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Actor Rubina Diaik says she keeps a balance on social media as otherwise it is easy to get overwhelmed.

PUBLISHED ON AUG 28, 2021 03:40 PM IST

Rubina Dilaiks popularity has been rising each year. With her numerous fans supporting her personal and professional moves, the Shakti actor admits that her heart is filled with gratitude for all their love. She adds, As an artist, the biggest reward for you is the love and appreciation that you get. That doesnt match the awards out there. I have realised that life of an artist is dedicated to the audiences. We strive, entertain and perform for our audiences. When we are loved and accepted immensely, that gives us the validation of who we are.

Recently, Dilaik was number seven on Twitters list of top 10 hashtags in the first half of 2021. She shares that after her Bigg Boss win earlier this year, she realised the impact of social media. She explains further, If I said I am happy being talked about globally, then it would be an understatement. But, for me, the takeaway from Twitter trends is all about the love of my fans. I strive that my work should speak for me and recognition for that work is what we all look for. To be acknowledged on a global platform for your work is unmatchable. These trends prove how much people love me, talk about my work and the effort they put into showing it. It is commendable that they are so sincerely dedicated and reiterating their love for me that I am bound to be even more hard work so as to not let them down.

While the actor enjoys social media, she also states that it is just a tool between her and her fans and one doesnt need to go nuts about it. I keep everything in life in a balanced state it also applies to my appearance on social media and its impact on my state of mind. Fitting into every trend, keeping a tab on what people say about you or replying to hateful comments is not important. Be who you are and know how to use social media. I am mindful of what I put out, what I want to represent on the platform and also what I want to absorb from it. I dont pay attention to the comments and trolling.

She adds, When I notice how much effort and energy is put in by my fans to make my music videos or my videos viral, I acknowledge that. We need to learn the art of rejection and acknowledgement. At the end, it is for your own sanity. I am not swayed by what is happening on social media and nor can I keep posting because I want attention. There is a thin line which helps me balance. I have to keep a balance or things can get overwhelming, she signs off.

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Rubina Dilaik: Social media is a platform for you to explore; its not there to control you - Hindustan Times

The Politico deal has apparently quashed Springers talks to acquire Axios, a competing news start-up founded by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz, all veterans of Politico. (Mr. VandeHei and John F. Harris started Politico in 2006 after they left The Washington Post.) Axios leadership has not aggressively pursued the deal, according to one of the people.

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Aug. 27, 2021, 8:54 p.m. ET

But Mr. Dpfner has said that the acquisition of Politico would not prevent him from continuing his pursuit of Axios, according to two people with knowledge of his thinking. How he would resolve the conflicts that go with owning two closely competing publications is unclear.

When asked in a town-hall-style meeting on Thursday with Politico staffers why he had chosen Politico over Axios, he described Axios as an impressively successful product before saying that, when there was the chance to acquire Politico, Why would you consider any other alternative?

Mr. Dpfner still needs to find a top executive to manage the new property. In February, Politicos chief executive, Patrick Steel, announced that he would depart. Buying a property like Axios could help Mr. Dpfner solve the pending management search by installing its leaders to run both operations, the two people said.

Mr. Dpfner could not be reached for comment. Axel Springer offered a statement: We acquired Politico because we believe in its potential. At the same time as a global media company we are always looking at strong digital publications to partner with. Later, Springer updated its statement to read: Axel Springer will not acquire Axios.

Mr. Allbritton has lost some of his big-name journalists in recent years, either to rivals or to upstarts. Three of Politicos top staff members Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan left this year to start Punchbowl News, a competing news site. Mr. Sherman and Ms. Palmer were the hands behind the Playbook newsletter. In June, Carrie Budoff Brown, a longtime editor at Politico, said she would be leaving to join NBC News.

Politicos nearly 400 journalists are also in the throes of a unionizing effort that could add to the cost of the business. Its unclear how Springer will manage the mounting labor issues.

For Mr. Allbritton, the deal means a huge personal payday. His family already netted about $500 million after Mr. Allbritton sold its television empire to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2013.

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Politico to Be Acquired by Axel Springer, a German Publisher - The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan In his first sit-down interview with a Western media outlet since the Taliban took full control of Afghanistan, one of the groups leaders on Wednesday offered a portrait of a group intent on rebuilding a country shattered by decades of war.

