Heena Sharma Blog

A team of researchers spotted the world's giant bee which is as big as a human thumb, in Indonesia for the first time since 1981, the media reported on Friday. The team -- natural history photographer Clay Bolt, entomologist Eli Wyman, behavioural ecologist Simon Robson and ornithologist Glenn Chilton -- made the stunning "rediscovery" of the elusive critter and took the first photos and video of a living Wallace's giant bee on January 25, CNN reported. The team has spent years studying the bee and slogged around in humid Indonesia forests for days before stumbling upon one. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies this species as "vulnerable" due to mining and quarrying. Only two other people have been documented to have seen the Wallace Bee in person before. The first was British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who discovered the giant bee in 1858 while exploring the tropical Indonesian island of Bacan, and entomologis...

Samsung India on Friday opened pre-booking for its newly-launched Galaxy 'S10' series smartphones that will start from Rs 55,900. The 1TB Galaxy S10+ smartphone will be available for Rs 1,17,900 while 512GB and 128 GB storage variants of S10+ will be priced at Rs 91,900 and Rs 73,900, respectively. Priced at Rs 84,900, the 512 GB variant of Galaxy S10 will be available in prism white colour, whereas the 128 GB variant will cost Rs 66,900 in prism black, prism white and prism blue colours. The cheapest of the lot, Galaxy S10e comes with 128 GB storage variant in prism black and prism white colours for Rs 55,900, the company announced. "Customers will be able to pre-book their Galaxy S10 devices until March 5 through Samsung website, Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm, Tata CLiQ and select retail outlets. "All variants of Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e will be available across retail and online stores from March 8. Deliveries for pre-booking customers wil...

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended all Indian applications to host future events for denying two Pakistani athletes visas to compete in New Delhi. IOC has also urged other international sports federations not to stage any competition in India. The Olympic committee also revoked the Olympic qualification status for the men's 25m rapid fire event from the New Delhi World Cup due to denial of visas to the Pakistani shooters in the wake of last week's Pulwama terrorist attack , in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. “This happened in the interest of the other 500 athletes from 61 countries participating in the other events who are already in India for their competition.” India has accused its neighbour of not doing enough to control the militant groups responsible for the Kashmir attacks. Pakistan has denied any involvement. The IOC said the refusal of visas for competitors went against the principles of the Olympic charter relating to discriminat...

Samsung India on Friday opened pre-booking for its newly-launched Galaxy 'S10' series smartphones that will start from Rs 55,900. The 1TB Galaxy S10+ smartphone will be available for Rs 1,17,900 while 512GB and 128 GB storage variants of S10+ will be priced at Rs 91,900 and Rs 73,900, respectively. Priced at Rs 84,900, the 512 GB variant of Galaxy S10 will be available in prism white colour, whereas the 128 GB variant will cost Rs 66,900 in prism black, prism white and prism blue colours. The cheapest of the lot, Galaxy S10e comes with 128 GB storage variant in prism black and prism white colours for Rs 55,900, the company announced. "Customers will be able to pre-book their Galaxy S10 devices until March 5 through Samsung website, Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm, Tata CLiQ and select retail outlets. "All variants of Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e will be available across retail and online stores from March 8. Deliveries for pre-booking customers wi...

India stand to lose by boycotting Pakistan in the upcoming World Cup , feels former captain Sunil Gavaskar, who said the country can continue to "hurt them" by shunning bilateral ties. Led by senior India spinner Harbhajan Singh, calls for a complete cricketing boycott of Pakistan have grown ever since the terror attack in Pulwama last week killed more than 40 CRPF personnel. India are scheduled to play Pakistan on June 16 during the World Cup. "Who wins if India decide against playing Pakistan in the World Cup? And I am not even talking about the semis and the finals. Who wins? Pakistan win because they get two points," Gavaskar told 'India Today'. "India have so far beaten Pakistan every time in a World Cup, so we are actually conceding two points when by beating Pakistan, we could make sure that they don't advance in the competition. "(But) I am with the country, whatever the government decides, I am with it totally. If the cou...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his " propaganda and publicity " till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media. There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the BJP over the allegations. The opposition party also accused BJP president Amit Shah of " politicisation of terrorism " in his speech in Assam following the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama . Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "comp...

The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the joint statement issued after his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the PM "forgot" to write the name of " terror nourisher " Pakistan in the document. The statement, issued hours after the Modi-Crown Prince talks, said the two leaders condemned the Pulwama terror attack in the strongest possible terms and called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. However, it did not name Pakistan in this context. "Modiji on February 18 said 'the time for talks with Pakistan is over, and now action will be taken'," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted. "Modiji on February 20 saying --India and Pakistan will talk as Modiji has been trying for since May 2014," he said, referring to a paragraph in the document that talked about the Indian and the Saudi sides agreeing onthe need for...