Russia Fears Fresh Sanctions From US

Russia could face fresh sanctions by the US, based on an American intelligence report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence leveled serious allegations on Russia for interfering in the 2020 presidential elections.

What was the intelligence report?

It is a bulky 15-page document that details how Russia tried to influence the presidential elections of 2020 in favor of the former president Donald Trump. Also, the report alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed those efforts. Serious claims were made against the then-candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter by Russian-linked Ukrainian figures.

The report even said that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential elections to help Trump.

The report also alleged that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militia to defeat coalition forces in Afghanistan.

What did the report say about China?

Trump’s allies alleged that China was acting on behalf of Joe Biden but the fresh intelligence report punctured those claims saying that China was looking for stability with the US and that it couldn’t risk blowback if caught.

But the intelligence report raised fingers against Cuba, Venezuela, and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah for influencing the elections.

What did the report say about Iran?

The report alleged that Iran was involved in a multi-pronged covert influence campaign to sway American voters in 2020. But it was to undercut then US President Donald Trump. The US under the leadership of Trump pulled out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran and imposed fresh sanctions on Iran.

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Megan Thee Stallion Stands At The Top Of 63rd Grammy Edition

Megan Thee Stallion got the all limelight in the 63rd edition of Grammy Awards function by grabbing three Grammys Best New Artist, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for Savage. She’s the biggest winner but the Grammy edition witnessed many records broken.

Beyonce made history at Grammy Awards

After the 63rd edition, Beyonce has become the female artist with most trophies. She has won 28 trophies and surpassed the record of maximum Grammys of singer Alison Krauss. Beyond grabbed her 28th Grammy for the Best R&B Performance for Black Parade.

Other Grammy winners

The big three Grammys were grabbed by Billie Eilish (Record of the Year for Everything I Wanted), Taylor Swift (Album of the Year for Folkore) and H.E.R (Song of the Year for I Can’t Breathe). Billie Eilish praise Stallion by saying that Stallion deserved that.

A view of the Grammy night

It was Trevor Noah who broke the silence on the musical night from Los Angeles while making a joke at the Capitol Hill incident. He said that the Grammy Awards was the largest outdoor event of 2021 after the storming of US Capitol in January. He said that he knew that people weren’t able to go out and he didn’t attend any concert for a long time. So, Grammy brought the concert to the people.

Posthumus awards

John Prime was honored with the Best Roots Performance and Best Roots Song from the Recording Academy. He died last year at 73. Chick Corea also received a Posthumus award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo.

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Fly At $31.40 Miles With United Airlines On Pi Day Promotional Offer

United Airlines is celebrating “Pi Day” in a unique way with never before offers for budget travelers. It is offering one-way tickets starting at $31.40 or 3,140 miles excluding taxes and fees starting at $5.60.

What is United Airlines’ Pi Day offer?

Pi Day falls on March 14 and is celebrated by mathematician geometrician around the world. It is on this day that the value of Pi (3/14) was found. United Airlines has also made its offer matching with value of Pi. It is a first-come-first-serve offer available only until the seats last or March 15 whichever is earliest.

What is the validity of the offer and conditions?

United Airlines has designed a sales page dedicated to the Pi Day sales offer. It is mentioned that the offer is valid from March 28 to June 5, 2021 but the seats offered are Basic Economy. Also, the buyers won’t get any choice of seats or group sitting. Also, the buyers aren’t allowed to carry full-size carry bags. The airlines won’t entertain any flight changes or refunds except 24 hours after booking the tickets.

The Pi Day tickets will be valid only on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and the airlines has selected routes for cheap travelling. Travelers interested in taking advantage of the low prices can visit the sale page of United Airlines to check the routes available during the promotional offer. While the offer isn’t surprising as it is related to Basic Economy but travelers flying on the promotional routes can really save some money on tickes.

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Joe Biden Opens His Doors For Indian IT Professionals

US President Joe Biden rescinded the three policy memos about foreign workers on visas like H-1B due. Taken by previous Trump government, the decisions put severe restrictions on the Indian IT professionals and others seeking employment in the US.

What were those decisions?

