Russia Ukraine War Live Updates: Kyiv says Russian drone attack caused ‘fairly serious’ damage

Rupee rises 6 paise to close at 82.69 (provisional) against US dollar

Tytler’s presence at Cong’s Bharat Jodo Yatra meeting shows true face of party: BJP

The BJP on Monday slammed the Congress over the presence of Jagdish Tytler in a party meeting regarding the preparations for the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Tytler, once a formidable leader of the Congress in Delhi, had also served as a Union minister. He stepped down after his name was figured in a report of the Nanavati Commission which probed into the anti-Sikh riots.

Congress demoralising armed forces, Opposition being obstructionist in Parliament: BJP

The BJP Monday accused the opposition, especially the Congress, of having an obstructionist approach and called for not politicising a sensitive issue like national security after several parties walked out of Rajya Sabha when their demand for a debate on alleged Chinese incursion was not allowed by the chairman. Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal said there are several precedents of demands for a discussion or clarification on sensitive issues not allowed in Parliament when the Congress-led UPA was in power between 2004 and 2014.

A portion of a bridge built across Burhi Gandak River in Sahebpur Kamal, Begusarai collapsed & fell into the river y’day after it had developed cracks a few days ago

Airtel launches 5G services in Shimla

Bill to repeal over 60 old laws, rectify error in one introduced in LS

A bill which seeks to repeal over 60 obsolete laws, including one enacted 137 years ago, was introduced in Lok Sabha on Monday. The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2022 also aims to correct a “patent error” in another law by replacing certain words.Piloted by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, the bill is one of the periodical measures by which enactments which have ceased to be in force, or have become obsolete or the retention as separate Act is unnecessary, are repealed.

PM’s vision is that a digitally empowered society must have a comprehensive legal framework. Work on Telecom Bill, Digital Data Protection Bill & Digital India Bill at advanced stage. 2 Bills put up for public consultation & 3rd one will be done soon

– Union IT Minister A Vaishnaw

This year infiltration has been lower than in past years. Our border security grid is working strongly. We will thwart any infiltration attempt

– J&K DGP Dilbag Singh at Kathua

Pakistan is sending drugs to harm youth in India. Police have seized a large quantity of drugs coming from across the border. Illegal smuggling of drugs will be dealt with strictly. A big drug de-addiction centre is being established by J&K Police.

– J&K DGP Dilbag Singh at Kathua

Govt expects Digital Personal Data Protection, Telecommunication bills to get passed in Monsoon session

– Telecom Min Ashwini Vaishnaw

Janata Dal (Secular) released a list of 93 candidates for the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections

Airtel launches 5G services in Shimla

Leading telecom company Bharti Airtel on Monday announced the launch of its 5G services in Shimla. The telco said its Airtel 5G Plus services would be available to customers in a phased manner as the company continues to construct its network and complete the roll-out. Customers with fifth-generation mobile system (5G)-enabled devices will enjoy high-speed Airtel 5G Plus network at no extra cost until the roll-out is more widespread, according to the company statement. Currently operational at Mall Road, Sanjoli, Dhalli, BhattaKufar, Ridge and Sanjoli Helipad area and a few other select locations, the service provider said it would augment its network making its services available across the city in due course of time.

Historic biodiversity agreement reached at UN conference to protect nearly a third of the planet by 2030, reports AP.

Google announces $10 billion for cybersecurity innovations

Today, the joint Opposition staged a walkout from Rajya Sabha as their notice to hold a discussion on the India-China border clash was disallowed.

