Actor-model Paris Jackson opened up on seeking treatment for her emotional health.
In a long Instagram post, Paris rubbished reports suggesting that she is undergoing treatment.
“The media is exaggerating per usual.. yes i’ve taken a break from work and social media and my phone because it can be too much sometimes, and everyone deserves a break, but i am happy and healthy and feeling better than ever! gabriel and i have some new music we’re stoked to share with y’all! (@thesoundflowers) hope you guys’ new year started out with lots of love and light and all the things. i’ll be back soon,” she wrote alongside a picture of herself with a dog, in which the top of her face is cropped out.
This is her first post on the photo-sharing application since December 12, 2018.
Recently, People confirmed that Paris sought help at a treatment facility.
“After a busy year of work engagements that took her all over the globe, Paris decided that she needed to take some time off to reboot, realign and prioritize her physical and emotional health. She checked herself into a treatment facility to aid in her wellness plan and is looking forward to coming out of this revitalized and ready to tackle the exciting new projects that await her,” a source close to Paris told People.
Through the years, Paris has been open about her struggle with anxiety and depression. She has previously reflected upon her struggles with self-confidence, which drove her to attempt committing suicide when she was just 13-years-old.
Paris is close to Macaulay Culkin, who is her godfather and relies on him for emotional support.
Communist Party of India (CPI) on Thursday rejected the rumors about Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) not supporting former JNU students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar’s candidature from Begusarai Lok Sabha seat.
As per CPI, the party is in touch with RJD supremo Lalu Yadav and will soon be meeting him in Ranchi Jail where both the parties are expected to discuss the current political situation of Bihar and seat sharing arrangements.
According to sources, the Left parties are bargaining hard with RJD to finalise three seats for them which include CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar from Begusarai and CPI-M’s (Communist Party of India-Marxist) Ram Dev Verma from Ujiarpur as a Mahagathabandhan candidate. Ram Dev Verma is a four time MLA from Bibhutipur assembly seat.
The Delhi Police on Monday had filed chargesheet in a Delhi court against Kanhaiya Kumar and others alleging he was leading a procession and supporting seditious slogans that were raised in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on February 9, 2016.
Following this development, sources said, the RJD was now in two minds about pitting Kanhaiya as a Mahagathbandhan candidate from Begusarai seat and feel that controversy may impact their chances of winning this seat.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday hit out at the Centre over the new law to give 10 per cent quota to economically weaker sections from general category and alleged the move was to “win some votes.”
“An ill-thought and poorly planned proposal which has been pushed by Modi govt only in a desperate hope of winning some votes. Why are no funds being made available to central institutions for expansion? Why does Modi govt want to destroy these institutions?” he tweeted.
The bill was introduced by the government and passed amid criticism by the opposition in the recently concluded winter session of Parliament.
He alleged that the government was damaging farmers and no amount of rhetoric can make up for the loss.
“No amount of jumlas and tamashas can cover up the kind of wilful damage caused to farmers by Modi government, the worst and most callous in independent India’s history,” he said.
He may have been the greatest swimmer ever whose exploits in the pool include smashing almost all world records, but as a kid, Michael Phelps dreaded the water.
“I was somebody who was afraid to face the water as a kid, I guess I overcame that fear pretty fast,” Phelps, the greatest Olympic athlete, said at an event organised by private equity fund Truenorth on late Wednesday.
Phelps, who has had 23 Olympic golds, including the record-making haul of eight at Beijing in 2008, said many children are like him, who are afraid of water, and that a non-profit initiative started by him a decade ago has so far taught 30,000 children about swimming.
Phelps recounted he had only 70 minutes between two competitions the 200-metre freestyle and anchoring the US team to a victory in the 800-metre relay – and had to manage a cool-down and a 400-metre warm up for the next event after squeezing-in time for medal presentation for the first event.
“I just ran around the venue and made it in time for the start of the next race,” he said.
He rewarded himself with a break a life first when he had taken time off after the 2008 games but contractual commitments with sponsors made him return to competitive swimming.
Phelps admitted that he was “faking it”, not giving his best and underlined that the results are there to see for everyone – he won four golds at the London 2012 games.
