Month: February 2020

International

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch Breaks Longest Female Stay Record

HT News

Christina Koch became the first woman astronaut to spend close to 11 months aboard the International Space Station. She was there in space with Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency.

NASA’s astronaut Christina Koch

Koch was seated and smiling while touching down at 0912 GMT. She dropped on the Kazakh steppe after spending 328 days in space. The world saw her as she was extracted from the Soyuz descent module in the video footage of Roscosmos space agency.

The 41-year old Michigan-born engineer was blasted off on March 14 last year. She returned safely to earth on February 7, 2020. The US President Donald Trump congratulated Koch on Twitter.

Trump hailed Koch

Donald Trump congratulated Koch on breaking the female record of longest stay in the space. He also said that she was inspiring the young women and making the US proud.

Koch broke record

The earlier record of 289 days was made by NASA veteran Peggy Whitson in 2016-17. But Koch broke that record on December 28. Today, she is only female astronaut to stay in space for more than 300 days. She also made history of the first-ever all-woman spacewalk along with NASA counterpart Jessica Meir in October.

Koch missing microgravity

After a tiring three-and-a-half-hour journey back to earth, Koch told reporters that she would “miss microgravity”. She told that it was only in space where people can jump from floor to ceiling. She was taken to NASA for medical testing.

Source: https://bit.ly/2SrZVqc

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International

Why Are Chinese Netizens Calling Li Wenliang A Martyr?

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With over 560 dead and more than 28,000 infected, novel coronavirus infection is really a pandemic. But one of the dead persons include a doctor who was the among the first to warn the public about the outbreak and its severity.

Li Wenliang

An ophthalmologist by profession, Li was working in Wuhan Central Hospital in Hubei province that was the epicentre of the outbreak. He observed symptoms of the deadly SAARS virus in the early patients visiting the hospital. And the 34-year old doctor lost no time in understanding that there was another outbreak of virus. He sent alert messages his friends on December 30 but was later summoned for “rumour-mongering” along with other whistle-blowers.

China mourns death of Li Wenliang

The hospital where Li worked made a statement after his death. The statement read that the doctor got infection while treating other patients. And that he breathed his last on February 7. The hospital tried its best to save a valuable life but he couldn’t be saved.

People reacted to Li’s death

Li was summoned along with others for “rumour-mongering” and later he was made to sign a statement where he admitted making false comments that disturbed the social media. Chinese Supreme Court also said that Li was treated inappropriately by the authorities.

The netizens hailed Li as a martyr. He was a hero for Chinese people as he tried to save them from the outbreak. His death sparked an outrage among the people who blamed the authorities for hiding the truth about the outbreak.

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Today's Special

Happy Rose Day 2020: Understand the significance of Rose Day

HT News

7th February is the first day of Valentine’s week but it is more popular as Rose Day. It is the day when you can gift a rose or a bouquet of rose flowers to your love interest. This day is celebrated with enthusiasm and excitement across the globe.

Rose Day celebrations

Rose is more than a flower. It is a messenger of love, affection, care and friendship. People across the globe wait for this day all the year and gift roses to their love interests, friends and all nears and dears. To make things more acceptable, you can buy greeting cards with roses.

There was a time when the Rose Day was limited to couples only but today friends also celebrate this day with much zeal and fervour. They plan shopping, dining, moving and outing. Today, you can do many things like sharing WhatsApp messages, Facebook posts, tweets and Instagram pictures with social media.

Source: https://bit.ly/2H5Fs53

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International

Senate Acquits The US President Donald Trump Of All Impeachment Charges

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US President Donald Trump came out of impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He easily defeated the effort to expel him from office with the staunch Republican support.

Impeachment of Donald Trump

Donald Trump was charged with illegally seeking help from Ukraine to bolster his 2020-re-election efforts. And there were strong evidences against Trump. But Republicans stayed loyal to him and defeated the impeachment by 52 to 48 on the first and 53 to 47 on the second. The Democrats were short of two-thirds supermajority required for conviction.

The Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts pronounced that with two-thirds present senators not found Donald Trump guilty, the Senate adjudges the President of the United States not guilty as charged.

Republican Mitt Romney voted Donald Trump as guilty in the first count but voted not guilty on the second count. But he was found to be a staunch critic of Trump and he risked White House wrath only due to his hatred for Trump.

