Heena Sharma Blog

  The verdict by a special court in the Babri Masjid demolition case comes 28 years after kar sevaks razed the 16th century mosque and almost a year after the Supreme Court settled the land case in favour of a Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site. A timeline: - 1528: Babri Masjid built by Mir Baqi, commander of Mughal emperor Babur. - 1885: Mahant Raghubir Das files plea in Faizabad district court seeking permission to build a canopy outside the disputed structure. Court rejects the plea. - 1949: Idols of Ram Lalla placed under central dome outside the disputed structure. - 1950: Gopal Simla Visharad files suit in Faizabad district court for right to worship the idols of Ram Lalla. - Paramahansa Ramachandra Das files suit for continuation of worship and keeping the idols. - 1959: Nirmohi Akhara files suit seeking possession of the site. Read More  

  The Maharashtra government is seriously considering resumption of normal local train services in Mumbai by October 15, Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' on Wednesday said quoting state minister Aaditya Thackeray . According to the Sena publication, Thackeray who is the environment and tourism minister, said the issue of resumption of suburban train services for common citizens is being considered as part of efforts to bring the state's economy back on track. In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, the local trains are currently being run only for essential services staff, state and central government staff, employees of nationalised and private banks, PSUs and pharma companies, and QR code-based identity cards are mandatory for them. Read More  

  The NCW on Wednesday condemned the manner in which the Hathras gang-rape victim was cremated, saying it will seek explanation from the UP Police on it. The 19-year-old Dalit woman, who died in a Delhi hospital a fortnight after she was gang-raped in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, was crematedin the early hours of Wednesday, with her family alleging the local police forced them to conduct the last rites in the dead of the night. Local police officers, however, told PTI that the cremation was carried out "as per the wishes of the family". NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said the commission condemns that the gang-rape victim was cremated without family's involvement. "In UP Gang-Rape Tragedy, 2.30 am Cremation By Cops, Family was Kept Out. @NCWIndia condemn it strongly. Why the family wasn't allowed in Cremation? Why at night?@Uppolice @hathraspolice," Sharma tweeted. Read More

  Google is hosting an event tonight where the American technology giant is likely to launch Pixel smartphones , Chromecast dongle, and a Nest smart speaker. Named 'Launch Night In’, the event will start at 11:30 pm (IST) and it will livestream on YouTube and an event’s homepage here. Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 Google announced the Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 in August at the launch of Pixel 4a. The company, however, leave the specifications and features information of the two smartphones undisclosed for the launch event, which is likely to be the tonight’s event. The Pixel 4a 5G is expected to be similar to the Pixel 4a but with 5G network support. If similar to the Pixel 4a, the 5G model will sport a 5.81-inch OLED screen of fullHD+ resolution. The display will supports HDR and Always-on feature. The phone would feature advanced Google Assistant, which will let you send text messages and allow controlling apps through voice commands. It will also get Google Recorder app, which su

  Google has announced to continue providing unlimited calls (up to 24 hours) in the free version of its video conferencing app called Google Meet through March 31, 2021 for Gmail accounts. Google in April announced that anyone with a Google account was allowed to create free meetings with up to 100 people with no time limit till September 30 in the pandemic times. Google is now extending that policy and free Meet users can host longer calls through March 2021. "As we look ahead to a holiday season with less travel and important milestones like family reunions, PTA meetings and weddings hosted over video, we want to continue helping those who rely on Meet to stay in touch over the coming months," Samir Pradhan, Group Product Manager, Google Meet, said in a statement on Tuesday. Google this month introduced a new feature in its Meet app where the users can now see up to 49 people at the same time (including themselves) in the auto and tiled layout options. Read More

  As the world awaits Apple to announce the launch date for its much-awaited and slightly-delayed iPhone 12 , new reports have emerged that claim the first shipment of final units is going out to distributors on October 5. According to Apple insider and tech analyst Jon Prosser, the shipment includes "iPhone 12 mini 5.4 (definitely the final marketing name) in 64GB/128GB/256GB and iPhone 12 6.1 (64GB/128GB/256GB)." "Event on October 13, as I mentioned before," he said in a tweet late on Tuesday. He claimed that the first iPhones to hit the stores are going to be the iPhone mini, which is the 5.4-inch version and the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Max. Apple is expected to launch four new devices under the iPhone 12 series. All four models are expected to feature OLED displays and 5G support, as another analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed previously. Read More

