The Fun Fact for this week is:
The hashtag symbol (#) is
technically called an octothorpe. The prefix "octo-" means eight;
however, the meaning of "-thorpe" is a mystery. Some theories suggest
that it comes from an Old English word, "village", based on an idea that
the symbol looks like a village surrounded by eight fields.
Now let's start with the updates for this week.
August 10, 2020 (Monday)
:::The numbers of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App are as follows:
Confirmed - 22,15,074
Recovered - 15,35,743
Deceased - 44,386
:::Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Submarine Optical Fiber Cable (OFC).
It connects Chennai and Port Blair. It is a 2,300 kms long cable that
has been laid at the cost of Rs.1,224 crore. The project was funded by
the Government of India through Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)
under the Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Communication.
The project was executed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), with
Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) as its technical
consultant. The cable is expected to deliver a bandwidth of 2x200 Gbps
between Chennai & Port Blair and 2x100 Gbps between Port Blair &
other islands. This is being considered as a landmark achievement as it
will boost tourism and employment generation. The foundation stone for
the project was laid in December 2018 by the Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
:::Honda started pre-launch booking of the new Honda Jazz.
It can be booked at any authorized dealership across the country by
paying a basic amount of Rs.21,000/-. One can also visit the website of
Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) and book the car by paying Rs.5,000/-.
The all new Honda Jazz is powered by BS-6 compliant 1.2L i-VTEC petrol
engine. It will be available in both the formats: manual and automatic.
Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President & Director of Marketing &
Sales, issued a statement saying that 'One Touch Electric Sunroof' is a
unique feature in this segment and it will appeal to the customers.
:::Delhi University (DU)
submitted a statement before Justice Pratibha M.Singh saying that it
will issue digital degree certificates. The students are required to
register on the online portal http://www.digicerti.du.ac.in/ and share
their academic qualification and name of the college. If the portal is
not working, then students need to send their details to
Sanjeev Singh, Joint Director of DU Computer Science, and Professor
Vinay Gupta, Dean of Examination. The certificate will be issued within a
week after the verification has been done.
:::Apple filed a notice against Prepear.
Prepear is a meal preparation mobile application. Apple claims that the
logo of Prepear is too similar to that of its own, and that it would
cause dilution of distinctiveness of Apple's logo. Apple argued that
this was in violation of the Lanham Act. The act provides for a national
system of trademark registration in the United States that protects the
owner of a federally registered mark against the use of similar marks
if the use is likely to result in consumer confusion, or if the dilution
of a famous mark is likely to occur. Prepear cannot afford a legal
battle with Apple and it has started a petition called, "Save the Pear
from Apple''. They have collected around 73,000 signatures as on August
15, 2020. Natalie Monson, co-owner of Prepear, has said that they are
defending themselves not only to keep their logo, but also to send a
message to big companies that bullying small businesses has its
consequences.
August 11, 2020 (Tuesday)
:::The figures of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 22,68,675
Recovered - 15,83,489
Deceased - 45,257
:::Facebook created a unit for Facebook Financial.
The unit will be devoted to all its payment related projects. The focus
will be on WhatsApp Payments, Novi Digital Wallet and Facebook Pay. It
will be headed by David Marcus, formal Paypal President and co-creator
of Facebook's Libra Currency. Facebook has hired Stephane Kasriel,
former Chief Executive Officer of Upwork Inc., to serve as a Vice
President of Payments under David Marcus. Facebook Financial is
internally called F2.
:::Google launched "People Cards" in
India. It lets an individual create his/her public profile and
highlight their existing websites or social media profiles. Users need
to share their mobile number and Google account to create the profile.
Only one card is allowed for every account and a user can opt-out from
this feature at any time. In order to flag a content that violates the
policies, Google is touting to have a combination of human review and
automated techniques in place. Lauren Clark, Product Manager of Google
Search, issued a statement clarifying that there are no plans of
expansion and the feature would be limited to India only.
:::While debating on the Section 6 of The Hindu Succession Act, 2005,
Supreme Court ruled that the act can be applied retrospectively to
daughters irrespective of whether their father was alive or not when the
law was enacted in 2005. The court also said that daughters born before
2005 have Coparcenary rights to joint Hindu family property.
Coparcenary is a person who can claim a legal right to ancestral
property by birth. The Supreme Court bench of justices Arun Mishra,
S.Abdul Nazeer and M.R.Shah gave the ruling while hearing a plea against
Delhi High Court judgement in which one judgement ruled that daughters
cannot have a right over property if their father has passed away before
2005 while the other judgement ruled that the law confers equal rights
on both, son and daughter.
August 12, 2020 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases reported were:
Confirmed - 23,29,638
Recovered - 16,39,599
Deceased - 46,091
:::Joe Biden, Democratic Presidential candidate of The United States, named Kamala Harris
(the first time senator) as Vice-Presidential running mate. If the
party wins in November, then Harris will become the first female Vice
President of The United States. The win will set her up for Presidency
in 2024, or 2028, whenever Biden's term ends. She is Fifty-Five years
young. She was born in Oakland, California, to a Jamaican father and an
Indian mother. She is the third woman to run for the office of Vice
President. She is also the first Black and South Asian American woman to
run on a major political party's presidential ticket.