Four Iran security force members killed in ‘terrorist’ attack: Official

reported by news agency AFP

Google to focus on investing in women-led early-stage startups

Google will focus on investing in women-led early-stage startups through its Rs 75,000 crore India Digitisation Fund, a senior company official said on Monday. The company had launched USD 10 billion — about Rs 75,000 crore as per the prevailing exchange rate at the end of 2020 — to make access to the internet affordable. Through Google IDF, the company bought a 7.73 per cent stake in Jio for USD 4.5 billion and a 1.2 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel for USD 700 million. “Moving forward, as part of our IDF investments, we will be targeting support for early-stage companies with a particular focus on women-led startups,” Sanjay Gupta, Country Manager & VP, Google India said at Google for India event.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on the stage

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are on the stage, at Google from India event.

Android for India

Integration with DigiLocker for govt identity documents using AI to identify and recognise important documents on the Google Files app. It can recognise govt issued documents and neatly arrange them in a folder. Only the user can access these documents and all this data is stored locally on the device. All Android phones will have DigiLocker built into them.

Google Pay: Desirable friction

Google Pay will show more security alerts and warnings now for suspicious transactions. Google Pay also gets transaction search via voice feature. Desirable friction is a feature that will help Google Pay determine if the transaction is genuine or fake. It uses an ML algorithm and flashes a warning in the regional language.

Delhi Commission for Women has issued notice to Delhi Police over the child marriage of a 15-year-old girl in February earlier this year, asks police to submit Action Taken Report in the case by 22nd December.

Customs duty rate structure has been guided by a conscious policy of the Govt to incentivize domestic value addition: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

YouTube India updates

YouTube India contributed 10,000 crores to GDP by creating over 7,50,000 full-time jobs. YouTube has a 2 billion user base and just health-related videos have over 30 billion views. Aloud is a new AI, ML product, which can dub the original content at no additional cost. This is being rolled out for select health-based creators and partners. Viewers will be able to toggle these videos in a different audio track.

India first innovation and feature

Search result pages will be bilingual in India for those who want and the feature is already available in Hindi. This feature will be supported in languages Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Bengali in the coming days. Voice search can now understand people who speak Hinglish better. Using a new neural network model, which takes the person’s accent, context, etc into account.

Google Project Relate

Project Relate is an app that can understand people with non-binary speech. It can listen, repeat, and understand, and the app is available for Hindi users in early 2023.

AI powered Google search engine

Liz Reid, VP of search at Google said that Internet users in India have doubled in the last five years. Multi-search features come to Indian languages starting with Hindi and it supports searching using images and text.

Google Internet users in rural India

10 years ago, 1 out of 10 internet users in rural India was a woman. Now, 4 out of 10 internet users in rural India are women. Google also announces Project Bindi, which helps understand the societal context and technological gaps. As India’s digital journey becomes powered by AI, it’s crucial that we consciously invest in efforts to ensure that real-life societal biases don’t manifest in tech. Introducing Project BINDI: BiasInterventions forNLP andData in theIndian context

Google announces $1 million grant for IIT Madras for India’s first Responsible AI centre

AI for health; ties up with Appllo to provide round the clock care

Google is currently using AI to help 1 lakh mothers in India. Google is also using AI to decipher handwritten prescriptions, which can be a challenge in India and the company is still fine-tuning this solution. Apollo working with google on a project to help us ai to check an x-ray for tuberculosis. Google is also building a clinical intelligence engine using AAI that can be used to diagnose common diseases.

AI to help farmers and agriculture

Google is using remote sensing capabilities to give an overview of agriculture capabilities for India. They have also developed a landscape understanding model, developed in Bengaluru. It is being piloted in Telangana. It can identify fields, and natural and man-made water bodies. The model will be able to detect events for the fields as well such as when the crop was sown.

Google IISC Project Vaani

Google plans to build an AI/ML model in partnership with the Indian Institute of Science. The project called Project Vaani was to collect language samples from 773 districts in India. Project Vaani will ensure the data that is collected and produced under it will be open-source. At Google For India, Prof. Govindan Rangarajan, Director of IISC Bangalore talks about the diversity in languages across India, and how Project Vaani will help create technology that can speak to and sound like India.

