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As part of its drive to achieve innovation and provide better services to the customers, Indian Railways keep on bringing forth new features. To make it easier for the customers to book their train tickets, there is now a facility to book these tickets without any fuss in a matter of seconds. The Indian Railway Tourism and Catering Corporation (IRCTC) has started its payment gateway IRCTC-iPay and it is now live for use by the train travellers. The new payment gateway of the IRCTC would save a lot of time as compared to the amount of time customers spend on the payment gateways of their banks. It would also allow a quick refund for the passengers if and when they cancel their train tickets. The IRCTC said that it upgraded its user interface keeping in view the self-reliant India campaign of the central government. The IRCTC is making quick changes to its website as it is one of the largest e-commerce websites in the Asia-Pacific. The improvement would benefit many as about 83 per cent of its reserve tickets are booked on the website, said the IRCTC. Use IRCTC iPay gateway To make use of the IRCTC iPay gateway, the customer would have to give details and one-time mandate for the use of debit card of their UPI bank account or another form of payment. They can then authorise these payment instructions for all their future transaction for buying tickets too. Read the full article

This is the first time that Skoda will be using Volkswagen Groups Modular Transverse Toolkit MQB-A0, and the company says that using this platform has made the Fabia larger than its predecessor in all dimensions By  Ameya Naik | Published: 12-Feb-21 01:05 PM IST 0  Views Skoda has teased the fourth generation of the Fabia ahead of its world debut later this year. The company says that the new Skoda Fabia is set to make its world premiere between March and June 2021. In a silhouette image released by the company, the roofline hints at the new proportions of the small car. Now Skoda has already said that the new car is based on the Volkswagen Group's Modular Transverse Toolkit MQB-A0 platform. This platform enhances the interior space and supports the use of state-of-the-art assistance systems and connectivity features. This is the first time that Skoda will be using Volkswagen Group's Modular Transverse Toolkit MQB-A0, and the company says that using this platform has made the Fabia larger than its predecessor in all dimensions. For example, the boot volume, which was already one of the Fabia's highlights, has grown by a further 50 litres. Read the full article

Bengaluru: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and MapmyIndia have partnered to offer India's best, and fully indigenous, mapping portal and geospatial services. The platform brings together MapmyIndia's digital maps and ISRO's catalogue of satellite imagery and earth observation data, according to MapmyIndia's CEO and Excutive Director Rohan Verma. He termed the alliance a path-breaking milestone in India's journey towards 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', wherein Indian users would not be dependent on foreign organisations for maps, navigation and geospatial services, and leverage Made-in-India solutions instead. "You don't need Goo*le Maps/Earth any longer", Verma said in the headline in an article on LinkedIn. According to ISRO, the Department of Space has joined hands with MapmyIndia to combine their geospatial expertise and build holistic solutions by leveraging their geoportals. On Thursday, the Department of Space signed a memorandum of understanding MaymyIndia parent CE Info Systems Pvt. Ltd. Under the partnership, the combined geospatial expertise of the DoS and CE Info Systems would be leveraged through their respective Geoportals, according to Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO. Read the full article

In a significant development, Indian and Saudi armies will undertake joint bilateral exercises. This will be the first such exercises of both the armies together. The Indian forces contingent will be travelling to Saudi Arabia for the exercises which will be taking place in the next financial year.  In December 2020, in another significant development, Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane had visited Saudi Arabia. It was the first time any Indian Army chief had visited the West Asian country in what is a clear sign of growing ties between New Delhi and Riyadh. The Army Chief during his trip to Saudi Arabia, he had visited the Headquarters of Royal Saudi Land Force, the Joint Force Command Headquarters and King Abdul Aziz Military Academy. Saudi Arabia identifies India as one of the Kingdom’s Strategic Partner Countries under its 'Vision 2030’. Last few years have seen an increased engagement between the two countries. The year 2019 saw the visit of Indian PM Modi to the country during which the Strategic Partnership Council Agreement was signed. Earlier that year in February, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had visited New Delhi. During the visit, Riyadh announced investments targeting a value of USD 100 billion in India.  Source link Read the full article