“It (the comeback) was for me. And that was the only reason I was coming back. I wanted to come back because I wanted to finish on my terms, I wanted to retire from the sport and be able to hang up my suit the way I wanted to,” Phelps said.
The only way to achieve this was the perfection in training sought by his long-time coach Bob Bowman, he added.
All through his career, Phelps said, he tried to be competitive, aim high and never rest on laurels.
“As a kid growing up, I wanted that feeling of winning an Olympic gold medal, breaking a world record and becoming a professional athlete. By 18, I had accomplished all three,” he said, adding that he continued despite all this till hanging up the suit after the Rio games in 2016.
“I despised losing in anything I did. I hate losing more than I like winning,” he said.
Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth produced yet another fine display to progress to the quarterfinal of the Malaysia Masters on Thursday.
Saina, seeded seventh, took 39 minutes to tame Hong Kong’s Pui Yin Yip 21-14 21-16 in her second round women’s singles encounter.
The London Olympics bronze medallist will play second seed and 2017 world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the last-eight stage of the first Super 500 tournament of the year on Friday.
World no. 9 Saina holds an 8-4 overall head-to-head record against Okuhara, which includes back-to-back wins over the current world no.2 in the last two tournaments — last year’s Demark Open and the French Open.
In men’s singles, Srikanth continued his unbeaten run with a hard-fought 23-21 8-21 21-18 win over Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent to set up a fight with fourth seeded Korean Son Wan Ho.
The seventh seeded Indian, who had a title-less run last season, has a 4-5 head-to-head count against the Korean world no 5.
Former Commonwealth Games champion Parapulli Kashyap, however, bowed out of the tournament after his fight ended with a 17-21 23-25 loss to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.
Women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also suffered a 18-21 17-21 loss to Indonesian combination of Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istarani and Rizki Amelia Pradipta.
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said “we should move on” from the controversy surrounding Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul’s sexist comments because he is sure the two will learn from it and become better persons.
Speaking at an event, Ganguly said that he hasn’t seen the ‘Koffee with Karan’ episode in which Pandya and Rahul’s misogynistic comments on women led to a provisional suspension on them. But he offered a sympathetic view on the under-fire duo.
“People make mistakes, let’s not go too far here. I am sure, whoever has done it will realise and come out a better person. We are human beings not machines that we will always be perfect. We should move on and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Ganguly said on the raging controversy.
Pandya and Rahul were forced to return midway through the ongoing ODI series against Australia and India captain Virat Kohli condemned their statements on hookups with multiple women as “inappropriate”.
They have been show caused twice by the BCCI since then and are also being put through an inquiry.
Pandya and Rahul, pending the outcome of the inquiry, will not be a part of the Indian team. After missing the ongoing ODI series, they are set to miss the upcoming New Zealand Tour as well.
Ganguly, who has been credited with shaping Indian cricket during his captaincy stint, said it’s not that modern-day cricketers are not obedient.
Recent happenings in affairs of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) resulting in big controversies even involving Supreme Court judges are result of great mistake done by earlier UPA regime by unlawfully putting CBI under second schedule of RTI Act for exempting the premium Investigating Agency out of purview of RTI Act under section 24 of the Act through DoPT notification dated June 09, 2011. Section 24 was incorporated in RTI Act for exempting intelligence authorities and not the investigating agencies. File-notings reveal that CBI was exempted from RTI Act on uncomfortable queries of CBI taking sudden U-turns on probes involving former or the then existing Chief Ministers according to the requirement of the then political rulers.
Even CBI at that time demanded only partial exemption from RTI Act which was also not needed because 10 subsections of section 8(1) of RTI Act takes sufficient care for information not be disclosed even for organisations coming under the purview of RTI Act. Presently, CBI challenges CIC verdicts directing for information relating to corruption and human rights violation which is to be provided even by organisations exempted from RTI Act.
Present BJP-led central government should undo the mistake made by earlier UPA regime by removing CBI from the second schedule of RTI Act and bring it again under the purview of RTI Act to induce transparency in affairs of CBI thus, putting a complete full-stop on undesired controversies in affairs of the premium-most investigating agency of the country.
Madhu Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author is his/her own.)
