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Archives for September 2018

Congress leads in Karnataka civic polls vote count

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The Congress was ahead by 52 seats by winning in 814 civic body seats across the state, while the BJP has won in 762 seats as of 11.45 a.m., according the results declared by the SEC on its website.
So far, results were declared in 2,171 seats of the total 2,709 where the ULB election was held on August 31.

The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) has so far won in 300 seats while Independents took another 265 seats, as of 11.45 a.m.

Polling took place across the 2,633 wards of the state, spread over 29 city municipalities, 53 town municipalities and 23 town panchayats and in 135 wards of the three city corporations.

A record average of 67.5 per cent voter turnout was registered across the state for the civic polls.

In all, 8,340 candidates, including 2,306 from the Congress, 2,203 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 1,397 from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are in the fray for the ULBs, while 814 contested from the city corporations, including 135 from Congress, 130 from BJP and 129 from JD-S.

In the event of a party not getting majority on its own in the election, Congress and JD-S have decided to forge a post-poll alliance to keep BJP out of power, similar to May 12 state Assembly election which threw up a hung verdict, a JD-S official told IANS earlier.

In the 2013 ULB elections held in 4,976 seats, the Congress had won 1,960 seats, while BJP and JD-S had won 905 seats each, while Independents bagged the remaining 1,206 seats

(IANS)

Facebook AI significantly improves Urdu to English translation

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San Francisco Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers at Facebook have set a new record in improving translation from Urdu to English.

Neural Machine Translation (NMT) is the field concerned with using AI to do translations in any language.

The team from Facebook AI Research (FAIR) has seen a dramatic improvement in its results, the Forbes reported on Saturday.

“To give some idea of the level of advancement, an improvement of 1 BLEU point (a common metric for judging the accuracy of MT) is considered a remarkable achievement in this field; our methods showed an improvement of more than 10 BLEU points,” the team said in a paper that described translation from Urdu to English.

Facebook AI researchers seek to understand and develop systems with human-level intelligence by advancing the longer-term academic problems surrounding AI.

The research covers the full spectrum of topics related to AI, and to deriving knowledge from data: theory, algorithms, applications, software infrastructure and hardware infrastructure.

“Long-term objectives of understanding intelligence and building intelligent machines are bold and ambitious, and we know that making significant progress towards AI can’t be done in isolation,” said researchers from FAIR.

FAIR researchers have tested a new approach that teaches bots how to chit-chat like humans.

Facebook is making deep investments in AI technology and in May announced the next version of its open-source AI framework for developers.

Microsoft is currently leading when it comes to AI and Deep Neural Networks to improve real-time language translation.

Earlier this year, Microsoft brought machine learning to improve language translation for Hindi, Bengali and Tamil.

With Deep Neural Networks-powered language translation, the results are more accurate and the sound more natural.

[IANS]

26-year-old Hyderabad-born filmmaker is the latest worldwide sensation

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Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better for Asians in Hollywood after the fluke, tempestuous (and not-entirely-deserved, I might add) success of the seasons’s big blockbuster, “Crazy Rich Asians” — a film that features only actors of Asian origin — yet another Asian filmmaker has taken the global boxoffice by storm.

And this time, we Indians have a lot to be proud of. While “Crazy Rich Asians” doesn’t even have a token Indian representation in its cast or crew (though I did catch a Sardarji valet in a hotel driveway shot), the new thriller, released just a week after “Crazy…”, is directed by the Indo-American filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty, whose roots are in Hyderabad. Chaganty worked for a couple of years at Google before gravitating to full-time filmmaking.

His stunning directorial debut, “Searching”, is set in the cyber universe where a distraught father attempts to locate his missing daughter.

Interestingly, Chaganty, who grew up on a staple diet of Bollywood and Hollywood films, pitched “Searching” to the studios as an eight-minute short film. The producers suggested Chaganty turn it into a full-length feature film. The director initially declined the offer, arguing that he didn’t want to stretch a good idea beyond a point.

However, Chaganty did finally make “Searching” as a feature film. Released on August 24, the film, made on a shoestring budget with Korean star John Cho in the lead, has already established Chaganty as a filmmaker to reckon with. The ultimate compliment for this small-budgeted blockbuster came from the “Crazy Rich Asians” crew when they booked an entire theatre to watch the film.

The young filmmaker names Manoj Night Shyamalan as his main influence. No doubt Chaganty’s thriller-noire approach to cinema makes him the new “Night” among Indo-American filmmakers. I fervently hope Chaganty’s career doesn’t follow Shyamalan’s trajectory.