We want to build the future, and forget what happened in the past, the spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in an interview with The New York Times. He rejected widespread fears that the Taliban are already exacting vengeance on those who opposed them and want to reimpose the harsh controls on women that made them notorious when they ruled the country 20 years ago.

The interview came just a day after Mr. Mujahid warned the women of Afghanistan that it might be safest for them to remain home until more rank-and-file Taliban fighters have been trained in how not to mistreat them.

It was a notable acknowledgment of the many changes to Afghan society that greeted the Taliban when they re-entered a city they had not controlled for two decades.

Many of those changes involve women. Not only have they been free to leave home unaccompanied dressed as they see fit they have also returned to school and jobs, and their images can be seen on everything from billboards to TV screens.

On Wednesday, Mr. Mujahid suggested that longer-term, women would be free to resume their daily routines.

Concerns that the Taliban would once again force them to stay in their homes or cover their faces are baseless, he said. He added that the requirement they be accompanied by a male guardian, known as a mahram, was misunderstood. It applies only to journeys of three days or longer, he said.

If they go to school, the office, university, or the hospital, they dont need a mahram, said Mr. Mujahid, who also serves as the Talibans chief spokesman.

He also offered assurances to Afghans trying to leave the country, saying contrary to news reports based on his news conference on Tuesday, including in The Times that those with valid travel documents would not be prevented from entering the airport.

We said that people who dont have proper documents arent allowed to go, Mr. Mujahid said. They need passports and visas for the countries theyre going to, and then they can leave by air. If their documents are valid, then were not going to ask what they were doing before.

He also denied allegations that the Taliban have been searching for former interpreters and others who worked for the American military, and claimed that they would be safe in their own country. And he expressed frustration at the Western evacuation efforts.

They shouldnt interfere in our country and take out our human resources: doctors, professors and other people we need here, Mr. Mujahid said. In America, they might become dishwashers or cooks. Its inhuman.

For the past decade, Mr. Mujahid had been a key link between the militants and the news media, but remained faceless. On Wednesday, he granted the interview at the Ministry of Information and Culture as Taliban leaders and other Afghan power brokers were engaging in protracted discussions about the future shape of the country.

Who are the Taliban? The Taliban arose in 1994 amid the turmoil that came after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal public punishments, including floggings, amputations and mass executions, to enforce their rules. Heres more on their origin story and their record as rulers.

Who are the Taliban leaders? These arethe top leaders of the Taliban, men who have spent years on the run, in hiding, in jail and dodging American drones. Little is known about them or how they plan to govern, including whether they will be as tolerant as they claim to be.

What happens to the women of Afghanistan? The last time the Taliban were in power, they barred women and girls from taking most jobs or going to school. Afghan women have made many gainssince the Taliban were toppled, but now they fear that ground may be lost. Taliban officials are trying to reassure women that things will be different, but there are signs that, at least in some areas, they have begun to reimpose the old order.

Mr. Mujahid is seen as likely to be the future minister of information and culture. Fluent in both Pashto and Dari, the countrys principal languages, Mr. Mujahid, 43, described himself as a native of Paktia Province and a graduate in Islamic jurisprudence from the well-known Darul Uloom Haqqania madrasa in Pakistan.

Despite the tense situation at the airport on Wednesday, where thousands of people were still crowded around most entrance gates, Mr. Mujahid expressed hope that the Taliban would build good relations with the international community, pointing out areas of cooperation around counterterrorism, opium eradication and the reduction of refugees to the West.

Although he sought to convey a much more tolerant image of the Taliban, Mr. Mujahid did confirm one report: Music will not be allowed in public.

Music is forbidden in Islam, he said, but were hoping that we can persuade people not to do such things, instead of pressuring them.

Excerpt from:
Taliban Spokesman, in Interview, Says, 'We Want to Build the Future' - The New York Times

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gives an opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response to COVID-19, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021.

Greg Nash | Pool | Reuters

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday night he hopes the U.S. will have some control over Covid-19 by the spring.

"If we can get through this winter and get the majority, the overwhelming majority of people who have not been vaccinated vaccinated, I hope we can start to get some good control in the spring of 2022," Fauci said during an interview on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

Many scientists now predict that Covid will continue circulating around the world for the foreseeable future, requiring nations to reinstitute public health measures on an ad hoc basis.

