Friday 31 August 2018
Politician kicked out of a German parliament for bringing baby
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Supreme Court REJECTS FIR against Priya Prakash Varrier
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The teenage actress Priya Prakash Varrier is undoubtedly an example of midnight star who rose to fame in a jiffy. Her wink act in one of the songs from her film Oru Adaar Love, ‘Manikya Malaraya Poovi’, that released earlier this year, was her claim to fame that went viral during Valentine’s Day this year. But the same song became a point of controversy when the actress received backlash for the same. In fact, an FIR was filed against her, the film and the song and now the Supreme Court has rejected the same.
The controversy started when a few people raised objection over the song ‘Manikya Malaraya Poovi’ because the song had reference to the wife of Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Owing to the same many FIRs were against Priya Prakash Varrier, the makers of the film and also the song accusing them of hurting the sentiments of the Islam community, aka Muslims.
However, in a recent hearing, the Supreme Court has quashed the same and also cancelled the police case that was filed against Priya Varrier. Chief Justice of India, Dipak Mishra has reportedly claimed to the Telangana government that these are jobless people who have no other work except to file such cases against a line in the song. As of now, the makers, the musicians and Priya can heave a sigh of relief, as the court has cancelled all the complaints against them. This news especially comes as good news now considering that it is only a fortnight away from its release.
Speaking of the film, Oru Adaar Love is directed by Omar and also stars Noorin Shereef, Roshan Abdul Rahoof, Siyadh Shahjahan amongst others. The film will release in different languages besides Malayalam, which includes Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It is slated to hit the theatres on September 14, this year.
Also Read: Valentine’s Day crush Priya Varrier is a goofy GEEK in real life, these pics are a proof
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G-Eazy Fires Back at Machine Guy Kelly with Diss Track, Threatens Him Over Halsey
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Artist Mirabelle Marden Installs ‘Garage Sale’ Retail Project – WWD
Mirabelle Marden, an artist by practice, trade and lineage, continues to toy with nostalgic elements of the retail experience.
Today she will reveal a new shoppable installation, “Garage Sale,” inside her gallery Plain Pleasures, which is located on the second floor of an unnamed Chinatown mall in Manhattan. Over the last two years, the two-story building at 75 East Broadway has evolved into a nexus for experimental retail, spearheaded by artists, designers and thinkers.
Marden opened her first effort there, called Plain Pleasures Market in December — setting a colorful holiday souk stuffed with traveled souvenirs, friends’ craftworks and vintage odds and ends. In the months since, her mall space has become a revolving door of art shows and guest pop-up shops from friends like Stella Schnabel.
For Marden, keeping store at Plain Pleasures is about replicating travel experiences and “creating an environment. I’m making an expression of how I see things. Whenever I go somewhere I like to look at the markets and everyday stores — they let you experience a place.”
Garage Sale will include items sourced and rummaged on trips to Lisbon, Nevis, Marrakesh, Mexico City and Paris. “I wanted it to look like a storage space, I hung up old posters and portraits,” she said of the installation — open tonight through Saturday.
Cheeky underwear from Nevis’ markets, embroidered with “Sexy Girl” are priced from $6 to $10, velvet jackets from Marrakech range from $325 to $400, Italian shoes cost $90 and artfully labeled sardine tins from Lisbon are $10.
For Marden, this mix is a sentimental yet scarce concept in modern retailing. “I think it makes it personal — I think people appreciate it, particularly when everything starts looking the same. Instagram accounts all have the same shade of pink, all of the photos are blurry. It’s nice to have something that feels really different and unexpected,” she said.
Bunking the nationwide trend for dying malls, 75 East Broadway is in a state of revitalization — becoming a downtown community center for the artfully inclined.
Marden feels it could serve as a comeback model for other malls: “There is just a different sense of community — you can do different things: listen to records and buy a hard-to-find book [at 2 Bridges Music Arts], find a vintage piece [at James Veloria], buy some fruit downstairs [at the fruit market] — you can do that all in one afternoon in one space. I think people want something like this more and more — not just super high-end, but something in-between that’s culturally relevant.”
Garage Sale is Marden’s final effort in Plain Pleasure’s current space before temporarily relocating her practice to Paris for three months. Upon her return, Marden will move her operation to a larger, corner space in the mall.
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You’ll Never Guess Which Company Is Reinventing Health Benefits
But employers, including that Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan alliance, are increasingly unhappy with the nation’s health care systems. Companies are paying more than they ever have. And their employees, saddled with escalating out-of-pocket costs and a confusing maze, aren’t well served, either. “The results haven’t been there,” said Jim Winkler, a senior executive at Aon, a benefits consultant. “There’s frustration.”
At Comcast, some workers probably miss out on the new ventures altogether and others don’t have much choice but to go along. The company’s relationship with labor is often strained, and it has largely managed to fend off efforts by groups like the Communications Workers of America to organize its employees. Robert Speer, an official with a local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in New Jersey that represents about 180 workers, noted the company’s use of independent contractors to do much of its work, none of whom are eligible for benefits and can be paid by the job rather than hourly. “You are making no money,” he said.
And, like many other workers, many employees are being pinched by the rising cost of premiums, Mr. Speer said.
Comcast workers with company coverage are told to go to Accolade first. Its phone number appears on the back of their insurance cards and on the benefits website. “The key to Accolade’s success is being the one place to go,” said Tom Spann, a co-founder of the company.