How much do you hate it when you turn on the lights and see a lizard smirking at you from the wall? Honestly, they do walk around like they own the place. If you are looking for remedies to get rid of those slithery pests, look no further. Here’s a list of home remedies to keep lizards away. Sure, there are lizard repellents in stores, but they are full of harmful chemicals. They are a big no-no especially if you have small children and pets in the house. Wondering how to kill lizards and make your home creep-free? Without further delay, choose one of these superb home remedies from the following list and bid farewell to lizards from the house permanently.
Egg Shells: You may have heard of this from your grandmother, aunts or close relatives. This is one of the most foolproof ways of keeping lizards away from your premises. Lizards are repelled by the smell of eggs. After you use eggs, keep the shells and strew them around the house, especially near doors and windows.
Coffee Powder: This is a very effective method to kill lizards. Make your own lizard death-balls by combining coffee powder and tobacco powder and rolling them into small balls. Stick them on toothpicks or matchsticks and leave them around the house – especially behind shelves and cupboards where they hide. Lizards will die when they eat these balls.
Garlic: This flavoured vegetable is appealing to human beings, but lizards hate the smell of it. Just hang a few cloves of garlic near the doors and windows to keep away the pests. You can also make a spray using garlic juice and water and spray it around the house.
Pepper Spray: Pepper sprays aren’t just for creeps – you can shock the lizards with these homemade sprays. Just mix water, ground black pepper and chilli powder and shake well. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle and spray the spicy water around the house. Lizards will be repelled by the spicy odour.
Onion: Want to know how to keep lizards away forever? Like garlic, lizards hate the pungent smell of onions as well. Hang them near doors and windows or place them in lizards’ hiding places. They will leave the house as they cannot stand the smell of it. Alternatively, make a mixture out of water and onion juice – spray this around the house to drive away lizards.
Naphthalene Balls: We know that naphthalene balls are good for keeping bedbugs and cockroaches away from our homes. They work on lizards as well too. The pungent smell repels these slithery beings. Place them in cupboards and shelves to keep lizards away from the house permanently.
Flypaper: This handy thing can help you trap lizards around the house easily. Stick these on the walls especially around the places where you frequently see lizards – like corners of the walls, near light sources, etc. They will get stuck to the flypaper and then you can get rid of them.
Cold Water: Lizards are very sensitive to temperature – they become immobile when they experience a sharp temperature change. When you see a lizard on the wall, immediately splash ice cold water on it – while it stays in shock, kill it or collect it in a dustpan and throw it out of the house.
Tabasco Sauce: This is a variation of the pepper spray. Mix Tabasco sauce or hot sauce with water and shake it well. Store it in a spray bottle and spray it behind cupboards, shelves and wardrobes. The spicy mixture will repel the wall-crawlers and they will flee from your house.
Bird Feathers: Birds are natural predators of lizards. Hang a few bird feathers around the house – lizards will be scared, thinking that there are birds in the area. You can even make attractive wall-hangings with the bird feathers for an added plus!
House Cat: If you already have a pet cat, then you are in for a win – not only do cats love to catch rats, but they also like to nab lizards! If you don’t have a cat, then you can consider getting one – they will catch you some lizards and are also very cuddly!
Electric Repellent: Though this is not a home remedy, it is not harmful to human beings. There are electric lizard repellents available in shops. These emit sounds in ultrasonic frequencies which are intolerable for lizards. The creepy crawlies won’t come near your house forever, if you have this installed in your house. There is even an Android app of this on Google Play, which you can download for free!
Mouse Trap: We all know that mouse traps are a very good way to get rid mice and rats. It turns out to be effective against lizards as well! If you know exactly from where the lizards are entering your house, you can place the mousetrap near the entryway – that’s it! You will have a dead lizard to get rid of!
Phenyl Tablets: We use phenyl in our bathrooms to keep them clean. You can also use them in tablet form; not only do they spread good smell in the house, but they also help in driving away lizards. Keep some of these tablets around the house to repel lizards.