:::The U.K economy
officially went in recession as a result of lockdown measures put in
place to counter Corona Virus pandemic. The official figures recorded by
the "Office for National Statistics" showed it contracting by a record
of 20.4% in the second quarter. British Government has kept a lid on the
number of job losses and implemented the Corona Virus Retention Scheme.
According to this scheme, the Government pays a large chunk of salaries
of workers who have been retained by their employers. It is estimated
that around 1.2 million employers have taken advantage of the scheme.
The total cost incurred by the Government in this scheme is nearly 33.8
billion pounds. The economy began to bounce back in June with the
openings of shops, factories and house-building activities. The British
Government hopes that the additional measures such as re-opening of pubs
and restaurants will allow the economy to rebound; however, it's
inevitable unemployment is expected to sky-rocket in the coming months.
:::India remembered Vikram Sarabhai
on his 101st birth anniversary. He is credited as the founder of Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO) that was earlier known as Indian
National Committee for Space Research, and as the father of Indian Space
Program. He is also credited for putting the first Indian satellite,
Aryabhata, in orbit in 1975 from Russian cosmodrome. He founded Physical
Research Laboratory and Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad in
1947 and 1957 respectively. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and
the Padma Vibhushan in 1972. Skyroot Aerospace celebrated his 101st
birthday by successfully test firing an upper stage rocket engine.
:::Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
developed and deployed two Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) for
operations at high altitude in Leh to support the Indian Air Force
(IAF). R.Madhavan, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, said that the
Light Combat Helicopters have been designed and developed to meet unique
and specific requirements of IAF, and that it reflects a crucial role
in AtmaNirbhar Bharat. Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) also approved
the proposal for an initial batch of fifteen LCH, out of 160 LCH which
are jointly needed by IAF and Indian Army, to be delivered shortly.
:::Carcass of a Whale-Shark
was found at Mumbai's Sasson Dock. Maharashtra's fisheries department
and the state-run Mangrove cell launched an investigation. It is a
cognisable offence in India to capture and kill a whale-shark under the
Wildlife (Protection) Act, Schedule I. Whale-Shark is also known as
Rhincodon typus and it is an endangered species.
August 13, 2020 (Thursday)
:::The figures of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu app were as follows:
Confirmed - 23,96,637
Recovered - 16,95,982
Deceased - 47,033
:::Young Liu, Chairman of Foxconn,
said that the company is adding more production capacity outside of
China to avoid escalating tariffs on Chinese-made goods that are headed
to the market of the United States. With this, the proportion of
production capacity outside China would be 30% as compared to the
proportion of 25% in June 2020. It reported a net income of $778
millions for the quarter that ended in June 2020; however, it expects
its sales to go down by double digits in its third quarter as Apple has
delayed the launch of its iPhone this year. Foxconn, also known as Hon
Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd, is a hub of production for gadgets
including iPhones and Dell desktops.
:::Dr.S.Jaishankar, India's Minister of External Affairs, announced $250 million financial support for Maldives
through a soft loan arrangement. The support has been announced to
mitigate the impact of the economic crisis caused by Covid-19. The
support is also expected to shore-up the liquidity and ease exchange
rate fluctuations for Maldives. New Delhi too offered its support by
providing 6.2 tonnes of essential medicines under Operation Sanjeevani
and 600 tons of essential food items amidst COVID pandemic. India had
earlier extended the assistance of $400 millions to Maldives through
Currency Swap arrangement to help over-come liquidity crisis.
:::VingaJoy,
an Indian brand for consumer electronics and mobile accessories,
launched a new power bank called FuelBar VB-SX3. The main features are
its non-metallic frame body and LED digital battery indicator. It also
offers dual input charging ports, Type C and V8, with 2.0A output
charging port. It is scheduled to be made available at nearest retail
stores very soon. The power bank has been made in India and its selling
price will be Rs.2,499/-.
:::Enforcement Directorate (ED)
froze several bank accounts of various Indian businessmen and companies
in India on the request made by Brazil, where the provincial governor is
under investigation for embezzlement of funds. As per reports, ED froze
bank accounts of Sixty-Seven Indian businessmen and companies namely,
Hamilton Housewares, JK Tyre, KP Sanghvi & Sons, Nancy Craft Pvt
Ltd, Bharat Fashion & Apparels, Eastman Industries Ltd, Orbit
Exports Ltd, Shrenuj & Co. and RSWM Ltd, to mention a few. ED acted
on mutual legal agreement between both the countries, but it has not
filed any case.
:::Haryana Government offered three land parcels to Maruti
as an alternative to its current Thirty-Nine years old Gurugram plant.
