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Chennai, Aug 30 (IANS) A crucial schedule of Telugu star Natasimha Nandamuri Balakrishna and director Gopichand Malineni's highly anticipated mass action entertainer, being tentatively referred to as #NBK107, has just begun in Turkey.

Sources say that the team landed in Istanbul City in Turkey for the new shooting schedule. They will shoot an important part of the movie with the prominent cast taking part in it.

Director Gopichand Malineni posted a selfie picture of himself alongside Balakrishna and Shruti Haasan from the shooting location.

Sources say that other than the talkie portions, action episodes will also be filmed in this schedule.

The makers provided two back-to-back treats on Balakrishna's birthday by releasing a 'First Hunt' video and then following it up with a poster.

The movie, apart from Balakrishna and Shruti Haasan, also features Duniya Vijay, and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in important roles.

National Award winning music director Thaman is scoring the music for this film, which has cinematography by Rishi Punjabi.

Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar of Mythri Movie Makers are producing the film on a massive scale.

Acclaimed writer Sai Madhav Burra has penned the dialogues, while National Award-Winning craftsman Navin Nooli is handling editing. Chandu Ravipati is the executive producer for the film that has fights by Ram-Lakshman duo.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Aug 30 (IANS) In view of the skyrocketing prices of vegetables amid the ongoing floods and relentless monsoon rain across Pakistan, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Tuesday demanded the government to give permission for vegetable import from neighbouring India through the Wagah border.

LCCI President Nauman Kabir urged the government to grant permission to import vegetables from India to control its prices, Geo News reported.

"The recent floods have destroyed crops of tomato, onion, potato and other vegetables across the country," he said, adding that the crisis is expected to prevail for the next three months.

The vegetable crisis could further worsen in September, October and November, he added.

It will take a few days to transport vegetables from India to Pakistan via the Wagah border, Geo News reported.

The prices of vegetables skyrocketed as the grocery vendors are charging exorbitant prices from consumers amid the countrywide floods triggered by torrential rains.

The traders are making hefty profits at a time when the death toll from the relentless monsoon rains has exceeded the 1,100 mark and inflicting $10 billion loss on the country's economy.

According to the details, tomato is being sold at 250 PKR per kg in the market while its official price is 190 PKR per kg.

Similarly, the vendors are selling onion at 300 PKR to 320 PKR per kg while the commodity's rate was fixed at 290 PKR by the authorities, Geo News reported.

Potatoes are being sold at 120 PKR to 140 PKR per kg instead of its official rate of 100 PKR per kg.

Ginger's official rate is 360 PKR per kg but it is available for 380 PKR per kg in the market.

Garlic is being sold at 250 PKR per kg while its official rate is 200 PKR per kg.

--IANS
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By Manish M. Suvarna
Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS) Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said Balanced and hybrid schemes are suitable for risk-averse investors to reduce the beta (risk) & volatility of the portfolio. An investor can choose between conservative to aggressive schemes based on the risk appetite.


Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Q: What are your views on the companies, banks making a beeline to raise funds through bonds?

A: Credit growth is expected to accelerate post the drab pre & post Covid period. The domestic economy is resilient and forecasted to be healthy despite the recession anticipated in the world economy. Banks are considering raising funds in anticipation of growth and erosion of capital after the legacy issue led by post demonetization and core sector clampdown, resulting in high NPAs. Today, the equity market is volatile, led by global headwinds, while the debt market is robust due to lucrative yields. The ease in regulatory restrictions on bonds & high demand from foreign investors are helping fund raising.

Q: In the current scenario which equity or debt mutual fund scheme is best for investors?

A: Balanced & hybrid schemes are suitable for risk-averse investors to reduce the beta (risk) and volatility of the portfolio. An investor can choose between conservative to aggressive schemes based on the risk appetite. In the case of debt, schemes of medium-term duration are a good option as the interest rate cycle is expected to rise in the short to medium term. In pure equity, schemes with a focus on the domestic economy, consumption, and finance are attractive in terms of stability and valuation.

Q: Which sector is expected to do better in the long-run which investors can loom for?