NEW DELHI: HMD Global, the company which holds the license to manufacture Nokia branded smartphones, launched the Nokia 3.4 smartphone in India earlier this week. The company has now started taking pre-orders for the device. The customers can pre-book the smartphone on Nokia.com/phones. The smartphone comes in Fjord, Dusk and Charcoal colour options. The company has priced Nokia 3.4 at Rs 11,999. Customers pre-booking the Nokia 3.4 on Nokia.com/phones can bundle it with Nokia Power Earbuds Lite (available in Snow and Charcoal colour options) to avail a discount of INR 1600. This offer is valid for the pre-booking till 19th February. Nokia 3.4 customers on Jio would be entitled to benefits worth INR 4,000. The benefits include instant cashback of INR 2,000 on the prepaid recharge of INR 349 plan and INR 2,000 worth vouchers from partners. This offer is applicable to new as well as existing Jio subscribers. Nokia 3.4 specifications The Nokia 3.4 comes with a 6.39-inch HD+ display with 720x1560 pixel resolution and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 processor paired with Adreno 610 GPU. Nokia 3.4 comes in two variants -- 3GB RAM and 32GB/64GB internal storage and 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. Users can further expand the storage up to 512GB by adding a microSD card. The handset comes with dual SIM support and runs Android 10 operating system. Read the full article

A robotic probe owned by the United Arab Emirates is preparing to jump into Mars orbit on Tuesday after launching from Earth last year. For mission managers in Dubai, it’s a nerve-racking climax in the UAE’s first mission to deep space. If successful, the Hope probe will survey the Martian atmosphere. The Emirati cabinet hopes the mission will also inspire a new science and technology sector as the Gulf state looks to wean its economy from oil dependence. The Hope probe launched from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center last July as Earth and Mars aligned in their orbits around the Sun. Now, having traveled over 300 million miles, Hope is set to carry out an intricate and fully autonomous maneuver called a Mars Orbit Insertion at 10:30AM ET. Mission control in Dubai won’t know if the MOI has begun until 10:42AM ET because of a 22-minute roundtrip communications delay through NASA’s Deep Space Network. Manual, real-time control is impossible, so Hope will need to carry out these orbital dances on its own. “we’ve thought of every single scenario that may go right or wrong” The MOI requires Hope to slow its cruising speed of 75,000 mph down to 11,000 mph in order to get swept up in Mars’ gravity. It will hit the brakes by firing all six of its Delta-V thrusters for 27 minutes. That should put the spacecraft into a “capture orbit” around the red planet. Read the full article

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In 2021, the retreat is hosting as many as 26 female elephants from across the state. (Image: IE/Nithya Pandiyan)Elephant retreat: Temple elephant retreat in Tamil Nadu begins! In Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district, at the Thekkampatti village near Mettupalayam, this year’s edition of the annual 48-day retreat for captive elephants began on Monday, according to a report in IE. The retreat, which has been organised by the Hindu Religions and Charitable Trust, was inaugurated when the elephants were fed fruits and sugarcane by Forest Minister Dindigul Srinivasan, Hindu Religions and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Minister Sevur S Ramachandran, and Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani.The preparations for the retreat had begun a few months ago by the government of Tamil Nadu, and it had asked the mahouts and their assistants who were planning to attend the retreat to give their COVID-19 negative certificates. Only upon furnishing these certificates were they allowed to enter the camp.The report cited officials as saying that Rs 1.67 crore had been allocated to the camp for the setting up of shelters, walking tracks, mobile toilets, bathing platforms, food court and kitchen, among other things. This amount was also used to ensure that adequate necessary medicines were arranged for the elephants and the people coming to the camp along with the majestic creatures.In Read the full article

Residents of a house in Jankipuram in Lucknow are being haunted by mysterious sounds coming from one particular 'wall' in the house. According to Aarti, who has been living in the palatial house with her husband, daughter and mother-in-law since the past 27 years, the sounds emanating from a wall in her mother-in-law's room.  "For the past two weeks, these noises have started in the house," Aarti said. The family initialy thought that the noises were coming from a neighbour's house where construction was underway but got worried when the voices didn't dissipate even after the construction stopped. "But the noises then started coming even when there was no work in the neighbour's house. My husband and I go out to work and my daughter and mother stay at home. The volume of the sounds has been increasing with every passing day," Arti told reporters. Aarti denied that the house was haunted as they had been living there for a long time. "We have been living here for so long. How can a house suddenly become haunted?" she said. Aarti further said that a few days ago, when she was returning from work on her scooty, she heard a loud sound of a machine gun. "So scary it was that I fell down in shock," she said. The family has lodged a police complaint and a woman constable had been posted in the house but she did not hear any sound, said Joint Commissioner of Police (JPC) Nilabja Chaudhary. "We are investigating the matter from all angles," he added. Read the full article

