal," said Gregory Moore Vice President, Healthcare, Google Cloud.

"Together, we have the opportunity to deliver up-to-date information to providers, enhancing their ability to follow and manage the health of their patients and guide their treatment," he added.

Google Cloud will provide Fitbit with next-generation cloud services and engineering support, allowing Fitbit to scale faster.

Fitbit products are carried in over 45,000 retail stores and in 86 countries.

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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

As part of its redesigning spree, Google has provided a surprise makeover to its Drive.

The Google Drive now appears to take major inspiration from the recently redesigned Gmail app. There are no new features, but the appearance has been tweaked to match with other Google products.

To begin with, the Drive interface background has been changed from gray to white for a neater look. The boxes and icons have also been given rounded corners and a taller appearance than before, Engadget reports.

In addition to that, the Drive logo is now placed prominently on the top left corner of the interface. The icons have also been shuffled a bit.

The latest changes to Google Drive will start reflecting in some time as the company is gradually rolling out the redesign.

In a bid to deliver transparency in technology and stay ahead of ethical pitfalls, Google has said that its Artificial Intelligence (AI) calling system "Duplex" would now identify itself while making appointments.

Following the launch of the "Duplex" system, which lets AI mimic a human voice to make appointments and book tables, among other functions, a widespread outcry over the ethical dilemmas were raised by tech critics.

Google clarified to The Verge that the experimental system would have a "disclosure built-in" that means that whenever Duplex gets involved in some type of verbal communication with a human at the other end, it would identify that the human is talking to an AI.

"We understand and value the discussion around Google Duplex, as we have said from the beginning, transparency in the technology is important," a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying.

"We are designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we will make sure the system is appropriately identified. What we showed at I/O was an early technology demo, and we look forward to incorporating feedback as we develop this into a product," the spokesperson added.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai introduced Duplex earlier this week in the company's annual developer's conference Google I/O and demonstrated how the AI system could book an appointment at a salon and a table at a restaurant.

In the demo, the Google Assistant sounded like a human. It used Google DeepMind's new WaveNet audio-generation technique and other advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to replicate human speech patterns.

However, tech critics raised questions on the morality of the technology saying it was developed without proper oversight or regulation.

According to tech critic Zeynep Tufekci, the demo was "horrifying" and the initial positive audience reaction at I/O was evidence that "Silicon Valley is ethically lost, rudderless and has not learned a thing".

Google had originally said in a blog post written by engineers Yaniv Leviathan and Yossi Matias that "it's important to us that users and businesses have a good experience with this service and transparency is a key part of that".

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Google

Google has rolled out a new series of controls that will allow YouTube users to set limits on their video viewing, and help them set "Take a Break" reminder from browsing the channels for too long, a media report said.

The new feature will enable the users to set a reminder for every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes, at which point the video will pause and users will receive "Take a Break" notification that they have been binge-watching videos for longer than they decided to.

Users can then choose to dismiss the reminder and keep watching, or close the app, the TechCrunch reported late Friday.

The changes announced during Google's I/O keynote will roll out in the latest update of YouTube, along with YouTube's ability to send notifications.

The reminders will come with an option of being dismissed and the feature will also allow users to disable notification sounds during a specified time period each day.

The new features are first expected to hit the 13.17 and higher versions of the YouTube mobile app on both iOS and Android, the report said.

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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.

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Believe it or not, exciting things are happening in Konkani cinema. I am familiar with Indian films in at least 10-12 languages, but it was a real discovery watching the best Konkani films on the jury of the 9th Goa State Film Festival Awards, that was given last week. To know who the top Konkani stars are, what subjects interest them — the church often looms large. The Best Film (Konkani) went to Nilesh Karamunge’s Mahaprayan (The Last Journey), Best Director (Konkani) to Rajiv Shinde’s K Sera Sera (Ghodpachem Ghoddtelem, Whatever Will Be Will Be), and Best Film (Marathi) to Sainath Parab's Disha (Direction). Mahaprayan was a real discovery, of which more anon. K Sera Sera, which swept nine awards, told two parallel stories of an ambitious career woman and a retired man, struggling to keep his family together, starring actor-producer Rajesh Pednekar and Palomi Ghosh. It had rich technical and acting credits, some ‘imported’ from outside Goa. Sadly, Miransha Naik’s powerful Juze was not in competition, but Nilesh Malkar’s Soul Curry smartly ‘imported’ Bollywood star Jackie Shroff for wider appeal. Shroff even dubbed for himself in Konkani and won a Special Jury Award for Best Actor.

Mahaprayan is one of those rare films, that makes a powerful social critique while accomplishing an amazing technical feat: the whole 83 minute-film is a single take, shot by Sameer Bhaskar. What’s more, it is the debut feature of an ex-army man, Nilesh Karamunge. Inspired by a real incident in Odisha, the film is about Tulsidas (Dhananjay Amonkar) who, unable to afford a hearse to take his dead wife from the hospital to his distant village for cremation, walks home all the way, carrying her corpse on his shoulders, accompanied by his young daughter Kaalika (Aarya Ghare). The pair meet many people who refuse to help — hospital staff, passengers in a bus, the police, and when a kind forest official finally helps them, the media pounces on him for ‘misusing’ a government jeep. The crew did many rehearsals, shooting in real time as they walked 3.5 km in the noonday sun. The film is a scathing attack on the government and our society. The charming and mature Aarya Ghare, just nine, won Best Actress.

Mahaprayan vaults to one of the year's most gratifying discoveries in Indian cinema, its accomplishments far exceeding its modesty and flaws. K Sera Sera is a polished work, given Konkani cinema’s constraints. And let's get some perspective here: while most regional Indian cinemas started in the 1920s or earlier, the first Konkani film, Mogacho Anvddo, was released only in 1950. The Hindi and Tamil industries make, on average, 250-350 feature films a year, but the fledgeling Konkani industry makes barely five to seven features a year. And there is no doubt that Konkani cinema got kick-started since the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was held in Goa since 2004, and the locals were consistently exposed to world cinema. And look what it's offering now — you do a double take.

Meenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival, award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. Reach her at meenakshishedde@gmail.com.

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There are many single parents in India. Not too long ago, a single parent was equal to a woman raising her kid/s. But this is changing. We already have three friends who are single dads - not just divorced - and they wholly look after their kids.

And the best way to know that single dadhood is no longer an aberration is the fact that we now have souldads.com in India. The brainchild of Chetan Shah, it intends to be an online support channel for single parents, especially fathers. Shah shares his experiences and challenges, and invites readers to participate in the conversation. The blog posts dwell on education and parenting, and the emotional challenges of relationships and parenting. While the blog claims to post solutions to overcome them, we didn't see any. A revisit to a site would only happen if it provides solutions. And Souldad.com does not.