There was a time after “The Sixth Sense” when Shayamalan, who likes to be called “Night”, was seen as the brightest filmmaker from India in Hollywood. And then it all fell apart, film by film.

“Unbreakable”, which followed “The Sixth Sense”, was received fairly. But soon after, Shayamalan rapidly declined into the night with “Signs” (2002), “The Village” (2004), “The Lady In Water” (2006), “The Happening” (2008) and, worst of all, the 3D abomination “The Air Bender”, which, apart from other atrocities, also revealed Dev “Slumdog” Patel to be an extremely inept actor. To be honest, one thought “The Air Bender” to be a kind of closure on Shyamalam’s career as a spook merchant. We thought it couldn’t get any worse.

But it did.

In how many more ways could Shyamalan tell the same “Sixth Sense” story over and over again? The eerie has become progressively dreary in his oeuvre.

I remember just before the release of “The Happening” (not happening at all), I asked Shyamalan why his career lost momentum after “Sixth Sense”.

Protesting loudly, the filmmaker said: “I hear this a lot in India. It feels like everyone is five years behind. You can’t judge my career by the box office alone.”

Agreed, but I do hope Aneesh Chaganty remembers that being the new Shyamalan doesn’t mean that you turn blind to reality. Night can never be described as day.

(IANS)

Australia’s biggest honey producer rocked by fake claims

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Canberra Australia’s largest honey producer Capilano has been accused by testers of using fake honey in one of its products, media reports said on Monday.

Capilano’s Allowrie-branded Mixed Blossom Honey, which sources its products from Australia and overseas, claims to be 100 per cent honey.

However, lab tests have found a majority of its samples to be “adulterated”, meaning they contain something other than bee nectar, Xinhua news agency reported.

Trevor Weatherhead, executive director of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council said he was not sure why anybody would want to pass fake honey off as the real thing. But cost cutting might be a reason.

So far Capilano has denied the accusations and questioned the testing method. “There is no consensus in the industry about the reliability of the Nuclear Magnetic Resolution (NMR) test that has led to the reports,” Managing Director Ben McKee said in a statement.

[IANS]

Jamie Otis had a chemical pregnancy

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Los Angeles Reality TV star Jamie Otis says she had experienced a chemical pregnancy just days after she shared a picture of a test that she hoped was positive.

“Sorry I’ve been missing in action. This very bizarre positive pregnancy test then negative test then faint positive lines gave me hope that Gracie was going to become a big sister in 9 months, but the night before last I began having terrible contraction-like pains and spotting,” Otis began, reports people.com.

She added: “Then over the night full blown everything – if you know what I mean. I’m a nurse so I had my suspicions; but my midwife confirmed I had a chemical pregnancy. I don’t know why some people have it seemingly SO easy to get preggers and carry their babies to term and others struggle?”

A chemical pregnancy is “an early pregnancy loss that occurs shortly after implantation”, according to Healthline.

“What I do know is that I am so, so thankful for this little girl (and her daddy) right here. It’s like she knew mommy was in so much pain…. she just wanted to be held and snuggled all night long,” Otis said.

Otis and husband Doug Hehner have had a difficult road to parenthood. In July 2016, Otis and Hehner announced they had lost a baby boy they named Johnathan Edward.

Then in August 2017, Otis gave birth to daughter Henley Grace.

[IANS]

3 killed, 14 injured in Somalia blast

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Three soldiers were killed and 14 persons injured after a suicide bomber attacked a government office here on Sunday, police said.

The blast also damaged nearby houses, blew off the roof of a mosque and caused a nearby school to collapse, BBC reported.

Police officer Abdullahi Hussein said a suicide bomber had rammed a car into the district office in Howlwadag district.

The militant group al-Shabab, which has waged an insurgency for more than 10 years, has claimed to be behind the attack.

In a similar incident on July 14, seven people were killed and several others injured in two explosions near the presidential palace in Mogadishu.

(IANS)

Bollywood wishes happy Janmashtami

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Mumbai On the ocasssion of Janmashtami on Monday, Bollywood celebrities like megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty Kundra sent out wishes to their social media followers.

Here’s what they tweeted:

Amitabh Bachchan: Janamashtami ki anek shubhkamanayein.

Shilpa Shetty Kundra: Jai Kanhaiya Lal ki. My little kanhaiya, Viaan Raj trying his hand at breaking the Dahi handi.

