Telugu NRIs raise Funds for Chennai Flood Victims
China launches satellite to shed light on dark matter
China on Thursday successfully launched the country’s first space telescope in search for signals of dark matter, an invisible material that makes up most of the universe’s mass. The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite, which has been given the moniker “Wukong” after the Monkey King from the Chinese classical fiction Journey to the West, was launched on a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. Sun-synchronous orbit It will enter a sun-synchronous orbit at a height of 500 km to observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space.
The satellite is designed to undertake a three-year space mission, but scientists hope it could last five, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. They also hope the 1.9-tonne desk-sized satellite could help shine more light on the hypothetical mass during that short period. One of the huge mysteries Dark matter, which does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, is one of the huge mysteries of modern science. Theorised by scientists who could not understand missing mass and strangely bent light in faraway galaxies, dark matter has become widely accepted in the physics community even though its existence has never been concretely proven.
Scientists now believe that only around five per cent of the total mass-energy of the known universe is made up of ordinary matter — protons, neutrons, electrons — whereas dark matter and dark energy make up the rest. Idea of universe history “Exploration of dark matter could, therefore, give us a clearer idea about the past and future of galaxies and the universe, and will be revolutionary for the world of physics and space science,” Chang Jin, chief scientist on the project, said. China also runs an underground dark matter lab in the southwest province of Sichuan, some 2,400 metres under the earth’s surface. As DAMPE will support research using the third method, scientists are hoping the findings will help clarify previous observation results and lift the “invisible cloak” of dark matter.
‘Son’ of dark matter “This is like tracking down the ‘son’ of dark matter — if you cannot find the father, you go to the son and you could learn about at least some properties of his father,” Mr. Chang said. Wukong will scan space in all directions in the first two years and focus on sections where dark matter is most likely to be observed afterward. Mr. Chang has said Wukong has the widest observation spectrum and highest energy resolution of any dark-matter probe in the world. The new satellite’s observation spectrum is approximately nine times wider than the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer onboard the International Space Station, while its energy resolution is at least three times higher than its international peers, according to Mr. Chang.
NTR Under Huge Pressure
NTR is under immense pressure. Reason? The constant delay in the shooting of Nannaku Prematho is one of the main reasons. Distributors and NTR’s die-hard fans are mounting pressure on the star and producer BVSN Prasad as they want to have the film release for Sankranthi. Given that Sankranthi is big festival, the idea is that this would give more scope for the film to rake in moolah.
However, if latest news is anything to go by, NTR’s Nannaku Prematho might not catch up for Sankranthi. And no, Devi Sri Prasad is not the reason if film is delayed. Even if DSP does background score on time, the film might not hit the screens as planned. The shooting in Spain was delayed for 5 more days. In addition, three more fights which need to be shot here are still pending.
The big question is when will the unit going to shoot the pending fight sequences? When are they going to wrap up the post-production work? Also, the dilemma over the film’s audio launch date continues.
Though initially they want to release music on Christmas Day, looks like, it’s not going to happen as DSP might not be available on that day. With this, NTR is in a catch-22 situation.
He’s not able to cope up with the situation whether to have release on Sankranthi or not. Given that his past films tumbled at Box Office, this is very crucial film for Tarak. And to have festival release is very important. As of now, everything is in director Sukumar’s hands. Let’s wait and watch.
Pic Talk: Brahmotsavam Family Photo
Here’s a candid moment of Brahmotsavam actors group captured on the sidelines of the film’s Ooty schedule. While Mahesh is looking simple yet suave in his new makeover, the film’s leading beauties Kajal and Pranitha add some zing to the otherwise melancholic picture.
Also seen in this groupie are then veteran acting stalwarts Revathi, Tulasi and Sayaji Shinde. Even though the film was launched several months ago, not much has been heard or seen about Superstar Mahesh Babu’s upcoming film Brahmotsavam.
Couple of months ago, the pictures of Mahesh Babu’s interaction with Bollywood Baadshah Shah Rukh Khan made a huge splash on the internet. And recently, Kajal shared a couple of pics on her Facebook page in which she was seen having a blast amidst the misty hills.
India, Bangladesh begin land survey
Bangladesh and India have started demarcating the land in “adverse possessions” (AP) and raising pillars on the international border in Jalpaiguri district of north Bengal. The Survey of India officers have reached the disputed South Berubari gram panchayat in the district and demarcating the boundary, sources told The Hindu. The officials are raising the pillars “immediately” while marking the border in order to avoid future disputes. The process will put an end to a humanitarian crisis triggered in 1947 following the erroneous omission of a police station in Jalpaiguri district by British lawyer Cyril John Radcliffe, while dividing the country.