Single dads, like moms, need to work full-time to support the family, and it would be great if (like babychakra.com) an online community answers practical and logistic concerns, such as:

• As a father, where can I find nanny/daycare, governess/companion for my children?
• Does anyone offer babysitting services for a day/week/short period?
• Do you have lists or agencies that provide cooks or dabba facilities; as a package, or otherwise?
• What do I do on festivals? I want my kid to be in touch with their roots, and I have no clue.
• I need to travel out of the country for work; what do I do?
• Where do I find tutor lists?
• Kids have a tough time after their parents separate. What do I do if I think my kid/s may need hand-holding or a counsellor?
• What are the safe and clean places I can send my kid/s to play under a nanny's supervision?
• In cities where nuclear families are a norm, daily firefighting is part of any working parent's life. For single parents, even more. Perhaps, it is because they have just started off, but souldads.com needs to address any or more of the above issues if they intend to be a must-see, must-visit online space for single dads.

Log on to: www.singledad.com

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As technological advancements slowly distance younger generations from nature, the need for activities that take kids back to playing outdoors instead of shooting random avatars in multi-player online games becomes more evident.

Rock climbing

“All human beings are born wild. It is only as you age that you grow detached from the outside world. This disconnect has many repercussions on the developmental growth of children. Research shows that syndromes like ADHD and restlessness stem from the lack of outdoor play,” explains Shardul Bajikar, naturalist at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, where adventure activities were included in workshops for children in 2018. The green lungs of the city will play host to Be a Mowgli in the Jungle workshop this Sunday, which includes zip-lining, rappelling, rock climbing and commando bridge for seven- to 14-year-olds.

zip-lining

“We want to introduce adults as well as young residents of Mumbai to the various possibilities of exploring the outdoors,” says Bajikar, mentioning how there are natural sports outside the world of cricket. Group outdoor activities also help kids develop their social skills at a young age, teaching them the meaning of teamwork, he adds.

Other activities and workshops like bird watching, gardening, walks on history and archaeology are also conducted regularly at the SGNP. The aim, Bajikar explains, is to change the perception of people when someone brings up a national park, which is usually seen through the lens of watching wild animals on a safari ride.

On: May 5, 8 am to 12 pm
At: Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Gujarat Road, Borivali East.
Call: 28868686
Cost: Rs 750

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Search engine giant Google unveiled a special doodle on Holi. The doodle shows a group of children splashing the Google logo with many colours.

According to Google, "Today, the Google letters are taking on a fresh set of colors in honor of the Holi festival. Coinciding with the arrival of spring, the vibrant celebration looks a lot like the Doodle: people run around happily covering each other in a rainbow of powdery hues.

Amid the cloud of red, blue, yellow, green, and everything in between, festival-goers can often be found laughing, singing, and dancing in the streets. The joyous event, which takes place in India, Nepal, and other countries around the world, traditionally marks the triumph of good over evil. It also gives family and friends a chance to simply come together, enjoying a spirited “Festival of Colors” that undoubtedly lives up to its name."

About Holi
Holi is a Hindu spring festival in India and Nepal, also known as the "festival of colours" or the "festival of love", It signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships, and is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for a good harvest.

The first day is known as Holika Dahan (हà¥ÂŠà¤²à¤¿à¤Â•à¤¾ दहन) or Chhoti Holi and the second as Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi or Dhulivandan.

Google unveiled a special Doodle on the occasion of Nowruz. The doodle showed the letters Google logo redesigned as flowers with butterflies and bees flying around them.

Nowruz, which is also known as the Iranian New Year and the Persian New Year occurs on 21 March or the previous or following day, depending on where it is observed.

The festival is celebrated worldwide by the Iranian peoples, in Western Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin and the Balkans.

Nowruz marks the first day of the first month (Farvardin) in the Iranian calendar. It has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.

The moment the sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year, and families gather together to observe the rituals.

Nowruz is a secular holiday for most celebrants that is enjoyed by people of several different faiths, but remains a holy day for Zoroastrians.

Sanjay Sharma with his daughters Aayushi (left) and Shriya, both of whom enjoy skating. Pic/Satej Shinde

"When you get divorced, the people you used to hang out with disappear. Suddenly, you have no friends, and neither does your child," begins Hemant Amrute, 43, who has been raising his 12-year-old son as a single parent since 2010. Similarly, Goregaon resident Sanjay Sharma has had full custody of his daughters since 2013, when his older child was not yet five, and the younger two-and-a-half years old.

Hemant Amrute with his son Aryan before a parasailing trip in Goa last December

Taking on the role of both parents hasn't been easy for either of these single dads, but that hasn't stopped them from providing their little ones with an upbringing that isn't lacking.

Striking a work-life balance
Recently, actor Tusshar Kapoor and director Karan Johar made news when they became single fathers to children born via surrogacy. But while these men, who come from privileged backgrounds, presumably have help, this is not the case with most single dads who have to juggle work and kids.

A normal day in the life of the Sharma family is hectic. "Luckily for me, I run my own business, so I do all my work when the kids are at school. My job is to pick them up and later in the evening, drop them off for skating or swimming lessons. My older daughter has also been learning Kathak for two years, while my younger one takes singing lessons," shares 35-year-old Sharma, adding that his mother helps him out on the home front.

Amrute, meanwhile, is also a busy entrepreneur, but now feels confident enough to leave his son home by himself whenever required, as he's a little older. His challenge, however, lies in the kitchen. "I never learned to cook," laughs the Thane resident, adding, "We've had a string of cooks come and go, because both of us invariably end up not liking the food."

Not to mention that being a single parent still has stigma attached to it, which is multiplied when the single parent in question is the father. "In the beginning, people would say, 'Yeh nahin kar paayega (he won't be able to do it)'. Now, they've seen it for themselves," says Sharma. Echoing the sentiment, Amrute adds that once a couple gets divorced, people tend to look down on them, and your social circle shrinks to prevent the awkwardness.

Creating a lasting bond
Sharma's daughters and Amrute's son love being outdoors. Sharma takes his kids to the beach, park, as well as for kiddie events across the city. "We love going on holidays, too, even if they're to nearby places like Mahabaleshwar or Daman."

Amrute and his son Aryan spend weekends at their farmhouse in Yeoor Hills, and head to the cinema or the mall on other days. "We also spent Christmas in Goa last year, which was a lot of fun. A few years ago, I took him with me on a work trip to the US, and we visited a lot of places when I had some downtime," he shares.

Both men recently discovered and joined iSingleParent, a Facebook community that organises meet-ups and holidays for single mums and dads and their kids.