  A further collaboration among the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, Gavi and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will accelerate the manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines for India and low-and middle income countries. This brings the total number of vaccine doses to be covered by the partnership between SII, Gavi, and the Gates Foundation to an aggregate of up to 200 million doses, following the initial agreement for up to 100 million doses announced in August. The arrangement again provides an option to secure additional doses if the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator sees a need for it. The collaboration will provide upfront capital to SII to help it increase manufacturing capacity now so that, once a vaccine, or vaccines, gains regulatory approval and WHO Prequalification, doses can be distributed at scale to LMICs as part of the Gavi CO

  Actor Sonu Sood who is often dubbed as the " messiah of migrants " for his philanthropic work during coronavirus induced lockdown, has been conferred with the prestigious SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The 'Dabangg' actor has received the award for selflessly extending a helping hand and sending lakhs of migrants, stranded students across geographies abroad, back to their homes. Besides that, he has also been providing free education and medical facilities to young children and has been creating free employment opportunities to the needy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The award was presented to the actor at a virtual ceremony on Monday evening. Expressing his happiness over the honour, the actor said he fully supports the UNDP in its endevaours. Read More  

  Microsoft is about to release a new update to the Xbox App on iOS which will let the users stream and play Xbox One games on the iPhone. According to Mashable, this obviously isn't the same as cloud gaming and is something that's only probably useful to owners of Xbox One consoles. The new feature which includes remote play will let the user stream Xbox games directly from his/her own console over WiFi or mobile internet. To make use of this, users will have to log in to their Xbox accounts and make sure the console's got access to power. While making use of remote play, the console won't start with a sound or show that it's powered on with the light at the front. The new iOS update isn't available for all users yet though as Microsoft is only testing it with TestFlight members. But since the Android-counterpart of the application has been rolled out already, the application should soon be publicly available on iOS too. Read More

  Twitter Inc appointed Rinki Sethi, a former information security executive at IBM, as its chief information security officer, the social media company said in a tweet Sethi had previously worked as the vice president of information security at cyber-security firm Palo Alto Networks Inc, according to her LinkedIn profile. Reuters reported in July that Twitter, which had been without a security chief since December, stepped up its search in the weeks before the breach of high-profile accounts on its platform. Earlier in July, the company had reported a breach where hackers accessed its internal systems to hijack some of the platform's top voices including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and reality TV star Kim Kardashian and used them to solicit digital currency. Read More

  Computer systems across a major hospital chain with facilities across the nation were down on Monday due to what the company termed an unspecified technology security issue". Doctors and nurses had to rely on paper. Universal Health Services Inc, which operates more than 250 hospitals and other clinical facilities in the US, said in a short statement posted to its website on Monday that its network was offline and doctors and nurses were resorting to back-up processes including paper records. The Fortune 500 company, with 90,000 employees, said patient care continues to be delivered safely and effectively and no patient or employee data appeared to have been accessed, copied or misused". The company also has hospitals in the United Kingdom, but its operations in that country were not affected, a spokeswoman said on Monday night. Read More

  Xiaomi on Tuesday launched in India six of its internet of things (IoT) ecosystem products at the Smarter Living 2021 event. The Chinese electronics expanded its product portfolio in to the smart speakers and smartwatch category with the launch of Mi Watch Revolve and Mi Smart Speaker. Besides, the company launched Mi Band 5 health and fitness band, Mi Automatic Soap Dispenser, Mi Smart LED Bulb (White) and Mi Athleisure Shoes. Mi Watch Revolve: Features and pricing The Mi Watch Revolve is Xiaomi’s first smartwatch in the country. It has a stainless-steel body featuring a 46mm dial. The Watch Revolve supports more than 110 watch faces. It comes in midnight black and chrome silver colours with an option to choose from five different options of straps. The Mi Watch Revolve sports an AMOLED screen of 450 nits brightness. The screen features ‘Smart Always-on Display’, which shows time without any click and goes off automatically when it detects you are not wearing the watch.   The

  NEET Answer Key 2020: National Testing Agency, which conducted National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET, has released NEET 2020 Answer Key. Candidates can challenge the NEET answer key 2020 on website- ntaneet.nic.in. The last date to raise objections is September 29 (2PM). The candidates will be required to pay online a sum of Rs 1,000 as processing fee for each question challenged in NEET answer key. “The NEET (UG) - 2020 has been conducted throughout the country on 13 September 2020. National Testing Agency is now providing the facility to challenge the NEET answer key uploaded on the website. The procedure for the challenge of answer key may be used. This facility is available from 27.09.2020 (2.00 PM) to 29.09.2020 (2.00 PM). The candidates are required to pay online a sum of Rs. 1000/- (one thousand only) as processing fee for each question challenged,” reads the official statement. Read More