Cardboard Box Method: If you are against killing or harming insects and reptiles, this is the most harmless method which will be to your liking. When you spot a lizard, try to corner it and trap it inside a cardboard box and cover it with the lid.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
In today’s times, we know that with every passing day, costs only keeps increasing while earnings continue shrinking. In the present scenario, consumer product manufacturers and service providers are in a lookout for opportunities to increase profit margins either fair or foul. On the other hand, consumers are in a constant looking to save money or at least make efforts to get the full value for the money spent. This difference in business perception between providers and users, expectantly and eventually leads, to a bitter understanding and spiteful collusions between them.
When a consumer is not satisfied with any product or service promised for the money spent to acquire it, then they have no option but to complaint. However, before lodging a complaint, it is imperative to understand rather well, as to whether we have firstly a valid complaint and secondly a reasonable acceptable solution to the matter. Only when we have a positive answer to the above two questions, we should take the following strategic steps to resolve the complaint and find a satisfactory resolution.
Complaints generally start with specific expectations of the outcome but eventually end up in getting an altogether different one. The first and foremost method to redress a complaint is to contact the providers’ customer service department and explain to them concisely and calmly the entire problem on hand. If in case, the customer care department does not do what we expect or want them to do, try to report the reasons all over to the next higher authority in the hierarchy. Talking to a superior authority usually works. If it does not, then it is time to escalate matters to a still higher superior and look at other tactics to use. The following are the logical steps that we can follow to achieve our objective.
CALLING CUSTOMER CARE CALL CENTRE
First begin with a telephonic call to the customer service call centre and explain to them concisely and calmly the entire problem at hand. Proactively suggest that the situation has an easily solvable solution, clearly stating the expectations from them. It is better to figure out all the possible options our self and list it out in advance on paper while calling them up for discussions. This helps in setting the agenda, tone, and expectations, establishing the various parameters right from the start, saving everyone’s time and effort. Nowadays call centers handle complaints for big organizations. Call centers work on commissions and incentives. The faster the call centers representative completes the call the larger is the pay packet and commissions they receive. Call centers are a high stress environment work place due to which we may sometimes need to keep reminding and complaining to get our work done the way we want.
CONTACTING CUSTOMER SERVICE PERSONNEL
In some cases, threatening the company to move out to their competition works in resolving the problem. Sometimes it is also helpful to cite examples, giving instances of their competitions offer for moving out, asking to justify as to why we should continue to do business with them. A business study claims that 5% extra clients increases the profit by an average of 44% whereas, in contrast the cost of replacing one customer is five times the cost of keeping one happy. Most companies know this, with some of them even appointing special divisions to retain existing clients even if they have to dangle extra credits and freebees to some of their clients from moving over.
FOLLOW UP WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE CHIEF
The job of the chief executive customer service professional in any organization is to resolve consumer related problems coming their way. Their basic purpose is to keep customers happy so that they will not bother busy top executives or complaint to consumer bodies/forums or regulatory agencies or publicize the issue in the local press.
GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE CEO’S OFFICE
Most large organisations have a wall of customer service personnel’s surrounding their top high-ranking officials. Search for the corporate office address and the name of the CEO. Call the main telephone operator and ask for the CEO’s office. Most likely, the CEO’s assistance or personal secretary will attend to the call to listen to the problem and will most probably hand over the issue to an elite group of customer service personnel who have super problem resolving powers. At this stage, being patient without losing temper will easily resolve most problems, faster than going to a consumer court that will only be consuming time, effort, and money.
FLOODING EMAIL ID’s OF ALL TOP EXECUTIVES
Find out the top executives Email ID by searching on line, or from the press releases of the company annual reports, investor relations sections, company websites, professional bodies where they are corporate members, through financial websites like stock exchange, or any other professional or social avenue. On can also try guessing the Email ID address format if you are able to get a sample Email ID of an employee. The next step is to flood the Emails ID’s targeting all the top executives with the complaint along with the expectations. A top executive surely knows that their company will not be able to survive if customers are unhappy and do not stand with them. If we are able to convince the top person with our problem, without a doubt the problem will be resolved, at the earliest.