Amrute says that when not at school, his son would end up spending time playing with a smartphone. "We live in a standalone house, so there aren't any kids around for him to play with. But he loves technology, and scored full marks in Robotics. He also enjoys beatboxing and recently started trying out parkour. And now, thanks to the group, he looks forward to bonding with the other kids who come for the meet-ups," he says.

Junglee
U/A: Action
Director: Chuck Russell
Cast: Vidyut Jammwal, Pooja Sawant, Atul Kulkarni, Akshay Oberoi
Ratings: 

There may be a relevant message lying at the heart of Junglee's story, but the wafer-thin plot renders director Chuck Russell incapable of translating it into a thought-provoking film. Poor execution and bad acting makes this Vidyut Jammwal-starrer a mere comedic watch.

This wildlife adventure revolves around Raj (Jammwal), a vet working in Mumbai. He shows his extraordinary Kalaripayattu skills by taking on a bunch of goons who are torturing a stray dog. While his relationship with his father may be strained, the two harbour a shared passion - their love for elephants. Raj's trip to the elephant sanctuary owned by his father turns all the more interesting when he meets female mahout Shankara (Pooja Sawant) and a journalist-animal rights activist (debutante Asha Bhat). However, our mighty hero has little time for romance - trouble looms large over him as he has to protect the elephants from poachers (led by Atul Kulkarni) who trade their ivory tusks for moolah. How Raj saves the pachyderms from the hunters forms the crux of the story.

Watch the trailer here:

Russell appears to be well-acquainted with the strengths and weaknesses of his protagonist. So, you have a script that has little plot and more frills. You will be sold at the good ol' hand pummeling, as Jammwal spices up the desi maar dhaar with mixed martial arts. As for the rest of the cast, Kulkarni's poker-faced bad guy act is something one doesn't expect from a seasoned actor. Sawant is convincing while Bhat as the babe in the jungle is completely wasted. Akshay Oberoi as the forest ranger and Makrand Deshpande are sincere.

On the upside, Mark Irwin's cinematography keeps you hooked to the screen. He captures every moment in the lush jungles with sincerity. But that doesn't save the film from sinking. With a runtime of 115 minutes, this thriller feels longer than it should. You will miss the deft direction that Russell displayed in his previous outings, The Mask and The Scorpion King.

Also Read: Chuck Russell on Junglee: Made film keeping Vidyut Jammwal in mind

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Even as the Central government extended the nationwide lockdown for two weeks, the city recorded the biggest jump in cases in a single day till now at 751, taking the total count for Maharashtra to 11,500.

However, Mumbai witnessed a dip in the number of deaths. State health department officials said that 26 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state of which six were in Mumbai, including a resident of Uttar Pradesh. Eleven other deaths were reported in Pune, three in Jalgaon and one each in Sindhudurg, Bhiwandi, Thane, Nanded, Aurangabad and Parbhani. Among those who died, 14 were above the age of 60 years while 11 were between 40-59 years. Fifteen of the patients were suffering from other ailments like hypertension and diabetes. The death toll in Maharashtra has reached 485 of which 295 have been reported in Mumbai. More than 100 patients have been discharged after full recovery.

Maharashtra reported a total of 1,008 new cases on Friday. Civic officials said that among the 751 new cases in the city, 399 had tested positive in various laboratories between April 25-28 and they were added to the list after the civic body received their details. Based on the recent circular issued by the central government, asymptomatic COVID-19 patients can be allowed to stay in home isolation if it is feasible. Civic officials said that people living in slum areas need the COVID centres more since home isolation is not possible for them.

11,506
Active coronavirus cases in Maharashtra as of today

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The family of a retired BMC employee has alleged that a BMC-run hospital in Mulund, MT Agarwal Hospital, neglected him which led to his death. The incident occurred on Friday morning when the family of 62-year-old Rajaram Bhoir rushed him to the hospital and the medical staff there didn't attend to him for the first three hours. The family claimed that despite them telling the hospital staff about the condition of Bhoir, and highlighting that he is an ex-employee of the BMC, they didn't pay any attention to him. Bhoir started feeling breathless on Thursday evening and after spending a restless night at home, his family decided to take him to the hospital. They moved him to the ICU and waited for a doctor to attend to him for almost two hours, but nobody showed up.

"At around 8 am, some doctors came to the ICU and asked us to shift him to another hospital. The doctors checked him and pronounced him dead," revealed the grieving son. When contacted, Dr Pradeep Angre, the dean of the hospital, responded, "I have ordered an enquiry."

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A day after the number of deaths dropped, Mumbai's death toll rose to 27 deaths on Saturday, the highest number recorded in a single day. The city's count of new cases was also high, as slum areas like Dharavi recorded 89 new cases in a single day.

Maharashtra reported 36 deaths on Saturday and 27 of them occurred in Mumbai, three in Pune, three in Amravati and one each in Vasai-Virar and Aurangabad. State health officials said that in addition to the 27 COVID-19 related deaths in Mumbai, a resident of West Bengal also died in the city. Civic officials said that 20 of those patients were suffering from other ailments including hypertension and diabetes and 15 of the patients were in the age group of 40-59 years.

Civic officials stated that 89 new cases were reported in Dharavi on Saturday and 38 new cases on Friday which took the total count of cases in the area up to 496. Among other areas, Kumbharwada continued to be a hot spot with 16 new cases in two days while Kunchikurve Nagar had 10 new cases. Apart from Dharavi, 17 new cases were reported in Mahim over the past two days which included two patients from the fisherman colony, and 13 new cases in Dadar.

Civic officials of G South ward, which had the highest number of cases, reported that 30 new cases were confirmed on Saturday. "The situation is better at the Worli Koliwada and Jijamata Nagar. However, there are a number of cases emerging from the BDD chawl and Prem Nagar," said Sharad Ughade, assistant municipal commissioner of G South ward. When asked if the restrictions at Worli Koliwada that has been sealed for several weeks will be relaxed, Ughade added that they will take a decision next week.

Two engineers in the maintenance department of Nair Hospital also tested positive. Dr Mohan Joshi, who is in-charge of Nair Hospital, confirmed the news and said, "These engineers did not come in contact with any COVID patients, they caught the infection from the areas where they live."

State health officials said that Maharashtra reported 790 new cases and of them, 547 of them were from Mumbai, and the city now has 8,359 cases. In areas across the state, 121 patients were discharged after a full recovery. Till date, Maharashtra has had 12,296 confirmed cases and 521 deaths.

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As many 137 people suffering from coronavirus have recovered and discharged in the city on Saturday, said Mumbai's Public Health Department. "With 547 new cases of coronavirus and 27 deaths which were reported today, the total count in the city has spiked to 8,172 and deaths to 322," said the Public Health Department. It further said, "137 patients were discharged on Saturday and a total 1,704 patients have recovered in Mumbai till now."