Cryptocurrencies extended gains in Asia on Tuesday, with bitcoin and ethereum reaching record highs, in the wake of a Tesla Inc investment in bitcoin. Bitcoin posted its largest daily percentage gain in more than three years overnight, after Tesla made the announcement in its 2020 annual report. Bitcoin added as much as 2.5% to hit a record high of $47,565.86 on Tuesday and has gained 61% for the year so far. Ethereum hit a record of $1,784. Source link Read the full article

In a shocking twist, Bigg Boss announced that connections of the contestants will be eliminating one of the inmates. The process started with Rahul Mahajan arriving at confession room. He took Devoleena Bhattacharjee (Eijaz Khan's proxy) is undeserving. Jasmin Bhasin took Abhinav Shukla's name with a heavy heart. Not just Jasmin, Vindu Dara Singh and Jaan Kumar Sanu also take Abhinav's name as the most undeserving contestant of Bigg Boss 14. Whereas Sharib Toshi took Nikki Tamboli's name. Apart from Rahul Mahajan, Jyotika Dilaik took Devoleena's (Eijaz) name for eviction. Paras Chhabra who is currently quarantining took Rahul Vaidya's name via video call. While Bigg Boss announced that among them one of them will be evicted, he asked Abhinav, Rahul V, Nikki and Devoleena to say something before one of them is declared out. Bigg Boss makes the shocking announcement of Abhinav Shukla getting evicted from Bigg Boss 14 house. Hearing upon this, Rubina instantly breaks down. Devoleena hugs Shukla and tells that he is the best inside the house. After being consoled, Rubina hugs Abhinav and cries her heart out. Along with Abhinav, his connection Rahul Mahajan also leaves the house.  Rubina assures Abhinav that his contribution was way more than people talk about him.  Abhinav Shukla is one of the only two contestants who has been inside the house since day one of Bigg Boss 14. Read the full article

The catastrophic disaster due to compounding effects leading to flash flood in Rishiganga basin in Chamoli, Uttarakhand on February 7 is reminiscent of the Kedarnath tragedy. An avalanche/landslide in conjunction with breakage of rock/ice glacier could be the reason. However, an avalanche/landslide and/or breakage of rock/ice glacier could not be the sole reason for sudden deluge of water volume leading to flash flood. There must be trapped water at surface or sub-surface, leading to an assessment if a glacial lake is formed simultaneously. In high mountainous terrains, melting of glaciers due to global warming leading to higher warming rates over higher elevation than lower elevation is seen. This situation increases risk of glacial-related hazards. One of these risks is Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs)—formed due to glacier(s) retreat, basically forming water body behind moraine or ice ‘dams’. These ‘dams’, which act as an embankment, once broken and/or weak, will lead to glacial lake breaching. It will suddenly discharge huge volumes of water, debris, slurries, etc. Such outbursts have the potential of releasing millions of cubic meters of water in a few hours, causing catastrophic flooding downstream with serious damage to life and property. Read the full article

Barcode scanner app enjoyed 10 million downloads before leaving the play store. (Representative image, IE )Google Play Store has removed the Barcode scanner app after users complained of suspicious ads and adware was detected. One Malwarebytes forum user traced this unethical behaviour of default browsers opening up junk ads and found that it was due to the Barcode scanner. The app enjoyed 10 million downloads before leaving the Play Store.Google removed the app after it was informed about the issue. Barcode Scanner is also part of a Play Pass program with which paid subscribers can get access to premium apps for free.Malwarebytes reported in its blog that users in its forum complained of unruly apps popping from any browser they were using automatically directing them to odd websites, asking them to install another “Cleaner app” with fishy security issues. Although it is no longer in the Play Store, it remains on phones that installed it. Barcode Scanner was part of the Google Play Pass programme earlier, meaning it was offered to its premium subscribers.It is recommended for users to uninstall the Barcode Scanner app at the earliest. If you cannot find it on your phone use AppChecker app and see if your phone has that app preinstalled or not and then delete it. The result should have the package name “com.qrcodescanner.barcodescanner.”Barcode Scanner was a simple app that turned malicious after an update was rolled out on December 4 last year, claimed Malwarebytes. Read the full article

