Microsoft's search engine Bing appeared to have been blocked in China with users saying they have not been able to access the site.
There was no confirmation if this was a short-term measures by Chinese censors or a permanent blockade.
Bing and Yahoo are the only major foreign search engines accessible from within China's so-called Great Firewall as most others, including Google, Twitter and Facebook, have already been shut out.
There was some confusion as Greatfire.org, a group that tracks what sites are blocked, said Bing was accessible in some parts of China. Experts said the blockade takes time to cover the entire country. Some agency reports too said that Bing was back online for some users.
Gujarat may offer an additional 50% stake in Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) LNG Ltd to Adani Group, which already holds a 25% stake in the company, after Indian Oil Corp. Ltd decided to opt out of the race.
The Gujarat government, which owns 50% in GSPC LNG, had been looking to induct a third partner for the remaining 25% stake. It may now allow the Adani Group to pick up the 25%, and offload up to 25% of its own stake in the company.
The Gujarat government had set up GSPC LNG as a special purpose vehicle for implementing the project with a proposed capacity to re-gasify 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). The cost of the project was estimated at Rs. 4,500-5,000 crore.
The terminal's capacity can be expanded to 10 mtpa and is designed to have a berth for receiving LNG (liquified natural gas) tankers and storage tank facilities for re-gasification and gas evacuation.
The terminal was inaugurated in September 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Amazon Starts Testing 'Scout' Delivery Robots
Amazon.com Inc. will use robots to deliver packages in the suburbs north of Seattle, its latest experiment to automate the last-mile of delivery that's a labour-intensive and costly component of buying products online.
The e-commerce giant announced a trial of "Amazon Scout", autonomous delivery devices the size of a cooler that roll along sidewalks at a walking pace. It will use six robots, which are designed to navigate around obstacles such as people and pets, to deliver packages in Snohomish County. The robots will be used to make deliveries on Monday through Friday during daylight hours.
Using robots to make deliveries outside on city streets will be much more challenging than most current common uses, such as moving items around in warehouses, hospitals and hotels that are well-lit and have level floors. Outside, robots encounter extreme weather conditions, steep inclines, curbs and other problems that present significant engineering challenges.
Amazon already uses robots to move inventory in its vast network of warehouses and has been working on delivery by autonomous drone for years.
SBI, Etihad in co-branded card deal
SBI's cards arm has partnered Etihad Airways in a bid to acquire customers of the UAE-based carrier. The partnership comes at a time when Etihad is in talks with Jet Airways to play a larger role.
The co-branded card will offer discounts of 8% and 10% on business and economy tickets, as an inaugural offer. After April, the discount on the business class ticket will continue but will reduce to 3% on economy tickets.
Cardholders will also get a free international companion round ticket on annual spends of Rs 8 lakh. The card has two variants — Etihad Guest SBI and Etihad Guest Premier.
A Boeing flying car designed to whisk passengers over congested city streets and dodge skyscrapers completed its first test flight, offering a peek into the future of urban transportation the aerospace giant and others are seeking to shape.
A prototype of its autonomous passenger air vehicle completed a controlled takeoff, hover and landing during the test conducted in Manassas, Virginia.
Propelled by electricity, the model is designed for fully autonomous flight, with a range of 50 miles.
The Chicago-based plane maker and rival Airbus are among a slew of companies racing to stake a claim on flying cars, which has the potential to be the next disruption to sweep the aerospace industry.
Boeing's push was boosted by a 2017 acquisition of Aurora Flight Sciences, whose projects include a new flying taxi it is developing with Uber.
China Clones 'Insomniac' Monkeys
Monkeys cloned from a macaque that was genetically engineered to have a sleep disorder at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.
Researchers found that the five new monkeys — born over the past six months — showed signs of mental problems associated with sleep disorders, including depression, anxiety and behaviour linked to schizophrenia.
The findings could aid research into human psychological illnesses because scientists would be able to create animals with specific disorders
Bezos's Blue Origin Rocket Makes 10th Flight Test
With an eye on launching the first tourists to space by year's end, Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, blasted off the 10th test flight of its New Shepard rocket.
The rocket, carrying no people on board but eight science experiments for Nasa, soared skyward from a launchpad in Texas. A few minutes into the flight, the capsule separated from the booster and reached its peak height of 106km.
The frontier of space is internationally agreed to be 100km above Earth, known as the Karman Line.
Eight minutes after blast off, the rocket booster fired its engines and made a controlled, upright landing back on Earth, marking the fourth flight for this particular rocket, and the 10th flight test for New Shepard overall.
The Committee of Administrators of the Board of Control for Cricket in India lifted the suspension of Hardik Pandya and Lokesh Rahul, which was imposed for their objectionable comments on a television talk show.
The committee lifted the ban on the players pending the appointment of the board's ombudsman, making the duo available for selection to the national team in the interim.
Three years after work began on Metro's Aqua Line that will connect Noida with Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath formally inaugurated the much awaited corridor.
At 29.7 kilometres, this line is the longest Metro corridor in the country to be inaugurated at one go. At 29km, the Hyderabad Metro held the earlier record.
Work on the Aqua Line started in May 2015 and was completed in a record time of three-and-a-half years. It has been constructed at a cost of Rs. 5,503 crore.
