Weekly Update: September 14, 2020 - September 18, 2020

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Here is a Fun Fact that you may not, or may, know. The fear of long words is called, "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia". While it is not really considered as a phobia, American Psychiatric Association does consider this as a social phobia.

Image Credit: https://www.collegeofnursingucbmsh.org/

When a person with Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia faces long words, then he/she tends to experience a great deal of anxiety.

September 14, 2020 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases reported were:
Confirmed - 48,46,427
Recovered - 37,80,107
Deceased - 79,722

:::TikTok chose Oracle over Microsoft as its preferred suitor to buy the company. Trump had earlier threatened to ban TikTok by September 20, 2020 and had ordered ByteDance to sell its U.S business over the national security risk due to its Chinese ownership.

Image Credit: Fox Business

The details of the proposed acquisition are currently unclear; however, it would be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that will be chaired by the Treasury Secretary. Based on the review prepared by the committee, the President will either approve or disapprove the transaction.

:::Prabeesh Chakkalakkal, a Malayalam actor and a dubbing artist, passed away after he collapsed on a film set in Kochi, Kerala. He was shooting a television film that was based on spreading awareness about waste management and collapsed after he finished his portion & took a photo with an entire crew. The crew was on their way to take him to the hospital, but sadly he died by the time they reached the hospital. He was known for playing Mahabali in a recent Onam show for the Cochin Colash YouTube channel and for dubbing as a villain character in Abrid Shine's 'Kung Fu Masters'.

Image Credit: Prabeesh Chakkalakkal/Facebook

He was also an employee of JSW Cements Limited and the state committee member of Christian Service Society (CSS). He was forty-four years young. He is left by his father Joseph, his wife Jansy and his child Taniya.

:::According to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), retail inflation eased to 6.69% in August 2020 as compared to 6.73% in July 2020 that was revised from 6.93%. The retail inflation grew beyond the Reserve Bank of India's upper margin of 6% primarily due to the rise of 16.50% in the prices of meat and fish in August 2020. Also, the price of pulses & products segment rose by 14.44%, oils & fats by 12.45%, spices by 12.34% and vegetables segment by 11.41%. Rahul Gupta, Head of Research-Currency at Emkay Global Financial Services, said that the supply side disruption is surging the food and fuel prices despite the Government unlocking the country in different phases.

Image Credit: Business Standard

Retail inflation is measured by 'Consumer Price Index' (CPI). CPI is an economic indicator that considers the change in price over a period of time that consumers pay for goods and services. It acts as a guide to make informed decisions about the economy.

:::Shane Warne rejoined Rajasthan Royals as an ambassador and mentor for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. Shane Warne, in an official statement, said that he was happy to be back and he would help the team strive for excellence over the course of the next two months. He was the first captain to win the IPL trophy in the inaugural season that was held in 2008, and he finished as the second highest wicket-taker with nineteen wickets in fifteen games at an average of 21.26. Overall, he has taken fifty-seven wickets in fifty-five IPL matches, with a strike rate of 20.94.

Image Credit: https://www.gq.com.au/

He last appeared in IPL in the year 2011 and he served as an ambassador of Rajasthan Royals in the later seasons.

:::Amid a shortage in supply, the Government of India banned export of all varieties of onions except for the ones that have been cut, sliced or broken in powder form. The ban has been imposed with an aim to increase its availability in the local market. India exported $198 million of onions in the April-June period of fiscal year 2021 and $440 million in the entire 2019-2020.

Image Credit: India TV News

Some of the top importers of Indian onions are Bangladesh, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sri Lanka.

September 15, 2020 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases, as reported on Aarogya Setu App, were as follows:
Confirmed - 49,30,236
Recovered - 38,59,399
Deceased - 80,776

:::YouTube rolled out a short-form video creator called "YouTube Shorts" in India to compete with TikTok and Insta Reels and to attract a maximum number of people. The feature allows the users to make a video of fifteen seconds. They can also use music with their video. A YouTube spokesperson said in an official statement that the platform currently has one lakh tacks ready for use and they are working to expand their catalogue with the help of more artists, labels and publishers.

Image Credit: Google

The feature has been rolled out with shorts beta on Android. Users will see a new 'create' icon spot in their app. YouTube plans to bring the icon to the iOS devices soon.

