Weekly Update: March 29, 2021 - April 02, 2021

Virtually nothing is impossible in this world
if you put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude.
-Lou Holtz
(January 06, 1937; Former American Football Player)

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Let's start!

Here is a Fun Fact that you may not, or may know: According to some scholars, Europeans were scared of eating a tomato when its seeds were brought to Europe in 1519. It was believed that the fruit was poisoned as people died shortly after consuming it.

Image Credit: Helios4Eos/Getty Images

It was later discovered that eating tomatoes had brought lead in their pewter plates causing people to die of lead poisoning.

March 29, 2021 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,20,39,644
Recovered - 1,13,55,993
Deceased - 1,61,843

:::Katherine Tai, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), proposed trade actions against India and five other countries for imposing, or considering to impose, equalization levy/digital services tax on e-commerce firms. She issued an official statement saying that the US Government had initiated proceeding with the public notice and comment process on possible trade actions to preserve procedural options before the conclusion of the statutory one-year time period for completing the investigation. The USTR proposed trade actions after the report of an investigation initiated by the United States of America (USA) under section 301 of the US Trade Act, 1974, concluded that the structure & operation of equalization levy by India and five other countries was discriminatory against US digital companies.

In Pic: Katherine Tai; Image Credit: https://www.nytimes.com/

India has strongly opposed these claims and responded by saying that it would take suitable measures after it has examined the proposed action with relevant stakeholders. It added that the trade & commercial interests of the country would be kept in mind while taking any measure.

:::The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a competition watchdog of Britain, cleared Uber's takeover of Autocab - a tech firm based in the United Kingdom. The CMA cleared the takeover after concluding that it would not affect competition in the country's taxi booking and dispatch software market. Joel Bamford, the Senior Director of mergers at the CMA, said that the companies were not close competitors & both would continue to face competition from rivals and Autocab's customers could still switch to a credible alternative provider.

Image Credit: https://www.gov.uk/

A spokeswoman from Uber said in an email statement that the company was delighted with the approval of its takeover and it now looked forward to working with the Autocab team to help local operators grow & provide drivers with genuine earnings opportunities.

March 30, 2021 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,20,95,855
Recovered - 1,13,93,021
Deceased - 1,62,114

:::A court in Vietnam sentenced Vo Tien Chi to prison for ten years. Vo Tien Chi has been accused of sharing 338 articles and 181 videos. These articles and videos were allegedly shared on his Facebook profile to distort & defame the people's administration, infringe the interests of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the State. The Ministry of Public Security said in a news release that Vo Tien Chi was convicted for making, storing, & spreading information, materials, & items to oppose the state at a one-day trial in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

Image Credit: Reuters

According to a report published by the Khanh Hoa newspaper, three more people are facing trials for a similar reason. These three people are Nguyen Thi Cam Thuy, Ngo Thi Ha Phuong, and Le Viet Hoa. Nguyen Thi Cam Thuy has also been accused of live-streaming a video in which she was burning the flag of Vietnam.

:::According to a report published by Subex, an NSE-listed digital service provider for telecoms, there was an increase in the attacks on Indian cyber assets by 207% last year. The report also stated that cyber-attacks were mainstream when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak in 2020. Kiran Zachariah, the Vice President of Digital Security at Subex, said that 2020 was the year that saw a significant rise in inbound cyber attacks from North Korea and malware that could be linked to one of the clusters geo-tagged in North Korea's approximate geographical vicinity.

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

The top five cities that faced the maximum number of cyber-attacks in 2020 are Washington DC, London, New York, Singapore, and New Delhi. The top five sources of origin for the cyber attack are China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, and Ukraine.

March 31, 2021 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,21,49,335
Recovered - 1,14,34,301
Deceased - 1,62,468

:::SpiceJet signed an MoU with Avenue Capital Group (ACG). The MoU relates to the financing, acquisition, and sale-and-lease-back (SLB) of fifty new aircraft that SpiceJet has scheduled for purchase. Ajay Singh, the Chief Managing Director (CMD) of SpiceJet, said that the company was delighted to enter into the strategic alliance with ACG and looked forward to working with them. He also said that the alliance would ensure a seamless induction of the planes in their fleet and help them plan their long-term goals better.

