Indian-origin TV star crowned 'Child Genius' in UK

Agencies
August 20, 2017

London, Aug 20: A 12-year-old Indian-origin boy, believed to be having an IQ higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, has been crowned as the UK's 'Child Genius' in a popular television quiz competition.

Rahul Doshi, who a few days a back became an overnight sensation after answering all questions correctly in some of the earlier rounds, won the Channel 4 show 'Child Genius' by beating his nine-year-old opponent Ronan 10-4 in the programme's finale last night.

The schoolboy from north London clinched the title by answering a question on 19th Century artists William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.

"It didn't sink in straight away, but it was really nice," Rahul said after winning the title.

In the final, Rahul impressed with knowledge of his chosen subject - Edward Jenner's medical innovation and methodology in 18th Century England.

"I was bursting with pride," said his father Minesh, an IT manager who had entered his son into the competition.

The final followed an intense competition – aired through the week – which saw the candidates showing off their maths, English, spelling and history skills as well as memory powers.

Rahul had been one of the favourites throughout, after scoring very highly in previous rounds – and even bagging a full house in the very first round of the series.

Hehad captured the imagination of audiences during the competition after he correctly memorised the order of a pack of cards.

Rahul, whose ambition is to become a financial adviser, had revealed his strategy for the final as: "The key is to block out everything else and remain calm. So just focus on your goal. Mine was to answer as many questions as I could correctly and that helped me stay calm and do quite well in the early stages."

Rahul has an IQ of 162, which is believed to be higher than the likes of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, and qualifies him to be a member of Mensa club - the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world.

He was cheered on by father Minesh and pharmacist mother Komal during the show.

His father attracted some social media fury for laughing at a wrong answer given by his son's closest rival, Ronan, in a tense finale.

"#ChildGenius an adult laughing at a children getting a question wrong shocking behaviour. Shame on you Rahul's father," read one of the comments on Twitter.

But Minesh Doshi had been very vocal about his competitive side throughout the competition.

He had previously said: "We are here to win. There's no two ways about that."

Twenty contestants aged eight to 12 were whittled down to one winner over the course of a week as part of the 'Child Genius' 2017 series.

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News Network
February 21,2020

London, Feb 21: Scientists have discovered a new species of land snail, and have named it Craspedotropis Greta Thunberg in honour of the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg for her efforts to raise awareness about climate change.

According to the study, published in the Biodiversity Data Journal, the newly discovered species belongs to the so-called caenogastropods -- a group of land snails known to be sensitive to drought, temperature extremes, and forest degradation.

The scientists, including evolutionary ecologist Menno Schilthuizen from Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, said the snails were found very close to the research field station at Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre in Brunei.

They added that the snails were discovered at the foot of a steep hill-slope, next to a river bank, foraging at night on the green leaves of understorey plants.

The effort aided by amateur scientist J.P. Lim, who found the first individual of the snail said, "Naming this snail after Greta Thunberg is our way of acknowledging that her generation will be responsible for fixing problems that they did not create."

"And it's a promise that people from all generations will join her to help," Lim said.

The researchers said they approached Thunberg who said that she would be "delighted" to have this species named after her.

The study work including, fieldwork, morphological study, and classification of identified specimen was carried out in a field centre with basic equipment and no internet access, the scientists said.

According to the study, the work was done by untrained ‘citizen scientists’ guided by experts, on a 10-day taxon expedition.

"While we are aware that this way of working has its limitations in terms of the quality of the output (for example, we were unable to perform dissections or to do extensive literature searches), the benefits include rapid species discovery and on-site processing of materials," the researchers wrote in the study.

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Agencies
March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: Crisis-hit Yes Bank on Tuesday said that it has enabled inward IMPS and NEFT services.

The move allows people to send money from other bank accounts to their Yes Bank account through IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) mode.

In a tweet, the bank also said that Yes Bank customers can pay their credit card dues and loan obligations from other bank accounts.

"Inward IMPS/NEFT services have now been enabled. You can make payments towards YES BANK Credit Card dues and loan obligations from other bank accounts. Thank you for your co-operation. @RBIA @FinMinIndia," said tweet.

Last week Yes Bank was placed under moratorium and a withdrawal cap of Rs 50,000 was imposed till April 3.

The administrator of Yes Bank, Prashant Kumar and Rajnish Kumar, the Chairman of the State Bank of India are hopeful that moratorium would be lifted within a week.

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) draft reconstruction scheme for the crisis-hit private lender, the SBI will take up 49 per cent in the bank by investing Rs 2,450 crore.

The new board of directors will stand constituted from the appointed date. It will comprise a CEO and MD, non-executive chairman and non-executive directors. The SBI will have nominee directors appointed on the board of the reconstructed bank.

The RBI may appoint additional directors to the board, who shall continue in office for one year, or until an alternate board is constituted by Yes Bank.

The SBI will not reduce its holding below 26 per cent before completion of three years from the date of infusion of the capital.

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Agencies
January 7,2020

Washington, Jan 7: Facebook will ban deepfake videos ahead of the US elections but the new policy will still allow heavily edited clips so long as they are parody or satire, the social media giant said Tuesday.

Deepfake videos are hyper-realistic doctored clips made using artificial intelligence or programs that have been designed to accurately fake real human movements.

In a blog published following a Washington Post report, Facebook said it would begin removing clips that were edited--beyond for clarity and quality--in ways that "aren't apparent to an average person" and could mislead people.

Clips would be removed if they were "the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic," the statement from Facebook vice-president Monika Bickert said.

However, the statement added: "This policy does not extend to content that is parody or satire, or video that has been edited solely to omit or change the order of words."

US media noted the new guidelines would not cover videos such as the 2019 viral clip -- which was not a deepfake -- of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that appeared to show her slurring her words.

Facebook also gave no indication on the number of people assigned to identify and take down the offending videos, but said videos failing to meet its usual guidelines would be removed, and those flagged clips would be reviewed by teams of third-party fact-checkers -- among them AFP.

The news agency has been paid by the social media giant to fact-check posts across 30 countries and 10 languages as part of a program starting in December 2016, and including more than 60 organisations.

Content labeled "false" is not always removed from newsfeeds but is downgraded so fewer people see it -- alongside a warning explaining why the post is misleading.

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