On June 17, 2020, the Trump government rescinded two prior policy memoranda by issuing a Policy Memorandum 602-0114. The policies rescinded were:

• Determining Employer-Employee Relationship for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements issued on January 8, 2010

• Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites,” issued on February 22, 2018

On February 3, 2021, Trump government issued another Policy Memorandum 602-0142.1 to do away with PM-602-0142. This policy memo was rescission of the December 22, 2000 Guidance memo on H1B computer related positions issued on March 31, 2017.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that both the memos would apply to any pending or new [H-1B Petitions], including motions on and appeals of revocations and denials of H-1B classification.

What is the current stage of US visa applications?

Biden administration allowed petitioners to reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions of the earlier policy memos by filing Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal of Motion to reverse. USCIS would charge a reopening fee.

Also, USCIS is provided discretionary powers to accept and consider untimely motions but the discretionary powers can be exercised only under certain circumstances as explained and permitted by the government. The petitioners have to keep the policy timeline in mind while filing their petitions.

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US Witnessed Over 2,800 Incidents Of Hate Crimes From March To December Last Year

US President Joe Biden condemned the hate crimes against the Asian-Americans and appealed to the masses to put an end to those crimes. He called those acts “vicious hate crimes” and “un-American”.

What are those hate crimes Biden talked about?

Asian Americans became the target of hate crimes with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The democratic president decried that the Asian Americans were attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated over the pandemic that originated in China. But activists blamed on the loose talks by former president Donald Trump who used to talk about “Chinese virus” to refer to coronavirus.

What did Joe Biden say about Asian-Americans?

Biden called Asian-Americans, fellow Americans, and said that they were on the front lines of the pandemic. He highlighted their efforts by saying that they tried saving lives but they were forced to live in fear for their lives and belongings. Joe Biden said that that was wrong and un-American and that must stop.

What is the data about racial discrimination?

A California State University study found that reported anti-Asian hate crimes more than doubled across 16 major US cities including New York and Los Angeles last year. They jumped from 49 in 2019 to 122 in 2020. It also maintained that racial discrimination couldn’t be established in many cases.

Another study by the Stop AAPI Hate advocacy group revealed that over 2,800 incidents of racism and discrimination took place between March and December last year. The group included all crimes included non-physical and reported online.

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Who Is Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa Taking On Voyage Around Moon?

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (45) is inviting eight people from across the globe to accompany him on the first private lunar expedition expected in March 2023. Maezawa was announced to be the first man to book a seat in the lunar spaceship being developed by SpaceX in 2018.

Who is Yusaku Maezawa?

Maezawa is a fashion tycoon. He owned an online fashion store Zozo but sold it to Yahoo! Japan in 2019. But his total worth of around $1.9 billion makes him one of the richest people in Japan.

Maezawa has penchant for pricey art. He leads an extravagant lifestyle and also known for making eccentric comments like asking for are girlfriend to join him on SpaceX flight but later cancelled the hunt despite attracting 30,000 girlfriends.

Who Maezawa is inviting to the SpaceX flight?

He said that he would take from 10 to 12 people on the SpaceX flights and that they all would be artists. He’s even set criteria for selecting the artists. His website has the application for SpaceX flight. Interested candidates can fill the application before March 14. Initial screening of the applications will be complete by March 21 and the selected candidates will be called for final interview and medical checkup in late May 2021.

What are the prospects of SpaceX flight?

Two prototypes of the SpaceX’s Starship have crashed during test flights but Elon Musk is hopeful of getting are breakthrough before March 2023. He banks of the reusable 394-foot (120-metre) rocket system and boasts of taking both human and cargo to Moon, Mars and even beyond in his Starship.

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How Joe Biden Failed In Neera Tanden’s Case?

oe Biden accepting Neera Tanden’s request to withdraw her name for Director of the Office of Management and Budget is seen as the first cabinet defeat for the US president in an evenly divided Senate.

Reason behind Neera Tanden’s withdrawal

The lawmakers from both the sides were clear on opposing Neera Tanden’s nomination for the said post because her unfriendly nature towards lawmakers. She was alleged to disparage the lawmakers in her earlier tweets.

What does Tanden’s defeat means for Biden?

Joe Biden has to work to keep his flock of lawmakers together for every piece of legislation as the chamber is deadlocked at 50-50. It means that if he loses confidence of are single Democrat, he would have to face more embarrassing situations in his four-year term.

In Tanden’s case, it was Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who clearly signaled that he won’t vote for Neera Tanden. He displayed the power of one Democrat in the Senate.

What is next for Biden?