Donald Trump celebrated the victory

Trump called the impeachment process a hoax and a witch hunt. He said that as a president, he enjoyed the right to pressurize Ukraine. Also, he maintained that he wasn’t supposed to comply with Congress demands for testimony and evidence.

Forever impeached

Only the third leader to face the trial, Donald Trump didn’t come out clean of the process. The result discouraged the Democrats but they weren’t surprised of the outcome. The vote closed an old chapter in the history of America.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeatedly said that Donald Trump would be tarred with the impeached level like his two predecessors. … Read the rest

Viral

Valentine’s Day Week: Know What To Gift On Which Day

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The Valentine’s Week begins on 7th February with Rose Day celebrations but people wait for this week all the year. Valentine’s Day falls on 14th February but the celebrations continue for entire week starting February 7. It is called Valentine’s Week.

Valentine’s Week – Dates and things to do

This week is all about friendship, love and gifts. It is an occasion and an opportunity to make friends, express your love and enjoy the excitement of giving and receiving gifts. If you are confused about dates and gifts then this Valentine’s calendar would help.

It begins with Rose Day on 7th February; On 8th February, it would be Propose Day; On February 9, you celebrate Chocolate Day and on 10th February comes the Teddy Day.

Rose Day, 7 February:Begin the celebrations with gifting beautiful roses to each other. You can buy rose flowers for your friends.

Propose Day, 8 February: Your rose would carry the message of love and make it easier for you to express your love before that special person.

Chocolate Day, 9 February: With the rose gift accepted and love expressed, its time to have some sweets.

Teddy Day, 10 February: Now you are in love. You can give your love interest a teddy. It would be start of gifting.

Promise Day, 11 February: Nothing is sweeter than words. You can make a promise to your love interest.

Hug Day, 12 February: Its time to give a warm hug to each other.

Kiss Day, 13 February: It is a very important day before the Valentine’s Day. You can make most of the day.

Valentine’s Day, 14 February: It is what you were … Read the rest

Top Celebrities

Big Boss 13: John Cena Has Something To Share About The Grand Finale

HT News

Renowned WWE wrestler-turned-actor John Cena surprised the social media by sharing a picture of Big Boss 13 contestant Asim Riaz on Wednesday. But the picture didn’t have any caption and nor did John Cena give any explanation for sharing the picture.

John Cena shared a picture

Social media enthusiasts started dropping their comments on seeing the image of Asim Riaz on the Instagram handle of John Cena. They were crazy about the picture and were asking for the reason for sharing that picture. Some people even anticipated that Cena’s handle could had been hacked. Asim’s fans filled Twitter with their comments for Asim and said that even Cena hadn’t joined the Asim Army.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Cena (@johncena) on

But it wasn’t the first time that the wrestler shared an image. He had already shared pictures of Sushant Singh Rajput and Ranveer Singh on his Instagram account and didn’t give any context or caption to those images. His Instagram bio also reads “Welcome to my Instagram. These images will be posted without explanation. Enjoy.”

Big Boss 13

The event is nearing grand finale with cut-throat competition between the remaining contestants. Few contestants have left in the house and Asim Riaz is the most prominent among them. Other contestants are Sidharth Shukla, Shehnaaz Gill, Arti Singh, Paras Chhabra, Mahira Sharma and Rashami Desai. Could Asim Riaz the winner? Or John Cena wants to tell something with this image. Things would be clear in the coming days.

Source: https://bit.ly/2vcVyHG

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Technology

Chevy Launches First 2020 Mid-Engine C8 Corvette Car

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Chevy announced roll-out of the first production ready mid-engine 2020 Corvette from its plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The production C8 Corvette was to start late in 2019 but was delayed due to UAW strikes.

C8 Corvette 2020

The for the new Chevy is almost over and those who have ordered and waiting for their cars could get the cars in late this month or in early March. But car lovers are crazy to see the first-ever mid-engine C8 Corvette on the roads.

C8 Corvette 2020 features

Projected as an affordable alternative to pricier cars like McLearn 570S/GT and the Audi R8, the C8 Corvette launched 0-60 only in 2.8 seconds in test drives. Also, the new Chevy impressed with its quarter-mile time of 11.2 seconds at 122 mph. Also, it has an astonishing EPA that is 27 mpg in highway driving. Powered by a 6.2-liter V-8 engine, the all new C8 Corvette is expected the competition in the car market a level up with its performance.