According to the latest data issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 15 more people tested positive for the coronavirus in Mahim on Saturday. With this, the total number of cases in Mahim stands at 52. However, no death has been reported from Dharavi in the last two days, said the BMC officials, adding that "38 people have tested positive today, taking the total number of cases in Dharavi to 496."

The deaths in Dharavi stand at 18. As per Pune's Health Department officials, the toll in Pune district has increased to 103 after three more deaths were reported today. Meanwhile, as many as 56 people -- suffering from coronavirus -- recovered and discharged from a hospital in Thane district.

"The 56 COVID-19 patients were discharged today from a hospital in Mira Bhayandar, Thane after they recovered from the disease," said the hospital authorities. The State Health Department said that a total of 790 new cases of coronavirus and 36 deaths have been confirmed in the State.

According to an official statement, with 790 new COVID-19 cases, the total number of cases in the State has spiked to 12,296 and the cumulative toll stands at 521.

The statement further read that 121 COVID-19 patients were discharged in other parts of the State on Saturday and a total of 2,000 people have been discharged till date.

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday night amended its previous order and allowed reopening of standalone electronics and hardware shops in the city during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown. Civic commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said there was an urgent need to keep such shops open to some extent. "It has been observed that many essential and life- saving medical equipment, IT systems related to health systems and machines,vehicles are in a state of disrepair due to closing down of electronics and hardware shops.

"Hence, there was an urgent need to keep such shops open to some extent," read the BMC's amended order signed by Pardeshi. Pardeshi directed all assistant commissioners of wards to permit one standalone electronic and hardware shop on each road to remain open during the lockdown. According to BMC officials, in view of the order some electronics and hardware shops could be opened from Thursday.

On Tuesday night, Pardeshi, in an order, had directed closure of all non-essential services, including liquor shops, in the city.

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The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) made a shocking decision on April 15 by releasing a huge list of some WWE superstars from past and present.

In a statement by WWE, they announced that they had released a total of 19 superstar wrestlers and a referee. WWE has come to terms on the release of Kurt Angle, Rusev (Miroslav Barnyashev), Zack Ryder (Matthew Cardona), Drake Maverick (James Curtin), Sarah Logan (Sarah Rowe), Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers), Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra) and Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson) - collectively known as The O.C., Heath Slater (Heath Miller), Mike Kanellis (Mike Bennett), Maria Kanellis, Eric Young (Jeremy Fritz), Aiden English (Matthew Rehwoldt), Rowan (Joseph Ruud), No Way Jose (Levis Valenzuela), Mike Chioda, EC3 (Michael Hutter), Lio Rush (Lionel Green), Primo (Edwin Colon) and Epico (Orlando Colon Nieves). WWE also went on to wish them all the best.

Following their release from WWE, superstars took to Instagram to voice their emotions.

Take a look at some of their posts on social media. Kurt Angle -

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Until next time. #yippeekiyay #itstrue

A post shared by Kurt Angle (@therealkurtangle) onApr 15, 2020 at 12:35pm PDT

Rusev -

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Life is life. God is great. I’ll be alright

A post shared by Miroslav Barnyashev (@rusevig) onApr 15, 2020 at 1:59pm PDT

Sarah Logan -

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

With my whole heart. Thank you.

A post shared by Sarah Rowe (@sarahloganwwe) onApr 15, 2020 at 12:49pm PDT

Heath Slater -

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Thank you all.

A post shared by Heath Miller “Slater” (@heathslater_xxii) onApr 15, 2020 at 2:19pm PDT

Luke Gallows -

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

The devil ain’t in the distance.....

A post shared by Luke Gallows (@luke_gallowswwe) onApr 15, 2020 at 8:49pm PDT

This has come as shocking news to all the WWE universe with more details awaited.

The stay-at-home period has given Ayushmann Khurrana a breather from his acting commitments to pursue other creative hobbies. Over the past few weeks, he has often shared poems about life during the lockdown, the valour of the frontline workers and other subjects he holds close to his heart. The actor has lined up a special surprise for moms on Mother's Day tomorrow — he will be launching the single, Maa, that he created with friend and frequent collaborator Rochak Kohli.

Though the duo had developed the song years ago, they rendered it only recently amidst the lockdown. "The spirit of motherhood has always amazed me, and I am glad to celebrate this ever-nurturing force through the song. Rochak and I will be singing this track together. It is an honour to dedicate it to mothers who selflessly shape our lives," says Khurrana. The number has been penned by Gurpreet Saini.

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While many of us are enjoying the quarantine time with our family, it has somewhere directly impacted the Indian television. There have been no streaming of the latest episodes from our favourite shows on TV anymore. However, this has helped in the comeback of iconic shows like Ramayana and Mahabharat on Doordarshan. The government-run channel may have lost its magic along the way but no amount of time spent on Netflix or Hotstar can replace the nostalgia! Right?

As part of its #StayHomeIndia campaign during the lockdown, Doordarshan is telecasting its popular shows of the 1980s, which include Ramayan, Mahabharat, Circus, Dekh Bhai Dekh and Chanakya. Fans of shows of that era have been active on social media telling DD which other shows it needs to re-run. Here are some of the popular shows that Doordarshan should re-telecast.

Flop Show

The sitcom first aired in 1989. Written and directed by Jaspal Bhatti, who also played as the main character, was a satire on the socio-cultural problems faced by the common man in India at the time. Flop Show was highly popular among the masses, with the satire of late Jaspal Bhatti keeping us entertained.

Bharat Ek Khoj

A stellar series based on Jawaharlal Nehru's book 'The Discovery of India', Bharat Ek Khoj depicted the history of India, from its origin till Independence. Directed by Shyam Benegal, Roshan Seth played Nehru, and also doubled up as the storyteller. Stalwarts like Om Puri, Tom Alter and Sadashiv Amrapurkar were also part of the show.

Surabhi

A hugely popular cultural magazine show of the 90s, Surabhi was delightfully anchored by Renuka Shahane and Siddharth Kak. The show became hugely popular among audiences as it invited viewer participation, and people sent in postcards in big numbers in an era before mobiles and the internet.

Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan

This was the first talk show of Indian television, and arguably one of the most popular ones ever. It was hosted by Tabassum, who was once a popular child star. Her affable demeanour towards the celebrity guests made the show a worthy watch. The format wherein chat was mixed with film scenes was also much-liked by the audiences.

Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi

As one of the first hit sitcoms on Indian television, the show, which aired on Doordarshan in 1984, helped established actors Shafi Inamdar, Satish Shah, Rakesh Bedi and Swaroop Sampat as household names. A trademark of the Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi were the characters played by Satish Shah. In each episode, Shah played a different character who used to be a key element in the plot.