Joe Biden should be ready to face another litmus test when he presents the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package. The Senate will vote on the bill but the Republican community is opposed to the bill. The only for Biden to clear the bill is to get all Democrats on the same page.

Joe Biden gets bipartisan support

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. were voted with bipartisan support. Also, The Council of Economic Advisors chair Cecilia Rouse became the first Black person to serve in the position.

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Russian Diplomats Have A Tough Time In North Korea

Strict coronavirus restrictions forced Russian diplomats to take to hand-pushed rail trolley to take their families back home in Russia from North Korea. It is to be noted that North Korea imposed a stricter border shutdown last January to cut all its connections with the world to contain coronavirus pandemic.

How did Russian diplomats reach home?

Russia’s foreign ministry’s verified Telegram account posted a video of eight Russian diplomats and their family members including a three-year-old-girl sitting with all their belongings in a hand-pushed rail trolley and waving and cheering on approaching their homeland tells the real story.

The video has the Third Secretary Vladislav Sorokin, the only man in the group, is seen pushing the trolley across a border railway bridge. It was a 32-hour train journey from Pyongyang after which they took a two-hour bus ride to reach the border. Sorokin had to push the non-self-propelled railcar for more than a kilometer.

Russian Diplomats rail trolley

Why ambassadors are leaving North Korea?

North has some of the strictest restrictions for coronavirus infection. And the restrictions have started taking a toll over working of embassies. Countries are facing difficulties with maintaining staff and supplies needed for carrying out the diplomatic work. For this reason, the western embassies have started pulling out their staff from the North.

How are Russia’s relations with North Korea?

Russia has already severed its ties with the North Korea and it maintains only a significant diplomatic presence in Pyongyang. It is to be noted that North Korea is already under sanctions due to nuclear tests.

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See The Spectacular Image Of Perseverance’s Mars Landing

Perseverance has started sending the initial pictures of Mars to NASA. The US space agency released those pictures for public. But it isn’t known whether the sound on Mars was recorded. But NASA is hopeful of getting sound clips from Mars for the first time.

See Perseverance landing down on Mars

One of the first images showing landing of Perseverance was extracted from the video recorded by the spacecraft that carried Perseverance to Mars. In the image, the robot is seen connected to three straight and a curly wire. The straight wires are cables holding the jetpack and the curly wire is data transmission cable. The image shows last leg of landing when the Perseverance was slowed down to the speed of 1.7 miles.

Honeycomb of rocks seen in the image

The honeycomb of rocks seen with the six-wheeled robot are believed to be about 3.6 billion years old. NASA deputy project scientist Katie Stack Morgan said that they were excited to know whether those rocks were volcanic or sedimentary. Volcanic rocks are easier to study.

Parachuting Perseverance

In another image, the jetpack is seen parachuting from the spacecraft. At this point, it was accelerating towards the surface of Mars at a speed of hundreds of miles an hour. But the most colorful and exciting image was of flat region of Jezero Crater that was a river and deep lake billions of years ago. Perseverance will send more detailed photograph of Mars in the coming days and bring some samples on the returning flight.

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What Safe Landing Of Perseverance Means For NASA And The World?

NASA successfully landed Perseverance on Mars on Thursday. Its safe landing on a vast crater on Mars’ surface is no less than a big feat for the pandemic stricken US that is also battling economic slowdown for the same reason.

What is Perseverance?

It is a self-guided science rover with the most advanced astrobiology laboratory on the mission Mars to collect signs of life on the Red Planet. It travelled for seven months to cover a distance of 293 million miles to reach its destination. It entered the Mars’ atmosphere at a speed of 12,000 miles per hour and landed safely on Jezero Crater that is a long-vanished Martian lake bed.

Was there life on Marsh?

Perseverance will collect possible fossilized signs of microbes that were believed to live on Mars some 3 billion years ago. Scientists are of the opinion that Mars had water that made it hospitable to life. This project cost the US $2.7 billion and two years. Perseverance will extract the samples embedded on Mars surface for future analysis by scientists on earth.

US Mars mission

The US started its Mars project on 1965 by sending the first fly-by spacecraft, Mariner but Perseverance is the most ambitious project of its Mars mission as it is equipped with much larger and advanced equipment than its predecessors.

The Perseverance payload includes the project to pay way for safe human exploration of Marsh. It carries a device that will convert the carbon dioxide gas on Mars in pure oxygen needed for human survival.

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