Now, a second season of the series is being worked upon. (Image: Netflix via IE)Delhi Crime: In a big first for Indian shows, Netflix original series Delhi Crime won an International Emmy Award for Best Drama on Monday in the 48th edition of the awards. The seven-part series became the first-ever Indian programme to receive the prestigious International Emmy award. There were 44 nominees from 20 countries across 11 categories in the ceremony. The intense show has been directed by Richie Mehta, and covers the police procedure against the backdrop of the 2012 Delhi gangrape case.The International Emmy Awards were constituted way back in 1973 with the aim of focusing on shows that had international appeal as well as universal resonance.Now, a second season of the series is being worked upon, the details of which are not quite known, according to a report by IE. Here’s a look at what sets the now International Emmy-winning series Delhi Crime apart.Stemming from realitySet against the backdrop of the shocking gangrape that took place in Delhi in December 2012, the show stars Shefali Shah, Rasika Duggal and Rajesh Tailang in the lead roles. The show focuses on the aftermath of the crime in a fictionalised dramatisation, the report adds. Mehta attempts to unfold the story via the police investigation to nab the culprits of the incident, which has come to be known as the Nirbhaya case among the people of the country. Read the full article

India is the first market to get the Kiger and will also be the base for the production of the car. Renault India is looking to export the car as well from India just like the Kwid and Triber. By  Ameya Naik | Published: 10-Feb-21 12:14 PM IST 0  Views It was just yesterday that we told you about Renault India commencing the production of the Kiger at its Chennai facility and now the company is all set to launch the car in the country. Renault announced that it will launch its first subcompact SUV - the Kiger- in India on February 15. Renault has already despatched the cars to its 500 dealerships across the country so that consumers can take a look at the car. The company has said that deliveries of the car will begin from March. India is the first market to get the Kiger and will also be the base for the production of the car. Renault India is looking to export the car as well from India just like the Kwid and Triber. The Kiger is based on the CMF-A+ platform that has been co-developed by Renault and Nissan. The new Renault Kiger builds on the concept version that was showcased last year and nearly 80 per cent of the design theme has made it to production as the automaker promised. Read the full article

Continuing with the positive growth, the country's exports grew by 10.3 per cent to USD 683 million during the first week of February on account of strong performance by key sectors such as engineering and chemicals, an official said on Wednesday. Imports too increased by a marginal 0.7 per cent to USD 72.5 million during the week, the official added. Trade deficit narrowed by 19.4 per cent to USD 610 million. Engineering goods showcased the maximum growth and the outbound shipments witnessed multifold increase to USD 1.6 billion during February 1-8. Exports of organic and inorganic chemicals stood at USD 617 million during the period. However, some sectors which recorded negative growth include meat, dairy and poultry products; oil meals; and fruits and vegetables. Further, gold imports increased by 70.7 per cent to USD 391.9 million during the week. Imports of petroleum products dipped 29.5 per cent to USD 951.7 million. Exports in December 2020 and January had recorded positive growth. Source link Read the full article

Venture capital funding globally has more than doubled to $50.5 billion so far this year after a record fourth quarter as investors searching for the "Next Big Thing" poured money into promising healthcare and tech businesses, Goldman Sachs said. The 130% surge in year-to-date funding was led by Robinhood, Cruise Automation, Lalamove, Didi Cargo and Databricks, which cumulatively have raised over $9.4 billion, data from the U.S. investment bank showed on Tuesday. Online broker Robinhood alone raised over $1 billion of fresh capital from existing shareholders last month, having been strained by high volumes of trading. "The story of Venture Capital is the search for the Next Big Thing," said Goldman researchers led by Heath Terry. "Examining the early stage landscape for new entries into the VC lexicon as a tool for identifying that Next Big Thing, we see categories like Diagnostic Equipment and Decision/Risk Analysis emerging," they added. Funding activity crossed $90 billion for the first time ever in the last three months of 2020, up 75%. Significant growth was recorded across healthcare, edtech, supply chain & logistics, whereas payments and adtech saw the largest declines, Goldman said. Source link Read the full article