Weekly Update: January 18, 2021 - January 22, 2021

The only time you fail is
when you fall down and stay down.
-Stephen Richards
(Author)

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Let's start!

Here is a Fun Fact that you may not, or may know: Cornell University, a private university in Ithaca, New York, offers you a degree in Viticulture  and Enology.

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

It is also known as the cultivation of grapes and the science of wine making.

January 18, 2021 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,05,71,773
Recovered - 1,02,11,342
Deceased - 1,52,419

:::Jay Y Lee, the Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, was sentenced to two & a half years in prison by a South Korean court. He is convicted of bribing an associate of former President Park Geun-hye. Jay Y Lee was jailed for five years in the year 2017; however, his sentence was reduced and he was released after serving for a period of one year after he denied any wrongdoing.

(In Photo: Jay Y Lee) Image Credit: http://www.asahi.com/

According to some legal experts of South Korea, his two & a half years sentence can be appealed to the Supreme Court, but because the Supreme Court has already ruled on it once, the chances are lower that its legal interpretation will change.

:::A non-profit in the United States of America sued Apple for not removing Telegram from its App Store. It has been alleged that Telegram is being used to coordinate and incite violence before the inauguration of Joe Biden, U.S President-Elect.

Image Credit: https://sea.mashable.com/

The lawsuit has been filed at the U.S District of California by Ambassador Marc Ginsberg and the Coalition for a Safer Web (CSW).

January 19, 2021 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,05,81,837
Recovered - 1,02,28,753
Deceased - 1,52,556

:::Maruti Suzuki India increased the price of its select models by ₹34,000/- (ex-showroom). After the company increased the price, its stock jumped up by 2.24% and 2% on BSE and NSE, respectively. The shares are now valued at ₹7,990/- on the BSE and at ₹7,990.30/- on the NSE. Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing that it increased the price in order to offset the adverse impact of rising input costs.

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

The new prices came into effect on January 18, 2021.

:::Aruna Harder, Chief Operating Officer of Signal, issued a statement saying that Signal Foundation is an independent non-profit organization that has no tie-up with any tech company and the development is entirely supported by grants & donations that it receives. She also said that India is currently leading the growth as a huge number of citizens are switching to the app after WhatsApp announced the updates in its privacy policy. The foundation continues to scale infrastructure and the team is committed to living up to the high expectations that people in India have from the app.

(In Photo: Aruna Harder) Image Credit: https://www.thenewsminute.com/

Aruna Harder added that Signal was created because privacy is important for people from all walks of life.

January 20, 2021 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,05,95,660
Recovered - 1,02,45,741
Deceased - 1,52,718

:::CISF seized an unaccounted amount of ₹84 lakhs, expensive gadgets, jewellery & two iPhones from Mohammad Irfan, an off-duty customs official, and Mumtaz Tahzeem, his wife. Out of ₹84 lakhs, Mumtaz had hidden the amount of ₹10 lakh along with two iPhones in an airport bathroom.

Image Credit: https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/

The incident happened at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), where the couple was attempting to clear the security check to fly to Lucknow.

:::Apple won a patent for its facial recognition system that can recognize a person with their face mask. The facial recognition system developed by Apple, employs the use of heat maps that assess hidden facial landmarks and then relies on a grid to estimate where they would be on a user's face.

Image Credit: https://techcrunch.com/

Once launched, the system would help Apple to authenticate its masked users without letting them remove their mask.

January 21, 2021 (Thursday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,06,10,883
Recovered - 1,02,65,706
Deceased - 1,52,869

:::Volvo Car India launched Volvo S60, deliveries of which will start in the month of March, 2021. S60 has been launched at an introductory price of ₹45.90 lakh (ex-showroom), which is limited to only some customers who purchase the sedan digitally. It is powered by a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, that generates a maximum power of 190 PS and a peak torque of 300 Nm. It offers three drive modes namely Comfort, Eco & Dynamic, and comes with 8-speed automatic transmission.

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

The features that give S60 an edge over its competitors are: 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, 4-zone climate control, wireless charger, reverse parking camera, Harman Kardon sound system and a panoramic sunroof.

:::Rajshekhar Rajaharia, an independent cybersecurity researcher, issued a statement saying that data of nearly 3.25 lakh users of BuyUcoin has been leaked. BuyUcoin is a Noida-based global cryptocurrency exchange and wallet. The leaked data includes bank details, PAN numbers, encrypted passwords and passport numbers, to name a few.

Image Credit: https://kryptomoney.com/

The criminal activity was reportedly executed by a hacking group - Shiny Hunters - who were also responsible for leaking data of 1.9 million users of Pixlr, a free online photo editing application.

January 22, 2021 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,06,25,428
Recovered - 1,02,83,708
Deceased - 1,53,032

:::Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Cambridge Analytica (CA) and Global Science Research (GSR). GSR reportedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with CA in the year 2014 by providing it the data that GSR has collected by creating an app - thisisyourdigitallife - for research & academic purposes, for commercial purposes. Facebook claimed that it collected certificates from both the companies saying that the data was accounted for and destroyed; however, CBI found no evidence of such destruction in its enquiry.

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

One of the officials said that enquiry prima facie established that GSR dishonestly and fraudulently accessed data of app users & their Facebook friends.

:::Alphabet, Google parent, decided to shut down Loon as it is not commercially viable anymore. Loon is a division of Alphabet that was founded in the year 2011 to provide internet service from a floating balloon with solar powered gear, in areas where building cell towers was too expensive.

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

Alastair Westgarth, Chief Executive Officer of Loon, said in a blog post that while they found a number of willing partners along the way, they could not find a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term sustainable business.

In this week's Special Section, i will talk about "Parakram Diwas", a day to remember and celebrate the great life of Subhas Chandra Bose, famously known as Netaji.

Image Credit: https://odishatv.in/

January 23, 2021, the day when India observed Parakram Diwas for the first time. The Central Government of India decided to honor the great life of Netaji on his birth anniversary, for his contributions towards the fight to free India from Britishers.

Image Credit: https://swarajyamag.com/

Netaji was born on January 23, 1897, in Cuttack, Odisha. He became an Indian Civil Services Officer after completing his graduation; however, he left his secured and comfortable job to join the freedom struggle of India. He gave the slogan, "tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi dunga", which translates to, "Give me blood and i shall give you freedom". This slogan continued to inspire many Indians even after the mysterious disappearance of Netaji.

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

One of his main contributions was the formation of Azad Hind Fauj, also known as Indian National Army. Even though many soldiers died while fighting for independence of India, the army attracted a huge number of people to become a part of it. This resulted in declining loyalty of Indian Army & Navy to the British State, and 'Dilli Chalo', the slogan of Azad Hind Fauj became immortal, just like the legacy of Netaji.

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

A documentary was released by "Rajya Sabha TV" on January 23, 2020, on YouTube. You may view the documentary here.

That is all for this week.

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*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.