Suniel Shetty: “If you don’t fight for what you want, then don’t cry for what you lost, “says Lord Krishna. Follow the righteous path and he will help you achieve glory. Believe in Yourself. Happy Janmashtami

Farah Khan Kunder: Happy Janmashtami. At the shoot of ‘Radha teri chunri’… seven years ago… Diva was visiting after playing Radha in her play school Janmashtami function.

Sajid Khan: Happy Janmashtami to all

Pooja Batra: Believe in Yourself – Lord Krishna, Happy Janmashtami

Rishi Kapoor: Wishing everyone a Happy Janmashtami

[IANS]

Baghdad ‘astonished’ by report of Iran moving missiles to Iraq

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(171209) — BAGHDAD, Dec. 9, 2017 (Xinhua) — A screen shot taken on Dec. 9, 2017 shows Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announcing the full liberation of Iraq from the Islamic State (IS) militants in a televised speech in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday officially declared full liberation of Iraq from the Islamic State (IS) militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.(Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry has said it was “astonished” by a report that Iran had moved ballistic missiles to armed groups in Iraq.

The Ministry confirmed on Sunday that all Iraqi state institutions were committed to the Constitution that states that its territory should not be used as a base or passage for any operation targeting the security of any other state, Xinhua news agency reported.

The western media reported earlier that Iran had given ballistic missiles to allied Shiite militias in Iraq and was developing the capacity to build more there.

The Ministry’s statement came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called up Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

According to a statement by Abadi’s office, Pompeo renewed his country’s support for a strong, stable and prosperous Iraq in accordance with the Strategic Framework Agreement which was signed (in 2008) by the two countries.

Tesla misses on Model 3 car production target

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San Francisco Despite Chairman and CEO Elon Musk claiming that Tesla will ramp up production of its Model 3 car to 6,000 units per week, the electric carmaker has reportedly missed the goal and made only 4,300 units in the last week of August.

“Tesla is on track for a production record this quarter but slightly behind its ambitious Model 3 goal,” the ELetrek reported late on Sunday.

Model 3 comes with a base price tag of $35,000.

“Based on the same reliable source familiar with Tesla’s production, the automaker built about 6,400 vehicles during the last week (last seven days) of August (from 24th to 31st midday) including about 4,300 Model 3 vehicles,” the report claimed.

Earlier in August, buoyed by the increased production of Model 3 cars, Tesla reported a revenue of $4 billion in the second quarter of 2018, with $2.2 billion in cash in hand.

“We are proud of our team for producing roughly 7,000 Model 3, Model S and Model X vehicles during the last week of June.

“A total vehicle output of 7,000 vehicles per week, or 350,000 per year, should enable Tesla to become sustainably profitable for the first time in our history, and we expect to grow our production rate further in Q3,” Elon Musk, CEO Tesla, said in a statement.

In July 2018, Model 3 not only had the top market share position in its segment in the US, but it also outsold all other mid-sized premium sedans combined — accounting for 52 per cent of the segment overall.

“Having achieved our 5,000 per week milestone, we will now continue to increase that further, with our aim to produce 6,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by late August.

“We aim to increase production to 10,000 Model 3s per week as fast as we can. We believe that the majority of Tesla’s production lines will be ready to produce at this rate by the end of 2018,” Musk said.

[IANS]

US cancels $300 mn aid to Pakistan over terror groups.

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The US military has announced that it was cancelling $300 million in aid to Pakistan over what it calls Islamabad’s failure to take action against militant groups, a new blow to worsening bilateral ties between the two countries.

“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy, the remaining $300 million was reprogrammed,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said in a statement on Saturday.

“We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups,” Faulkner said, adding that the $300 million aid, which had earlier been suspended, would be now aimed at spending on other “urgent priorities” due to “a lack of Pakistani decisive actions” in tackling the issue.

The move, which needs to be approved by US Congress, is part of a broader suspension announced in January when Washington had announced that it was cutting almost all security aid to the Islamabad, reports the BBC.

Saturday’s announcement comes before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s scheduled visit to Pakistan this week and meet the country’s newly-elected Prime Minister, Imran Khan.

The US State Department has criticised Pakistan for failing to deal with terrorist networks operating on its soil, including the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban with President Donald Trump also accusing Islamabad of deceiving Washington while receiving billions of dollars.

Washington has long complained that Pakistan provides a safe haven to militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network and Al Qaeda, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has denied these claims.

Since 2002, Pakistan has received over $33 billion in US assistance, including $14 billion in Coalition Support Funds, a US Defence Department programme to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

(IANS)

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