Geoff Girardin, 27, used Accolade when he worked at Comcast a few years ago and he and his wife were expecting. “Our introduction to Accolade was our introduction to our first kid,” Mr. Girardin said. He credits Accolade for telling him his wife was eligible for a free breast pump and helping find a pediatrician when the family moved. “It was a huge, huge help to have somebody who knew the ins and outs” of the system, he said.
For employees like Jerry Kosturko, 63, who survived colon cancer, Accolade was helpful in steering him through complicated medical decisions. When he needed an M.R.I., his navigator recommended a free-standing imaging center to save money. “They will tell me what things will cost ahead of time,” Mr. Kosturko said.
A nurse at Accolade helped him manage symptoms after he had surgery for bladder cancer in 2014. He developed terrible spasms because, he said, he wasn’t warned to avoid caffeine. The Accolade nurse thought to ask him and quickly urged him to call his doctor for medicine to ease his symptoms.
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Twitter announces new policy and certification process for ‘issue ads’ – TechCrunch
Twitter continues to roll out new policies aimed at increasing transparency, particularly around political advertising.
Amidst ongoing concerns about Russian election interference and misinformation on social media, the company recently announced political ad guidelines and launched an Ads Transparency Center where you can find more information about advertisers.
Initially, however, Twitter’s stricter standards were limited to ads for U.S. federal election candidates and campaigns. Now it’s announced a policy around the broader category of “issue ads.”
In a blog post, Twitter’s vice president of trust and safety Del Harvey and its general manager of revenue product Bruce Falck said the policy affects two categories:
* Ads that refer to an election or a clearly identified candidate, or
* Ads that advocate for legislative issues of national importance
In both cases, advertisers will need to apply for certification, which involves verifying their identity and location in the United States. Like election ads, issue ads will be labeled as such in the Twitter timeline, and they’ll allow users to click through and learn more about the advertiser. They’ll also be included in the Ads Transparency center.
As examples of the kinds of issues that would be covered, Harvey and Falck cited “abortion, civil rights, climate change, guns, healthcare, immigration, national security, social security, taxes, and trade,” though they also said that list will likely evolve over time.
News organizations that want to run ads around their political coverage can apply for an exemption. (Since the definition of what is and isn’t a news organization can be blurry, there are specific criteria that they’d need to meet, like providing editorial staff information online and not being “dedicated to advocating on a single issue.”)
“We don’t believe that news organizations running ads on Twitter that report on these issues, rather than advocate for or against them, should be subject to this policy,” Harvey and Falck wrote.
Twitter says it will start enforcing the policy (which, to be clear, is currently U.S.-only) on September 30.
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The Google Assistant is now bilingual – TechCrunch
The Google Assistant just got more useful for multilingual families. Starting today, you’ll be able to set up two languages in the Google Home app and the Assistant on your phone and Google Home will then happily react to your commands in both English and Spanish, for example.
Today’s announcement doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, given that Google announced at its I/O developer conference earlier this year that it was working on this feature. It’s nice to see that this year, Google is rolling out its I/O announcements well before next year’s event. That hasn’t always been the case in the past.
Currently, the Assistant is only bilingual and it still has a few languages to learn. But for the time being, you’ll be able to set up any language pair that includes English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. More pairs are coming in the future and Google also says it is working on trilingual support, too.
Google tells me this feature will work with all Assistant surfaces that support the languages you have selected. That’s basically all phones and smart speakers with the Assistant, but not the new smart displays, as they only support English right now.
While this may sound like an easy feature to implement, Google notes this was a multi-year effort. To build a system like this, you have to be able to identify multiple languages, understand them and then make sure you present the right experience to the user. And you have to do all of this within a few seconds.
Google says its language identification model (LangID) can now distinguish between 2,000 language pairs. With that in place, the company’s researchers then had to build a system that could turn spoken queries into actionable results in all supported languages. “When the user stops speaking, the model has not only determined what language was being spoken, but also what was said,” Google’s VP Johan Schalkwyk and Google Speech engineer Lopez Moreno write in today’s announcement. “Of course, this process requires a sophisticated architecture that comes with an increased processing cost and the possibility of introducing unnecessary latency.”
If you are in Germany, France or the U.K., you’ll now also be able to use the bilingual assistant on a Google Home Max. That high-end version of the Google Home family is going on sale in those countries today.
In addition, Google also today announced that a number of new devices will soon support the Assistant, including the tado° thermostats, a number of new security and smart home hubs (though not, of course, Amazon’s own Ring Alarm), smart bulbs and appliances, including the iRobot Roomba 980, 896 and 676 vacuums. Who wants to have to push a button on a vacuum, after all.
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VNTANA CEO Ashley Crowder will talk holograms at TechCrunch Sessions: AR/VR – TechCrunch
VNTANA CEO Ashley Crowder calls the company’s technology, “the world’s first scalable, affordable and interactive hologram.” The startup’s tech has certainly wowed crowds in recent years.
In 2016, it collaborated with Microsoft on HOLLAGRAM, beaming in a live hologram of MS executives during a HOLLAGRAM for a keynote at HackSC. The company’s technology has also been embraced by Intel. The chipmaker deployed VNTANA’s tech during its own keynote at Computex that same year.
Crowder co-founded VNTANA in 2012, along with fellow USC grad (and current COO) Ben Conway. Before VNTANA, she worked at Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman and BP, utilizing her experience in manufacturing to help design the new company’s early offerings.
