Weekly Update: December 28, 2020 - January 01, 2021

We are what our thoughts have made us;
so take care about what you think.
Words are secondary.
Thoughts live; they travel far.
-Swami Vivekananda
(January 12, 1863 - July 04, 1902; Indian Monk)

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Let's start!

Here is Fun Fact that you may not, or may, know: Bananas naturally grow upside-down, that is, they naturally grow outward from their stems.

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

Their bottoms face the sky and as they get bigger, they turn towards the Sun to form the distinctive curve.

December 28, 2020 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,02,07,871
Recovered - 97,82,669
Deceased - 1,47,901

:::Researchers at Oxford University developed an experimental process that has the capability to convert CO2 into jet fuel. Researchers conducted this experiment in a laboratory and converted CO2 into a liquid fuel by heating a citric acid, hydrogen and an iron-manganese-potassium catalyst mixture. This process is yet to be replicated at a larger scale.

Image Credit: https://www.ox.ac.uk/

If the process is successfully replicated on the larger scale then it would result in 'net zero' emissions from aircraft while letting the airlines keep their existing aircraft & go carbon neutral until they are truly ready for eco-friendly propulsion.

:::Loujain al-Hathlout, women's rights activists, got sentenced to five years & eight months in prison by Saudi Anti-Terrorism Court. She got sentenced on the charges that include; agitating for change; pursuing a foreign agenda; and, using the internet to harm public order. The court, however, has suspended two years & ten months from her sentence by back-dating the start of her jail term to May 2018.

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

Loujain al-Hathlout is thirty-one years young. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in the years 2019 & 2020.

December 29, 2020 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,02,24,303
Recovered - 98,07,569
Deceased - 1,48,153

:::Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) rejected the orders passed by the Commissioner on Income Tax (exemption) that would have resulted in three Tata Trusts - Borabji Tata Trust, Ratan Tata Trust & JRD Tata Trust - having to bear taxes in several lakhs.

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

The notice sent by the Commissioner of Income Tax (exemptions) was on the grounds that the concerned officer involved had not done adequate verification and that the assessment orders were prejudicial to the interest of the revenue.

:::Mumbai Police arrested Dilip Chhabria, a car designer, for his connection to an alleged financial and forgery scam that involves his firm 'DC'. The financial scam is related to the case of tax evasion and the forgery scam is related to the sale of around ninety cars with the same engine and chassis numbers. The ninety cars that were sold with the same engine and chassis numbers were designed by DC Studio. He has also been found involved in the scam of hypothecation, where he availed loan from Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to design the cars but sold those cars to various third parties.

Image Credit: Getty

The scam is estimated to be of around ₹40 crore and according to the officials working on the case, the scam may be of a higher amount.

December 30, 2020 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,02,44,852
Recovered - 98,34,141
Deceased - 1,48,439

:::Union Home Ministry declared Nagaland as a 'disturbed area' for next six months under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, stating that it was in such a disturbed & dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in the air of civil power became necessary. Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs, said during his two-days visit to Assam that several separatist factions in the north-east region force youth to take-up arms, however, the Central Government has ensured that these factions join the mainstream.

Image Credit: PTI

Nagaland was earlier declared as a 'disturbed area' on June 30, 2020 for six months. Since then, the State Government of Nagaland, along with the Central Government, has provided all the required assistance to the state to deal with rebel groups in the region.

:::According to researchers from Cambridge University, voice assistants, like Amazon's Alexa & Google's Home, can hear and record what people are typing into nearby devices. The researchers used different smartphones & a tablet and found that when people sit up to half a metre away, then the voice assistant reconstructs a text with the accuracy of 50% and guesses the five digit PINs 15% of the time.

Image Credit: Vadim/Good Free Photos [Licensed under CC0/Public Domain]

This has caused privacy advocates to worry as remote keyboard-inference attacks are not just limited to physical keyboards but extend to virtual keyboards too.

December 31, 2020 (Thursday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,02,66,674
Recovered - 98,60,280
Deceased - 1,48,738

:::Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, signed a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union (EU) after the lower house of the Parliament voted 521 to 73 in favour of the deal. It replaces a transitional arrangement during which EU rules continued to apply to Britain. Boris Johnson said that the responsibility now rests with all of them to make the best use of the powers that they have regained and the tools that they have taken back into their hands. The trade deal came into effect on January 01, 2021 and it will be in place until the end of February 2021, pending final approval by the European Parliament to make it permanent.

Image Credit: Lean Neal/AFP/Getty Images

Britain formally left the European Union nearly a year ago.

:::A. Anandavalli occupied the chair of the block panchayat president in Pathanapuram, a town in Kerala. She was elected on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket and won by a margin of six hundred fifty four votes in the recently concluded local body election. Anandavalli reacted to her win by saying that her responsibility was now heavy and she would work hard to make the life better for everyone in her block.

Image Credit: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/

A. Anandavalli is forty-six years young. She was earlier working at the same panchayat office as a part-time sweeper for about a decade for a monthly salary of ₹2,000/- only.

January 01, 2021 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,02,86,709
Recovered - 98,83,461
Deceased - 1,48,994

:::Sony announced that PlayStation 5 (PS5) would be launched in India on February 02, 2021 and pre-orders would begin on January 12, 2021 at 12pm. The normal edition of PS5 has been priced at ₹49,990/- and the digital edition of PS5 has been priced at ₹39,990/-. Sony also announced the prices for PS5 accessories. DualSense Wireless Controller has been priced at ₹5,990/-, HD camera has been priced at ₹5,190/-, Pulse 3D Wireless Headset has been priced at ₹8,590/-, media remote has been priced at ₹2,590 and DualSense Charging Station has been priced at ₹2,590/-.

Image Credit: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/

PS5 would be available online and offline at Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, Reliance Digital, Games The Shop, Shop at Sony Cener, Vijay Sales and other select authorized retail partners.

:::The United Kingdom (U.K) and Spain reached a preliminary agreement to keep Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, a part of European Union agreements. Gibraltar will become a part of the Schengen zone after the post-Brexit transition phase ends, with Spain ultimately becoming responsible for the control over its port & airport.

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

Dominic Raab, Foreign Minister of the U.K, said that all sides are committed to mitigate the effects of the end of the transition period on Gibraltar and to ensure border fluidity, which is clearly in the best interests of the people living on both sides.

This week's Special Section is written by my friend, Arnav Singh, and it is dedicated to "Tail-Care Foundation", a Vadodara based NGO, which aims to provide street animals with clean drinking water, food and shelter, through engagement of the entire community.

Image Credit: Tail-Care Foundation | Facebook

In recent times, the NGO had taken the initiative of feeding stray animals during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Majority of stray animals depend on local shops, restaurants and benevolent individuals or families for the source of nourishment. But during the lockdown, when most commercial establishments were closed and people were practicing social distancing, the NGO took the initiative to feed the stray animals, through the contribution from the civil society of the city.

Image Credit: Tail-Care Foundation | Facebook

Other initiatives undertaken by the NGO were, distributing water bowls during summer season, feeding the street animals during the monsoon floods, and providing shelter to the stray animals during the winter season.

Image Credit: Tail-Care Foundation | Facebook

You may get in touch with them on Facebook @Tailcarefoundation.

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.