:::India got elected as a Member of the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). CSW is a functional commission of the UN Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) that is focused on gender equality & women empowerment. The elections were held for the two seats in Asia-Pacific States category. Afghanistan, led by Ambassador Adela Raz, secured thirty-nine votes out of fifty-four and India, led by its permanent representative to the U.N ambassador T.S Trimurti, received thirty-eight out of fifty-four votes. India and Afghanistan will join Argentina, Austria, Dominican Republic, Israel, Latvia, Nigeria, Turkey and Zambia. These nations were elected for a four-year term beginning from 2021-2025.

Image Credit: https://www.unwomen.org/

China received only twenty-seven votes and failed to get the majority of twenty-eight votes. This is being seen as sending a signal to China about its own record of women's equality and empowerment.

:::Happiest Minds Technologies's IPO was oversubscribed after it got bids for 3.51 million shares versus the 23.3 million shares on offer. The price band for the offer has been fixed at Rs.165-Rs.166 per equity share and as per Pawan Dharnidharka, a BSE dealer, the share is likely to be listed at a premium of 35%-40% on stock exchanges. Happiest Minds Technologies is a Bengaluru based start-up that provides end-to-end solutions in the digital space in three business categories, namely: Digital Business Service (DBS), Product Engineering Service (PES) and Infrastructure & Management Security Service (IMSS). It was founded by Ashok Soota in 2011 and it now has a global presence in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the Middle East.

Image Credit: https://www.happiestminds.com/

Ashok Soota is a seventy-seven years young entrepreneur who also co-founded Mindtree Limited. He holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee) and a masters' degree from Asian Institute of Management (Philippines).

September 16, 2020 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases stood at:
Confirmed - 50,20,359
Recovered - 39,42,360
Deceased - 82,066

:::Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, objected and walked out of a virtual meeting at the SCO NSAa after Pakistan, represented by Moeed Yusuf, sought to project a fictitious map showing Indian Territory as its own. Russia, who chaired the meeting, tried very hard to persuade Pakistan not to display the map as SCO charter provides a platform to build mutual trust only and not to raise bilateral disputes.

Image Credit: https://sabrangindia.in/

Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the National Security Council of Russian Federation, said in an official release that they do not support what Pakistan did and hope that this provocative act would not affect India's participation in SCO.

:::Many officers posted in Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) came under the scanner of CAG audit after a report revealed that the land in Greater Noida was allotted indiscriminately under the regime of SP-BSP. Around 20% of the land was reserved for industries but only 12% of the land was allotted while the remaining 8% of the land was sold to the builders.

Image Credit: https://cag.gov.in/

According to the report, the builders owe around Rs.8,000 crore, including interest, to the Greater Noida Authority as the land was allotted at only 5% of the total price and later arrears were not paid in full by the buyers.

:::Apple unveiled Apple Watch Series 6 Smartwatch, the price of which starts from $399.oo. It can measure the oxygen level from the wrist in only fifteen seconds by using an algorithm built into the Blood Oxygen App. The feature is important for people with chronic conditions like asthma, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The sensor uses green, red and infrared LEDs, in addition to the four photodiodes on the back crystal of the Apple Watch, to measure the light reflected back from the blood. The watch also records background measurements while one is asleep.

Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/c/MiterPro/channels

Apple plans to conduct health studies around asthma, heart disease and COVID-19 by using this new blood oxygen measurement capability.

September 17, 2020 (Thursday)
:::The figures of Corona Cases as shown in Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 51,18,253
Recovered - 40,25,079
Deceased - 83,198

:::BCCI brought a "Fraud Detection System" to monitor corruption in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. Fraud Detection System, or FDS, was developed by Sportradar, a leading supplier of sports integrity solutions and data products. The system will monitor and safeguard the integrity of the thirteenth edition of IPL in the United Arab Emirates this year. The Board said in an official statement that FDS will monitor all sixty matches to detect betting irregularities and provide them with risk assessment by gathering intelligence & data-driven insights. Tom Mace, Head of Sportradar's global operations, explained how FDS works. He said that the system monitors odds in the market of over 600 bookmakers of different kinds, from different countries & different regions, tracks changes and generates alerts when there is potentially suspicious and unusual movement in the market, after which the analysts take over.

Image Credit: https://cricketprediction.com/

Sportradar has already partnered with close to one thousand companies in over eight hundred countries including the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, FIFA and UEFA.

