Author: Palak Sharma

The Quad foreign ministers met on Friday to discuss the comprehensive review of the Indo-Pacific situation. The Quad consists of four countries which include India, Australia, the US, and Japan. The meeting was officiated in New Delhi by Indian foreign affair minister S Jaishankar, and attended by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken; Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yoshimasa Hayashi; and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong. In a joint statement after the meeting, the Quad reaffirmed its commitment to encourage a free and open Indo-Pacific region. The Quad foreign ministers discuss Russia and China The Quad meeting was…

Meta, in a move described as tasteless by several US attorneys, is trying to get rid of claims about illegally sharing user data by trying to bury such claims under another lawsuit settlement. A US state attorney was quoted as saying that Meta’s $725 million settlement of a lawsuit claiming that the company allowed the sharing of user data by not restricting third-party access with a research-based company does not protect it from similar claims brought by a new filing in New Mexico. Meta had resolved a similar user data privacy lawsuit by Facebook users last year, but according to a…

John Kirby, White House National Security spokesman, in a news conference at the White House was reported as saying that there is still not a 100 percent clarity over the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although a popular theory, there is no definitive evidence that the virus was leaked from a lab in China. The origin of the COVID-19 pandemic has already inspired several debates and theories around the world, but a substantial theory hasn’t been established yet. The US government is still trying to find out the origin of the virus. The White House news conference remarks come after…

The news of Air India and Vistara merging was announced in November 2022. In a new announcement, Campbell Wilson, chief executive and managing director of Air India, said that once the merger is completed, Air India will discontinue the Vistara brand. Wilson was reported as saying that even though Vistara has a great brand name in the domestic market, it is not that well recognized on a global scale. On the other hand, the Air India brand name is much more recognized and has a 90 year history. He further added that the future full-service airline will be called Air…

In a bid to dissociate itself from its popular image and encourage company growth, Nokia Corporation announced a brand revamp on Sunday and revealed its redesigned iconic logo. The 5G equipment maker has announced its revamp plan, starting with a new logo, in order to stop people from associating the company with their mobile phones—an industry the company left almost a decade ago. The brand makeover focuses on encouraging growth through new sets of strategic pillars. A persistent dissociation from Nokia mobile phones Nokia is a Finnish multinational IT, telecommunications, and consumer electronics corporation. Though it is famously known for…

Antony Blinken, The US Secretary of State remarks on China and Russia relationships on his Munich Conference The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, told CBS News on Sunday that China is considering providing arms and ammunition to Russia for the Russia-Ukraine war. This statement comes one day after Blinken’s meeting at a security conference in Munich with the Chinese Communist Party’s senior foreign policy official, Wang Yi. In the meeting with Wang Yi, Blinken told the diplomat that the US had information on whether China was considering giving weapon assistance to Russia for the war in Ukraine. The US…

Twitter has announced in its blog post that in a new policy, only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their Two-Factor Authentication. This massive move will be effective from March 20, 2024.  Non-Twitter Blue accounts who use this method have until March 20, 2024, to either subscribe to Twitter Blue and continue using this method or change how they secure their account. After that, non-Twitter Blue users will have the option of using an authentication app or security key for Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). What is Two-Factor Authentication? Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is a primary tool offered…

Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and Instagram, and Twitter face stricter EU online content rules due to exceeding the threshold for monthly users published by companies on Thursday. The Digital Service Act (DSA) rules categorize companies with more than 45 million monthly users as very large online platforms. These major companies are subject to obligations such as risk management and external and independent auditing. They are also instructed to share data with authorities and researchers and adopt a code of conduct. Through the Digital Service Act (DSA) rule, the EU hopes that online platforms will be forced to…

One person was killed and three were wounded in a shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday evening. The police spokesperson, Robert Gomez, informed the media that one suspect was taken into custody and that the police were looking for another possible suspect. The motive behind the mass shooting remains undetermined. The mall at which the shooting took place is in the near vicinity of a Walmart store where 23 people were killed in a racially induced shooting back in Aug 2019. 1 dead and 3 wounded in the shooting in El Paso, the same place…

The Indian Stock indices opened in the red on Wednesday morning. Sensex and Nifty50 suffered a decline with both dropping 0.4 percent in early deals. The Sensex and Nifty50 both slipped to hit 60,796.5 and 17865.4 points respectively. The decline in the stock market was reproduced across the major global markets after a worse-than-expected reading of the US inflation. The US reported its CPI number at 6.4% for the month of January which was higher than the expected 6.2%. Even though the US is on track to reduce its inflation rate, the process is slow and the federal funds rate…