Wagle Ki Duniya

Anjan Srivastav brought issues of the common man into focus through Wagle Ki Duniya, created by noted cartoonist RK Laxman about the issues of the common middle-class Indian man. It starred Anjan Srivastava as a bumbling sales clerk and Bharati Achrekar played his wife. Wagle Ki Duniya had Shah Rukh Khan making a guest appearance in one of the episodes, courtesy his association with the show’s director, Kundan Shah, with whom he later collaborated in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994).

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Not too many actors from Bollywood or even Television have gone through as many personal ups and downs as Chahatt Khanna. She was unfortunately separated from her husband Farhan Mirza in 2018 and was earlier married to Bharat Narsinghani. And now, there were reports that she was in a relationship with singer Mika Singh. However, she revealed she was staying with him only for their single, Quarantine Love.

And now, speaking about her future and present, she spoke to Zoom and talked about her desire to settle down again and why she feels that the term 'Single Mother' is insulting. Speaking about her wish to settle down again, she said, "Of course, I want to settle down again. I would say that family is my priority and I have done my bit of my work. I have achieved success a few times that I wanted. I am doing well in my life, touchwood."

She added, "Right now, by God's grace, I have everything. After a while, I would like to settle down with a good life partner and not think about anyone or anybody." And as stated above, she also shed light on being a single mother and said, "It is a very insulting term, and I realised this much later. There is a term called Milf which these guys, doggers use for women who are elder to them, married, single parent, single mom, divorced and they think people like them are good to have fun with. This is a hard-hitting fact of our society which I just discovered a few days back and I was shattered when I came to know this. This is what happens when she steps out of her marriage."

Chahatt keeps sharing her pictures and videos on her social media account and the actress is truly beautiful. We wish her all the best for her future and we hope we all can learn from what she said!

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Chahatt Khanna separated from her husband Farhan Mirza in 2018 and was earlier married to Bharat Narsinghani. There were also reports that she was in a relationship with singer Mika Singh. She has been spending her lockdown with her kids and has also been sharing glimpses of her personal life on social media. Recently, she was trolled by netizens for being a single mother to her daughters Zohar and Amaira.

Now, the actress has lashed out at the trolls posting an open letter to them before deactivating her Instagram account. Bashing the trollers, she wrote, "Witches and b***hes who can never get love, bf or family in life, forget about kids, they will never understand that kids are a blessing and not a liability, or target to put a woman down. Khuda unko hi bachchon se nawajta hai jinki haisiyat aur kismat hoti hai. Main toh phir bhi theek ho jaungi, tumhari beemari ka kya hoga (God only blesses them with children, who have good luck. I will still be okay, how will you be cured of your illness)?".

In another of her Instagram stories, Chahatt explained the reason of quitting the photo-sharing app. She wrote, "No, I am not running away, just that I'll be busy with work, for a few days. Yes, my team will keep posting pics, not me. Par story par kuch logon ko muh tod jawaab dena bohot zaroori tha (But it was necessary to give it back to some people),” she wrote.

Earlier, the television actress had called the term 'Single Mother' as insulting. Speaking about her wish to settle down again, she said, "Of course, I want to settle down again. I would say that family is my priority and I have done my bit of my work. I have achieved success a few times that I wanted. I am doing well in my life, touchwood."

She added, "Right now, by God's grace, I have everything. After a while, I would like to settle down with a good life partner and not think about anyone or anybody." And as stated above, she also shed light on being a single mother and said, "It is a very insulting term, and I realised this much later. There is a term called Milf which these guys, doggers use for women who are elder to them, married, single parent, single mom, divorced and they think people like them are good to have fun with. This is a hard-hitting fact of our society which I just discovered a few days back and I was shattered when I came to know this. This is what happens when she steps out of her marriage."

She was recently in news when she and Mika Singh shocked and surprised a lot of people when they took to their respective social media accounts to announce to the world they are quarantined together. You all must have seen that post where the actress even used the hashtag #QuarantineLove to express her feelings for the singer. However, she issued a clarification later.

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Bored with dating apps? Try something different. You can speed date singles offline at an event organised this Saturday. All you need to do is be polite, not ask awkward questions and be at your best for eight minutes.

Organisers won't share details of a couple unless they like each other. At the event, the tables will be numbered. There will be a host conducting the session and everyone will have a scorecard to note down the table number and the candidate's first name. After eight minutes, a bell will ring when the person will move to the next table. One can note down a yes or a no in the scorecard, like a left or right swipe on Tinder.

Eight minutes isn't a lot of time but is good enough to assess if you want to meet the person again. Participants will receive an email a day later about mutual matches. The age limit is 22 to 36 years and girls have a one plus one offer on drinks.

Representational picture

Attention single women! Your singledom has an amazing benefit: better, mindblowing orgasms! According to a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Turku in Finland, who studied 2,000 premenopausal Finnish women for seven years, found that those who had stayed in the same monogamous relationship during the study period experienced the highest decrease in sexual drive.

However, the decrease in sexual desire was lower for women, who had found a new partner over the study duration. The ability to have an orgasm improved across all groups, with single women experiencing the greatest improvement, during the 7 year follow-up.

Women with a new partner experienced higher improvement in orgasmic ability when compared to women who had been in the same relationship over the entire period of observation. The team discovered that women's ability to orgasm remained the most stable over the seven-year period, while sexual satisfaction varied widely.

The research team utilised a the Female Sexual Function Index -- a short questionnaire that measures specific areas of sexual functioning in women, such as sexual arousal, orgasm, sexual satisfaction, and the presence of pain during intercourse -- to look at the evolution of female sexual desire over a period of seven years, Medicalnewstoday.com reported. Analyses were conducted separately for women in different relationship constellations.

The team then concluded that, while long-term relationships may offer many psychological benefits but staying in a monogamous relationship for long may reduce a woman's sexual desire.
- With inputs from agencies

Representational picture

Children born to single women without a partner appeared to enjoy a similar parent-child relationship as those in heterosexual two-parent families, researchers say.

Fertility treatment for single women -- who wish to become pregnant without a partner (i.e., single mothers by choice) -- is an increasingly popular procedure in most European countries.

The study showed that there were no significant differences in emotional involvement or parental stress between family types.

Single-mothers-by-choice, however, showed significantly higher scores on the social support -- such as parents, other family, friends, neighbours -- they received, but also on wanting more social support.

There were no significant differences in the children's internal and external problem behaviour (well-being) between both family types, the researchers said.

"Single-mothers-by-choice and their children benefit from a good social support network, and this should be emphasised in the counselling of women who want to have and raise a child without a partner," said Mathilde Brewaeys from the VU University Medical Centre, in the Netherlands.

