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Apple has opened its first store in Southeast Asia at Singapore’s upmarket shopping district. Apple expects this store to be one of the most of the most popular stores in the world. Most of the earnings for Apple comes from the sales of its flagship iPhone, which of late faces increasingly tough competition in a saturated market. Apple already has almost 500 stores globally with more than a million visitors daily. Apart from Singapore it has shops located in Hong Kong, China and Japan in Asia. Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is California based technology giant that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, online services, and personal computers. It was born out of Steve Jobs’ garage to reshape modern life with trend-setting gadgets. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976 to develop and sell personal computers. Later in 1977, it was incorporated as Apple Computer. I...

Maharashtra’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has inaugurated India’s first multi-modal electric vehicle project at the Nagpur Airport Complex. The pilot project will have a fleet of 200 electric vehicles including taxis, buses, e-rickshaw and autorickshaws. All these electric-powered public transport vehicles will be fully owned by cab aggregator Ola. For the project Mahindra & Mahindra has manufactured 100 e2o electric taxis. Similarly, vehicles have been sourced from other manufacturers like Tata Motors, Kinetic, BYD and TVS, among others. In addition, four electric charging station has also been built by Ola in various places of Nagpur including the Nagpur airport.  Background   As per the NITI Aayog’s recent joint report with Rock Mountain Institute, adoption of electric and shared vehicles could help the country to save $60 billion in fuels while cutting down as much as 1 gigatonne (GT) o...

India along with countries like Argentina, Burkina-Faso, Chad, France, Ivory Coast, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and Yemen has jointly commissioned a study to define and structure a Common Risk Mitigation Mechanism (CRMM) for solar power generation projects in solar rich countries. The commissioning of the study is aimed at dramatic reduction in the cost of finance for renewable energy and the overall price of electricity. The exercise is part of the international efforts aimed at implementing the the Paris Declaration of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) adopted on 30 November 2015. The study has been entrusted to a task force chaired by Terrawatt Initiative (TWI), the World Bank Group, the Currency Exchange Fund (TCX), the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and also the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). Each of the participating countries will also appoint a qualified representative who will cooperate with the task force and provide...

Former Ethiopian Health Minister Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been elected as the new Director-General of the World Health Organisation. This election has earned the distinction of being the first election which saw the participation of all WHO member states in the voting process. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defeated the other two contendors to the post, namely, UK’s Dr David Nabarro and Pakistan’s Dr Sania Nishtar. The head of the organization is the Director-General (DG), appointed by the World Health Assembly. Earlier stincts of Dr Tedros includes the post of Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Minister (2012-2016) and Health Minister (2005-2012). He has also served as chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Also as chair of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board, as well as co-chair of the Board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. During his tenure at the helm of WHO, Dr Tedros will have to tackle challeng...

S cientists at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have developed the device ‘Nasofilters’ which is capable of restricting up to 95% of dust and air pollutants. Involving a cost of Rs 10, it is the cheapest naso filter available. The nano-respiratory filter is now ready for commercialisation. The researchers involved in the project was recently awarded with the “National Startups Award” by President Pranab Mukherjee. The Nasofilter employs an incredible filter technology that gives protection against the finest particulate pollutants especially the PM2.5 concentration. It offers protection for at least eight hours and therefore helps in reducing the risk of respiratory diseases. The device has an assembly of millions of small-sized pores that creates a thin flexible membrane capable of  capturing very small particles with high efficiency. The design of the filter provides good breathability and co...

NASA has named a new bacteria discovered on the filters of the International Space Station, ISS, as Solibacillus kalamii to honour the late president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam .  The genus is Solibacillus and the species name is kalamii. Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has found that the bacteria remained on board the International Space Station for 40 months. The new organism is found only on the ISS and has not been found anywhere on the earth. In 1963, Dr. Kalam had his early training at NASA before setting up India’s first rocket launching facility at Thumba in Kerala. About The A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (A.P.J) Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu. In 1960, he had joined Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a scientist and started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army....