USING ADVERSE PUBLICITY TO ADVANTAGE
Telephone call and Emails generally work, but if it does not then it is better to publicize our problem all over the place, especially in the neighbourhood of the vendor or shop where we availed our product or service. Simple flyers, newspaper advertisements, and effective use of the web and online posts, the social media, consumer forum blogs, now very popular with the newer generation can work wonders. Ideally, it will be better to threaten the top executive with our intentions to do all these when we write the letter or Email and most likely, we will get a suitable response. The simple logic here is that no company can afford to get the negative publicity that will eventually make them lose business from thousands of customers for making one person unsatisfied and unhappy.
APPROACHING EXPERTS
Approach consumer bodies and government instituted consumer help lines to aid in registering the complaint as sometimes, complaints can extend long and consume too much time and effort to obtain suitable redressal. Several consumer organizations are more than willing to help consumers resolve their genuine grievances. Consumer bodies, however, expect consumers to approach them with their issues only after they have first complained to the relevant goods or service providers and have been unable to resolve their issues within a reasonable frame of time. Consumer organizations will intervene on our behalf with the relevant goods or service providers and help in agreeably resolving the issues on hand.
Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI), the foremost consumer organization in India also manages the Maharashtra Government instituted Toll Free Consumer Helpline: 1800-222262; and Email: mah.helpline@gmail.com to guide consumers resolve their complaints with goods and service providers amicably. CGSI, in fact, resolves over 80 per cent of complaints by communicating the issue with the providers alone and if necessary mediates with the stakeholders for a suitable settlement. CGSI advise consumers with genuine complaints to approach consumer courts for litigation as the very last resort.
CONSUMER COURTS
The primary objective of setting up consumer courts by the government was to provide speedy settlements of consumer issues, records, however, prove otherwise. Consumer courts are flooded with a large number of consumer complaints. Inordinate delays, adjournments are the norm and cases take several years for resolution. A consumer by law can always fight a case individually, however practically we generally see lawyers battle the case on behalf of the consumers, making the overall situation as good or bad as a general regular court.
CONCLUSION
Business houses have the right to make profits in order to survive. Similarly, consumers have the legitimate right to expect goods and services promised by business houses and advertisements; and if it is not to their expectations, have a right to a complaint and seek redressal. Complaining and getting justice helps, all of us to improve the manner, we treat each other. Taking appropriate action helps in improving the overall goods and services quality in the country.
One point, however, to note is that consumer bodies only cannot protect all the consumers from irresponsible profiteers, or even resolve all their related complaints. Consumers alone can take the fight forward and safeguard the legitimate consumer protection rights granted by the Indian constitution.
The author of the article is the Chairman of Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI)
-Dr. Sitaram Dixit
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
The Supreme Court on Thursday fixed February end deadline for the search committee on Lokpal to recommend the panel of names for appointment of the first anti-graft ombudsman of the country. The search committee is headed by the former apex court judge Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai,
A bench headed by the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed the Centre to provide the search committee the requisite infrastructure and manpower to enable it to complete its work. The bench, also comprising Justices L N Rao and S K Kaul, said it would hear the matter again on March 7.
Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that there were certain problems like lack of infrastructure and manpower due to which the search committee was not able to hold deliberations on the issue.
People make mistakes, let’s move on: Sourav Ganguly on Pandya-Rahul comments
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said “we should move on” from the controversy surrounding Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul’s sexist comments because he is sure the two will learn from it and become better persons.
Speaking at an event, Ganguly said that he hasn’t seen the ‘Koffee with Karan’ episode in which Pandya and Rahul’s misogynistic comments on women led to a provisional suspension on them. But he offered a sympathetic view on the under-fire duo.
“People make mistakes, let’s not go too far here. I am sure, whoever has done it will realise and come out a better person. We are human beings not machines that we will always be perfect. We should move on and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Ganguly said on the raging controversy.
Pandya and Rahul were forced to return midway through the ongoing ODI series against Australia and India captain Virat Kohli condemned their statements on hookups with multiple women as “inappropriate”.
They have been show caused twice by the BCCI since then and are also being put through an inquiry.
Pandya and Rahul, pending the outcome of the inquiry, will not be a part of the Indian team. After missing the ongoing ODI series, they are set to miss the upcoming New Zealand Tour as well.
Ganguly, who has been credited with shaping Indian cricket during his captaincy stint, said it’s not that modern-day cricketers are not obedient.