Sunday, July 5, 2020

PM MODI FLIES TO LEH IN SINGLE TO CHINA................




Current Affairs

               ·     Political Related Fast News

1. India and China signed protocol on hygiene and inspection requirements for exports of fish meal, fish oil imports from India to China. It was signed as part of discussions between India’s commerce Ministry and six-member Chinese delegation led by vice Minister.
2. The Australian Prime Minister asserted that it is not just China and the United States that will determine that Indo pacific stays on a path for free and open trade.
3. Indra Mani Pandey currently has been serving as an additional secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and is expected to take up his new position shortly.
4. The constitutional reforms include changes that would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to run for another two six-year consecutive terms after his current term expires in 2024.   

                  ·    Business Related Fast News

1. Medical equipment such as infrared thermometers and pulse oximeters needed in the fight against Covid-19, among others, are stuck at the ports and may result in shortages soon, according to the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil).

2. Traders said the latest change in import policy for urad (black matpe), which advanced the last date of import by six months to August 2020 from March 2021, led to a sharp increase in international prices because Indian buyers were left with a smaller window for imports.

3. Export of Indian goods to Bangladesh through the Petra pole border in West Bengal was disrupted on Wednesday due to agitation by a section of exporters of the neighbouring country, an official of Federation of Indian Exporter Organizations (FIEO) said.

4. Importers of agricultural commodities from China are also worried. Traders said they would have to look for alternatives for communication with Chinese parties.

5. Top trade bodies shared this observation at a webinar organized by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on plans of expansion of the ban Chinese products campaign.

·   Technology Related Fast News

1. India PM Narendra Modi has challenged how to promote Indian app.
2. PS5 is coming to India for sales.
3. ISRO Mangalyaan has been given photo of the moon of mars.
4. A boy from Punjab spend 16 lakh rupees of his parents in the PUBG game.
5. iPhone 12 is about to come with High End lenses.

Political News

1. Donald Trump’s ‘strong wall’ to block Covid-19 from China had holes.

-04 JULY 2020

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has repeatedly credited his February ban on travelers from mainland China as his signature move against the advance of the coronavirus pandemic—a ‘strong wall’ that allowed only U.S. citizens inside, he boasted in May.

Exempted were thousands of residents of the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau. Efforts to track U.S. residents returned from mainland China were riddled with errors and broken communications.


2. PM Modi flies to Leh in signal to China, gets briefing at 11,000 feet on standoffs.

-03 JULY 2020

In a closely guarded move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accompanied by Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief Gen M N Narayana landed a Leh on Friday morning to review the tri-services preparedness against the aggressive People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as well as understand the proposed de-escalation and disengagement process at the four stand-off points.

PM Modi will address Indian troops at Thiksey near Leh. He will also meet injured soldiers at the hospital in Nimu near Leh.


3. Donald Trump grateful to health workers for Covid-19 fight: White House.

-02 JULY 2020

US president Donald Trump is tremendously grateful to all the doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals, including Indian- American, who have selflessly risen to the occasion to combat the corona virus pandemic, the White House has said.

More than 100,000 Indian-American doctors have contributed to the fight against the corona virus and the president thanks them for their tireless, life-saving work, White House Assistant press secretary Karoline Leavitt told PTI on Wednesday.


4. UK hits back over China’s law on Hong Kong; offers citizenship.

-01 JULY 2020

Terming China’s new security law for Hong Kong a ‘clear and serious breach’ of the agreement ha preceded the 1997 handover, the Boris Johnson government on Wednesday hit back at Beijing and offered a new citizenship path to residents of the former British colony.

In strongly-worded statements, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and foreign secretary Dominic Raab told parliament that the law violates the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration under which Hong Kong’s autonomy was guaranteed under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle for a period of 50 years, it also violates China’s and Hong Kong laws, hey claimed.


5. Chinese President Xi Jinping signs bill that could mean jail for dissent in Hong Kong.

-30 JUNE 2020

China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday signed into law the Hong Kong national security bill in a closed-door meeting of the elites of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, formalizing a legislation that critics fear could crush the city’s freedom.

