Ludhiana: Deputy commissioner Jitendra Jorwal reiterated the commitment of the district administration to foster innovation and support budding entrepreneurs during the launch of the boot camp organised for aspiring entrepreneurs at a private university under the Future Tycoons programme . Jorwal praised his batchmate, Sakshi Sawhney (DC of Amritsar), for initiating the programme during her tenure as DC, Ludhiana. Jorwal described innovation as one of the most crucial driving forces behind a successful economy and said that the initiative aimed at promoting innovative start-ups across various sectors, including health, education, agriculture and information technology. We also published the following articles recently Ludhiana deputy commissioner Jitendra Jorwal inspects first level checking of EVMs Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal oversaw the first-level checking of electronic voting machines at SRS Government Polytechnic College for Girls, ensuring free and fair municipal elections. He discussed preparations with ECIL engineers, confirming the meticulous inspection of approximately 1,865 Ballot Units and 1,790 Control Units. Atal Tinkering Lab at rural Dharwad school fosters innovation among students A once-dormant Atal Tinkering Lab in Kusugal village's government high school has sprung to life, offering students hands-on training in science and technology. The lab, established in 2019, now buzzes with activity thanks to a partnership with the Government Tool Room and Training Centre (GTTC). Central schemes elude Telangana women entrepreneurs Telangana's women-led startups face a funding gap, with only 80 out of over 900 receiving central aid. Despite schemes like Startup India's FFS, SISFS, and CGSS, access remains limited. Entrepreneurs cite issues like unclear timelines, insufficient amounts, lack of awareness, complex application processes, and short eligibility periods. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .Donald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trolling
Noida: Six held for duping people over credit card limitTHERE was an awkward moment on I'm A Celebrity tonight when Oti Mabuse told off host Declan Donnelly. It came as she took on the latest Bushtucker Trial, Sinister Sarcophagus: Mummy Returns. The trial saw her put inside a Egyptian coffin as it filled with sand and millions of critters. As she stepped into the mummy tomb, cheeky Dec could been seen grinning away, as the Strictly Come Dancing star contemplated her fate. Asked how she was feeling, Oti said: "Very nervous... but Dec is smiling right now!" As he smiled away, co-host Ant McPartlin mocked hitting him and said: "Stop smiling man!" To which cheeky Dec replied: "It's my comforting smile!" Then Oti got on with the gruesome trial, that saw basically buried alive. Given this was the Bushtucker Trial Dean McCullough failed to complete in Week one , Ant and Dec asked if she’d fare better than him, to which she replied: “Listen, I will never say I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, that is my goal.” Ant and Dec explained she would be trapped in the sarcophagus, while having to answer a series of Egypt-related questions. For every one she answered correctly, a star would then be lowered down and she would have to release it using only her mouth within 30 seconds. As the klaxon sounded, the tomb began to fill with sand around her body, and critters entered the air bubble around her head. Oti smashed the trial and a good amount of time, and answered all but one question correctly. This meant she won a whopping eight stars out of nine for camp. Exiting the sarcophagus she told Ant and Dec it was a “Nightmare!” But with a big smile on her face, a happy Oti returned to camp to let her fellow celebrities know the good news . The dancer did a lot better than Dean McCullough , when he had a go on the trial during the first week. The Radio 1 star shouted "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" after just two questions. This annoyed host Ant, who even revealed in Dean's exit interview that he had found this frustrating. Oti has proved a team player throughout her time in the jungle, and thanks to her efforts, the campmates ate well tonight. Catch the next episode of I'm a Celebrity tomorrow night at 9pm on ITV . i'm A Celebrity is back for its 24th series, with a batch of famous faces living in the Aussie jungle. The Sun's Jake Penkethman takes a look at the stars on the show this year.. Coleen Rooney - Arguably the most famous name in the camp, the leading WAG, known for her marriage to Wayne Rooney , has made a grand return to TV as she looks to put the Wagatha Christie scandal behind her. The Sun revealed the mum-of-four had bagged an eye-watering deal worth over £1.5million to be on the show this year making her the highest-paid contestant ever. Tulisa - The popstar and former X Factor judge has made her triumphant TV comeback by signing up to this year's I'm A Celeb after shunning TV shows for many years. Known for being a member of the trio, N-Dubz, Tulisa became a household name back in 2011 when she signed on to replace Cheryl on ITV show The X Factor in a multi-million pound deal. Alan Halsall - The actor, known for playing the long-running role of Tyrone Dobbs on ITV soap opera Coronation Street, was originally signed up to head Down Under last year but an operation threw his scheduled appearance off-course. Now he has become the latest Corrie star to win over both the viewers and his fellow celebrities. Melvin Odoom - The Radio DJ has become a regular face on TV screens