S inger Sonu Nigam today deleted his Twitter account after posting a series of 24 tweets. "We've stopped being Humans. We're nothing beyond Proud Muslims, Hindus, Pakistanis, Indians," read one of his tweets. "A woman can endorse a picture of Gautam Gambhir in the front of the Army Jeep, & Paresh Rawal , Criticized for doing d same," read his another tweet.

Paytm launched the first phase of its payments bank today by offering accounts on an invite-only basis to mostly its north India customers. The first physical branch is in Noida. The e-wallet company plans to invest around Rs 400 crore to build its banking network over the next two years. In its first year, the bank plans to expand to 31 brick-and-mortar branches and add 3,000 customers. By 2020, it plans to add 500 million customers. In its second launch phase, Paytm will launch the bank in other metro cities. The payments bank has already received an investment of Rs 220 crore from its parent company One97 Communications. Now that the Paytm Payments Bank is here, the essential question remains what will happen to your wallet account? Here are all the answers you need. What happens to Paytm balance? Paytm wallet will continue to be a wallet solely even after the bank is launched. Customers can keep a cash balance in it as well as continue to transacting using t...

T he State Bank of India will be conducting SBI PO Mains Exam 2017 on June 4, 2017 for candidates who have successfully cleared the SBI PO Prelims exam. Call letter for the exam will be released on May 22, 2017 and results will be declared on June 19, 2017. State Bank of India who have published the  SBI PO prelims results 2017  at the official website earlier on May 17. The online preliminary examination was held on April 29, 30 and May 6 and 7, 2017. Post which, the shortlisted candidates will have to appear for group discussion and personal interview scheduled July 10, 2017 onwards. The final results will be announced on August 5, 2017. Selected candidates will be recruited to the post of PO/management trainee (MT). Steps to Check SBI PO Prelims Results 2017: 1) Log on to official website www.sbi.co.in; 2) Look for the final result in the footer section of the website; 3) Click on check result; 4) Details will be name, registration number, roll number an...

L ondon is to become the first UK city to replace its air traffic controllers with a remotely operated digital system, the media reported. Instead of sitting in a tower overlooking the runway, controllers will be 80 miles (128 km) away, watching live footage from high-definition cameras, the BBC reported on Thursday. The new system, due to be completed in 2018, will be tested for a year before becoming fully operational in 2019. It has already been tested in Australia, Sweden, Norway and Ireland. The technology has been developed by Saab, a Swedish defence and security company, and will be introduced as part of a 350 million pounds development programme to upgrade London City Airport which will also include an extended terminal building, enabling it to serve two million more passengers a year by 2025. It will provide controllers with a 360-degree view of the airfield via 14 high-definition cameras and two cameras which are able to pan, tilt and zoom, reports the BBC. ...

T he India U-17 football team defeated Italy U-17 2-0 in a friendly match here on Friday. Strikes by Abhijit Sarkar (31st minute) and Rahul Praveen (80th minute) led their team to a massive win over the 'Azzuri' in a match largely dominated by the Indian Colts in terms of possession and chances created. The Indian boys dominated possession for a major part of the game and created more chances. Komal Thatal's 18th minute strike went whiskers past the Italian custodian as India hunted in packs for an early lead. In the 13th minute, Aniket came close to opening the goal-scoring charts for India but his effort went straight down the keeper's throat resulting in an easy save. In the 59th minute, Aniket missed a one on one chance against the Italian goalkeeper after he rounded the opposition custodian but failed to convert. In the 75th minute, Rahul came close to scoring but failed to tap the rebound home from close range after Aniket’s shot was met with a su...

What is GST (Goods and Services Tax) ? GST is a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services throughout India to replace taxes levied by the central and state governments. This method allows GST-registered businesses to claim tax credit to the value of GST they paid on purchase of goods or services as part of their normal commercial activity. Administrative responsibility would generally rest with a single authority to levy tax on goods and services. Exports would be considered as zero-rated supply and imports would be levied the same taxes as domestic goods and services adhering to the destination principle in addition to the Customs Duty which will not be subsumed in the GST. Introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a significant step in the reform of indirect taxation in India. Amalgamating several Central and State taxes into a single tax  would mitigate casc...