Official news agency Xinhua said Chinese lawmakers had voted o adopt the law and decided the ‘national security law would be included’ in Hong Kong’s mini constitution known as the Basic Law.  


6. US President Donald Trump anger at ‘white power’ retweet.

-29 JUNE 2020

US President Donald Trump retweeted a video showing one of his supporters in Florida shouting “white power” at protesters of his administration, drawing an immediate rebuke from the only black Republican in the senate.

The video on Twitter, which was later deleted from Trump’s feed, shows Trump protesters and supporters shouting profanities at each other. After a protester calls a Trump supporter a racist, the man responds b raising his fist and shouting “white power”.

The slogan is often used b white supremacists.


7. President rump issued to order targets statue vandalism.

-28 JUNE 2020

President Trump issued an executive order on Friday that instructed federal law enforcement authorities to prosecute people who damage federal monument or statues and that threatened to withhold funding from local government that fail to protect their own statues from vandals.

The order, which trump announced on Twitter, comes as he seeks to seize on a Democrats are waging an assault on the nation’s history.

  “Anarchists and Left-wing extremists have sought to advance a fringe ideology that paints the United States of America as fundamentally unjust,” Trump writes in the order, which is titled,” Protecting American Monuments, Memorials and Statues and combating Recent criminal Violence.”

 


Business News

1.China urges India to 'correct discriminatory practices' against its firms after ban on Chinese apps

-3 JULY 2020

Beijing: Days after India banned 59 Chinese apps for engaging in activities which are "prejudicial" to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, Beijing on Thursday urged New Delhi to immediately "correct its discriminatory practices" against Chinese companies.

India on Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including the hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, for engaging in "activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order".

The ban also comes in the backdrop of the current stand-off along the Line of Actual control in eastern Ladakh with Chinese troops.

Responding to reports that both countries are strengthening import regulations and suppressing each other's export goods amid the tense border situation and its impact on China's foreign trade enterprises exports to India, Chinese Commerce Ministry Spokesman Gao Feng said that China has not taken any restrictive measures against Indian products and services.

"First of all, I want to clarify that China has not taken any restrictive and discriminatory measures against Indian products and services," he said, according to the transcript posted on the ministry's website.

2.Novartis pays $678 million to resolve suit over sham doctor outings

-2 JULY 2020

Pharmaceutical Corp. will pay $678 million to the U.S. government and various states to settle a lawsuit over a sham speaker program that distributed cash, expensive dinners and other treats to induce doctors to prescribe its products, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

The settlement of the lawsuit was announced by Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, who said the company splurged on "speaking fees, exorbitant meals, and top-shelf alcohol that were nothing more than bribes to get doctors across the country to prescribe Novartis's drugs."

Messages seeking comment were left with lawyers for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, which is part of Swiss drug manufacturer Novartis International AG.

Vas Narasimhan, chief executive of Novartis, said in a statement that the company has already changed, "with new leadership, a stronger culture, and a more comprehensive commitment to ethics embedded at the heart of our company."

"With these agreements we mark an important milestone on our journey to build trust with society as we continue re-imagining medicine to improve and extend lives all around the world," Narasimhan said.


3.Facebook frustrates advertisers as boycott over 

hate speech kicks off

-1 JULY 2020

Advertisements for more than 400 brands including Coca-Cola and Starbucks are due to vanish from Facebook on Wednesday, after the failure of last-ditch talks to stop a boycott over hate speech on the site. U.S. civil rights groups have enlisted the multinationals to help pressure the social media giant into taking concrete steps to block hate speech in the wake of the death of George Floyd and amid a national reckoning over racism.

Facebook executives including Carolyn Everson, vice president of global business solutions, and Neil Potts, public policy director, held at least two meetings with advertisers on Tuesday, the eve of the planned one-month boycott, three sources who participated in the calls told Reuters. But the executives offered no new details on how they would tackle hate speech, the sources said. Instead, they pointed back to recent press releases, frustrating advertisers on the calls who believe those plans do not go far enough.