Google India digitisation fund 2020 update

Google has invested in women-led companies. The company is also partnering with Airtel and Jio to make the internet more accessible.

8th edition of Google India begins

Google’s 8th edition of its India-specific keynote has begun and the company is showcasing a video on how Google is being used for various purposes in India. According to the company, Google is built to help. Sanjay Gupta, the country head is currently on the stage. India’s tech industry is valued at 230 billion dollars and India has over 700 million internet users.

AI can help in a big way with energy and food security

AI can help with translation at scale. It can bring leaps in online safety. It can help with agriculture and help with flood forecasting. For India, AI can help in a big way with energy and food security, said Sanjay Gupta.

Jury selection to begin in Proud Boys Jan. 6 sedition trial

Jury selection will get underway Monday in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the extremist group accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a desperate bid to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. Tarrio and four of his lieutenants are heading to trial in Washington just weeks after two leaders of another extremist group, the Oath Keepers, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a major victory for the Justice Department’s extensive Jan. 6 prosecution.

The delegation will also interact with Indian Diaspora in Greece to brief about the registration and participation of Overseas Indian Voters: Embassy of India to Greece.

ECI delegation will also have bilateral meetings with Directorate of Elections, Ministry of Interior, Hellenic Republic to discuss bilateral cooperation on Election Management and Integrity: Embassy of India to Greece

Opposition parties walk out of Rajya Sabha after Chair rejects demand for discussion on Chinese incursions on border.

Tokyo shares fall on slowdown fears

Tokyo stocks fell on Monday after renewed fears of a global slowdown drove down Wall Street shares. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.05 percent, or 289.48 points, to 27,237.64, while the broader Topix index lost 0.76 percent, or 14.80 points, to 1,935.41.

Five killed in Toronto shooting: police

Five people were killed and another wounded Sunday in a shooting in the suburbs of the Canadian city of Toronto, police said. The suspect also died after an exchange of fire with law enforcement, local police chief Jim MacSween told reporters, noting that the shooting took place in an apartment building.

UP CM Adityanath asks officials to provide blankets to homeless, ensure proper facilities at night shelters

With temperatures plummeting across Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed officials to make necessary arrangements for the safety and assistance of people, including the homeless and elderly. All district magistrates should purchase the blankets on time and distribute them to the destitute and needy people, the chief minister said during a meeting on Sunday night. The blankets should be of good quality, and uniformity in their price must be ensured, the CM said, according to a statement.

Congress is doing appeasement politics. They keep talking about their role in the freedom struggle and their sacrifices but that Congress & this Congress are not the same, what we have now is duplicate Congress: Union Minister Pralhad Joshi

Governor greets Goa people on state’s Liberation Day

Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai on Monday extended his best wishes to the Goans on the occasion of the Liberation Day of the state from Portuguese rule. In his message, Governor Pillai said: “This day this year is also memorable as Goa completes the milestone of 61 years of liberation. I feel proud to join this historic occasion of celebrating the momentous day of Goa’s liberation. On this landmark day, I extend my warm greetings and best wishes to the people of Goa.” He saluted the supreme sacrifice made by spirited freedom fighters.

For the first time, the Union Home Minister has mediated in the inter-state border dispute (between Maharashtra and Karnataka). There should be no politics on this issue now. We should stand together with the border residents: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde in Legislative Assembly.

France FIFA fans protest after defeat; police forced to use tear gas

French police were forced to use tear gas to disperse crowds of fans who had gathered on the Champs-Elysees in Paris after their national team’s defeat at the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, according to the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti. On Sunday, Argentina defeated France 4-2 on penalties, following a 3-3 draw after extra time, and won the World Cup for the third time.

VD Savarkar’s portrait unveiled in Karnataka Assembly hall

VD Savarkar’s portrait unveiled in Karnataka Assembly hall. Congress MLAs have staged a protest with LoP Siddaramaiah writing to Speaker to install portraits of personalities like Valmiki, Basavanna, Kanaka Dasa, BR Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and many others.