A: Sectors in swing with the progress of the domestic economy should be able to do well compared to the rest of the other industries. Capital goods (electrical), green energy, EVs, sugar, textiles, and chemicals, electronic manufacturing, are expected to outpace rapidly. Opportunities are also emerging in sectors like IT & Pharma due to moderation in valuation, though volatility can presume in the short-term due to the recession in the world economy.

Q: Both Sensex and Nifty have recouped losses, considering this, where do you see levels on these indices in the coming months?

A: It is a difficult task to forecast the target of the stock market in the short-term. However, considering the quantitative factors determining the trend of the ongoing performance, This bounce can continue in the short-term given the rise in FIIs & domestic inflows, especially for small caps. Chart & F&O data suggest a cap of 18,000 on the upside & 17,000 on the short side for Nifty50 in the near-term. On a fundamental basis, we have a base target of 18,000 for Nifty50 with a peak of 20,600 on a one-year forward basis.

Q How do you pick-up stocks for investment? Will you give this mantra to our readers?

A: Stock picking is a strategy that has to be consistently nurtured in tandem with the traction of the economy & market. You can also do this passively by identifying the stock and invest and grow in the company's life span. A key point we need to understand is the business model of the company, i.e., is the operational quality of the company compared to the industry. The USP of the company compared to the rest of the industry. It could be the leadership of the company's products, services, or R&D. Such stocks usually outperform in the industry, and they handsomely outperform the total market if the industry has an optimistic outlook.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Microsoft has announced the general availability of the latest Azure Virtual Machines featuring the Ampere Altra Arm–based processor.

The new virtual machines will be generally available on September 1, and customers can launch them in 10 Azure regions and multiple availability zones around the world, the company said in a statement.

In addition, the Arm-based virtual machines can be included in Kubernetes clusters managed using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). This ability has been in preview and will be generally available over the coming weeks in all the regions that offer the new virtual machines.

"Hundreds of customers have tested and experienced firsthand the excellent price-performance that the Arm architecture can provide for web and application servers, open-source databases, microservices, Java and .NET applications, gaming, media servers, and more," said Paul Nash Vice President, Azure Compute Platform.

Azure's Ampere Altra Arm–based virtual machines represent a cost-effective and power-efficient option that does not compromise the level of performance that customers require, said the company.

"The general availability of Microsoft Azure VMs on Arm marks an important milestone in redefining what is possible in cloud computing," said Chris Bergey, SVP and GM, Infrastructure Line of Business, Arm.

All the new virtual machine sizes support up to 40 Gbps of networking bandwidth.

The Ampere Altra Arm–based Azure virtual machines are now available in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.

"We plan to expand Azure regional availability after September 1," said the company.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 30 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayam on Tuesday interrupted and "corrected" Health Minister Veena George when she was speaking on anti-rabies vaccines in the Assembly bringing applause from the Opposition.

The incident comes at a time when speculation about minister George being replaced is rife over her alleged "poor" performance.

Geroge was responding to a question on increase in rabid dog attacks and death of people who took the anti-rabies vaccine. When she said that a report would be submitted on this by an expert committee, Vijayan intervened and asked her to form a panel to find out the efficacy of the anti-rabies vaccine which was instantly appreciated by the Congress-led opposition.

Notably, the opposition was upset about the minister side-stepping on the issue of the efficacy of the anti-rabies vaccines that was being supplied to the state-run medical centres.

In a related development, senior Congress legislator and former State Minister A.P.Anilkumar had written to Speaker M.B.Rajesh objecting to the manner in which the health minister was responding to questions raised by MLAs.

In his letter, he had mentioned questions pertaining to George's portfolio.

This morning, the Kerala Legislature secretariat informed Anilkumar that the Speaker had spoken to the Minister and told her that this should not be repeated.

George was a TV journalist when in 2016 she got a surprise call from the CPI-M and she was fielded as their candidate from the Aranmula assembly constituency in Pathanamthitta district and she won defeating Congress veteran and sitting legislator Sivadasan Nair.

