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

Introverts get to the point.
Your ability to say more with less is something to be thankful for.
After all, this is the secret to being truly heard.
-Michaela Chung
(Author of 'The Irresistible Introvert: Harness The Power of Quite Charisma in a Loud World')

Let's start!

Here is a Fun Fact that you may not, or may, know: We lose up to 30% of our taste buds while traveling in a flight.

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

As per a study conducted by Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, Germany, in the year 2010, a person loses about 30% of the sensitivity to sweet and salty food due to high elevation and low pressure.

December 14, 2020 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 98,84,100
Recovered - 93,88,159
Deceased - 1,43,355

:::Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of California, filed to join the U.S department of Justice's anti-trust lawsuit against Google. As per the lawsuit, Google is allegedly using its market muscle illegally to hobble its rivals. Xavier Becerra said in the filing that California is not seeking to add any new fact or claim in the lawsuit. Google responded to the news by saying that the search engine & other products dominate because consumers prefer them.

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

Other states that are planning to file a similar lawsuit are: Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

:::The official Instagram account of NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory shared an image of two supermassive black holes merging in Galaxy NGC 6240. NASA said that the black holes would eventually drift together to form a larger black hole after a million years. The merging process began about thirty million years ago and the black holes are currently around three thousand light years apart.

Image Credit: NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory | Instagram

Chandra X-Ray Observatory is a telescope that has been designed specially to detect x-ray emissions from the regions of the universe that are extremely hot, like: exploded stars; clusters of galaxies; and, matter around black holes.

December 15, 2020 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 99,06,165
Recovered - 94,22,636
Deceased - 1,43,709

:::Uttam Yadav and Rohit Kumar, Delhi based duo who strongly believe in the "Vocal for Local" mantra, developed a mobile app - GARRUD. GARRUD is an app that works as an aggregator for truck drivers who are in need of some business and small business owners who need to get their material transported. After spending a lot of time during lockdown in planning, strategizing, building and debugging the app, they have launched it in the first phase in Delhi-NCR region. It is a 100% Indian app that is backed by a team of approximately twenty-five people from a similar commercial vehicle aggregator background. The two highlighted features of GARRUD are: Live Tracking, to track the rides in real time; and, Safety Button, a button that enables the drivers to share their location with more than one person at a time with just one click. Uttam Yadav, co-founder of GARRUD, said that they manifold the productivity in logistics with collaboration of available resource, vast market place and exponential growing technology by creating the smart junction.

Image Credit: GARRUD | Facebook

The app is currently operational only in Delhi-NCR region; however, the team plans to expand by bridging the gap between demand & supply through media promotions & marketing initiatives.

:::Scientists at the University of Bristol, England, rebuilt the brain of Thecodontosaurus, a dinosaur that is commonly known as Bristol dinosaur. The scientists rebuilt the brain by using advanced imaging and 3D modelling techniques. Upon rebuilding the brain, scientists learnt that the dinosaur had a meat based diet and walked on two legs.

Image Credit: https://news.sky.com/

They also reconstructed the inner ears of Thecodontosaurus and estimated that the dinosaur had a high hearing frequency.

December 16, 2020 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 99,32,547
Recovered - 94,56,446
Deceased - 1,44,096

:::The Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) S. A. Bobde, decided to recommend the transfer of Andhra Pradesh Chief Justice (CJ) J. K. Maheshwari to the Sikkim High Court (HC). Sikkim HC CJ A. K. Goswami has been recommended to become the CJ of Andhra Pradesh HC. Once transferred, J. K. Maheshwari, who is currently heading Andhra Pradesh HC with a sanctioned strength of thirty-seven judges, will head the Sikkim HC with a sanctioned strength of three judges.

Image Credit: https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/

The recommendation for transfer came after Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, wrote a letter to CJI S. A. Bobde to restore neutrality of the High Court. In response to the recommendation of transfer, advocates' association across the country passed resolutions to condemn the letter written Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy and the association termed it as a tactic to pressurize & malign the judiciary.