:::The United States Federal Reserve Policymakers signaled that the short-term interest rate would likely remain at zero through 2023, or even for a longer period. The short-term interest rate is the rate that influences the borrowing costs for home-buyers, credit card users and businesses. Policy makers hope that an extended period of low interest rates will encourage more borrowing and spending.

Image Credit: Business Standard

The Federal officials said in an official statement that they would not raise the borrowing costs until inflation reaches 2%. However, the policy carries the risk of inflating a bubble in stocks or other financial assets.

:::Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) launched 'Certificate Programme in Mobile Application Development', or CMAD. The duration of the course is six months and it is offered by School of Computers and Information Sciences (SOCIS). A candidate with a minimum of 12th certificate, or 10th certificate with 2/3 years of diploma, is eligible to apply for the course. Candidates can apply for the course by visiting the website of IGNOU. Every candidate will get online access to the study material. A support mechanism has also been designed for the candidates that gives them access to Theory/Practical Counselling, Interactive Radio Counselling and Teleconferencing. IGNOU officials said in an official press release that the course has theory and practical counselling sessions with two components: assignment and term-end examination.

Image Credit: http://ignou.ac.in/

The objectives of the course are: to understand the requirements for development of mobile application; to analyze the architecture of android; to design, implement & test a database for user requirements; to develop programs by using python; and, to use IDEs such as Android Studio.

:::Saudi Arabia announced the discovery of 1.2 lakh-year old footprints of humans, elephants and predators. The footprints were discovered around an ancient dry lake on the outskirts of Tabuk region. Saudi Arabia's Heritage Commission said that this was the first scientific evidence of the oldest habitation in the Arabian Peninsula.

Image Credit: Twitter/@RCLARKWILSON199

Saudi Arabia's Heritage Commission had earlier also found 233 fossils of elephants and oryx bone remains.

September 18, 2020 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 52,14,677
Recovered - 41,12,551
Deceased - 84,372

:::The Health Commission of Lanzhou announced that 3,245 people had contracted Malta Fever or Mediterranean Fever. It is caused by contact with livestock carrying the bacterial brucella. The symptoms are: headache, muscle pain, fever and fatigue. The authorities in an official statement clarified that the human-to-human transmission is extremely rare and people get infected only by eating contaminated food or by breathing in the bacteria. The outbreak began from a leak at the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical factory between late July 2019 to late August 2019. The factory issued a public apology in February 2020, and it also said that it had severely punished eight people who were determined as responsible for the incident.

Image Credit: Reuters

Around 21,847 out of 2.9 million people have been tested and no fatalities have been reported so far.

:::Kia Motors India launched Sonet SUV at an introductory price of Rs.6.71 lakh (ex-showroom). The diesel 6MT variant starts from Rs.8.05 lakh (ex-showroom) and its turbo variant with 6iMT starts from Rs.9.49 lakh (ex-showroom). The SUV comes with a choice of two petrol engines: Smartstream 1.2 litre, 4-cylinder and 1.0 T-GDi (turbocharged gasoline direct injection); and, 1.5 litre CRDi diesel engine. It is being offered with the UVO Connect suite of technologies and it includes a Voice Assist feature that responds to "Hello, Kia". Some other features that it offers are: six-airbags, anti-lock braking system with electronic brake force distribution, electronic stability control, hill-start assist control, vehicle stability management and brake assist.

Image Credit: https://www.autocarindia.com/

Kia Sonet SUV competes with Hyundai Venue, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, TATA Nexon and Mahindra EcoSport.

In this week's Special Section, I am going to talk about a book titled, Be-sabab.

Be-sabab is the maiden attempt of Amit Mishra - Adil, the author, to compile his experiences influenced by the thoughts of the outer world.

Image Credit: https://www.amazon.in/

The thoughts of a human are like time, and they keep on changing by the outside events. Every person has a different way of expressing these thoughts, and Be-Sabab is one such compilation of ideas. The book is a collection of beautifully written poems in hindi, and it starts with a poem on mother.

The book is currently available on Amazon with a global rating of five stars. It has received a warm welcome from the readers. You may to click here buy it.

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.

*Disclaimer: The information has been presented in this blog after reviewing various news articles. In case you find any article, or if you have any article, that states some facts differently, then share them in the comment section. Please keep the publishing date of the article in mind as it may be an update on the article which was published previously, or it may contain outdated information if it was published before the date mentioned in this blog.