RC Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, had earlier said that
the company has decided to shift out of the city, and that the company
was looking to move somewhere within Haryana. The three land parcels
offered to the company by Haryana Government are: Manesar (where the
company has its main factory), Sohna and Kharkhoda in Sonipat. The plant
in Gurugram is spread across a 300-acre compound with a capacity to make
around 7 lakh cars annually. It was the first manufacturing facility
that the company had set-up. As per reports, Maruti is finding it
difficult to continue its operations as Gurugram has turned into a
bustling megapolis over the years.
:::Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Faceless Income Tax Assessment Scheme in order to eliminate human interface in the assessment system. Some of the features of the scheme are:
1) Selection only through system using data analytics and AI
2) Abolition of territorial jurisdiction
3) Automated random allocation of cases
4) Central issuance of notices with Document Identification Number (DIN)
5) No physical interface, no need to visit income tax office
6) Team-based assessment and team-based review
7) Draft assessment order in one city, review in another city and finalization in third city
Nirmala
Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, said that the scheme would
help in easing compliance burden of tax payers and that it would
increase fairness & objectivity in the tax system.
:::UAE
became the first Gulf Arab country to establish its diplomatic
relations with Israel. The deal was brokered by Donald Trump, President
of the United States. The US, UAE and Israel issued a joint statement
saying that the focus would be on improving relations with Arab and
Muslim world. Israel confirmed the reports by adding that it will
suspend its annexation of the occupied West Bank.
August 14, 2020 (Friday)
:::The figures for Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 24,61,190
Recovered - 17,51,555
Deceased - 48,040
:::Cyber criminals duped Nykaa
of Rs.62 lakh by the way of email spoofing. The cyber criminals tricked
Nykaa to send money for its Italian supplier to another bank account by
claiming that this was for taxation purposes. There was no breach of
consumer data. The police have registered an FIR under the IT act for
further investigation. Nykaa is a domestic retailer based in Mumbai that
deals in beauty and fashion products. Email spoofing is a fraudulent
technique of sending emails from a forged address. While processing any
transaction based on the details mentioned in an email, it is recommended to;
1) match the name of the sender with email address;
2) check for poor language/grammar/punctuation;
3) check for language that conveys a sense of urgency; and,
4) examine the return path of such an email carefully.
:::Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma,
who died at the age of 44 years on September 19, 2008, was awarded his
seventh gallantry medal posthumously. He worked in Delhi Police's
Special Cell. He died after he succumbed to the injuries in a hospital.
He was hit by three bullets when he went to capture five suspected
terrorists hiding in south Delhi's Batla House. He has earlier been
rewarded with the Ashok Chakra in 2009 and President's medal seven
times. This year the list of gallantry awards was topped by police
personnel from Jammu & Kashmir with Eighty-One medals, followed by
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with Fifty-One medals due to their
counter-insurgency operations.
:::Rajnath Singh, the Union Defense Minister of India, launched a web-portal for "Opportunities for Make in India in Defense"
as a part of 'Atmanirbharta Saptah'. The web-portal was launched via
video conferencing in the presence of General Bipin Rawat, Chief of
Defense Staff (CDC). Rajnath Singh had earlier launched Konkurs Missile
Test Equipment and Konkurs Launcher Test Equipment, both designed and
developed in India by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). The 'Atmanirbharta
Saptah' was launched on August 10, 2020 and it summed up on August 14,
2020.
:::National Security Agency (NSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) exposed Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate,
which is also known as GRU. NSA and FBI claimed the use of Drovorub by
GRU for trying to break into Linux based computers. Linux systems are
used pervasively throughout National Security Systems, the Department of
Defense, and the Defense Industrial Base. Steve Grobman, Chief
Technology Officer at cybersecurity company McAfee, explained that
Drovorub is a hacking tool which allows a hacker to perform functions
like stealing files and remote-controlling the victim's computer.
Before I wrap-up, I would like to share something about a wonderful website that I came across this week. The name of the website is Vidya.
It is completely dedicated for educational purposes with an aim to
provide a platform to teachers and students from various areas like:
school, college/university, coaching class, personal tuition, hobby
classes and health/fitness class. The website is loaded with various
features like:
1) Conducting a live class in an easy manner
2)
There is no time limit to conduct a class, and duration of a class can
be extended by the teachers even while they are conducting a class
3) It allows the teachers to check if their students are completely focused or not
4) Teachers can send homeworks without any hassle
5) It lets a student mark his/her presence simply by logging into their account
It
is absolutely free and it is available as a mobile application too. The
website and mobile application have been designed and developed by
Globanet e-Solutions, a Gujarat based I.T firm. They have experience
of working with nearly a hundred companies of various sectors. Billaiya, a
billing software, is one of their past projects that continues to gain
momentum.
To visit the website, click here.
That is all for this week. I hope that the blog was useful and it helped you in catching up
with what happened. If you have anything to contribute, then please feel
free to comment. Do share this blog with everyone you know and help them too.
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