"It's simply not moving," said one executive at a major ad agency of the conversations. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to meet with the organizers of the boycott, a spokeswoman said late Tuesday. U.S. civil rights groups including the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP and Color of Change started the "Stop Hate for Profit" campaign after the death of Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a white police officer last month.

4.Apple not dominant in any market, plenty of 

rivals, senior executive says

-30 JUNE 2020

iPhone maker Apple, the target of EU antitrust investigations into key segments of its business, on Tuesday rejected accusations of market dominance, saying it competes with Google, Samsung and other rivals.

Earlier this month, the European Commission opened investigations into Apple's App Store and mobile payment system Apple Pay, concerned about its role as a gatekeeper to its lucrative platform.

"We compete with a wide variety of companies, Google, Samsung, Huawei, Vivo, LG, Lenovo and many more," Daniel Matray, head of Apple's App Store and Apple Media Services, told a Forum Europe online event.

"In fact, Apple does not have a dominant position in any market, and we face strong competition in every category, in tablets, wearables, desktop and notebook computers, maps, music, payments, messaging, and more," he said.

Matray defended Apple's App Store, saying the same rules apply to all developers, large and small, with 85% of apps not required to pay a 30% fee to the company which is only valid for those which use its in-app payment service.

The EU is investigating whether this requirement and rules preventing developers from informing users of cheaper products elsewhere are anti-competitive.

It is also probing Apple's terms and conditions on how its mobile payment service Apple Pay should be used in merchants' apps and websites, and also the company's refusal to allow rivals access to the payment system.

The EU investigations were prompted by a complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify and an e-book rival.

Matray said the App Store has boosted competition, rather than harmed rivals.

"In the nearly 12 years since the App Store debuted, the best measure of its success is the dynamism it has unleashed and the state of the app economy today," he said.


5.Zimbabwe halts stock trading, transfers to defend currency

-29 JUNE 2020

Zimbabwe's stock exchange suspended trading on Monday following a weekend government order that also forced mobile money transfer platforms to temporarily halt business as authorities tried to protect the country's currency.

As galloping inflation has ratcheted up tension, the Information Ministry permanent announced in a surprise statement late Friday the immediate suspension of trade on the ZSE and transfers on mobile money platforms that are key to retail trade.

Information Ministry Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana blamed mobile money transfer platforms for causing a gap between the market exchange rate for the Zimbabwean dollar and the official exchange rate.
He said government was in "possession of impeccable intelligence ... whereby mobile-based phone systems... are conspiring with the help of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange -- either deliberately or

inadvertently -- in illicit activities that are sabotaging the economy."

He singled out one service provider as "the central pivot of the galloping black market exchange rate therefore fueling the incessant price hikes of goods and services that are bedeviling the economy and causing untold hardship to the people of Zimbabwe."


6.Huawei controversy opens field for 5G challengers

-28 june 2020

With growing pressure to keep China's Huawei out o5G network development, it could be time for firms like Japan's NEC and South Korea's Samsung to shine.
Washington has pushed allies to bar Huawei, a Chinese telecom giant, from building next-generation 
5G mobile networks, claiming its equipment can be used to spy for Beijing.
Huawei denies the charges, but US pressure has prompted an about-turn in Britain.

The government had already pledged to cut the firm out of the most sensitive "core" elements of 5G that access personal data, and is now reportedly pushing for plans to end Huawei's involvement in Britain's 5G infrastructure by 2023.
But excluding Huawei is not without challenges, because there are currently only two alternatives in Europe for 5G equipment such as antennas and relay masts: Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson.


