Weekly Update: July 12, 2021 - July 16, 2021

Be patient with yourself.
Self-growth is tender; its holy ground. There's no greater investment.
Stephen Covey
(American Educator; October 24, 1932 - July 16, 2021)

Let's start!

Here's a Fun Fact that you may not, or may, know: According to Photography Talk, the photo of the first person taken was an accident.

Image Source: Photography Talk

It is said that since he was getting his shoes cleaned from a roadside shoe-cleaner, he stayed still for time long enough to get captured by a camera.

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July 12, 2021 (Monday)
:::The number of Corona Cases across India were as follows:
Confirmed - 3,08,74,376
Recovered - 3,00,14,713
Deceased - 4,08,764

:::Afghan migrants in Finland took a relaxing breath as Finland put a hold on its deportation process to Afghanistan. The hold put on the deportation process is said to be on a temporary basis due to the potential instability in Afghanistan. The concern for instability in Afghanistan grew after the United States of America decided to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. Out of all the Afghan migrants who applied for residential permits, asylum, or citizenship in Finland, applications of 70% have been accepted.

Image Credit: yle

The Finland Government has not decided a particular time to resume the deportation process.

:::Technology has come to a point where it is getting ready to dress humans. An algorithm has been developed by the CSAIL team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The algorithm allows a robot to help dress humans efficiently. The algorithm developed by the CSAIL team predicts how a human may behave under certain circumstances. This prediction helps the robot to perform its actions with safety irrespective of what the person is doing while getting dressed.

Image Credit: MIT CSAIL

The algorithm, reportedly, also helps the robot to ensure the physical safety of humans by following, "safe, low-impact contact" method. This is also expected to freeze the robot if it plays too safe while performing its actions.

July 13, 2021 (Tuesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases across India as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 3,09,05,819
Recovered - 3,00,63,720
Deceased - 4,10,784

:::NTPC Renewable Energy, a 100% subsidiary of NTPC, received approval from the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy to set up a 4,750 MW renewable energy park. The renewable energy park will be set up at Rann of Kutch, Khavada, Gujarat. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy approved the project under Mode 8 (Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Power Park) of the Solar Park Scheme. After setting up the renewable energy park, NTPC Renewable Energy plans to generate green hydrogen on a commercial scale from this park.

Image Credit: The Economic Times

NTPC Renewable Energy has also signed an MoU with Ladakh and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) for the generation of green hydrogen and deployment of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) buses.

:::Google was fined 500 million euros by the Antitrust Watchdog of France as Google failed to strike a "fair deal" with the publishers to use their content on its platform. An official spokesperson from Google expressed disappointment by saying that the fine imposed by the Watchdog ignored their efforts to reach an agreement and the reality of how news worked on their platform. The spokesperson added that the company had acted in good faith throughout the process.

Image Credit: Paresh Dave | Reuters

The Antitrust Watchdog of France has given two months to Google to come up with a proposal. If Google fails to come up with a proposal, then a fine of 900,000 Euros would be imposed on a per-day basis.

July 14, 2021 (Wednesday)
:::The number of Corona Cases across India were as follows:
Confirmed - 3,09,46,074
Recovered - 3,01,04,720
Deceased - 4,11,408

:::The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed restrictions on MasterCard after MasterCard failed to comply with the directions of Payment System Data. According to the restrictions imposed, MasterCard cannot take new domestic customers for debit cards, credit cards, and prepaid onboard.

Image Credit: The Financial Express

The restriction will come into effect from July 22, 2021, and will not affect the existing customers of MasterCard.

:::Google Meet limited the duration of group video calls on its platform. The revised duration for video calls on Google Meet is now 60 minutes as compared to twenty-four hours as it was before. The revised duration of 60 minutes on Google Meet applies to users who have a free Gmail account and wish to connect with three or more users at a time. After fifty-five minutes, users will get a notification regarding the time limit coming to an end.

Image Credit: Google Meet

The users may upgrade to the plan of ₹740/- (approx) to get the time limit of twenty-four hours back.

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July 15, 2021 (Thursday)
:::The number of Corona Cases across India as reported on Aarogya Setu App were as follows:
Confirmed - 3,09,87,880
Recovered - 3,01,43,850
Deceased - 4,11,989

:::Revolut, a fintech start-up, became the most valuable start-up in the United Kingdom after it raised $800 million. Revolut is now valued at $33 billion as compared to $5.5 billion in 2020. The funding round was led by SoftBank's Vision Fund II and Tiger Globe. Revolut issued a statement saying that the funds raised would be utilized to expand its operations into the US and Indian markets.

Image Credit: Revolut | LinkedIn

Revolut was founded in 2015. Since its inception, the fintech start-up has added fifteen million personal customers and 500,000 businesses like banks, stock trading, & bill paying, to name a few.

:::China faced a hard beat after the US Senate passed a bill to impose a ban on imports of all the products from China's Xinjiang. The import has been banned under the 1930 Tariff Act and the ban will be waived only if the importers offer evidence showing that the products were not made with forced labor.

Image Credit: The Economic Times

The legislation was introduced by Marco Rubio, a Republican Senator, with Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, and it was passed by the US Senate with a unanimous consent.

July 16, 2021 (Friday)
:::The number of Corona Cases across India were as follows:
Confirmed - 3,10,26,829
Recovered - 3,01,83,876
Deceased - 4,12,531

:::The European Commission launched a legal case against Hungary and Poland after the two countries were found violating the fundamental rights of people from the LGBTIQ community. Hungary reportedly banned the display and promotion of homosexuality for people in the eighteen years of age group under its new anti-LGBTIQ law. The country termed this as a part of the "Anti-Pedophilia Act". Poland, on the other hand, has been accused of setting up 100 regions as an LGBTQ-ideology-free zone. Poland has also been accused of not providing financial assistance to Non-Governmental Organizations that are working to promote the equal right for all.

Image Credit: Reuters

The European Commission has given two months to Hungary and Poland to respond to the accusations.

:::Microsoft revealed that Candiru, an Israeli Cyber Firm, created and sold a tool to hack into Windows. The tool was mainly deployed against the users in Iran, Spain, and the United Kingdom to run their operations themselves.

Image Credit: James Martin | CNET

The tool was detected by Microsoft in collaboration with Citizenship Lab, a technology human rights group. Microsoft has now fixed the flaw.

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That is all for this week.

Do share this blog with everyone you know. You can connect with me on Instagram @sachdev_ankur.

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.