  As many as 76,768 police personnel all over the country including paramilitary forces such as CRPF, CISF, BSF and NSG tested positive for COVID-19 while 401 succumbed to the killer virus, according to a report by the Bureau of Police Research and Development. The report (compiledtill August 21) titled "Indian Police Response to COVID-19 Crisis" said, Maharashtra topped the chart with 129 deaths due to COVID-19 and 12,760 positive cases among the police personnel. Telangana was in second place with 40 deaths due to the virus. Out of the over 75,000 positive cases, paramilitary forces accounted for 15,318 infections with Central Reserve Police Force leading the table with 5,467 cases and 24 deaths in the category. Digital tools were used by Telangana police to combat the spread of the coronavirus and maintain the public order and safety, it said adding the city police extensively used multimedia platforms to curb misinformation, fake news and rumours, the report whic

  Aurangabad has added 214 new COVID-19 cases , taking the tally in the Maharashtra district to 32,993, an official said on Monday. The district also reported seven more deaths due to COVID-19 on Sunday, raising the toll to 916, he said. As of now, there are 5,961 COVID-19 cases in the district, while 26,116 patients have recovered from the viral infection, the official said. Read More

  Realme Narzo 20’s first sale starts on Monday at 12 noon at Flipkart and Realme online store. Launched on September 21, the Narzo 20 is a successor to the Narzo 10 (review). It features a HD+ resolution screen, quad rear camera, MediaTek’s gaming-centric processor, and big capacity battery with fast charge support. As for the specifications, the Narzo 20 sports a 6.5-inch LCD screen of HD+ resolution. It is powered by MediaTek Helio G85 system-on-chip, paired with 4GB RAM and up to 128GB onboard storage. The dualSIM phone has a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion. It has a triple-camera set-up on the back, featuring a 48MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP macro sensor. On the front, the phone has an 8MP sensor for selfies, videos and phone unlock mechanism. Read More

  WhatsApp is one of the most commonly used instant messaging service, with a global user base of more than two billion. This Facebook-owned platform has around 400 million users in India, and that makes the country one of its biggest markets. Once a basic messaging platform, WhatsApp now supports video calling, file sharing, voice messages, etc, and boasts end-to-end encryption for privacy. One of WhatsApp’s key features is end-to-end encryption, which means the messages sent using WhatsApp are visible only to the sender and receiver of the message. On paper, WhatsApp seems to be a secure instant messaging platform with privacy at its core. However, the recent incidents where chat details of several Bollywood personalities have allegedly been leaked have brought back questions around WhatsApp’s privacy and security. Read More

  Flipkart Wholesale, the digital B2B marketplace of the e-commerce firm, is launching its first festive season sale since starting operations in August The three-day sale ‘Big Festival Month’ will start from Tuesday, and will feature products in the fashion categories across more than 50 brands, over 100 sellers, and 100,000 members. “The upcoming festive season is a great opportunity for retailers and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) to boost sales and profitability,” said Adarsh Menon, senior vice president and head, Flipkart Wholesale and Walmart India. “We see this as an opportunity for the whole retail ecosystem to come together, lift consumer sentiment, and drive business growth for local MSMEs across the country.” Read More

  The world will officially record 1 million deaths from Covid-19 in the next few days, but the real tally might be almost twice that. Actual fatalities from the pandemic may be closer to 1.8 million -- a toll that could grow to as high as 3 million by the end of the year, according to Alan Lopez, a laureate professor and director of the University of Melbourne’s global burden of disease group. The coronavirus’s rapid spread and ability to transmit in people who show no signs of the disease have enabled it to outrun measures to accurately quantify cases through widespread diagnostic testing. Total Confirmed Cases: 32,230,923 Change Over Yesterday: 451,088 Total Deaths: 982,969 Total Recovered: 22,234,764 Nations hit with most cases: US (6,978,417), India (5,815,374), Brazil (4,657,702), Russia (1,123,976) and Colombia (790,823). Read More

  Three consecutive blasts led to a massive fire at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC’s) Hazira gas plant in Gujarat on Thursday morning. Unless operations are restarted soon, this is likely to impact the overall natural gas production in the country as Hazira contributes around 45 per cent to ONGC’s gas production. According to industry sources, the fire, which was caused by a pipeline rupture, disrupted supply to key sectors such as power and fertiliser. The company said it was investigating the cause of the fire. “Of the 45 million metric standard cubic meter per day (MMS­CMD) of gas coming from the western offshore region, around 32 M­M­SCMD is processed at Hazira. The plant is temporarily shut for safety reasons,” said a company officia l. Read More