The results were presented at the annual meeting of European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Geneva.

Experts had raised concerns about the well-being and development of children born to single-mothers-by-choice.

However, it seems likely that any negative influence on child development depends more on a troubled parent-child relationship and not on the absence of a father, the researchers said.

"The assumption that growing up in a family without a father is not good for the child is based mainly on research into children whose parents are divorced and who thus have experienced parental conflict," Brewaeys explained.

For the study, the team compared 69 single-mothers-by-choice (who had knowingly chosen to raise their child alone) and 59 mothers from heterosexual two-parent families with a child between 1.5 and 6 years.

Like always, Google doodle has our hearts. Google Doodle did its bit to laud the selfless service of the frontline medical professionals and wrote a thank you message as well.

When one hovers over the doodle, it shows the message, "To all doctors, nurses and medical workers; thank you".

The logo also features a little heart emoji to everyone who is fighting on the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle.

Medical professions have sidelined the threat of catching the infection and are choosing duty over everything else. Despite that, many healthcare workers have been facing abuse and are accused of carrying the virus.

Google wrote, "As COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people are coming together to help one another now more than ever. We're launching a Doodle series to recognize and honour many of those on the front lines."

More than 18 lakh people have been tested positive for COVID-19. The first case was reported from Wuhan which became the epicentre of the infectious virus.

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After thanking doctors, nurses and health care professionals, on Thursday, the Google doodle paid tributes to food service workers, who have been serving people amid the coronavirus crisis with an animated illustration on Thursday. The animated doodle is part of the Google doodle which the search engine giant launched last week in order to celebrate the coronavirus warriors.

Today, we’d like to say:

To all food service workers, thank you.

#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/QV09JLTULv pic.twitter.com/WvIaLPLYQo

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 16, 2020

When one hovers over the doodle, it shows the message, "To all food service workers, thank you." The 'Thank You' doodle for food service workers features a heart emoticon being sent across to food service workers, who have been preparing food for COVID-19 patients, doctors and staff of the hospitals.

Besides food service workers, chefs, restaurants and food delivery workers have also resumed work in order to help the country fight the global pandemic. Through its animated doodle series, google will be honouring people who have been leading the fight against the novel coronavirus.

Today, we’d like to say:

To all grocery workers, thank you.

#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/XWOzYTjMqO pic.twitter.com/BudQ17hEMz

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 13, 2020

A few days ago, google released a doodle to thank medical professionals who have been leading India's fight against the deadly virus. To all doctors, nurses and medical workers; thank you." read the doodle message. The animated doodle also featured a little heart emoticon for everyone who is fighting the battle against COVID-19 on the frontline.

Talking about their animated doodle series to honours those fighting coronavirus Google said, "As COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people are coming together to help one another now more than ever. We're launching a Doodle series to recognize and honour many of those on the front lines."

Today marks the beginning of our #GoogleDoodle series recognizing and honoring those on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, we’d like to say:

To all the public health workers and to researchers in the scientific community, thank you.

→ https://t.co/EcrUYgo0xU pic.twitter.com/PUPl7Z0WHO

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 6, 2020

Besides healthcare professionals and food service workers, Google has so far honoured public health workers, emergency services workers, sanitation workers, farmers, grocery workers, public transportation workers, and delivery workers among others.

Till yesterday, India had 10,824 active cases and 1514 discharged and cured cases while 420 people have died from the disease which originated in China. Maharashtra has been the worst affected state with 2919 COVID-19 cases including 187 deaths.

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On Saturday, Google shared a compilation of all its doodle dedicated to coronavirus helpers who are leading the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The final doodle was dedicated to all helpers, workers and healthcare professionals among others.

The best way to say thank you to all those on the front lines is by staying at home.

Together, we will move past this. ❤ï¸Ââ¤ï¸Ââ¤ï¸Â#GoogleDoodle pic.twitter.com/EXSihXojhf

— Google India (@GoogleIndia) April 17, 2020

While concluding its doodle animated series, Google India said: The best way to say thank you to all those on the front lines is by staying at home. Together, we will move past this. The animated doodle was part of the Google doodle series which Google launched last week in order to celebrate the coronavirus warriors.

When one hovers over the final doodle, it shows the message, "To all coronavirus helpers, thank you." Over the last one week, google honoured people such as doctors, workers, sanitation workers, farmers, food service workers, police officials, firemen, delivery people among others who have been leading the fight against COVID-19.

Today, we’d like to say:

To all coronavirus helpers, thank you.#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/FyxF3RJ5Uv pic.twitter.com/pJSEB5Xl4l

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 18, 2020

During the launch of the animated series, Google had said, "As COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people are coming together to help one another now more than ever. We're launching a Doodle series to recognize and honour many of those on the front lines."

Today, we’d like to say:

To all teachers and childcare workers, thank you.

#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/l8tVIltMS2 pic.twitter.com/EIrHTdiAN1

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 17, 2020

The final doodle, which is a compilation of all the animated doodle in honour of coronavirus warriors made sure that they did not miss out on anyone. Google Doodle team lead Jessica Yu said, "As with all of our Doodles, we hope the series allows for helpers everywhere to feel seen, heard, and valued and for everyone to remember there will be a light at the end of what could feel like a long tunnel."

“As with all of our Doodles, we hope the series allows for helpers everywhere to feel seen, heard, and valued and for everyone to remember there will be a light at the end of what could feel like a long tunnel.”
- @UjessU, #GoogleDoodles Leadhttps://t.co/QqQWr8S7T2

— Google (@Google) April 17, 2020

The series which began on April 6 by expressing gratitude towards the health workers and the scientific community ended the series by thanking teachers and childcare workers in its penultimate doodle.

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A 35-year-old man, whose father died of coronavirus in Pune 10 days ago and four other family members are still in hospital after contracting the disease, is in a state of shock and not able to muster courage to inform his mother about the father's demise.

The man, who is into vegetable business here in Maharashtra, is also saddened by the insensitive approach of people around, who stopped interacting with his family in this hour of crisis. His 60-year-old father died at the state-run Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on April 9. The deceased had co- morbid health conditions as he was diabetic and paralytic, according to health officials.

While his father was undergoing treatment, the 35- year-old man's wife, his two daughters and brother also tested positive for the viral infection and are currently admitted at an isolation facility in the city.

The man said after his father was diagnosed pneumonia, the latter was referred to the Sassoon Hospital where he tested positive for coronavirus on April 6. "Later, swab samples of 12 other family members and high-risk contracts were taken and among these, my wife, brother and my two daughters tested positive. The rest of us, including me, my one-year-old son, and mother were sent back and quarantined at a health centre," he said.