:::India celebrated Vijay Diwas to commemorate the victory of India Armed Forces over Pakistan in Bangladesh Liberation War that was fought in 1971. The country paid tributes to the Indian martyrs who laid down their lives while liberating Bangladesh from Pakistan. Bangladesh Liberation War was fought for thirteen days and it is one of the shortest wars that has been fought till now. It ended after General A. A. K. Niazi, Chief of Pakistani forces, along with his ninety-three thousand Pakistani troops surrendered to the Indian Army.

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

This day is celebrated in Bangladesh as Bijoy Diwas.

December 17, 2020 (Thursday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 99,56,557
Recovered - 94,89,790
Deceased - 1,44,451

:::According to the year-end data released by LinkedIn, two in five Indian professionals expect an increase in the number of new jobs and one in two professionals expect their companies to do better in the next six months. The data also revealed that three in five professionals would increase their time spent in online learning, three in five professionals would take less time off and nine in ten professionals would spend equal or more time time working at their primary jobs this year-end. Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager at LinkedIn, said that as the country moves forward, it would re-imagine the future of work across five areas: Workplace; Careers; Recruiting; Business; and, Leadership Styles.

Image Credit: https://kinsta.com/

The year-end data released by LinkedIn is based on the responses of 21,066 professionals who participated in an online survey that was conducted from April to November 2020 as a part of the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index.

:::India Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched CMS-01 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SPSC) SHARR, Sriharikota. It is India's 42nd communication satellite. It was put in orbit by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-50, that is also known as PSLV-C50.

Image Credit: ISRO

CMS-01 is a replacement for GSAT-12, that was launched in the year 2011. CMS-01 will provide coverage for disaster management and satellite internet connection.

December 18, 2020 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 99,79,447
Recovered - 95,20,827
Deceased - 1,44,789

:::According to a report released by App Annie, there was an increase in the amount spent by users on mobile apps. Android users spent most of their money on games, entertainment and social, while iPhone users spent most of their money on games, photo & video and social networking. The nine apps where users all over the world spent most of their money were: Tinder; TikTok; YouTube; Disney+; Tencent Video; Netflix; iQIYI; Google One; and, BIGO Live.

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

The report also revealed that Apple earned sixty-five cent for every dollar that was spent on Apple App Store and Google Play Store saw a jump of 30% in its revenue.

:::Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against Transstroy (India) Limited, a Hyderabad based company, for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by Canara Bank of ₹7,926 crore by availing credit facilities. CBI has named the Managing Director, Cherukuri Sridhar, and the additional directors, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao & Akkineni Satish, as accused in the FIR that has been registered at its unit located in Bengaluru. The company is also accused of misappropriating banks' funds and diverting the loan amount.

Image Credit: iStockPhoto

Transstroy (India) Limited deals in construction of highways & bridges, irrigation projects, metro related work and oil & gas. The company is currently under liquidation process as per an order by National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that was issued in September 2019.

In this week's Special Section, i will talk about, "Aadhar", a Surat based Non-Governmental Organization that serves free food to children at a Government School.

Image Credit: Aadhar | Facebook

Aadhar was started on October 16, 2016 by Pratul Aslot & Rita Aslot. It caters to two hundred children every Friday in a local Government School.

Image Credit: Aadhar | Facebook

It is a family run social welfare that pays utmost attention to the quality and quantity of food. The entire meal is prepared under a thorough supervision. The kitchen is fully equipped with automatic system that enables the team to prepare eight hundred rotis in two hours.

Image Credit: Aadhar | Facebook

Aslot family also runs 'Aslot Manav Sahay Kendra', an NGO that donates medical equipment to needy and underprivileged people. You may get in touch with them on Facebook @AadharSurat.

That is all for this week.

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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. The blogger is not responsible for any transaction that happens between the reader and the brand.