after rising to fame with presenting roles on Kiss FM, BBC Radio 1 and 4Music. Melvin has already been for a spin on the Strictly dancefloor and co-hosted The Xtra Factor with Rochelle Humes in 2015 but now he is facing up to his biggest challenge yet - the Aussie jungle . GK Barry - The UK's biggest social media personality, GK, whose real name is Grace Keeling, has transformed her TikTok stardom into a lucrative career. Aside from her popular social media channels, she hosts the weekly podcast, Saving Grace, and regularly appears on ITV talk show, Loose Women. She has even gone on to endorse popular brands such as PrettyLittleThing, KFC and Ann Summers. Dean McCullough - A rising star amongst this year's bunch of celebs , Dean first achieved notability through his radio appearances on Gaydio and BBC Radio 1. He was chosen to join the BBC station permanently in 2021 and has featured prominently ever since. He has enjoyed a crossover to ITV over the past year thanks to his guest slots on Big Brother spin-off show, Late & Live. Oti Mabuse - The pro dancer has signed up to her latest TV show after making her way through the biggest programmes on the box. She originally found fame on Strictly Come Dancing but has since branched out into the world of TV judging with appearances on former BBC show The Greatest Dancer as well as her current role on ITV's Dancing On Ice . Danny Jones - The McFly star was drafted into the programme last minute as a replacement for Tommy Fury. Danny is the second member of McFly to enter the jungle , after Dougie Poynter won the show in 2011. He is also considered a rising star on ITV as he's now one of the mentors on their Saturday night talent show, The Voice , along with bandmate Tom Fletcher. Jane Moore - The Loose Women star and The Sun columnist is braving the creepy crawlies this year. The star is ready for a new challenge - having recently split from her husband . It will be Jane's first foray into reality TV with the telly favourite having always said no to reality shows in the past. Barry McGuigan - Former pro boxer Barry is the latest fighting champ to head Down Under following in the footsteps of Tony Bellew and Amir Khan. It comes after a tough few years for Irish star Barry, who lost his daughter Danika to bowel cancer . He told The Late Late Show in 2021: "She was such an intrinsic part of the family that every day we ache." Maura Higgins - The Irish TV beauty first found fame on Love Island where she found a brief connection with dancer Curtis Pritchard . Since then, she has competed on Dancing On Ice as well as hosting the Irish version of the beauty contest, Glow Up. Since last year, she has been working on building up her career in the US by being the social media correspondent and host of Aftersun to accompany Love Island USA. She even guest hosted an episode of the spin-off, Love Island Games, in place of Maya Jama last year. Rev. Richard Coles - Former BBC radio host the Rev Richard Coles is a late arrival on I’m A Celebrity , and he's ready to spill the beans on his former employer. The former Communards and Strictly star , said the BBC did not know its a**e from its elbow last year. An insider said: "Rev Coles will have a variety of tales to tell from his wild days as a pop star in the Eighties, through to performing on Strictly and his later life as a man of the cloth."Pure Storage Announces Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial ResultsRenuka Rayasam | (TNS) KFF Health News In April, just 12 weeks into her pregnancy, Kathleen Clark was standing at the receptionist window of her OB-GYN’s office when she was asked to pay $960, the total the office estimated she would owe after she delivered. Clark, 39, was shocked that she was asked to pay that amount during this second prenatal visit. Normally, patients receive the bill after insurance has paid its part, and for pregnant women that’s usually only when the pregnancy ends. It would be months before the office filed the claim with her health insurer. Clark said she felt stuck. The Cleveland, Tennessee, obstetrics practice was affiliated with a birthing center where she wanted to deliver. Plus, she and her husband had been wanting to have a baby for a long time. And Clark was emotional, because just weeks earlier her mother had died. “You’re standing there at the window, and there’s people all around, and you’re trying to be really nice,” recalled Clark, through tears. “So, I paid it.” On online baby message boards and other social media forums , pregnant women say they are being asked by their providers to pay out-of-pocket fees earlier than expected. The practice is legal, but patient advocacy groups call it unethical. Medical providers argue that asking for payment up front ensures they get compensated for their services. How frequently this happens is hard to track because it is considered a private transaction between the provider and the patient. Therefore, the payments are not recorded in insurance claims data and are not studied by researchers. Patients, medical billing experts, and patient advocates say the billing practice causes unexpected anxiety at a time of already heightened stress and financial pressure. Estimates can sometimes be higher than what a patient might ultimately owe and force people to fight for refunds if they miscarry or the amount paid was higher than the final bill. Up-front payments also create hurdles for women who may want to switch providers if they are unhappy with their care. In some cases, they may cause women to forgo prenatal care altogether, especially in places where