On April 9, he got the shocking news of his father's death and could not believe it. "It was unexpected as he was stable. We are still not able to come to terms with this. The saddest part is no one from the family could see him for one last time after his death and we could not even attend his last rites," he said. The last rites of his father were performed by members of social outfit Mulnivasi Manch, led by Anjum Inamdar, at a city-based burial ground, he said.

The man had requested Inamdar to click some photos and videos of the last rites so that the family could see it. "Since four of my family members are still in the hospital, I don't have the courage to tell my mother that our father is no more. Though we are going through lot of stress, I am trying to behave normal in front of my mother who is already shaken by what the family is going through," he said. The man said he might break the news of his father's death to his mother once the other family members recover from the deadly disease and return home.

"We are trying to cope up with the situation, but what has saddened me more is the indifferent approach of people towards our family after my father tested positive for coronavirus," he said, adding that many people known to him stopped interacting or communicating with his family. The family of another Pune resident, who works as an electrician, is also suffering due to the COVID-19 outbreak. His 50-year-old mother died of coronavirus at the Sassoon Hospital on April 14.

"It seems lives of all our family members have turned upside down after my mother's death. I am the sole breadwinner of my family. Since the lockdown, I am at home and trying to somehow managing our finances," he said.

Razi Khan, member of the Popular Front of India whose volunteers are closely working with the civic administration to perform last rites of coronavirus victims from the Muslim community, said till now they have buried 20 bodies in Pune. "We are burying the bodies which are not claimed by their family members as they are either quarantined or are kept in hospitals. In some of the cases, we managed to make the bereaved family members part of the last rites rituals through video calls," Khan said.

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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

After a series of creative doodles to thank the ones who are fighting Coronavirus from the forefront, like the healthcare workers, police, Google doodle is now urging people to stay at home to contain the spread of novel Coronavirus and spend the extra time by playing games.

Today's animation features a young kid dressed as one of the O's from the word Google. The kid is sitting on the computer and playing a game. The text on the doodle reads, "Stay and play at home with popular past Google Doodles: Coding (2017)."

Once you click on it, it takes you to a game that was originally shared by Google in 2017 to celebrate 50 years of kids coding. The game features a rabbit and various carrots which are placed around him need to be collected.

Covid- 19 has affected a total of 29,70,705 people and taken 2,06,514 lives globally till now. In India, the novel coronavirus positive cases have crossed the 27,000 mark and over 800 fatalities have been reported.

After a series of doodle honouring coronavirus warriors, Google launched a new series since April 27 where they have been urging people to stay home and play games amid the COVID-19 crisis. Today, google shared an interactive doodle featuring the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.

It’s day 2 of our throwback #GoogleDoodle series...

Today, crickHIT for 6 in our 2017 Doodle game celebrating cricket! 🏏🦗#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/hokoBrGUtO pic.twitter.com/NSFpjSmbjg

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 28, 2020

The doodel features the letter G where a person can be seen donning a Chef's hat as he uses a rolling pin in place of a bat while the letter E shows another person ready to bowl to the batsman like a bowler. When one hovers over the final doodle, it shows the message, "Stay and play at home with popular past Google Doodles: Cricket (2017).

The game provides you a virtual experience of playing cricket at a stadium

Once clicked on the animation, google takes the user to a game where one can play cricket on a pitch. The 2017 ICC Champions Trophy doodle was originally shared to celebrate the launch of the ICC Champions Trophy. the interactive feature gives you the surreal feeling of being in a stadium while playing the sport.

Explaining the motive behind launching the 10 game series to be played at hime, Google said, "As Covid-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people and families everywhere are spending more time at home. In light of this, we're launching a throwback doodle series looking back at some of our popular interactive Google Doodle games!"

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After sharing an interactive doodle featuring the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, on Monday, Google shared throwback game from 2016 in order to urge people to stay at home and keep themselves entertained by playing these games. Scoville is part of the latest series that Google launched last week urging people to stay home and play games amid the COVID-19 crisis.

It’s day 6 of our throwback #GoogleDoodle series...

Today, spice it up with our 2016 Doodle game celebrating pharmacist & inventor of the Scoville scale, Wilbur Scoville! 🌶️🥵#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/FhX0mtZxBU pic.twitter.com/RNW8UhGfAN

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) May 4, 2020

The latest doodle is in honour of celebrated pharmacist Wilbur Scoville. The doodel was first published on January 22, 2016 to celebrate the Scoville's 151st birthday. Wilbur Scoville is well known for his Organoleptic test which he invented back in 1912 while working at the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company. The test measures the heat of several chilli peppers.

The interactive Scoville game

In the Scoville game, one has to throw ice-cream balls at the animated peppers in order to win the game. When one hovers over the final doodle, it shows the message, "Stay and play at home with popular past Google Doodles: Scoville (2016). Once clicked on the doodle animation, google takes the user to a game where one can play the interactive ice-cream and peppers game.

While launching its 10 game series to be played at home amid the coronavirus outbreak, Google Doodle said, "As COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people and families everywhere are spending more time at home. In light of this, we’re launching a throwback Doodle series looking back at some of our popular interactive Google Doodle games!"

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After sharing an interactive doodle featuring the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and honouring celebrated pharmacist and researcher Wilbur Scoville, Google on Thursday shared a throwback game from 2017 thereby urging people to play musical games at home amid lockdown.

It’s day 9 of our throwback #GoogleDoodle series...

Today, boogie down with legendary beats & take our 2017 Doodle game celebrating the birth of Hip Hop for a spin! 🎚ï¸ÂðŸŽ¶#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/sM4kky8Opq pic.twitter.com/Dct0hGa1ON

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) May 7, 2020

The latest doodle animation is part of Google's series that the giant search engine launched last week urging people to stay home and play games amid the COVID-19 crisis. A treat for music and especially hip hop fans, the 2017 game lets users mix music samples from legendary tracks on their interactive turntables.

While sharing the animated doodle with their followers on Twitter, Googel Doodle tweeted, "Today, boogie down with legendary beats & take our 2017 Doodle game celebrating the birth of Hip Hop for a spin!"

In order to play the game, one has to mix the beats with the help of the crossfader which can be operated with the help of the mouse. Once clicked on the animation, google plays a short animated film showcasing the history of Hip Hop music featuring the voiceover of Hip Hop icon Fab 5 Freddy.

A screengrab of the Hip Hop musicla game

Google also narrates the story of Jamaican-American DJ Kool Herc, who played an instrumental role in the birth of Hip Hop music. Since the last one week, Google has been sharing throwback pictures including Halloween, Loteria, Scoville and Fischinger among others. When one hovers over the final doodle, it shows the message, "Stay and play at home with popular past Google Doodles: Hip Hop (2017).