In 2013, the team sent a video of a hacked Kinect to Microsoft, demonstrating how the company’s popular hands-free controller could be used for gesture tracking and control with VNTANA’s holographic images. It was enough to gain the startup a place in Microsoft’s Early Developer and BizSpark programs.
These days, the company is focused on augmented and mixed reality experiences, topics Crowder will discuss at TC Sessions: AR/VR on October 18 at UCLA. The one-day event combines onstage conversations about augmented and virtual reality with in-person demos and networking.
Purchase your Early Bird tickets here for just $99 and you’ll save $100 before prices go up!
Students get a special rate of just $45 when they book here.
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Disabled train passenger says staff refused to move catering trolleys from pre-booked area
A disabled woman says her booked wheelchair space on a train was filled by a catering trolley and that staff refused to move it – because she was the only disabled passenger travelling.
Hollie Brooks, who has been in a wheelchair since contracting meningitis in the summer, had boarded the Greater Anglia train from Norwich to Colchester yesterday (Thurs 30), when she found that her pre-booked space had been occupied by two catering trolleys for first class passengers.
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When the audience development manager asked them to be moved, she says staff refused.
Hollie has been in a wheelchair since contracting meningitis in the summer
As there were no other disabled spaces available, the stricken wheelchair user was forced to squeeze in alongside freezer boxes filled with food and stacks of bottled water, while staff continued to serve hot drinks and snacks to other passengers.
Hollie says she found the whole experience so traumatic that she has since suffered nightmares about being trapped in small spaces.
Tweeting a video of her journey, crammed in next to the rattling trolleys, she vented her fury at the situation.
Hollie had complained about her journey on Greater Anglia’s Norwich to Colchester service
She said: ‘The reality of being a wheelchair user on a @greateranglia train.
‘They’re using my wheelchair space as a kitchen.
‘Amazing service from the platform staff but apparently staff are told to use wheelchair space for catering for first class if coach H is out of order.’
When Hollie boarded the train she found that her pre-booked space had been taken up by catering trolleys
Despite Hollie being crammed in next to the catering trolleys, staff continued to serve food and drink to passengers
Later on she posted another video, writing: ‘Because crisps and tea are more important than their disabled customers.’
Greater Anglia has apologised to Hollie for her distressing journey, replying: ‘I understand your wheelchair space was free and you got all the help you needed on your journey.’
In another response the train company added: ‘There are two wheelchair spaces in this carriage.
Hollie said staff refused to move the catering trolleys, as she was the only disabled passenger on the train
‘If there had been two wheelchairs, staff would have moved the trollies so that both wheelchair users had their space.
However, Hollie claims staff members told her that she couldn’t move the trollies, and that her boyfriend Richard was forced to move boxes piled up around her feet.
Other Twitter users took issue with the train company’s blasé response, with one writing: ‘Sorry you were upset’ is a non apology.
Greater Anglia responded to Hollie’s tweets and said they were ‘sorry she was upset’
‘That puts the responsibility on the disabled person for being upset, not acknowledging your customer service is the cause of the upset. Unacceptable!’
Another added: ‘I may be wrong but providing catering on a two-hour train journey is not a legal requirement. Providing a decent service for wheelchair users is.’
And one joked: ‘All that so they can store overpriced Quavers.’
Other Twitter users chimed in to defend Hollie and said the service provided by Greater Anglia had been ‘unacceptable’
Twitter users were outraged that Hollie’s space had been used to store the catering trollies
A Greater Anglia spokeswoman said: ‘We are sorry to hear Hollie was disappointed with her journey yesterday.
‘We want all of our customers to have a good experience when travelling with us.’
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Yahoo still scans your emails for ads — even if its rivals won’t – TechCrunch
You’re not the only one reading your emails.
A deep dive in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday dug out new details on a massive email scanning operation by Oath, the Verizon-owned subsidiary that’s the combined business of AOL and Yahoo. The email-scanning program analyzes over 200 million AOL and Yahoo inboxes for data that can be sold to advertisers. (Disclosure: TechCrunch is owned by Verizon by way of Oath.)
The logic goes that by learning about its users, the internet giant can hone its ad-targeting effort to display the most relevant ads.
But where other major email providers have bailed from email scanning amid privacy scandals and security issues, Oath remains the outlier.
Google ended its ad-targeting email-scanning operation across its consumer Gmail service last year — a decision lauded after facing criticism for years over the practice — though the company still uses machine learning to help you reply to emails. Meanwhile, Microsoft told TechCrunch in a statement that it does “not use email content for ad targeting in any way, anywhere in Microsoft.” And Apple has never scanned its customers’ inboxes for advertising, though its privacy policy says it can access your data for law enforcement purposes or for more vague reasons like “issues of public importance.”
So it’s basically just Oath, then.
Scanning the inboxes of its hundreds of millions of email users is a gutsy move for the year-old internet giant, which prior to its rebranding was responsible for two data breaches at Yahoo exposing more than thee billion users’ data and a separate breach at AOL in 2014. Yahoo reportedly built a secret customer email-scanning tool at the behest of the U.S. intelligence community, which led to the departure of former Yahoo infosec chief Alex Stamos, who until recently was Facebook’s chief security officer.
Although the email scanning program isn’t new — announced earlier this year — it does go deeper than Gmail’s scanning ever did.
“Yahoo mined users’ emails in part to discover products they bought through receipts from e-commerce companies such as Amazon.com,” said the WSJ. “In 2015, Amazon stopped including full itemized receipts in the emails it sends customers, partly because the company didn’t want Yahoo and others gathering that data for their own use.”