  For months, complaints from tech companies against Apple’s and Google’s power have grown louder. Spotify, the music streaming app, criticised Apple for the rules it imposed in the App Store . A founder of the software company Basecamp attacked Apple’s “highway robbery rates” on apps. And last month, Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite, sued Apple and Google, claiming they violated antitrust rules. Now these app makers are uniting in an unusual show of opposition against Apple and Google and the power they have over their app stores. On Thursday, the smaller companies said they had formed the Coalition for App Fairness, a nonprofit group that plans to push for changes in the app stores and “protect the app economy”. The 13 initial members include Spotify, Basecamp, Epic and Match Group, which has apps like Tinder and Hinge. “They’ve collectively decided, ‘We’re not alone in this, and maybe what we should do is advocate on behalf of everybody,’” said Sarah Maxwell, a spo

  Veteran singer S P Balasubrahmanyam died in a Chennai hospital on Friday after battling Covid-19 for a month. He was 74. Balasubrahmanyam was admitted to MGM Healthcare for Covid-19 symptoms on August 5. His condition deteriorated eight days later and was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and he was on life support and his condition remained critical.   SPB, as his fans called him, was born into an orthodox Telugu Brahmin family in Andhra Pradesh. He was the second son in a family of three sons and five daughters. His father, S. P. Sambamurthy, was a well-known exponent of traditional art Harikatha and his sister S.P. Sailaja is a former actress-singer in Tollywood. He is survived by daughter Pallavi and son S P B. Charan. Turning point for his career as singer was in 1964, when he won the first prize in a competition organised by Chennai-based Telugu Cultural Organisation. He was picked up by Music director SP Kodandapani who introduced SPB in film music in 1966, with

  Arecord14,92,409tests have been conducted for detection of COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours, taking thetotal tests done so far in the country to nearly 7 crore, whilethe national cumulative positivity rate stands at 8.44 per cent,the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. The Tests Per Million (TPM) stand at 49,948 as of today, it said. This exponential surge in the daily testing capacities strongly demonstrates the determined escalation of the testing infrastructure in the country, the ministry said. "Evidence has revealed that higher numbers of testing subsequently leads to lowered positivity rate. States that are testing the highest numbers are also reporting a gradual decline in the positivity rate," the ministry said. Read More

  US technology firm Amazon on Thursday announced a new version of artificial intelligence based Echo speakers in the price range of Rs 4,499 to Rs 9,999 a unit. The company at a global virtual event claimed to have reduced voice response of Alexa devices by hundreds of milliseconds using new electronic chips. "Our team really worked very hard to shave off 100s of milliseconds from Alexa response time. They invented a new AZ1 neural edge processor. It is a new silicon module that has been purpose built to run machine learning algorithms on the edge," Amazon Devices head for India Parag Gupta said. "We also built new neural speech recognition models that run on Az1. Together they make speech responses faster on Echo Dot," he said. The company started pre-booking Echo Dot priced at Rs 4,499, Echo DoT with clock for Rs 5,499 and Echo with 9,999 which will be shipped to customers later this year. Read More

  Nearly 74 per cent of the new COVID-19 recoveries are from 10 states and UT, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, UP, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.= Daily new recoveries in India have surpassed the new cases of coronavirus infection for the the last six days and the country's totalCOVID-19 recoveries have surged to46.7 lakhexceeding active cases bymore than 37 lakh. A total 87,374 people have recuperated in a span of 24 hours in the country, while the number of new confirmed cases reported is86,508, according to the data updated at 8 am. With its focussed strategies and effective people-centric measures, India is reporting exponential increase in recoveries, the ministry said. Read More

  Instagram Reels is getting new features, including extended recording time limit of up to 30 seconds, ability to extend the timer to 10 seconds while recording, and an option to trim and delete clip from the timeline. Launched in India in July this year, Reels is a short-video service from Instagram that lets user create and share short-videos with their followers on their Instagram Feed. How to create Instagram Reels Tap on Reels icon available at the bottom of the Instagram app to get into camera recording and editing mode. There is a variety of creative editing tools available to process the recorded video before publishing. Here are some of the features and tools available: Audio: Search for a song from the Instagram music library for your reel. You can also use your own original audio by simply recording a reel with it. AR Effects: Select one of the many effects in our AR library, created by both Instagram, and creators all over the world, to record multiple clips wit