In June, Bangladesh and India agreed to put an end to the dispute on the basis of 2011 Protocol. The Protocol identified the disputed areas and the 2015 agreement agreed to complete the “ground demarcation” of the boundary in 2016. As per the agreement, the process to demarcate the villages under South Berubari started last week. The Survey of India officers, headed by senior officer Biswanath Chakravarty, reached the village with border guards of both countries and initiated the process. Official sources told The Hindu that “110 subsidiary pillars and 10 main pillars” will be constructed on the Berubari border. The officials, with the help of the district administration, completed the tender and commissioned local builders to raise the pillars. Pillars will be raised in five villages under South Berubari gram panchayat and in another adjacent Panchayat, Nagar [City] Berubari, on the international border.
The process of demarcation, by raising pillars, will be completed as per Article III of 2011 Protocol by drawing fixed boundaries “for territories held in AP” in four eastern States — West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. The 2015 Agreement says that all the demarcation will be completed by June 30, 2016. However, the nature of the problem is different in Assam or Tripura. While in Bengal the residents of AP-land are Indian citizens residing on Bangladeshi [erstwhile East Pakistan] land, in Assam or Tripura Bangladeshi citizens are living on Indian land. “I do hope that the problem of all the States will be resolved by June 2016 as agreed,” said Sardaprasad Das, president of the South Berubari Pratiraksha Committee.
Scientists teach computers to learn like humans
New York: Scientists have developed an algorithm that captures our learning abilities, enabling computers to recognise and draw simple visual concepts that are mostly indistinguishable from those created by humans. The work marks a significant advance in the field—one that dramatically shortens the time it takes computers to ‘learn’ new concepts and broadens their application to more creative tasks. “Our results show that by reverse engineering how people think about a problem, we can develop better algorithms,” said Brenden Lake from New York University.
“Moreover, this work points to promising methods to narrow the gap for other machine learning tasks,” said Lake. When humans are exposed to a new concept—such as new piece of kitchen equipment, a new dance move, or a new letter in an unfamiliar alphabet—they often need only a few examples to understand its make-up and recognise new instances. While machines can now replicate some pattern—recognition tasks previously done only by humans—ATMs reading the numbers written on a check, for instance—machines typically need to be given hundreds or thousands of examples to perform with similar accuracy. “It has been very difficult to build machines that require as little data as humans when learning a new concept,” said Ruslan Salakhutdinov from the University of Toronto.”
Replicating these abilities is an exciting area of research connecting machine learning, statistics, computer vision, and cognitive science,” said Salakhutdinov. The researchers developed a ‘Bayesian Programme Learning’ (BPL) framework, where concepts are represented as simple computer programmes. For instance, the letter ‘A’ is represented by computer code—resembling the work of a computer programmer—that generates examples of that letter when the code is run. Yet no programmer is required during the learning process: the algorithm programmes itself by constructing code to produce the letter it sees. Also, unlike standard computer programmes that produce the same output every time they run, these probabilistic programmes produce different outputs at each execution. This allows them to capture the way instances of a concept vary, such as the differences between how two people draw the letter ‘A’.
While standard pattern recognition algorithms represent concepts as configurations of pixels or collections of features, the BPL approach learns “generative models” of processes in the world, making learning a matter of ‘model building’ or ‘explaining’ the data provided to the algorithm. In the case of writing and recognising letters, BPL is designed to capture both the causal and compositional properties of real-world processes, allowing the algorithm to use data more efficiently. The research appears in the journal Science.
Jr NTR To Show His Kannada Talent
We all know that, young tiger NTR is a star in Karnataka as his films do excellent business in the state too. Even few of his flop films performed remarkably well in Karnataka. Now, to exploit NTR’s craze, makers of Kannada star hero Puneeth Rajkumar’s upcoming film Chakravyuha are trying to rope in NTR to croon a catchy song in their movie.
NTR has a Karnataka connect; his mother Shalini hails from the state. More so, Chakravyuha’s producer Lohith is a close pal of the young tiger. “He (NTR) is my friend and I really want him to sing one song for my film, but everything depends on his return from Spain.
Till then nothing can be confirmed,” informs Lohith. Interim, NTR who has awed his fans with four chartbusters in the past, will lend his voice for a cheery number in Nannaku Prematho too. NTR first crooned for Olammi Thikkareginda in Yamadonga.
He later sung Kantri title song and the peppy number Chary in Adhurs. NTR then showcased his impressive vocal talent with Rakasi Rakasi in Rabhasa. In the meantime, Nannaku Prematho is in last leg of shooting.