Although some content is excluded from the scanning — such as health and medical information — it remains to be seen how (or even if) Oath can exclude other kinds of sensitive data from its customers’ inboxes, like bank transfers and stock receipts.
Yahoo Mail’s privacy policy says email accounts are subject to “manual review,” which allows certain Oath employees access to inboxes.
TechCrunch asked Oath and its parent Verizon about what assurances they could provide that confidential emails and information won’t be collected or used in any way. We also asked how consent was obtained from users in Europe, where data protection rules under the newly implemented GDPR regulations are stricter.
Neither Verizon or Oath responded by our deadline.
It should go without saying that email isn’t the most sensitive or secure communications medium, and inboxes should never be assumed to be private — not least from law enforcement and the companies themselves.
Deleting your account might be overkill, especially if you don’t want anyone to hijack your email address once it’s recycled. But if there’s ever been a time to find a better inbox, now might be it.
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Marshall launches its first Alexa/Google Assistant smart speakers – TechCrunch
Marshall Speakers are hardly the first third-party manufacturer to hop on the smart speaker bandwagon, but the company’s got a strong case for bringing the best design into the mix.
Announced at IFA in Berlin this week, the Acton II and Stanmore II continue the line’s legacy of cribbing heavily from Marshall’s iconic guitar amp designs. It’s not original, really, but it’s a sort of timeless design that should fit in pretty comfortably most living rooms.
The speakers are both launching in the fall with Amazon Alexa on-board. Google Assistant will be arriving later in the year, letting them do double assistant duty. A cheeky bit of ad copy on that front from Marshall,
Just like a roadie, Alexa is there to help while you’re busy doing other things. Can’t remember the name of a song? Say the lyrics and Alexa will find it for you. Looking for information on when your favourite band goes on tour? Just ask. You can even have Alexa remind you when tickets go on sale, help you tune your guitar, learn music theory, test your music knowledge, or catch you up on the latest news. Alexa and Marshall Voice really are a match made in music heaven.
The Acton is the smaller of the two, running $299, while the Stanmore costs $100 more. The speakers are launching November 9 and October 2, respectively.
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Facebook pulls post by Anne Frank Center after seeing only nudity in a photo of the Holocaust – TechCrunch
Facebook moderators temporarily removed a post by the Anne Frank Center which was seeking to raise awareness about the Holocaust, after the company was unable to distinguish between historical genocide and child nudity.
The post included an archive photograph of Jewish children who had been stripped and starved by Nazi Germany.
Between 1941 and 1945 the German state imprisoned and murdered millions of Jews in concentration and death camps — the child Anne Frank, who the Center is named after, being just one of them.
Frank died in 1945, aged 15, after her hiding place in Amsterdam had been uncovered. She was taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where, seven months later, she died of typhus.
In school history class as a teenager I remember being shown similar footage of the emaciated bodies of Jewish people starved and murdered during the Holocaust.
It’s not the kind of imagery you forget. It is terrible. Haunting. It is a shame of history, not pornography.
Facebook moderators apparently cannot tell the difference.
Around six hours after the Center complained on Twitter that the post had been taken down, Facebook reinstated it.
In a tweet replying to the Center’s complaint the company explains its actions, saying “we don’t allow nude images of children”, before ending with an apology for making the wrong decision in this case — owing to the image having “important historical significance”.
It wrote: “We put your post back up and sent you a message on FB. We don’t allow nude images of children on FB, but we know this is an important image of historical significance and we’ve restored it. We’re sorry and thank you for bringing it to our attention.”
If you’re getting an acute sense of deja-vu that’s because Facebook has similarly failed to understand historical context before — when, for example, in 2016 its moderators took down an iconic war photo of a child fleeing a napalm attack in Vietnam in 1972.
The violence had also stripped that child — clothing her with terror.
Again Facebook’s moderators simply couldn’t tell. So they scrubbed historical record from the platform. An outcry was necessary to reinstate it.
Called on that crime against history, Facebook described its moderating decision as a mistake — saying “we intend to do better”.
Two years later there’s no sign it’s living up to that stated intent.
Running the world’s biggest content platform without editorial oversight and with woefully under-resourced moderation is indeed a very hard problem. One that AI cannot hope to solve in any near or short term framework — if ever. Context is king for a reason.
The kicker here is that company founder Mark Zuckerberg continues to choose to provide a platform for Holocaust deniers on Facebook.
He could choose to ban Holocaust denial — which is, after all, an attack on both history and the Jewish people. But he prefers not to. He’s not for banning, unless it’s nudity. (Classic art nudes included, at times.)
And so we arrive at the tragi-ridiculous pass of true historical imagery of the Holocaust being scrubbed from Facebook — while vicious lies about the Holocaust are allowed to stand and swirl and take root via Facebook.
That’s what running a content platform without a moral compass looks like.
We asked Facebook to explain why it took down a post by the Anne Frank Center that was seeking to raise awareness about the Holocaust yet refuses to take down posts by Holocaust deniers who are seeking to undermine historical truth.
A company representative pointed us to its earlier response to the Center — but did not engage with our question.