Final verdict

The mind-boggling performance of the latest mid-engine C8 Corvette makes it a serious contender against the established models and its price proves that it is more affordable than others. The price of C8 Corvette has been fixed at $59.995.

The new C8 Corvette targets young generation especially those under 40. It isn’t a old car to buy, if you are young, energetic and want to drive a powerful car that can give you speed and performance at a very cost effective price.

Source: https://bit.ly/2S1hVJ5

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Technology

Vehement Critic Of AI Elon Musk Hires AI

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been a vehement critic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) but he is now using AI technology. The technology works like his subordinate and reports directly to him.

Elon Musk using AI

A strong critic of AI, Elon Musk often criticized Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma over the role of AI. But he has finally decided to use AI. He is using AI in his startup Neuralinkthat is creating a brain-machine interface.

Musk tagged the popular host of AI podcast on YouTube Lex Fridman while tweeting about his obsession with AI. He tweeted that he was using AI to solve self-driving. But for him, AI could only do benign tasks and he critically evaluates those tasks.

Tesla using AI

Artificial Intelligence is used for vision and planning to achieve a general solution to full self-driving. Tesla is developing silicon chips that it could use to power its full self-driving software from ground. It is taking every aspect of design of the chips to get expected results. The company is applying cutting-edge research to solve issues from perception to control.

Tesla is also working on core algorithms that help in driving. It creates a high-fidelity representation of the world and planning trajectories in that space. Elon Musk said that AI would still be left behind even in its benign stage. He made this opinion while making a presentation about brain-machine interface technology of Neuralink.

Source: https://bit.ly/31tXpUq

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News & Politics

AAP Threatens To Sue The Office That Claimed Shaheen Bagh Shooter Was An AAP Member

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BJP and AAP traded charges after the Shaheen Bagh shooter was seen with senior AamAadmi Party leaders in a picture. The BJP said that it was the proof of ruling party’s complicity in the protest against CAA. But AAP said that the police was acting under the guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Controversial picture of Shaheen Bagh shooter

The photograph was found in the phone of Kapil Gujjar (25). He was seen standing with Sanjay Singh and Aatishi Singh of AAP. The police said that photographs could be a year back when he joined AAP with his father. But the police were trying to find the exact date of the photos.

AAP accused police

Sanjay Singh of AAP said that the party would send a legal notice to the officer that made the complaint. Also, the AAP would complain the matter to EC. He even said that the DCP Rajesh Deo was acting on the behalf of BJP and that he should wear a lotus.

Sanjay Singh produced pictures of PM Modi standing with AsaramBapu and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar with Ram Rahim. He said that just like these pictures don’t prove complicity of BJP leaders with criminals, the picture of the Shaheen Bagh shooter also proved nothing.

Shaheen Bagh shooting

On Saturday, Kapil Gujjar fired a shot in the air shouting “Jai Sri Ram”and later try to flee when his gun jammed. But he was apprehended by the police party present at the site.

Source: https://bit.ly/3biVwi3

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Technology

Amazon Leaks Highly Anticipated OnePlus 8 Pro And OnePlus 8 Phones

HT News

An Amazon India affiliate page published pictures of two highly anticipated phones of OnePlus. But the brand has yet to make any confirmation about release of the published phones.

Upcoming phones of OnePlus

The brand is expected to release two new models OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro in the first half of 2020 but the phones are featured alongside existing models of OnePlus on Amazon. The retail giant published the new phones from OnePlus with an advertising fee.

Specs of the rumored OnePlus phones

Both the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro are expected to carry similar design and features. The display would have hole-punch design. Also, it would be 120Hz QHD+ Fluid Display that the company accounted last month. Wireless changing is also expected as the brand has joined the Wireless Power Consortium.

The OnePlus 8 series phones are expected to pack Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC and up to 12GB of RAM. They would also pack Android 10 out-of-the-box. Earlier there were reports that the OnePlus 8 Pro would sport a quad-rear camera with Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor. It is also rumored that these phones would have a curved display panel.

Launch of new OnePlus phones

The brand has yet to announce the launch date of the phones. But the OnePlus 8 was spotted with model number IN2011 on the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) database last month. But Amazon removed the listing soon after it was spotted and sent viral.

Source: https://bit.ly/2SgbJMa

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