Devi Sri Prasad music will be released later this month and the production unit is putting all efforts to bring the film to theaters for Sankranthi.
Porn Star ahead of All Top Stars
Looks like Indians will never get enough of the adult film star turned Bollywood actress Sunny Leone. After topping the charts in 2014, Sunny once again clinched the numero uno position in the Google’s most searched Indian celebrities.
Sunny even surpassed stalwarts like the departed Bharat Ratna Abdul Kalam, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bollywood actor Salman Khan etc. This feat once again proves Sunny’s ever growing popularity among the Indians, even though she is often subjected to severe criticism and even police cases on the charges of obscenity.
Each second, Google processes over 40,000 search queries on average, which is about 3.5 billion searches a day and 1.2 trillion searches per year across the world.
Here are the top ten Indian celebrities who were searched the most in 2015:
1. Sunny Leone
2. Salman Khan
3. APJ Abdul Kalam
4. Katrina Kaif
5. Deepika Padukone
6. Shah Rukh Khan
7. Yo Yo Honey Singh
8. Kajal Aggarwal
9. Alia Bhatt
10. Narendra Modi
Baahubali Tops In Google Trends
SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus Baahubali: The Beginning is breaking all records, not just of box office. The Prabhas and Rana starrer film in heavy competition had achieved another accomplishment. Baahubali topped Google’s top 10 trending movies list for 2015, whilst it is the second most searched topic in the search engine’s search list. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is the top most searched item.
That’s not all, Baahubali’s poster won tremendous accolades where its lead actor Prabhas was seen carrying the Shiv Ling on his shoulder. The ‘Baahubali’ poster connected with the audience at a large level and people are now eagerly waiting for its sequel- Baahubali: The Conclusion.
Usually, Bollywood films are trending topics every year. But, this year, Baahubali grabbed attention of spectators throughout the country.
The socio-fantasy film was a super hit in Telugu, Tamil as well as Hindi. After the widespread success of part1, the team is all set to get back to shoot part 2 from today at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. Prabhas, Ramya Krishna, and other main cast members are part of the ongoing schedule. Baahubali 2 is expected to see lights early in 2017.
Kashmir to Tollywood – Saleem Bhai
From hanging around the streets of Budgam, Kashmir, giving fashion tips to his friends to today being one of the top models in the country and also starring in his first Tollywood film Sankarabharanam, Rouhallah Gazi has come a long way. Now, in Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh he’s recognised as “Saleem Bhai” his character in the Nikhil-starrer film. His decision to move to Bengaluru in 2009 landed him a job in the modeling industry. “I was working as a medical assistant in a hospital when I was spotted by Prasad Bidappa. Offers started pouring in and as I have always been interested in modeling and the fashion industry I gave it a try,” says Gazi.
Since then, there has been no looking back. “I have been living in Mumbai for the past five years. I have walked for top designers like Sabyasachi, Christian Louboutin, Shantanu and Nikhil, J.J. Vallaya and others. But I have been very picky about my work and maybe that’s why I have built a good portfolio for myself,” he says. Talking about how his role in Sankarabharanam got him recognition, he says, “I remember when we went around for promotions people were calling me “Saleem Bhai”. From people not knowing my name, to being recognised everywhere, the journey has been unreal.”
And all of this recognition for a guy who had not been inside a theatre for the first 20 years of his life. “There are no theatres in Budgam, we used to watch movies when they would air on TV. My family still hasn’t seen my film. Maybe I will get them to Mumbai soon and make them watch it,” he says. Talking about his days back in Kashmir, Gazi says, “I remember I had even got a few test shoots done in Kashmir. But for me to accomplish something, I had to get out of there because there’s no place for fashion and modeling in Kashmir.” From the snow-filled streets of Kashmir to spending hot summers in Hyderabad, Gazi believes that he has accomplished a lot, but this is just the start. “I want to work with bigger stars like Mahesh Babu. This is just the beginning for me,” he says.
Amy Turns A Robot To Fight Chitti
When the gorgeous British beauty Amy Jackson was confirmed for Shankar’s Robo 2.0, a sequel to the 2010 blockbuster Robo, many couldn’t stop appreciating Amy for grabbing a rare opportunity to act in Shankar’s direction in his back-to-back films.
Incidentally, Amy is the only actress to have worked twice with Shankar, apart from Manisha Koirala (Bharateeyudu and Oke Okkadu) and Aishwarya Rai (Jeans and Robo). However, latest reports reveal that Amy will not be playing the female lead in Robo 2.0 and instead, she will be seen as a humanoid robot.