Update: The Center has now sent us the following statement regarding Facebook’s actions:
Our original post was to draw attention to the fact that the Holocaust
is woefully undertaught across the USA and that ignorance on what
happened is a direct result of this. We have been working with
numerous state representatives across the nation to mandate K-12
Holocaust education through our 50-State Genocide Education project.While Facebook removes the AFC’s post promoting the need to educate on
the past, it continues to allow pages and posts that directly deny the
reality of the deaths of more than six million people.Holocaust denial dehumanizes people. It makes thousands feel unsafe.
It violates the very standards Facebook lays out for it users. Yet
these hate-filled propaganda pages remain.We have written to Facebook previously offering to work with them to
tackle the spread of Holocaust denial and hate on its platform and to
promote education.If Facebook is serious about its community standards it should start
tackling Holocaust denial and not the organizations who are trying to
educate people on discrimination, facts, and history.We understand the difficulty in assessing the context of potentially
controversial content. That said, it shouldn’t have taken us publicly
calling out Facebook to restore our post. Hopefully, Facebook can
revise their protocols.
We understand that the Center’s post was originally published on Facebook on August 21, and taken down by Facebook moderators on August 27 — before it was subsequently reinstated by Facebook after the Center complained.
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Curran leads England rally against India
Southampton – Sam Curran marked his England return with a Test-best 78 as the hosts fought back on the first day of the fourth Test against India at Southampton on Thursday.
It was a familiar story when Curran, primarily a left-arm swing bowler and playing just his fourth Test, came into bat with England in dire straits at 86 for six.
But thanks to the 20-year-old they finished on a far more respectable 246 all out, with India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah taking an economical three wickets for 46 runs in his 20 overs
India had four overs to bat until the close but reached stumps on 19 without loss, a deficit of 227 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan was three not out and KL Rahul 11 not out.
Curran was unfortunate to miss the third Test at Trent Bridge, a match India won by 203 runs to reduce England’s lead in the five-match series to 2-1, as he made way for returning all-rounder Ben Stokes.
But Thursday saw him put on 81 for the seventh wicket with the recalled Moeen Ali (40) and Curran then added 63 for the ninth with Stuart Broad (17).
Curran, a son of the late Zimbabwe all-rounder Kevin Curran, was last man out, bowled trying to heave spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
In all, he batted for over three hours, facing 136 balls including eight fours and a six.
Earlier, England captain Joe Root opted to bat after winning the toss and promptly saw his side slump to 36 for four.
It was the 32nd time in their last 63 Test innings that England had been four wickets down with 100 or fewer runs on the scoreboard.
India’s four quicks all gained sharp and often extravagant seam movement — which helped explain the large total of 23 byes conceded by wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant.
Bumrah struck with just his seventh delivery when he had the Keaton Jennings lbw for a duck, with the struggling left-hander leaving a ball that cut back into him.
Root reprieved after a Bumrah review for lbw revealed a no-ball, then fell leg before to Ishant Sharma to leave England 15 for two.
Jonny Bairstow had been promoted to bat at number four despite a broken finger suffered at Trent Bridge that means he is unfit to keep wicket, with Jos Buttler set to deputise again behind the stumps as he did at Nottingham.
Bairstow, however was caught behind off Bumrah for six.
All the while, Alastair Cook, England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer, had watched the collapse from the other end.
But the veteran opener, himself looking to end of a run of low scores, fell for 17 when he carelessly played outside off stump to Hardik Pandya and saw an edge well caught low down at third slip by India captain Virat Kohli.
Buttler, as happened during his maiden Test century at Trent Bridge, was dropped early in his innings by Pant.
But on Thursday he fell for 21, edging a loose drive off Mohammed Shami to Kohli in the slip cordon.
Stokes had made a battling 62 during a second-innings partnership of 169 with Buttler at Trent Bridge.
He again demonstrated good concentration while making 23 off 79 balls on Thursday but he was lbw to Shami.
Ali, fresh from making 219 for Worcestershire against Yorkshire, hooked Bumrah for six.
Curran and Ali were recalled after Curran’s fellow 20-year-old Surrey rising star Ollie Pope, a batsman, was dropped and pace-bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes ruled out with a thigh injury.
Ali drove Ashwin for six before his opposing off-spinner had him top-edging a sweep well caught on the run by Bumrah.
Curran, man of the match for a fine all-round display that included an innings of 63 in England’s 31-run win in the first Test against India at Edgbaston, was undaunted as he drove Pandya for four.
He then went to fifty in style, hoisting Ashwin for six over wide long-on.
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Thursday 30 August 2018
Labour veteran Frank Field QUITS the party over anti-Semitism
Birkenhead MP Frank Field has written to Labour chief whip Nick Brown tendering his resignation from the party. This is his letter in full:
Dear Nick,
I am writing with considerable sadness to inform you of my intention to sit as an Independent Labour Member of Parliament. I am resigning the whip for two principal reasons.
The first centres on the latest example of Labour’s leadership becoming a force for anti-Semitism in British politics. The latest example, from last week, comes after a series of attempts by Jeremy to deny that past statements and actions by him were anti-Semitic. Britain fought the Second World War to banish these views from our politics, but that superhuman effort and success is now under huge and sustained internal attack. The leadership is doing nothing substantive to address this erosion of our core values. It saddens me to say that we are increasingly seen as a racist party. This issue alone compels me to resign the whip.
The second reason is that a culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation now reigns in too many parts of the Party nationally and is sadly manifest within my own Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in Birkenhead. This is, I fear, just one example of a phenomenon that has tightened its grip on CLPs across the country and is being driven, in part, by members who in previous years would never have been able to claim Labour Party membership.