U.S. health officials maintain that vaccinations are the nation's best hope to dramatically reduce the number of new cases and bring an end to the pandemic. As of Monday, more than 171 million Americans, or 51.5% of the total U.S. population, are fully vaccinated, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"As we get into the spring, we could start getting back to a degree of normality, namely resuming the things that we were hoping we could do, restaurants, theaters, that kind of thing," Fauci told CNN.

That prediction comes with a big caveat, he said, noting that U.S. officials originally thought Covid would be fairly well contained by the Fourth of July before the delta variant emerged and derailed those projections.

"If we keep lingering without getting those people vaccinated that should be vaccinated, this thing could linger on, leading to the development of another variant which could complicate things," he said.

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval toPfizerandBioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, the first in the U.S. to win the coveted designation.

U.S. officials and health experts hope full approval will persuade some unvaccinated Americans that the shots are safe. A survey fromthe Kaiser Family Foundationfound 3 in 10 unvaccinated adults said they would be more likely to get vaccinated if one of the vaccines receives full approval.

In a separate interview Tuesday on NBC's "TODAY," Fauci said there will also be much more "enthusiasm" about mandating the vaccine, spurring a rise in the rate of vaccinations.

Shortly after the FDA granted approval, New York City officials said they would require all 148,000 public school facultyand staffto get their Covid vaccine shots this fall. They had previously said employees could avoid the vaccines if they submitted to regular weekly Covid testing.

The Pentagon said that it will require service members to receive the Pfizer vaccine now that it has received full approval.

Under full approval, the drugmakers can now advertise the vaccine on TV and other media platforms, which may also encourage more vaccinations, Fauci said.

"There'll be a lot more advertisement out there, which you were not allowed to do unless you did get full approval," he said.

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Fauci says he hopes U.S. will have 'some good control' over Covid by spring 2022 - CNBC

Nearly 22 million people watched Britains first national lottery draw in 1994, an event broadcast across the country in a special primetime TV programme fronted by Noel Edmonds.

Schoolchildren would mimic its famous advertising campaign, featuring the finger of fate emerging from the heavens to choose a lucky winner, booming: It could be you.

After 27 years, the novelty and razzmatazz has dulled somewhat. About 60% of UK adults still play but increasingly do so in more quiet, solitary ways, engrossed in one of 21 instant-win games on their phones.

Spending caps allow users of the national lotterys app to splurge up to 350 a week 18,200 a year on captivating casino-style features that end, for the most part, with a different slogan: Better luck next time. The limit is 75 games a day.

This migration, from simple draw-based games to a dizzying array of scratchcards and rapid-fire apps, is at the heart of a growing controversy over the future of the lottery.

This week, interested parties will be finishing off their submissions to an inquiry into the lotterys future, launched by MPs on the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) select committee.

Their intervention is already proving controversial: it comes with the Gambling Commission in the midst of a twice-delayed competition process to decide who will run the next national lottery licence, a 10-year contract due to start in 2024.

Camelot, the company owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan a giant Canadian investment fund has won all three licence competitions to date but appears to be at greater risk than ever before of losing the gig.

The incumbent faces stiff competition from three challengers: Czech-owned Sazka Group, media tycoon Richard Desmond and Italian lottery operator Sisal.

With a quartet of complex bids to analyse, the Gambling Commissions interim boss, Andrew Rhodes, wrote to the DCMS select committees chair, Julian Knight, advising him that the MPs had chosen an inopportune moment to launch their probe. The licence competition was governed by strict confidentiality rules, he pointed out, making it difficult for anyone involved to give evidence in public.

Knight responded in the strongest terms, warning that the commissions reluctance to face MPs set a dangerous precedent for democracy.

A rapprochement has since taken place, say sources on both sides of the row, with the commission stressing that it is not refusing to appear, but merely highlighting the difficulty of facing a public grilling about a confidential process.

Nonetheless, the spat underscores the extent to which concern about its direction has brought the national lottery to a crossroads.

At the heart of questions over its future lie hard numbers. Camelot has faced criticism, including from a parliamentary public accounts committee (PAC) report in 2018, that charitable donations have not always risen as fast as profits.

