India fell at the last-four stage, and cricket will now have a new World Cup winner The ICC World Cup awaits its Sunday climax with England taking on New Zealand in the final at Lord’s. However, closer home, disappointment lingers over India’s exit at the last-four stage. It is a …
Read More »Daily Archives: July 13, 2019
Aftershocks in Goa
By aiding defections, the BJP is shrinking opposition space in an unseemly fashion The near liquidation of the Congress legislature party in Goa, close on the heels of a rebellion of Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) legislators in neighbouring Karnataka, is the latest aftershock of the national election results in …
Read More »Game of chicken that can end in disaster
The confrontation between the U.S. and Iran in West Asia could snowball with damaging economic consequences On July 7, Iran announced that it would begin enriching uranium above a concentration of 3.67% permitted under the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached by Iran and …
Read More »A case of confused thinking
The draft National Education Policy lacks the very abilities it emphasises — critical thinking and deeper understanding The draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 recommends a restructuring of school years and the curriculum, in a wide-ranging manner. If properly implemented, many of the suggested changes may help education. These include …
Read More »Death by digital exclusion?
Many in Jharkhand have been denied food under the public distribution system as their ration cards have been cancelled in the mad rush for putting in place a digital system. While activists claim that some have died from starvation, the government denies this. Shiv Sahay Singh reports on the problems …
Read More »Firm says $32 mn missing in cryptocurrency hack
A Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange said on Friday it had halted all services after losing cryptocurrency worth more than $32 million in the latest hack involving virtual money. Remixpoint said its subsidiary BITPoint Japan discovered overnight that about $32.3 million in various digital currencies had gone missing. The apparent hack was …
Read More »Google to probe leak of private conversations
Google said it was conducting an internal review after it discovered confidential audio had been leaked by a contractor of private conversations with its digital assistant. The U.S. internet giant acknowledged “misconduct” in the leak of the Dutch language conversations by one of its language experts contracted to help refine …
Read More »A call for heritage status for artefacts on moon
Includes 3 rovers, 6 U.S. flags, probes Three rovers, six U.S. flags, dozens of probes that either landed successfully or crashed, tools, cameras and trash: the Moon is dotted with hundreds of objects as a result of space exploration. Some experts are calling to grant them heritage status to protect …
Read More »In a first, AI program beats pros in six-player poker
Artificial intelligence programs have bested humans in checkers, chess, Go and two-player poker, but multi-player poker was always believed to be a bigger ask. Mission: accomplished. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, working with Facebook’s AI initiative, has announced that their program defeated a group of top pros in six-player no-limit …
Read More »‘Robot umpires’ debut in U.S. baseball league
Umpire wears an earpiece connected to iPhone and relays the call upon receiving it from a computer system “Robot umpires” have arrived. The independent Atlantic League became the first American professional baseball league to let a computer call balls and strikes on Wednesday night at its All-Star Game. Plate umpire …
Read More »Ancient harp strums a new tune
Semsemia, which is made of beechwood with steel strings, has Pharaonic roots When Mohamed Ghaly’s workshop was reduced to rubble in February, he could never imagine that a new cultural centre dedicated to an instrument with Pharaonic roots would thrive just months later. The semsemia, similar to a harp and …
Read More »Warming threatens Greenland’s archaeological sites, says study
Changes in soil characteristics affect organic elements, ruins of Viking settlements In Greenland, climate change isn’t just a danger to ecosystems but also a threat to history, as global warming is affecting archeological remains, according to a study. There are more than 1,80,000 archaeological sites across the Arctic, some dating …
Read More »‘Lower fiscal deficit will allow private sector to borrow more’
Finance Secretary Garg acknowledges liquidity concerns Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on Friday defended the government’s decision to bring the fiscal deficit down to 3.3% this year, saying this would free up additional resources for the private sector to borrow and invest. He also acknowledged the industry’s concerns that payments …
Read More »Gangwal wants Centre to intervene in IndiGo mess, says won’t rest till it’s fixed
Bhatia group calls it a misinformation campaign, terms allegations ‘hot air’ Rakesh Gangwal, the co-founder of IndiGo, in a boardroom battle with partner Rahul Bhatia, has vowed to continue to raise the issue of lack of corporate governance at InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. (IGAL), the company that runs India’s biggest airline, …
Read More »CEA for balanced tapping into domestic, foreign savings
Cautions against over-reliance on foreign currency debt Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian on Friday sought to caution against a more-thannecessary reliance on foreign savings as a trigger for accelerating economic growth through more investments. “If we have to invest for triggering a virtuous cycle, we need to tap into savings… …
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