few other maternity care options exist. It’s “holding their treatment hostage,” said Caitlin Donovan, a senior director at the Patient Advocate Foundation . Medical billing and women’s health experts believe OB-GYN offices adopted the practice to manage the high cost of maternity care and the way it is billed for in the U.S. When a pregnancy ends, OB-GYNs typically file a single insurance claim for routine prenatal care, labor, delivery, and, often, postpartum care. That practice of bundling all maternity care into one billing code began three decades ago, said Lisa Satterfield, senior director of health and payment policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . But such bundled billing has become outdated, she said. Previously, pregnant patients had been subject to copayments for each prenatal visit, which might lead them to skip crucial appointments to save money. But the Affordable Care Act now requires all commercial insurers to fully cover certain prenatal services. Plus, it’s become more common for pregnant women to switch providers, or have different providers handle prenatal care, labor, and delivery — especially in rural areas where patient transfers are common. Some providers say prepayments allow them to spread out one-time payments over the course of the pregnancy to ensure that they are compensated for the care they do provide, even if they don’t ultimately deliver the baby. “You have people who, unfortunately, are not getting paid for the work that they do,” said Pamela Boatner, who works as a midwife in a Georgia hospital. While she believes women should receive pregnancy care regardless of their ability to pay, she also understands that some providers want to make sure their bill isn’t ignored after the baby is delivered. New parents might be overloaded with hospital bills and the costs of caring for a new child, and they may lack income if a parent isn’t working, Boatner said. In the U.S., having a baby can be expensive. People who obtain health insurance through large employers pay an average of nearly $3,000 out-of-pocket for pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker . In addition, many people are opting for high-deductible health insurance plans, leaving them to shoulder a larger share of the costs. Of the 100 million U.S. people with health care debt, 12% attribute at least some of it to maternity care, according to a 2022 KFF poll . Families need time to save money for the high costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and child care, especially if they lack paid maternity leave, said Joy Burkhard , CEO of the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, a Los Angeles-based policy think tank. Asking them to prepay “is another gut punch,” she said. “What if you don’t have the money? Do you put it on credit cards and hope your credit card goes through?” Calculating the final costs of childbirth depends on multiple factors, such as the timing of the pregnancy , plan benefits, and health complications, said Erin Duffy , a health policy researcher at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. The final bill for the patient is unclear until a health plan decides how much of the claim it will cover, she said. But sometimes the option to wait for the insurer is taken away. During Jamie Daw’s first pregnancy in 2020, her OB-GYN accepted her refusal to pay in advance because Daw wanted to see the final bill. But in 2023, during her second pregnancy, a private midwifery practice in New York told her that since she had a high-deductible plan, it was mandatory to pay $2,000 spread out with monthly payments. Daw, a health policy researcher at Columbia University, delivered in September 2023 and got a refund check that November for $640 to cover the difference between the estimate and the final bill. “I study health insurance,” she said. “But, as most of us know, it’s so complicated when you’re really living it.” While the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover some prenatal services, it doesn’t prohibit providers from sending their final bill to patients early. It would be a challenge politically and practically for state and federal governments to attempt to regulate the timing of the payment request, said Sabrina Corlette , a co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. Medical lobbying groups are powerful and contracts between insurers and medical providers are proprietary. Because of the legal gray area, Lacy Marshall , an insurance broker at Rapha Health and Life in Texas, advises clients to ask their insurer if they can refuse to prepay their deductible. Some insurance plans prohibit providers in their network from requiring payment up front. If the insurer says they can refuse to pay up front, Marshall said, she tells clients to get established with a practice before declining to pay, so that the provider can’t refuse treatment. Related Articles Health | Which health insurance plan may be right for you? Health | Former Walmart truck driver falsely accused of fraud awarded $34.7 million by California jury Health | 23andMe, tech companies disclose hundreds of Bay Area job cuts Health | Bay Area health officials plan for RSV, flu, COVID and Trump administration Health | Bay FC’s Beattie wins NWSL honor for breast cancer awareness advocacy Clark said she met her insurance deductible after paying for genetic testing, extra ultrasounds, and other services out of her health care flexible spending account. Then she called her OB-GYN’s office and asked for a refund. “I got my spine back,” said Clark, who had previously worked at a health insurer and a medical office. She got an initial check for about half the $960 she originally paid. In August, Clark was sent to the hospital after her blood pressure spiked. A high-risk pregnancy specialist — not her original OB-GYN practice — delivered her son, Peter, prematurely via emergency cesarean section at 30 weeks. It was only after she resolved most of the bills from the delivery that she received the rest of her refund from the other OB-GYN practice. This final check came in October, just days after Clark brought Peter home from the hospital, and after multiple calls to the office. She said it all added stress to an already stressful period. “Why am I having to pay the price as a patient?” she said. “I’m just trying to have a baby.” ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Jaland Lowe flirted with a triple-double as Pitt improved to 6-0 with a 74-63 win over LSU on Friday afternoon at the Greenbrier Tip-Off in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Lowe finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists for the Panthers, who have won their first six games of a season for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign. It would have been the second straight triple-double for Lowe, who had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against VMI Monday. Ishmael Leggett chipped in 21 points and Cameron Corhen supplied 14, helping Pitt outshoot the Tigers (4-1) 44.4 percent to 37.3 percent overall. Vyctorius Miller and Jalen Reed recorded 14 points apiece for LSU, with Reed also snatching seven boards. Cam Carter contributed 11 points. Pitt took control in the first four-plus minutes of the second half, opening the period on a 13-0 run to build a 40-28 lead. The Tigers were held scoreless following the break until Carter converted a layup with 13:13 to go. It was still a 12-point game after Zack Austin hit a pair of free throws with 12:50 remaining, but LSU then rallied. Corey Chest, Reed and Jordan Sears each had a bucket down low for the Tigers during an 8-1 spurt that made it 43-38. However, Lowe stemmed the tide, answering with back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Panthers up 49-38 with 9:31 left. Miller did everything he could to keep LSU in contention, scoring eight points in a span of 1 minute, 23 seconds, with his four-point play getting the Tigers within 56-52 with 6:03 to play. But Pitt never let LSU get the upper hand, and it led by at least six for the final 5:05 of the contest. The Tigers had a 28-27 edge at intermission after ending the first half on an 8-2 run. LSU overcame a quick start by the Panthers, who raced out to a 12-6 advantage and led by as many as eight in the first 20 minutes of action. --Field Level MediaFlutterwave CEO, Agboola Appointed to National Museum of African Art Advisory Board Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company has announced that its Founder and CEO, Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. This appointment reflects Flutterwave’s continued commitment to supporting and celebrating African excellence across various sectors on the continent and beyond. The National Museum of African Art, the only U.S. museum devoted to the art of Africa, selected Agboola as one of seven new board members during its 60th anniversary year. This appointment places the Flutterwave Founder and CEO alongside leaders in academia, healthcare, and finance who will help shape the museum’s future direction. “It is a privilege to work with each of these new board members,” said John K. Lapiana, the museum’s director. “Our museum will benefit immeasurably from their perspectives and insight, especially now during our 60th anniversary year.” As a technology leader who has consistently worked to showcase African innovation on the global stage, Mr. Agboola brings unique insights to the museum’s mission of promoting cross-cultural understanding. His appointment creates an exciting bridge between Africa’s digital transformation and its rich cultural heritage. “It is an honor to support the National Museum of African Art in its mission to bring Africa’s vibrant heritage to a global audience. Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave and member of Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art Board commented. “This opportunity aligns with Flutterwave’s vision of building solutions and contributing to opportunities that showcase Africa’s talent, potential, and innovation. I look forward to collaborating with the museum to highlight the connection between Africa’s cultural history and its future in the digital age,” Agboola added in a statement. The National Museum of African Art’s collection includes over 13,000 artworks spanning more than 1,000 years of African history. As a board member, the Flutterwave founder and CEO will contribute to the museum’s efforts to showcase Africa’s artistic achievements to a global audience. Agboola also represents Flutterwave, as an inaugural member of the Milken Institute’s Africa Leaders Business Council. He serves on the boards of several prestigious organizations, like the U.S.-Africa Business Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Corporate Council on Africa. Flutterwave has been recognized in Africa and globally for its payment innovations and role as an ecosystem enabler. The company was named Fast Company’s Most Innovative Company for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in 2024. Flutterwave remains committed to supporting initiatives that celebrate African excellence in all its forms from technology to art.