7.Byju parent makes $300 million cash offer for 

WhiteHat Jr

-JULY 2020

Think and Learn, which owns and operates educational technology platform Byju’s, has made a $300 million all-cash offer to acquire smaller peer WhiteHat Jr, one week after the Bengaluru-headquartered unicorn closed a new funding round from Bond Capital, the investment firm led by storied Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker.
The development comes at a time when WhiteHat Jr is already in the market to raise $50 million in fresh financing at a valuation of $350 million, and has held discussions with a number of notable venture capital and private equity firms, including Sequoia Capital, GIC - the sovereign wealth fund of the government of Singapore, Renuka Ramnath-led Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Tiger Global Management and Stead view Capital, among others.
WhiteHat Jr, founded in 2018 by Karan Bajaj, the former chief executive of Discovery Networks India, operates in the K-12 segment, teaching students to code, and helping them build commercial-ready games, animations and apps using the fundamentals of coding.


Technology News

1. Space -bound hot air balloon offers near zero mission travel.
-29 JUNE  2020
An American firm is planning to fly passengers and research payloads to the edge of space using high performance balloon coupled with a pressurize capsule .
space perspective a Florida start -up plans to use the pacific spaceport complex in Kodiak Alaska as the launching ground for trips in its launching ground for trips in its spaceship Neptune balloon craft.
the first unscrewed test flight is scheduled for early 2021 and will include a suite  of research payloads.
the firm claims it is a way of reaching near -space with "near-zero emissions' and could eventually be deployed for routine operation around the world.

2.US restrictions on Huawei throw its involvement in UK 5G into question 
-30 JUNE 2020
Huawei's role in the UK's 5G networks has again been thrown into doubt following a tightening of US sanctions on the firm in May.
the us government-imposed restriction on the Chinese tech giant that prevented it from using silicon made by American firms.
the decision led the UK's national cyber security center (NCSC) to carry out a review assessing the possible impact it could have on the UK's networks.
digital secretary Oliver Dowden told MPs the New review is needed to determine the reliability and viability of Huawei's future within the UK infrastructure in the face of such restrictions.
 
3.E-waste quantities booming while recycling rates decline 
-1 JULY 2020
E-waste is growing at an alarming rate rate -up 21 per cent in the last five year - yet only 17.4 per cent of 2019 's e-waste was collected and recycled.
With year new - release cycles for electronic products commonplace 'consumers are encouraged to regularly upgrade their devices. Yet recycling rates are poor even though many electronics contain rates are poor, ever though many electronics contain rare earth metals and other materials which are limited in supply and in high demand.
A lot of the waste generated is disposed of the environment and human health. 
 
4.UK buys stake in bankrupt satellite company One Web
-2 JULY 2020
The UK government has bought a stake in failed satellite firm one Web as a means to expand its space industry following its withdrawal from the EU and its Galileo project
purchased in consortium with India’s Bharati global the company was originally trying to provide satellite internet worldwide with a constellation of up to 648 satellites. however, the firm only managed to launch 74 of its low - earth orbit satellites before going bust in march as it failed to secure funding to continue the project.
ministers hope the purchase could revitalize the purchase could revitalize the UK's space sector which was dealt major blow in 2018 when it was forced to leave the EU'S Galileo satellite navigation project .
 
5.Teen inventor creates wearable device to prevent COVID -19 spread 
-3 JULY 2020
A 15 year old school student from Bristol has developed a wearable device to encourage people to stop touching their face - one of the recommended behaviors to help prevent viral spread.
max Melia started working on the concept for the device two years ago concerned with preventing the spread of the common cold and flu the device called 'VetPro" is a wrist band which vibrates to warn wearers every time they are about to touch their face .
The device can be worn on both wrists and combines "position -sending technology with algorithms which distinguish between the motions of face touching and other less risky hand motions . 

touching the face -specifically the eyes ,nose and mouth can transfer pathogens picked up from contaminated surfaces by the hands to the throat and lungs causing infection ,A 2015 study published in the American journal of infection control estimates that people touch their face more than people touch their face more than 20 times per hour on average with contact with contact with the eyes , nose and mouth occurring in almost half of instances.

 

 







2 comments:

|Google Glass| |Glass-like Help people with memory problems|

Google Glass-like device is Help people with memory problems.   The google Glass project met a sad demise a few years ago, but its applica...