In the first year of the current lottery licence, Camelot booked an after-tax profit of 31.5m after selling 5.45bn of tickets, raising more than 1.5bn for good causes. In the year that so exercised the PAC, 2016-17, Camelots profit was more than twice as high at 70m but it raised only a little more for good causes, about 1.6bn.

Since then, Camelot has rebalanced things somewhat. Profits for the year to March 2021 are expected to reach close to 80m but that comes on the back of record sales of 8.37bn, with good-cause money also hitting an all-time high, of 1.85bn.

What matters most, says Camelot, is that the annual sum raised has increased in absolute terms by 350m, while the cumulative total is already more than 43bn.

Yet theres no denying that the companys profit as a proportion of ticket sales has crept up, from 0.6% to about 1%. This is partly as a result of the appetite for those compulsive instant-win games and scratchcards. Growth in sales of traditional tickets has been weak since 2010, up from 4.1bn to 4.7bn, despite a bump in the price from 1 to 2. Meanwhile, combined sales of scratchcards and online instant-win games have surged from 1.3bn to 3.36bn.

The percentage of the punters stake that goes to good causes is between 28% and 34% for the draws, but just 12% for instant-win and 9% for scratchcards.

The operator says that difference is because a higher proportion of each stake on a scratchcard or instant-win game has to go towards prize money. Unlike a weekly draw, which might make you a millionaire, instant-win products are only attractive to customers if they pay out regularly, even in small sums. More attractive games mean higher sales, and therefore more overall cash for good causes, the company says.

There are other areas of concern about shifting trends in lottery play, however. Instant-win games alone reached sales of 1bn during the pandemic, a source told a national newspaper earlier this year.

This trend has fuelled misgivings about the addiction risk posed by quickfire products, which have more in common with frequently criticised online casino games than they do with a lottery draw.

This is a particular hot topic, coming as it does in the midst of a government review of gambling regulation borne on a wave of public disquiet about addictive products.

The Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who leads a cross-party parliamentary group examining gambling harms, takes a dim view of Camelots fondness for instant-win games.

Theyre one of the worst for enticing young people into gambling, using the premise that its for charity, said Harris.

She points out that, while the minimum age for playing the national lottery was raised to 18 in April this year, before that Camelot allowed 16-year-olds to open an account to play instant-win games, even as online casino firms imposed age gates to block under-18s. This, she said, had sullied the brand of the lottery.

I hope whoever gets it next has more moral integrity than Camelot, she said.

When it comes to encouraging young people to play, theyre no better than any other gambling organisation.

Camelot points out that age limits are set by government and that it applied the 18+ rating earlier than it was required to. A spokesperson said that the inherent risk of problem play associated with national lottery products is very low a fact that is backed up by Gambling Commission and [gamblers charity] GamCare data.

Given the air of secrecy around the licence competition, its difficult to pin down what Camelots challengers would do differently.

In theory, the contenders arent allowed to talk about their plans one reason why the Gambling Commission is wary of public select committee hearings. In practice, theyre not averse to offering a glimpse behind the curtain.

Some have latched on to concern about instant-win games, professing eagerness to move back towards draw-based play, albeit marketed to a broader base of people in more locations, on more occasions.

One figure involved in the bid process asked: Why cant Amazon and Deliveroo sell lottery tickets? Why cant you pick up a lottery ticket in a Costa or a Starbucks? Youre sitting having a coffee, why wouldnt you be able to play the lottery then?

Its about changing the emphasis away from instant-win to make it less like slot machines and more like fun, such as gifting at Christmas.

Others say that Camelot has not invested sufficiently in technology, despite the 250m of capital expenditure it has made during the current licence period.

One bidder has a deal with a technology company that would involve replacing the countertop scratchcard cases and lottery ticket booths that you find in supermarkets and convenience stores.

Instead, shops would have electronic terminals that could recognise a lottery players phone, pinging them when they got within a certain distance of the terminal with a reminder to play.

Its unclear how the Gambling Commission, already under pressure over addiction, will view the appeal of phones that nudge you to gamble, or lottery tickets sold alongside cups of tea and coffee.

Final bids must be in by mid-October, with the winner due to be announced in February next year. The finger of fate awaits.

Continued here:
High rollers ready to gamble on winning control of the UKs lottery - The Guardian