NAIROBI, Kenya — When Taii Odero, 37, started working as a gym trainer in Nairobi while pursuing a medical degree at the University of Nairobi between 2004 and 2008, little did he imagine that it would lead to a successful fitness business a few years down the line. “It was a side hustle I enjoyed immensely and with time decided to do it full time,” he told Zenger News. Odero said he pursued medicine out of peer pressure. “I grew up in an environment where people were competing about who pursued the most ‘respected’ profession, and that was how I ended up studying…
Author: zenger.news
NEW DELHI — Imagine returning home from a busy day at work and not having to cook yourself a meal. Well, that is exactly what “NOSH”, your friendly kitchen robot, will do if you treat it well. Yatin Varachhia, 35, co-founder of Euphotic Labs, and his friends Pranav Raval (51), Amit Gupta (31), and Sudeep Gupta (31), who are also a part of the start-up based in the southern Indian city Bengaluru, have developed a one-of-its-kind robot that cooks called “NOSH”. The invention was born out of necessity. “It was a struggle for my wife and me, a Gujarati couple living…
GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) on July 15 called on China to cooperate in the investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, the first cases of which were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. A WHO-led team of scientists that traveled to China in early 2021 spent four weeks in and around the central city of Wuhan with Chinese researchers to get a clear picture of what research China conducted. The scientists, however, faced constraints during its visit and had little power to conduct thorough, impartial research. They said in a joint report in March that the virus…
WASHINGTON — A new study led by the US Geological Survey with few additional targeted tests and non-invasive surveys outlines a means to better estimate Covid-19 occurrence and trends in populations. Currently, Covid-19 testing is primarily limited to self-selected individuals, many of whom are symptomatic or have had contact with someone who is symptomatic. The study has been published in the journal of PLoS Biology. While these tests are useful for individual medical treatment and contact tracing, they do not provide health officials with a complete picture of the disease across the population, as per the study. “Coordinated sampling of Covid-19 is key to informing health officials…
SAMBHAL, India — The government of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has been slammed over a proposed population control bill. All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on July 15 pointed out that the central government in an affidavit in December 2020 had stated that due to the dipping Total Fertility Rate of the country, there cannot be a two-child policy. The political party promotes the social, economic, and educational development and effective representation of Muslims, Dalits, other minorities in India. “In December 2020 affidavit, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had said that due to declining Total Fertility…
VIDISHA, India — At least four people lost their lives, and 19 others were found injured after almost 30 villagers fell into a well in the Ganj Basoda city in the Vidisha region of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on July 15. As per initial reports, people fell into the well trying to rescue a girl. The parapet collapsed due to the weight of those trying to rescue the girl. The well is around 40 feet deep with a water level of about 20 feet. Rescue operation is underway, as per the government. But the girl who first…
WASHINGTON — A bill passed on July 14 by the US Senate has banned all products from Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in northwest China, over the abuse of the rights in that region. The steps were taken by the US to punish China on the grounds of forced labor and the genocide of the Uyghurs and the other minorities in the region. Senator Marco Rubio from Florida introduced the legislation with Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. They said in a statement after the passage of the bill that the message to Beijing “and any international company that profits from forced labor in Xinjiang is…
NEW DELHI — Fugitive Indian diamantaire Mehul Choksi has said Indian agencies “made attempts to kidnap” him despite being available for cooperation with the agencies who are probing a bank fraud case against him. The 62-year-old fugitive is wanted in India in connection with an INR 13,500-crore ($1,810 million) fraud in the Punjab National Bank. Given bail by the Dominica High Court for medical help, Choksi said his medical condition has worsened, and he will be seeking medical help from a neurologist based in Antigua, where he will be traveling back. Choksi said he had been “till now” seriously considering returning to prove…
WASHINGTON — A research study published on July 14 said that a strong relationship between communication and productivity exists. The study was based on the analysis of three years of conversations at a software engineering organization. Arindam Dutta of Arizona State University in the U.S. and his colleagues presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 14. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Arizona State University. “There are surprisingly few empirical studies documenting a relationship between observable interaction and productivity,” the study said. “This is because comprehensive, direct observation of communication in organizational settings is notoriously difficult.” The other authors of…
NEW DELHI — The Indian government was the single largest source of government information requests during the second half of 2020, accounting for 25 percent of the global volume, as per a Twitter Transparency Report released on July 14. The microblogging site said India accounted for 25 percent of the global volume of requests and 15 percent of the global accounts involved during the July-December 2020 period. During this period, Twitter received 38,524 legal demands to remove content specifying 1,31,933 accounts. Of this, Twitter received 3,463 routine information requests and 152 emergency requests from India during July-December. In response to these demands, Twitter withheld…