My original submission to the Party on a specific bullying issue goes back eighteen months. Many submissions have since come from me as well as from loyal Party members. No decisive action has been taken. At best, the Party’s failure to act on these numerous complaints about the thuggish conduct of some members demonstrates a wilful denial. At worst, it serves to legitimise appalling levels of bullying and intimidation of lifelong Labour supporters.
You know that I wrote to the Labour Party nine months ago about the atrocious behaviour of the then councillor Louise Reecejones. That Ms Reecejones should not be a member of the Party, let alone represent us in public positions, has been underscored by decisions taken by Wirral Council.
As you know, she was found guilty of using her position as a councillor to intimidate members of the public. She has refused to apologise properly for her behaviour, and for breaching the Council’s code of conduct, even though one of those on the receiving end of her attack has only now a precarious hold on their livelihood.
The charge sheet against this individual’s suitability ever to hold office, let alone represent the Labour Party, has been detailed to you in separate correspondence. While she was withdrawn as a Council candidate in Wallasey, she has still been able to join the Party’s shortlist for another seat and continues to hold an official position within the local Party.
I intend to continue to represent Birkenhead in Westminster, as I have had the honour to do so for almost 40 years, and I will continue to do so as an Independent Labour Member. I shall of course remain a Party member as I have been since 1960. The values I have espoused during this time will be same that will continue to govern my conduct and I also intend, providence willing, to represent those views when the next election is called.
Few events would give me greater pleasure than to apply to the Parliamentary Labour Party for the whip. But great changes in the leadership’s stance on the issues outlined in this letter will need to take place before I will be able to do so.
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PHOTOS: England vs India, 4th Test, Day 1
Images from Day 1 of the fourth Test between England and India in Southampton on Thursday.
IMAGE: Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after taking the wicket of Jonny Bairstow. Photograph: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
Indian speedsters rocked the England top order with an inspiring spell to leave the hosts reeling on 57 for four at lunch on the first day of the fourth Test in Southampton on Thursday.
Jasprit Bumrah took two for 21, while Ishant Sharma (1/7) and Hardik Pandya (1/16) picked a wicket each as the English top-order looked clueless against a sustained lateral movement generated by the trio.
At the break, Jos Buttler was batting on 13 not out, while Ben Stokes was unbeaten on 12 runs.
This was after England won the toss and opted to bat. India fielded an unchanged eleven from Nottingham, bringing an end to the 45-match streak of constant chopping and changing.
IMAGE: Ishant Sharma successfully appeals for the wicket of Joe Root. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images
It was the first time in 39 Tests as captain that Virat Kohli fielded the same team as the previous match.
Bumrah was handed the new ball and he posed problems from the very beginning.
Keaton Jennings (0) shouldered arms to an incoming delivery across the stumps, and was adjudged leg before in the third over.
England should have been two-down in the fifth over, when Bumrah also trapped Joe Root leg before wicket but he had over-stepped to give away a no-ball.
Root didn’t survive for long though, and was given out leg before, this time to Ishant, which also saw England losing their review.
IMAGE: Hardik Pandya celebrates the wicket of Alastair Cook. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Even as skipper Alastair Cook (17) toiled on, the top-order had no answer to this sustained pressure built up by the Indian attack.
Bumrah returned to further peg England back as Jonny Bairstow (6) was caught behind in the 13th over.
Pandya then got rid of Cook, with Kohli taking a brilliant low catch at third slip as England were reduced to 36 for 4 in the 18th over.
It could have been much worse for England as Buttler, on 11, got a bottom ede off Mohammed Shami but wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was unable to get down to a low catch.
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Boris Johnson ridiculed by Kenyan president: ‘The bicycle guy’
Boris Johnson has been ridiculed by the President of Kenya, who appeared to feign forgetting his name and then referred to the former foreign secretary as “the bicycle guy”.
Uhuru Kenyatta was standing next to Theresa May at a live press conference in Nairobi when he derided Mr Johnson on the world stage.
The moment came on the final day of Ms May’s tour of Africa, with would-be Conservative leader Mr Johnson said to be planning a challenge against her leadership.
But while Ms May might have found the president’s comments about her rival humorous, Mr Kenyatta also highlighted that a British leader had not come to his country for more than 30 years, stating that much had changed since the last one visited.
It was while he was talking about trips by British dignitaries to Kenya that he said: “Last year if you recall the foreign secretary then, Boris…erm…Boris…Boris Johnson…the bicycle guy was here.”
The ex-foreign secretary has a history of gaffes involving Kenya and Africa, having once attacked Barack Obama as being “part-Kenyan” and on another occasion referring to black people as “picaninnies” and talking about “watermelon smiles”.
Ms May allowed herself a smile after Mr Kenyatta’s comments, and there was some chuckling on the UK side of the press conference. The prime minister herself actually referenced Mr Johnson’s visits to Africa earlier in the trip, as an example of how Britain had remained as engaged in the continent as international rivals.
The President hosted Ms May after himself having just met Donald Trump and he is also set to meet Xi Jinping of China in the coming days.
The visit has shone a light on just how well placed the UK really is to carve out a prominent global role for itself in the face of competition from the likes of the US and China – Ms May highlighted the benefits of “sustainable” private sector investment, possibly a veiled swipe at China’s state financed schemes.
Mr Kenyatta said he did not think Brexit would necessarily change the UK’s relationship with Kenya, saying: “I don’t think Brexit is going to dent our ability to strengthen trade.”