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

As per the MoU signed, ACG would also assume the ownership of up to fifty aircraft.

:::Alstom, a French mobility company, got a contract to manufacture, test, supply, and commission 234 metro cars for Mumbai Lines 4 and 4A. The line is estimated to be 35.3 kilometers long with 32 stations. The contract is worth ₹1,854 crores and it has been awarded to Alstom by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). This project is expected to reduce the current travel time by 50% to 75%. Ling Fang, the Regional President of Alstom Asia Pacific, said that the company was glad to have been awarded the project and that the company looks forward to working on it.

Image Credit: Alstom

Alstom has previously supplied metro trains to Delhi, Lucknow, Kochi, and Chennai.

April 01, 2021 (Thursday)
:::The number of Corona Cases as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,22,21,665
Recovered - 1,14,74,683
Deceased - 1,62,927

:::The US military announced that a Pentagon contract was awarded to Microsoft. The contract relates to the production of augmented reality headgear for soldiers. The contract is worth $21.88 billion. The headsets will be based on HoloLens. The project aims to deliver next-generation night vision and situational awareness capabilities to the Close Combat Force at the speed of relevance.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, said that the contract showed that Microsoft could generate money from its augmented reality offerings with the military and likely heralds expanded uses by private businesses as well as consumers.

:::The Broadband India Forum (BIF) asked the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to block the pre-sale of the beta-version of Starlink satellite internet in India. Starlink satellite internet is a service that will be provided by SpaceX Technologies. According to a claim made by T V Ramachandran, the President of BIF, SpaceX does not have the required permissions to offer such services in India. He has also claimed that the company neither has its ground or earth stations in India nor satellite frequency authorization from ISRO & Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

In Pic: Elon Musk; Image Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty

SpaceX is expected to launch its internet service in India by the year 2022, for which is it has started to accept a fully refundable deposit of ₹7,000/- from people.

April 02, 2021 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases were as follows:
Confirmed - 1,23,03,131
Recovered - 1,15,25,039
Deceased - 1,63,396

:::According to a report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), at least six out of ten people will globally lose their jobs to a machine by 2025. The report is based on a survey that was conducted on thirty-two-thousand workers across nineteen countries. The report also states the following:

1. 56% of the participants think that only fewer people would obtain long-term employment in the future.
2. 60% of the participants demanded that the Governments must protect their jobs.
3. 40% of the participants honed their digital skills during the lockdown.
4. 77% of the participants expressed willingness to learn new skills or to re-train.
5. 80% of the participants showed confidence in their ability to adapt to new technologies.

Image Credit: The World Economic Forum

According to the report, Artificial Intelligence is also likely to generate around 97 million new jobs.

:::The Gujarat Assembly passed the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2021, with a clear majority. The bill aims to stop forceful religious conversions. If a person is found guilty of forcefully converting the other person to another religion, then he/she would be termed for 3-10 years in prison and a fine of up to ₹5 lakhs would be imposed.

Image Credit: DNA India

Pradeepsinh Jadeja, the Minister of State for Home, said in the Gujarat Assembly that inter-faith marriage done by trickery could not fall under the fundamental right of an adult girl and people with the mentality of spreading Islam through religious conversions were indulging in such acts.

In this week's Special Section, i have got something special to share with all of you. My blog has reached a milestone of FIVE THOUSAND VIEWS. This could not have been possible without all of you.

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

I started this blog to make sure that i could make a decent contribution in everyone's life. The blog initially had only one section of current affairs. I requested all of you to share your feedback, based on which i made several improvements. I added two more sections: Fun Fact and Special Mention.

I am really glad that i continue to receive feedback. This helps me to improve my blog posts. The milestone of five thousand views is just the beginning. We have a long way to go, and we shall go.

Thank you again for your support and blessings. Love!

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 this week. 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.