February 2020

Malaysia suspected MH370 downed in murder-suicide: Ex- Australian PM Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has claimed “very top” level Malaysian officials believed vanished Flight MH370 was deliberately downed by the captain in a mass murder-suicide. The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 people — mostly from China — en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian- ed search, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January 2017. Source: Hindustan Times

Israeli PM Netanyahu announces plans for 3,000 new settler homes near East Jerusalem Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he was reviving a plan for the construction of 3,000 new settler homes near East Jerusalem, a project effectively frozen after international opposition. Netanyahu’s announcement, during an election campaign in which he has sought to shore up support from pro-settlement voters, was condemned by the Palestinians as another blow to their hopes for an independent state. Source: Hindustan Times

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Gets Staff to ‘Blow-Dry’ His Armpit, Claims New Book A recent book on Facebook CEO has revealed a certain unusual habit about Mark Zuckerberg, which has gone up to create a lot of social media buzz now. “Facebook: the Inside Story,” by Wired’s Steven Levy claimed that Zuckerberg is apparently obsessed with his public appearance hence, he has an assigned staff to ‘blow dry his armpit’ before he appears on the public platform. Source: News18.com

Pakistan’s FATF listing helped reduce cross-border terror, hints Gen Naravane Army Chief General M M Naravane on Thursday said there has been a decline in cross-border terrorism, making an indirect reference to terror financing watchdog FATF’s recommendation that Pakistan should remain in the ‘Grey List’ for its failure to check terror funding. The army chief reiterated that incidents of terror in Jammu and Kashmir too had decreased and the Indian Army was continuing its pressure on various terror groups that it had identified. Source: Hindustan Times

Rahul and Sonia will lose Indian citizenship soon: Swamy Former Union Minister and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has claimed that AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will lose their citizenship soon. “The file is on the Home Minister Amit Shah’s table and soon they will lose their citizenship,” he said while delivering a lecture on “CAA – a historical imperative beyond contemporary politics” at the University of Hyderabad, organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Source: The Hindu

Julian Assange’s Lawyer Says US Govt Planned to Pardon Charges for Clearing Russia’s Name London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to claim during an extradition hearing that the Trump administration offered him a pardon if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 US election campaign, a lawyer for Assange said on Wednesday. Assange is being held at a British prison while fighting extradition to the United States on spying charges. His full court hearing is due to begin next week. Source: News18.com

Michael Bloomberg to sell his company if elected president of US Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg will sell Bloomberg LP, the financial information company that made him a billionaire, if he is elected to the White House in November, his campaign confirmed on Tuesday. Bloomberg has risen quickly in opinion polls since entering the race for the Democratic nomination in November and he will appear in his first debate of the election cycle on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Source: Money Control

‘Can’t save those who want to die’: Yogi Adityanath’s remark on CAA violence sparks row Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath created a controversy on Wednesday in the Uttar Pradesh assembly by saying that not much could be done to save someone who was intent on dying. His comments came in the context of the opposition parties raising the issue of 24 people dying in anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the state in December. Source: Hindustan Times

Oyo CEO Defends Business Practices That Anger Some Hoteliers After downsizing his U.S. business, Oyo CEO Ritesh Agarwal defended the hotel chain’s business model, and gave no hint that he would be seeking to decelerate Oyo’s growth. At the same time, Agarwal, in an interview with members of the editorial and research teams at Skift’s Manhattan headquarters, acknowledged that a key tech feature — dynamic pricing — hasn’t met expectations. He said Oyo is working hard to ensure that it uses more data points when making pricing decisions. Source: Skift

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly reacts to world’s largest cricket stadium in Motera The Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad is well on its way to become the largest cricket stadium in the world as it will host 110,000 spectators, more than doubling its previous capacity of 54,000. The pictures of the venue has already created a lot of buzz among fans and players alike. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly also reacted on the venue which is expected to be inaugurated by US President Donald Trump. “Lovely to see such a massive ,pretty stadium .. Ahmedabad .. have great memories in this ground as a...