MUMBAI, India — Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, who is chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, on June 24, announced the launch of JioPhone Next, a fully-featured smartphone developed in partnership with search engine giant Google. “JioPhone Next is one of the most affordable smartphones globally, which has cutting-edge technology,” he said while addressing the company’s 44th annual general meeting held virtually. His company is India’s most valuable company by market value. “Despite Covid, Jio sustained the track record of its robust performance and became the first operator outside China to cross 400 million subscribers in a single country,” said…
Author: zenger.news
NEW DELHI — Climate change is causing river runoffs and melting of glaciers located in the Himalayan range, and the seasonality of flow in rivers in the region like the Indus, Ganga, and the Brahmaputra will continue to increase till the 2050s, says a new study which suggests a tiered approach to tackle the crisis. The study, “Glacio-hydrology of the Himalaya-Karakoram,” was led by Mohd Farooq Azam, assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, and published in the journal “Science.” The study stated that “total river runoff, glacier melt, and seasonality of flow in these rivers are projected to increase until…
PURI, India — As the eastern Indian state of Odisha prepares for the Devasnana Purnima, a bathing festival of Hindu deities at Jagannath temple in the state’s coastal region of Puri, a youth, Biswajit Nayak, made a miniature statue of the Hindu deity “Gajanana Besha of Lord Jagannath“, using 1,475 ice cream sticks. “It took me 15 days to make this 30-inches tall and 26-inches wide statue,” Nayak said. “On the occasion of Devasnana Purnima, I dedicate this to devotees.” Devasnana Purnima, also known as Snana Yatra or the Bathing Celebration, is dedicated to Lord Jagannath, a Hindu deity. It is claimed…
BEIJING — The infertility rate in China has been increasing at a much faster rate than expected, said a national reproductive health survey led by Qiao Jie, a reproductive doctor, and biologist. This has dealt yet another blow to the nation, finding it harder to get people to have children. As per the report, China saw its infertility rate rise from 12 percent in 2007 to 18 percent in 2020, which means that one out of every 5.6 couples faces difficulties in having children. Earlier this year, Sun Xi, a member of Jiangsu province’s top political advisory body, had estimated that the prevalence…
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — An airstrike that killed more than 30 people in a market in Ethiopia’s war-torn northern province of Tigray on June 23 has met worldwide condemnation. The bombing happened on the 33rd’ martyrs day’ in Tigray—a date marking the Hawzen Massacre that killed more than 1,000 Tigrayan people at a market in Hawzen towards the end of the Ethiopian Civil War. “Those responsible for the bombing of a village market in northern Tigray, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians, must be held accountable,” United States ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfields, said in a tweet. “We call…
BRISBANE, Australia — Indian multinational conglomerate Adani Group’s Australian business re-branded as Bravus said on June 24 that it has struck coal and exposed the first of coal seams at the Carmichael project in the northeastern Australian state Queensland. David Boshoff, Bravus Mining and Resources chief executive, said it was an exciting day for 2,600-plus people on the project, a day that has been in the making for over a decade. “Throughout the last two years of construction and during the many years when we fought to secure our approvals, our people have put their hearts and souls into this project,” he said. “It…
OTTAWA, Ontario — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has lashed out at Beijing after China demanded an investigation into the discovery of the remains of indigenous children in Canada. He said there was a difference between the matter and the communist country’s systemic abuse against ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs. Trudeau said Canada knows its relationship with indigenous people is broken, but it has a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and is working on trying and addressing the issues. On the other hand, China is not even willing to admit that there is a problem over the numerous human rights abuses against Uyghurs. “Where is…
NEW DELHI — India’s Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Santosh Gangwar, said India is making collective efforts to reduce gender gaps in the labor force participation. At a ministerial address on Declaration and Employment Working Group Priorities at G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting on June 23, Gangwar said the country was ensuring education, training, skilling, entrepreneurship development, and equal pay for equal work. As per an official release, the minister said the new Code on Wages, 2019, shall reduce gender-based discrimination in wages, recruitment, and conditions of employment. “Women are entitled to all types of work in all establishments,” said Gangwar. …
NEW DELHI — Underlining the importance of digitization in the post-Covid world, India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that connectivity in general and digital connectivity between India and the European Union is a “fairly fertile area to be explored.” “Going forward, the areas that the two partners [India and the European Union] would be looking at would be technology and artificial intelligence,” he said. “Data security, cybersecurity and privacy, European Union and their conversations with big tech were all issues of interest to India. Connectivity in general and digital connectivity, in particular, is a fairly fertile area to be explored between…
WASHINGTON — Dozens of Tibetan, Hong Kong, and Uyghur activists gathered and protested outside the White House against the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and asked for a complete boycott. On International Olympics Day, representatives of minority groups from China, now living in the United States, became a part of the Global Day of Action against the Beijing Olympics, which involved demonstrations in over 50 other cities around the world, including Washington. The diverse group united together to call on the U.S. government to draw a red line for genocide and boycott Beijing’s 2022 Winter Olympics. “The Biden administration has been talking…