Mother and son were engaged in an unspoken dialogue over the open books that lay in front of them on the dining table. The mother tugged at the buttons of her sweater, her forehead crinkled. The son’s forehead crinkled even more as he pointed at a book and pushed a pencil to her hand. She shook her head and placed the pencil on the edge of the table, away from his reach. He sighed and folded his hands. It would be 30 more minutes of the Sunday morning ritual of denial and perseverance. I had a clear view of the…
Author: Loknath Das
Electronic Arts is bringing back real-money purchases to Star Wars Battlefront 2 next week. An update for the game arriving April 18 will let players purchase crystals, an in-game currency that players can spend on cosmetic upgrades. Battlefront 2’s crystals can be used to purchase “appearances,” in-game skins for playable characters, EA said in an announcement today. More than 50 appearances, including new Endor-themed looks for Han Solo and Leia Organa, will be added to the game as part of the game’s new update. Appearances can also be purchased with credits, which are earned through in-game activity, EA said. Crystals were originally…
The Toronto Maple Leafs talked at length this week about the importance of trying to contain Boston’s powerful top line in their first-round playoff series with the Bruins. There’s lots of work to be done in that department, and a host of others, after Thursday night. The trio of David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron combined for six points as the Bruins thumped the Leafs 5-1 in the opener of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal. “We’ve got to be better, obviously,” said Toronto head coach Mike Babcock, who had Marchand and Bergeron when all three were part of Canada’s team…
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, a dark mythological adventure that follows a young warrior suffering from psychosis, was the big winner at the 2018 Bafta video game awards on Thursday night at Tobacco Dock, London. The game, which was developed in conjunction with psychologists and neuroscientists to ensure its accurate depiction of mental illness, was nominated in nine categories and won for best British game, best performance, artistic achievement, audio achievement and a new category, games beyond entertainment, which celebrates new releases with a political or social message. Accepting the latter prize, psychologist Paul Fletcher, a professor of neuroscience at Cambridge University who…
India is seeking long-term, low-cost funds for the ambitious river linking project aimed at fixing water woes confronting large swatches of the country, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said in a discussion at the Hindustan Times-Mint Asia Leadership Summit on Friday. The government’s target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022, Gadkari stressed, cannot be achieved without effective water management. Apart from enhancing river connectivity, the project is aimed at improving drip and pipe irrigation to reduce water wastage.The project envisages linking almost 60 rivers to cut the dependence of Indian farmers on annual monsoon rainfall by irrigating croplands “The…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday sought to calm the southern states, which are protesting the 15th Finance Commission’s (FFC) terms of reference (ToR) for its alleged potential to reward populous states at their cost, saying the Centre had, in fact, suggested to the commission to “consider incentivising the states who have worked on population control”. Inaugurating the diamond jubilee building of the Cancer Institute in Chennai, Modi said, “I would like to remind you this (incentive for population control) was not the case earlier.” The prime minister said, “Baseless allegations were being made about the ToR being biased against certain states…
Gurugram-headquartered online lending startup Aye Finance has raised $4.6 Mn (INR 30 Cr) in debt funding led by Swiss impact investor BlueOrchard Finance Ltd. The development comes less than two months after that startup secured $3.8 Mn (INR 25 Cr) from three investors, including Hinduja Leyland Finance and IntelleGrow. As per the media statement, the latest round of funding will enable Aye Finance to further diversify its lending portfolio, with the aim of reaching out to more MSMEs in India. Commenting on the fundraise, Sanjay Sharma, Managing Director and Founder of Aye Finance, said “It is humbling to see the amount of trust BlueOrchard has shown…
There will always be some states disgruntled over the devolution formulae of finance commissions (FCs). However, probably for the first time, the terms of reference (ToRs) of an FC have stirred a controversy. To the extent that finance ministers of most southern states came together to register a protest. And, plan to broaden their group by including other states, including Punjab and West Bengal. The positive side of such a development is that the protest will not remain only a divide between northern and southern states. However, it is taking a political shape, of a battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and…
Technology, education and trade will be the key areas of cooperation that will be discussed between India and the UK when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets his British counterpart Theresa May next week. Modi is scheduled to visit the UK from April 17-20 for the Commonwealth Heads of the Governments Meeting. During the visit, he will hold a bilateral meeting with May on April 18 and also have an audience with Prince Charles. The meeting gains significance as it comes in the backdrop of Britain’s decision to exit the European Union. The Brexit “divorce” process is currently underway, and although…
Families of children with special needs are joining forces to fund legal action against local authorities in England that are cutting budgets, after the teaching union said children who could not be supported were being taken out of schools. Alicia McColl, whose 14-year-old son Kian has autism, raised £2,600 via the crowdsourcing website CrowdJustice to help pay for a judicial review of Surrey county council’s proposals to cut its special educational needs and disabilities (Send) budget by £20m. A similar challenge is under way in Hackney, London, watched closely by parents across the country who are also witnessing cuts. The backdrop to…