While launching the interactive series last week, Google said, "As Covid-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people and families everywhere are spending more time at home. In light of this, we're launching a throwback doodle series looking back at some of our popular interactive Google Doodle games!"

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The mother of a 16-year-old autistic girl was allegedly made to run from pillar to post by the police for five days as she tried to lodge a complaint regarding her daughter's alleged assault in an NGO-cum-boarding school.

It was only when the aggrieved mother used social media to express her grievances that social workers came to her aid and the police took cognisance of the incident. While the mother had approached the police on February 27, a complaint was registered only on Sunday. The alleged incident took place at Vatsalya boarding school for special children located in the Dehu road area of Pune on February 11.

Pune ladies group to the rescue
The episode came to light after the mother approached the Pune-based PuLa group for help. "When I saw her sleeping in the school van on February 11, I lifted her and brought her home. The school authorities told me that since she could not sleep the night before and was disturbing other children around her, the caretaker had tied up her legs. But her eyes were swollen and there were bruises on her face.

There was also an injury mark on her hand," the mother claimed, adding, "When I approached the police station, they asked me to go to the station where the offence took place and upon reaching there, they asked me to go to the station near my house."

'Injuries not sustained in school'
A case has been registered by the Chakan police against NGO director Vilas Devtarase, his wife Vrushali, the school caretaker and his wife, informed inspector Sunil Dahiphale.

NGO trustee and teacher Vrushali Devtarase has, however, denied the allegations saying that the organisation was being "falsely implicated". "We had to enroll the girl on her mother's repeated requests. We even took her to the hospital and helped her with the CT scan and other formalities after the incident. The girl has not sustained the injuries in the school; she was fine before going home. We have now lodged a complaint against her parents for defaming us on social media," she said.

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<strong><em>Pagle Aazam</em></strong><strong><em> </em></strong>is the story of three friends who don’t have girlfriends. They love it when finally, they meet a girl and fall for her. They have a mission in life — to loot a don. What happens to their mission? And what comes out of their feelings for the girl they meet?

Google has introduced updates to its existing "Google Flights" service that will now let users book a hotel at their travel destination directly from Search. Earlier, the service helped users predict flight delays and find the cheapest fare by using machine learning capabilities.

According to Engadget, the company might introduce more integration to help users with the entire travel process.

According to Google, it also added improved price filtering, easier to find information on amenities, along with the new booking feature.

"There are some new interface features that help you check travel options on your mobile phone, too. Over the next few days, you'll see a 'Hotels' option to tap at the top of a 'Google Flight' search page," the report said.

If users want to search for hotels first, they could flip over to the 'Flights' tab as well to check prices and book air travel.

In addition, one could search by destination, then look up flights and hotels from there.

A simple tap on "More Destinations" at the top left of the search results and see more places to go.

"If you've booked travel via Google or have reservations in your Gmail, you'll be able to see it all in the new private 'Your Trips' section," the company said.

A user could also e-mail these details directly from "Your Trips". In case of offline access, the information would show up in the "Google Trips" app.

Representational Image

Google has rewarded an Uruguayan teenager a "bug bounty" of more than $36,000 for disclosing a severe security flaw. Ezequiel Pereira's sporadic poking around has finally paid off in a big way: Google just awarded the Uruguayan teenager $36,337 for finding a vulnerability that would have allowed him to make changes to internal company systems, CNBC reported on Saturday.

"I found something almost immediately that was worth $500 and it just felt so amazing. So I decided to just keep trying ever since then," Pereira was quoted as saying by CNBC.

"It feels really good - I'm glad that I found something that was so important," he added.

Although, Pereira found the bug earlier this year, he only just got permission to write about how he discovered it this week, after Google confirmed that it had fixed the issue, the report said.

It marks Pereira's fifth accepted bug, but it's by far his most lucrative.

Pereira was about a month shy of 17 when he first got paid for exposing a Google security flaw through its bug bounty programme.

Pereira got his first computer when he was 10, took an initial programming class when he was 11 and then spent years teaching himself different coding languages and techniques.

In 2016, Google flew him to its California headquarters after he won a coding contest.

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Over 100 foreign providers of electronically supplied goods and services to Russian consumers have registered to pay value-added tax on their supplies at 18 percent.

New Zealand legend Glenn Turner is concerned about the impact of T20 cricket on the "more worthwhile forms" of the game and feels that the coronavirus-forced break is a good time to "reassess" the future of the sport. The 72-year-old Turner, who is also the former chairman of New Zealand's selection panel, believes that cricket administrators have "gone down a path of capitalism". "...money rules and you've got Twenty20 dominating to such an extent where it is putting what I consider to be more worthwhile forms of the game virtually into the background," Turner was quoted as saying by 'stuff.co.nz'. "That is only happening because of the money that they can get from that and of course the argument too, is that it is getting more people interested in the game," he said. "But if you dine at a fast food takeaway, does that mean that you are going to go on to fine dining? I don't think so and that doesn't appear to be happening."

Turner, who has written a new book 'Cricket's Global Warming' with noted author Lynn McConnell, said the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to reassess the future. "More and more money is going to the top end and it's a bit like society where the gap between the rich and the poor as got greater. Hopefully after this pandemic things are going to be reassessed," the former New Zealand captain and coach said. "I think they should be reassessed in cricket as well because your top players are really taking most of the cream and even the next group are really struggling," he pointed out. "Then, of course, they (administrators) don't have the sort of money I believe they need to foster the game further down. That's the real concern." Turner said in the last few decades players have more power than the boards which govern them. "The power has shifted almost totally to the players where boards step back and let the game be run largely by senior players. Things have turned 180 degrees and I don't think either is ideal," Turner said.

"But the thing that is happening, which I see as a mistake, is that they are getting full 12-month retainers while being able to sign contracts with as many other people as they can and not making themselves fully available for New Zealand. "That's too big a sacrifice I feel." The 72-year-old, who scored 2991 runs in 41 Tests and 1598 runs in 41 ODIs, was also not happy with the outcome of last year's World Cup where England were adjudged winners on the basis of boundary-count after regulation play and subsequent Super Over ended in a tie in the final against New Zealand. During the final, New Zealand were left to rue a last-over overthrow from Martin Guptill that went for four after getting a deflection off England all-rounder Ben Stokes' bat, helping England take the match into Super Over. Turner said Stokes should have been given out for obstructing the field. "I think that they gave the wrong result. But to have given out the man of the match at the time for obstructing the field which ought to have happened would have of course changed the result," he said. "Now that you are getting third umpires involved and they are seeing replays of things they will be able to make those sorts of decisions in the future I would hope," he added.

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