One killed as Taliban militants take hostages in northwest Pakistan

At least one policeman was killed and many others were injured when Pakistani Taliban militants seized a counter-terrorism centre and took some people hostage in the Bannu district of Pakistan’s troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. One of the militants, who had been arrested and being interrogated at Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station inside the cantonment, on Sunday snatched an AK-47 from the police and opened fire. He then freed other suspects being held at the building who took control of the compound. They also took several policemen hostage. The situation is still tense 17 hours after the incident as a military operation is going on.

Over 100 Rohingya refugees rescued in Sri Lankan waters

Sri Lanka’s navy has rescued 104 Rohingya adrift off the Indian Ocean island’s northern coast, an official said on Monday, as members of the Muslim minority continue to escape violence in Myanmar and hardship in Bangladesh refugee camps. Many Rohingya risk their lives every year by attempting to reach Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia on rickety vessels, and their numbers have surged following deteriorating conditions in the camps and last year’s military coup in Myanmar. A boat was first spotted by local fishermen, who informed the navy, which launched a search and rescue operation and eventually towed the vessel to a northern harbour on Sunday night, a Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson, Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya, said.

Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan gives adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the border situation with China.

5 dead and suspect killed in Toronto area condo shooting

Five people were shot and killed in a condominium unit a Toronto suburb and the gunman was killed by police, authorities said late Sunday. Chief James MacSween of York regional police said one of his officers shot and killed the suspect in at a condo in Vaughan, Ontario. MacSween said another person was shot by the suspect and is in hospital and expected to survive.

Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain gives Suspension of Business Notice under Rule 267 in Rajya Sabha to discuss the border situation with China.

CIA chief praises PM Modi, President Xi for raising nuke use concerns in Russia-Ukraine conflict

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping raising concerns about the use of nuclear weapons had an impact on Russia, which has indulged in “nuclear sabre-rattling” over its war with Ukraine, CIA chief William Burns has said. “I think, very dangerous nuclear sabre-rattling that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and others around him have done,” Burns said. He said the sabre-rattling was meant to intimidate. “We don’t see any clear evidence today of plans to use tactical nuclear weapons,” he said.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu tests positive for Covid-19

In India, reality means corruption, dirty roads, pollution, and many times no power. The reality in Singapore means clean roads, no pollution, and lots of power. Your responsibility to create that new reality

– Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy at GMRIT, as cited in GMR release

India reports 135 new coronavirus infections as tally rises to 4,46,76,087, active cases increase marginally to 3,559: Health ministry

Sensex climbs 127.48 points to 61,465.29 in early trade; Nifty advances 37.85 points to 18,306.85

Rupee falls 2 paise to 82.77 against US dollar in early trade.

Thai navy ship sinks, rescue underway for sailors in water

​A Thai navy ship sunk in the Gulf of Thailand and ships and helicopters were working Monday to rescue sailors from the water. As of midmorning, 75 sailors had been rescued and 31 were still in the water, the navy said. Strong winds blew seawater onto the HTMS Sukhothai corvette and knocked out its electrical system Sunday evening. The Royal Thai Navy dispatched three frigates and two helicopters with mobile pumping machines to try to assist the disabled ship by removing the seawater but it couldn’t do so because of the strong winds. The loss of power allowed more seawater to flow into the vessel, causing it to list and sink. It occurred while the warship was on patrol at sea 32 kilometres (20 miles) from the pier at Bangsaphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

YSRCP MP V Vijaysai Reddy gives Zero Hour Notice in Rajya Sabha and demands to establish a centre for Excellence in Research on Drone Technology in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Era of peace started in northeast after 2014. 80% reduction in insurgency violence, 89% reduction in civilian deaths, and 6000 militants surrendered after 2014. 265% reduction in left-wing extremism

– Union Minister Anurag Thakur