Apparently, Amy will be seen in a negative role and will counter Chitti, the Robot, along with the film’s main Villain. Amy has already completed the look and costumes test and also the preliminary motion capture work in Hollywood. No doubt that Amy managed to grab a great chance to feature herself in the most ambitious Indian sci-fi film till date.
MLA Suspended For Watching Porn In Assembly
Bhubaneswar: Odisha assembly Speaker Niranjan Pujari on Tuesday suspended Congress legislator Nabakishore Das for seven days for allegedly watching obscene video clips inside the house. Das was accused of watching porn on his mobile phone while sitting in the assembly in session on Monday. The speaker took the decision following a motion moved by ruling Biju Janata Dal’s chief whip Ananta Das, which was passed by voice vote. The speaker then sent the matter to the ethics committee for further probe.
However, the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, walked out of the assembly, protesting the speaker’s decision. They contended that Speaker Pujari did not take into account Das’s response to the allegation before deciding to suspend him. Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra and BJP legislator K.V. Singhdeo demanded that the decision be reconsidered and the ethics committee be asked to investigate the matter. Das said the decision to suspend him was undemocratic because his response was not heard.
“The allegations against me are not true. I have not been given a chance to make my stand,” said Das. Demanding a thorough probe into the matter, he said, “While trying to open my own social media page, I accidentally touched YouTube. I scrolled down unwittingly when the TV camera shot me.” Das said he did nothing to violate the sanctity and decorum of the legislature.
Call Money Racket Rocks AP Assembly
Hyderabad: The call money racket rocked the Andhra Pradesh assembly on Thursday, resulting in suspension of two members of the main opposition YSR Congress party from the house for two days. On the first day of the winter session, the assembly was adjourned without any business as the YSR Congress stalled the proceedings demanding an immediate debate on the scandal, which has shocked the state. Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao had to adjourn the house twice and the third time for the day as the opposition party was in no mood to relent despite the Telugu Desam Party-led government’s announcement that the issue will be taken up for debate on Friday.
The members of YSR Congress rushed to the speaker’s podium and raised slogans against the government, alleging involvement of ruling TDP leaders in the scandal. Amid the pandemonium, two legislators of the opposition blocked a television camera, disrupting the live telecast of the proceedings. Legislative Affairs Minister Y. Ramakrishnudu moved a resolution for suspension of B. Sivaprasad Reddy and D. Ramalingeswar Rao. The speaker announced suspension of both the members for two days.
Earlier, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said those involved in call money racket would be brought to book. “No matter how powerful they are and which party they belong to, they will not be spared,” he said. Naidu said the behaviour of the YSR Congress in the house brought shame to the civilised society. He urged the speaker to bring the order so that the house can take up special debate on the architect of the constitution, B.R. Ambedkar. newssss The TDP leaders alleged that the YSR Congress insulted Ambedkar by stalling a debate on the late leader. There was uproar in the house as treasury and opposition benches traded allegations.
Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy displayed pictures of Naidu with one of the accused in the case, alleging that the scandal has full patronage of the chief minister. Leaders of the ruling party said the government was ready to discuss all issues, including the corruption cases against Jaganmohan Reddy. As soon as the house met for the day, the YSR Congress insisted on a debate on the call money racket. When the speaker rejected the adjournment motion, the opposition members trooped into well of the house and surrounded the speaker’s podium.
The government on Wednesday ordered inquiry by a retired high court judge in the scandal, which surfaced last week in Vijayawada when some women alleged that they were sexually exploited by the accused for not repaying the loans. Several victims came forward to lodge the complaints. In the state-wide crackdown, the police arrested over 100 money lenders, including leaders of various political parties. Under the call money racket, the money lenders extend loans on high interest rates and if the borrowers default, they seize the property or resort to blackmailing and coercion.
Is this director serious about acting?
Tamil director KS Ravikumar is well known to Telugu viewers too as his dubbed films turned out to be big hits in Telugu. He made hit films with Rajni and Kamal. But, of late, he appears to be slightly out of form with his high profile Linga becoming a major disaster. Now, he is said to be working on a Kannada film.
KS has an interesting fad. He appears in some role or the other in his films. All his roles are comic and he usually comes in the climax to give finishing touches to the story. He showed up in such roles in Panchatantram and Tenali. Even in Linga, he appears as a police officer who arrests Rajni at the end. His audience eagerly wait for his films not just for story, casting and the taking, but also for when and how appears on the screen.
But, now the news is that he will be doing a serious role in Dhanush starrer Navamanmadhudu. After Raghuvaran BTech turned out to be hit, the Telugu audience are eagerly waiting for this Dhanush movie. Ravikumar will play hero’s father. Will this bit comedy actor wow the audience with his full length serious role? Let’s wait and see!!