In 2021, she again defeated Nair and her selection as a cabinet minister and that too Health came as a shocker to all.

But for some reason, George has found the going tough and there are reports of an "unfriendly" office of hers contributing to the speculation that she might be made the Speaker and Rajesh inducted as a Minister.

Reportedly, Vijayan is mulling a minor re-jig, after M.Govindan was on Sunday nominated as the new state secretary of the party after secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan decided to step down as a Minister and an MLA owing to his failing health.

On Friday, the CPI-M top brass is scheduled to meet to finalise the reshuffle.

--IANS
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Chitradurga (Karnataka), Aug 30 (IANS) Karnataka Police on Tuesday produced two minor victims before the Chitradurga District and Session's court to record their statements in connection with the sexual assault case against prominent Lingayat seer Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.

The girls will record their statements under CrPC Section 164 before the judge in confidential proceedings.

If they stick to their earlier allegations against the accused seer, the police department will initiate the arrest proceedings, according to sources.

The sourves also explained that the seer will be subjected to the medical test.

Meanwhile, a group of 20 religious seers held a press conference in the premises of the Murugha mutt in Chitradurga, claiming that the accused is innocent and he is being framed.

Basavakumara Swamiji, Madara Channaiah Sree, Shanthaveera Sri, Immadi Siddarameshwara Sri extendED their support to him.

"Murugha seer brought about a revolution in the society in terms of breaking the shackles of caste. The charges are being made by vested interests who are not tolerant of his progress," Madara Channaiah Sree stated.

"It is a conspiracy. The true facts will come out in the investigation. "Since, the case is in the court, we don't want to talk any further," Immadi Siddarameshwara Sri said, adding that the "decision to nominate his predecessor and administrator is the prerogative of Swamiji".

--IANS
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Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS) Actress Shefali Shah, who plays the headstrong police officer DCP Vartika Singh in 'Delhi Crime', is over-the-moon with the response the second season of the show is getting, and said that she wanted to be part of stories that are global in nature.

Shefali said: "The kind of response I have been receiving for Delhi Crime 2 is enormous. Yes, we have put a lot of effort to execute the show and we are truly grateful for the love that we are receiving from the audience. From the beginning of season 1, the audience has time and again showered love on the show and we couldn't have asked for more. Touchwood, this season is also getting the same response and even more."

The 49-year-old actress said that her character of 'Delhi Crime' is very personal to her.

She added: "Vartika is very dear and personal to me and I'm overwhelmed and grateful to know it has touched everyone as deeply. I always wanted to be a part of stories that travel places, that are global in nature, and with Delhi Crime 1 & 2, we have achieved that".

'Delhi Crime 2' revolves around a violent quadruple murder that stokes public fear and escalates Delhi's class divide. It's a fictionalised account of the brutal 'Kachcha Baniyan' gang that once struck terror in the national capital.

The show's main characters are played by Shefali, Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang, Adil Hussain, Anurag Arora, Yashaswini Dayama, Sidharth Bhardwaj, Gopal Dutt, Denzil Smith, Tillotama Shome, Jatin Goswami, Vyom Yadav and Ankit Sharma.

Shefali will next be seen in 'Doctor G' along with Ayushmann Khurrana and Rakul Preet Singh.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded a severe punishment for the criminals who burnt alive a girl in Jharkhand's Dumka.

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tweeted in Hindi, "The savagery treatment meted out to Ankita and her death has made every Indian's head hang in shame, she and her family will get justice when the perpetrators of the crime will get severe punishment as fast as possible.

"It's time today to make the atmosphere safer for women."

Class 12 student Ankita was being harassed by a youth who finally burnt her alive by throwing petrol on her after she spurned him and complained against him to her family.

The severely injured Ankita struggled for five days at RIMS in Ranchi before breathing her last late on Saturday night. She was cremated in Dumka on Monday morning. The city of Dumka, the sub-capital of Jharkhand, remained closed for the second day in protest against this incident. Accused Shahrukh, who set Ankita afire, is now in jail, but people are on the streets demanding that he be punished quickly. A campaign is also going on on social media regarding this incident. The hashtag 'Ankita Hum Sharminda Hain' is trending on Twitter.