India has tested a new indigenous air-launched missile called NGARM, which is designed to destroy a variety of surveillance and radar targets on the ground after being fired from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter.
This new generation anti-radiation missile (NGARM), with a strike range of around 100 km, is the first indigenous air-to ground missile to be developed by DRDO, after the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile, which was developed jointly with Russia.
The missile was tested from a Sukhoi-30MKI on January 18 at the integrated test range in Balasore. The missile, with all systems functioning properly, hit the designated target with a high degree of accuracy. The NGARM can be launched from the Sukhois from different altitudes and velocities.
The DRDO-Navy combine also conducted another test of the advanced Barak long range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) system, jointly developed by DRDO with Israeli Aerospace Industries and Rafael, from destroyer INS Chennai on the high seas.
The supersonic Barak-8 missile system, whose interception range is 70 to 100-km, is in the process of being tested from Indian warships. Once fully operational, the LR-SAM will equip all frontline Indian warships as an all-weather 'defence shield' against incoming enemy fighters, drones, helicopters, missiles and other munitions.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case of criminal conspiracy and fraud against ICICI Bank's former chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Videocon Group head Venugopal Dhoot, 13 months after it started an investigation into alleged irregularities in loans sanctioned to the Videocon Group companies.
Kochhar resigned from the bank last October.
Besides the Kochhars and Dhoot, the FIR names four companies, Nupower Renewables Ltd (NRL), Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL), Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) as accused along with "other unknown private persons" and "unknown public servants".
It was alleged that the accused sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat ICICI Bank.
Ravneet Singh Gill to Succeed Rana at Yes Bank
Yes Bank Ltd named Deutsche Bank India chief Ravneet Singh Gill as the new managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Rana Kapoor at the private sector lender.
The announcement of the new CEO came on a day when the bank reported a 7% drop in net profit in the December quarter.
Gill would take charge as CEO on or before March 1. With Kapoor's term expiring on January 31, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directive, the board will look at an interim structure to manage the bank's affairs.
Clarity is yet to emerge on the future of Yes Bank president Rajat Monga, who was also in the race to succeed Kapoor. The board had recommended his elevation to the executive director's post, which is awaiting approval from RBI.
Monga, who currently oversees the bank's finance function, is expected to handle additional responsibilities once the RBI approval comes through.
The bank's board also announced the appointment of Maheshwar Sahu, a former civil servant, and Anil Jaggia, a former chief information officer of HDFC Bank Ltd, as independent directors for a period of five years.
The board also recommended the elevation of chief risk officer Ashish Aggarwal to the post of executive director, subject to RBI's approval.
IndiGo Appoints Ronojoy Dutta as Chief Executive
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which runs IndiGo, India's largest airline in terms of passengers carried, named industry veteran Ronojoy Dutta as chief executive officer (CEO).
InterGlobe also appointed former Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman M Damodaran as chairman of the company's board.
Dutta's appointment comes about nine months after IndiGo's president and wholetime director Aditya Ghosh, who managed the day-to-day operations at the airline, announced his decision to quit.
Ghosh's resignation was announced by IndiGo in April 2018, following which the airline's co-founder Rahul Bhatia served as the interim CEO. Dutta had been hired as a principal consultant last year.
In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has decided to celebrate January 25 every year as "National Voters' Day". It has been started from January 25, 2011 to mark Commission's foundation day.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a Law Ministry proposal to this effect, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters. In this day rallies in government campus were going on.
First Kashmiri to Receive Highest Peacetime Honour
Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, a surrendered militant who became a soldier, will be posthumously awarded India's highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra, on Republic day for his courage during a fierce encounter in which six terrorists were killed in Kashmir last November.
President Ram Nath Kovind will present the award to Wani's wife, Mahajabeen Wani, at the 70th Republic Day parade. Wani will be the first soldier from Kashmir to be awarded the Ashok Chakra.
South Mumbai will soon get its Second Cluster University
South Mumbai will soon get its second cluster university comprising HR, KC and Bombay Teacher Training Colleges with the Centre approving the proposal of Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board under the Rashtriya Uchhatar Shikshan Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme.
These three colleges will deaffiliate from Mumbai University and form an independent university with separate admission process, curriculum, academic calendar, exam and assessment pattern. The degree certificates given to students from these component colleges will be from the newly formed university.
The cluster is likely to be called HSNC University, but the name will be finalized at a later stage. While HR will be the lead college, KC and BTTC will be the constituent colleges.
The first cluster varsity to get government sanction was Dr Homi Bhabha University in Fort comprising Institute of Science, Elphinstone, Sydenham and Government BEd Colleges.
The ministry of human resources department gave its nod for two cluster universities in Maharashtra. Colleges under the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha group, including Yashwantrao Chavan Institute of Science (to be lead college), three colleges of Chhatrapati Shivaji College and Dhananjay Gadgil College of Commerce from Satara, is the second private cluster.
Booking.com, one of the largest accommodations booking sites, surveyed 21,500 travelers this summer about their dream trips, and 40% reported that they wanted to take or had actually taken a trip based on the results of home DNA tests.
The growing number of travelers who take a heritage trip, as they are called, or at least consider one, based on results from at home DNA tests. They are available through companies and typically entail a saliva sample or cheek swab; the results arrive via email or mail within three to six weeks.
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