More follows…
The Independent has launched its #FinalSay campaign to demand that voters are given a voice on the final Brexit deal.
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UPDATE 1-Australia wants to ban life insurance cold calls as inquiry looms
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The humbling story of a resolute Asian Games gold medallist Swapna Barman
Belonging to the Rajbbongshi tribe in North Bengal, Swapna’s mother worked as a maid and doubled up as a tea plucker working in tea gardens. Her father Panchanan Barman pulled a van rickshaw until he became bedridden following a stroke seven years ago.
IMAGE: Swapna Barman of India celebrates with Yuki Yamasaki of Japan after the Women’s Heptathlon 800m at GBK Main Stadium in Jakarta on Wednesday. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
Indian heptathlete Swapna Barman’s mother will finally get to see her daughter after her historic gold medal winning feat at the Asian Games in Jakarta on Wednesday.
“Medal na jitle bari firbo na (won’t return home, unless I win a medal),” Swapna had told her mother Basana Devi when she visited her family at Ghospara village, on the outskirts of Jalapaiguri town in North Bengal.
Belonging to the Rajbbongshi tribe in North Bengal, Swapna’s mother worked as a maid and doubled up as a tea plucker working in tea gardens. Her father Panchanan Barman pulled a van rickshaw until he became bedridden following a stroke seven years ago.
Born with six toes on each foot, Swapna is stubborn from childhood, said the secretary of the Jalpaiguri District Athletics Association Ujjal Das Chowdhury, who has followed Swapna’s career from close quarters.
“If someone discourages her to do something, then Swapna will stick to it till she proves the person wrong,” Das Chowdhury said.
Battling a back injury that requires her to take an injection under Dr Anant Joshi in Mumbai every month, Swapna had last visited her home after her Asian Athletics win in Bhubaneswar last year.
A staunch devotee of Goddess Kali, she spent almost all her prize money in building a Kali temple outside her house, Chowdhury told PTI from Jalpaiguri.
“She had come to build a temple and that was the last time she visited her home. Today her mother was saying she can finally see her daughter with the gold medal now,” Das Chowdhury said.
IMAGE: Swapna Barman of India celebrates after winning the Women’s Heptathlon on Wednesday. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
Swapna had won the Asian Athletics gold with her previous personal best effort of 5942 points, till she joined the 6000-club on Wednesday en route to a dream Asiad gold.
“Congratulations to her and her coach Subhas Sarkar who meticulously calculated the points for her despite battling a toothache and a back injury,” he added.
The moment the news spread after Swapna clinched the gold with a personal best of 6026 points, hundreds flocked to her two-room, tinned-house celebrating her success as her mother offered prayers in the Kali temple.
“I’ve seen the penury their family has gone through. Swapna has now stopped her father from pulling a van rickshaw. Better things are in store for them,” she said.
Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated Swapna through her official Twitter handle.
“Heartiest congratulations to @Swapna_Barman96 our heptathlon queen from India and Bangla, on winning the gold at the Asian Games. You have made us very proud,” she tweeted.
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Wednesday 29 August 2018
Court rules UK free to extradite Singapore bank robbery suspect
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A British court has ruled that a fugitive wanted by Singapore for a rare bank robbery could be extradited after the wealthy city-state agreed to waive corporal punishment if he is found guilty.
Canadian David Roach is accused of having stolen S$30,000 (17,467.19 pounds) from a branch of Standard Chartered bank in 2016 by handing a threatening note to a teller. He then fled to Thailand with the money.
“All challenges fail,” said district judge N Tempia of the Westminster magistrates’ court.
Roach’s lawyer had appealed against the extradition, in court documents seen by Reuters, citing Singapore prison conditions, the fact that his client was jailed in Thailand, and concerns that Singapore would not keep its promise.
The case sparked debate at the time about whether Singapore, which has a very low crime rate, had become too complacent on security. The decision on Roach’s extradition has now been passed to Britain’s secretary of state.
“Singapore authorities are working closely with the UK authorities on the next steps in this matter,” Singapore’s home affairs ministry and its attorney-general’s chambers said in a joint statement late on Wednesday.
Singapore wants Roach on one count of robbery, carrying a minimum jail term of two years and at least six strokes of the cane, and on one count of money laundering. In February, Singapore agreed to waive corporal punishment.
After fleeing to Thailand, Roach was jailed for 14 months for not declaring such a large amount of money upon arrival.
Singapore authorities said they had repeatedly asked Thailand to send Roach back to face charges, but it decided to deport Roach to Canada in January.
However, en route home, he was detained by British police at London’s Heathrow Airport at the request of Singapore, a former British colony that has an extradition treaty with Britain, but not Thailand.
Reporting by John Geddie in SINGAPORE and Andrew MacAskill in LONDON; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
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Man arrested as woman fights for her life after electric cyclist hit-and-run
A man has been arrested after a woman was left with critical injuries following a collision with a cyclist.
The man contacted police and was arrested at around 11pm hours on Wednesday, 29 August.
He was arrested on suspicion of causing bodily harm – under Section 35 of the Offence Against Person Act, failing to stop and failing to report a collision.
The 30-year-old is being held in police custody.
A woman, believed to be in her 50s, was crossing Kingsland High Street in Dalston, east London, just after 5pm on Tuesday when she was hit by a cyclist on an electric bike.
Police and paramedics were called and an air ambulance took the woman to hospital.