The Jharkhand government has constituted SIT for fast and speedy action. People are also angry that when Ankita was battling between life and death in the hospital, no government representative took care of her and her family members. A video of Ankita's statement before her death is going viral, in which she is saying that Shahrukh, who burnt her, has gone to jail, but still his people are threatening to kill her family members.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) An expatriate group has approached the Delhi High Court seeking regulation of the exorbitant ticket prices of flights operating between the Gulf countries and India.

The writ petition of Kerala Pravasi Association (KPA), a registered Society, filed through Adv Kuriakose Varghese, a managing partner at KMNP Law pointed out that there are no yardsticks to fix the reasonableness of profit, thereby making the tariff fixation of tickets is highly irrational and non-transparent.

The tariffs are often dictated by the airline which has the larger seat share, thereby resulting in abuse of dominant position, the plea said.

Indians constitute the major population of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Living in harsh and difficult conditions all-round the year, the expats look forward to visiting their homes and re-uniting with their families during summer vacations and other festive times, after saving money for months or years.

Unfortunately, in the recent past, this has become virtually impossible, especially for expats from Kerala due to the exorbitant and prohibitive fares charged by airlines, which operate in the sectors connecting the Gulf countries and India, the plea stated.

As per the data published by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India for the year 2020, approximately 89 lakh Indian Citizens are living in major countries of Gulf region, including UnitedAArab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman.

The petition said that unreasonable and exorbitant airfares impose restrictions on air travel as a mode of transportation and, thereby, infringe the constitutionally protected rights of Indian passengers to or from Gulf countries.

"While the airfares are normally market-driven and are not established or regulated by the Government, the ambiguity in the Rules confer unbridled powers on the airlines to establish fares which are exploitative. In this regard, it is submitted that the impugned Rule is also beyond the scope of the parent Act which prescribe that the Central Government may make Rules for economic regulation of civil aviation and air transport services, including the approval, disapproval, or revision on tariff of operators of air transport services," it read.

The petition sought directions to the Centre and others to recognise and follow the International Air service Agreements entered pursuant to the Convention of International Civil Aviation, 1944 to prohibit excessive and predatory tariffs for international flights.

Although Rule 135(4) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 (Rules') empowers DGCA to issue directions to an airline if it is satisfied that such airline has established excessive or predatory tariff under Rule 135(1) or has indulged in oligopolistic practice, the said provision is rendered otiose on account of the arbitrary and unbridled powers given under Rule 135(1) of the Rules to the airlines to establish tariff, the petition said further.

The plea also sought to declare the phrase "reasonable profit" and "generally prevailing tariff" of Rule 135(1) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 is vague, arbitrary and unconstitutional.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are the other respondents.

--IANS
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Chennai, Aug 30 (IANS) The leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly and joint coordinator of AIADMK, Edappady K. Palaniswami (EPS) has lashed out against the ruling DMK government. He said that there was no security for the common man under the DMK regime.

In a statement on Tuesday, the senior leader said that there was "neither security to the general public nor to some prisoners or to jail officials under the DMK government of M.K. Stalin".

EPS, the former Chief Minister, was referring to the death of a prisoner in mysterious circumstances in a Madurai prison as also the torching of the residence of an assistant jailor of Cuddalore prison.

The former Chief Minister said that anti-social elements were having a field day in Tamil Nadu after the DMK government had come to power.

The residence of an Assistant Jailor at the Cuddalore central prison at M. Pudur in Cuddalore was torched by unidentified elements on Sunday. The jail quarters of an assistant jailor, M. Manikandan was set on fire in the early hours of Sunday by pouring an inflammable liquid through the window grill of the kitchen window and setting the room on fire.

While Manikantan was on medical leave and was at Thanjavur, his family comprising his parents, wife, and two children were sleeping in the quarters. The family doused the fire after running out of the quarters and was helped by others in the neighbouring quarters.

A number of mobile phones were seized from the cells of prisoners, including that of a history-sheeter from Cuddalore central prison.

--IANS
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