She remains in a life-threatening condition and her next-of-kin have been contacted by the authorities.
Scotland Yard said the male cyclist stopped after falling off his bike but then sped off.
The bike was later abandoned on the nearby Approach Close and it has been recovered by police.
The bike is a electric-assisted pedal cycle produced by the brand Specialized.
Officers are still appealing for any witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Detective Constable Darren Case said: “This is a shocking incident as it appears the cyclist involved did not stop to assist the victim or contact the emergency services, instead making off.
“We need to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time. Did you see the cyclist before, during or after the collision?
“Maybe you are in possession of dash cam footage or filmed the cyclist on your mobile phone as he made off. If you did, it is vital that you make contact with us.”
:: Anyone with information is asked to contact the Serious Collisions Investigation Unit at Chadwell Heath on 020 8597 4874 or call 101 quoting CAD 5837/28 August.
More follows…
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Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore come together – here’s what they are up to
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Shah Rukh Khan is known for endorsing many brands from watches to fairness creams to hair oil. But the superstar turned unconventional for the ad campaign for the skincare brand Lux. The Fan actor has been associated with Lux for years together now and has also been a part of many of their initiatives, award functions etc. Rekindling his association with the brand, here’s a glimpse of the Lux stars coming together in one frame.
Well, as you can see, there isn’t just the superstar but three other gorgeous ladies from the fraternity accompanying him. Looking as gorgeous as ever are the Kapoor sisters, who look stunning in their color coordinated golden outfits. And then we have another diva, the mother-in-law of Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sharmila Tagore who continues to woo hearts even today in her saree clad avatar.
A picture that boasts of glamour and beauty, it was shared on social media by none other than the superstar Shah Rukh Khan himself. The actor took to his Instagram page and Twitter handle to post the picture along with the caption saying, “What a lovely evening with these elegant ladies. The benefits of being in a tub with Lux soap! Thanks @lux_india.” Further details on this Lux campaign are yet to be revealed.
On the film front, for the past few days, there have been rumours that Kareena Kapoor Khan will be reuniting with her Ra.One co-actor Shah Rukh Khan for a film. But there has been no official announcement on the same. The actress, however, has a couple of big films in her kitty which includes the Akshay Kumar starrer Good News and the multi-starrer historical drama Takht.
As for Shah Rukh Khan, the superstar is gearing up for the release of Aanand L. Rai’s Zero this year. The film, also starring Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif, will be hitting the theatres on December 21.
Also Read: Slay or Nay – Kareena Kapoor Khan in Falguni & Shane Peacock and Karisma Kapoor in Swapnil Shinde
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Browns’ LB Mychal Kendricks Fesses Up to Insider Trading
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Fat Joe Sued by Ex-Business Partner in UP NYC Shoe Store
Fat Joe Sued
Ex-Biz Partner Wants Sneaker Cash
8/27/2018 1:21 PM PDT
EXCLUSIVE
Fat Joe‘s sneaker biz partner screwed over their customers — even went to prison for it — but now the guy’s claiming Joe screwed him out of a ton of cash … TMZ has learned.
Scott Spina is suing the Bronx rapper over a shoe store, UP NYC, which they opened together in November 2016. In the suit, Spina says he sunk a bunch of his own dough — $150k — plus he wrangled more than $300k more from investors and loans.
Spina claims it was all good when they opened their doors. According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, they hauled in $175k on their first day — but he says 20 days later, Joe kicked him out of the biz.
The part Spina is leaving out is the fact … he was eventually busted for stealing credit card info from his customers. Seems like Joe cut him off once he caught wind of Spina’s sketchy dealings. Earlier this month, Spina was sentenced to 35 months in a federal prison.
Still, Spina says Joe owes him — he’s suing for his $150k personal investment, plus his fair share of UP NYC. We’ve reached out to Joe’s camp, but no word back yet.
IF Spina wins, it’ll mean big money … for his prison commissary account.
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Rescue teams call off search for man who jumped off Isle of Wight ferry into Portsmouth Harbour
Rescue teams call off search for passenger who jumped off Isle of Wight ferry into Portsmouth Harbour
- A dramatic rescue mission was launched after a man jumped from a ferry
- The passenger ship was travelling from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight
- Hundreds of passengers were stranded while rescue teams took to air and sea
Rescue teams have called off the search for a ferry passenger who today jumped overboard and into the sea.
Two lifeboats and a rescue helicopter spent around four hours searching for a man who reportedly jumped from the deck of Wightlink’s 253ft St Cecilia ferry this morning.
Despite the Royal Navy assisting with the ‘extensive search’ in Portsmouth Harbour, Hampshire, crews have been unable to find the man.
Rescue teams were scrambled into the water after the man jumped from a ferry at Portsmouth Harbour
A search and rescue operation was launched this morning after a person fell overboard into the Solent from a Wightlink ferry.
Hundreds of passengers heading from Portsmouth to Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight were left stranded on the boat for hours while the search took place .
After hours of searching, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has handed its search over to the police to carry out a missing person’s enquiry.
An MCA spokewoman said today: ‘An extensive search has been carried out of the area around Portsmouth Harbour following reports of a man overboard from a ferry.
‘Despite a thorough and comprehensive search by two RNLI lifeboats, HM Coastguard’s search and other vessels in the area, nothing has been found.
‘The search has now been suspended, pending further information. It is now a missing person enquiry and will be handed over to the police.’
Rescue RHIBs were launched into the Solent but the crews were stood down this afternoon
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