Apple has acquired Dublin-based startup Voysis, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) platform that enables third parties to integrate high quality voice and natural language capabilities into their products. The Cupertino-based tech giant is expected to use Voysis” technology to improve its virtual assistant Siri and the financial details of the deal has not been disclosed yet, The Irish Times reported late Friday. “At Voysis, we believe voice will soon be the first point of contact between ”man” and machine. We believe that voice driven natural language interfaces will change the way people interact with consumer and enterprise facing applications by…
Author: Our Correspondent
A woman experiencing labour pain was allegedly refused admission into a government hospital by its staff citing her religion in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district. The pregnant woman delivered the infant inside an ambulance, after leaving the hospital, but the child could not survive. Irfan Khan, the husband, said, “My wife was referred from Sikri to the Janana hospital in the district headquarter, however doctors here asked us to go to Jaipur as we are Muslim. While on our way to Jaipur, my wife delivered the child but the baby passed away for which the administration is responsible.” However, Dr Rupendra…
Five women clerics and 15 other Tablighi jammat attendees who are suspected to be infected with the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19) have been held by Ghaziabad police and sent to a quarantine home. Their location was traced late on Saturday with the help of local clerics, and all were found to be staying in mosques and madrasas. “The Sahibabad police station had received information about them. Most of them went to Nizamuddin Markaz Tabligi Jamaat event. A police team was formed to arrest them after receving information,” Kalanidhi Naithani, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ghaziabad, told IANS on Saturday night. Police…
US President Donald Trump has reached out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for hydroxychloroquine, a medicine in short supply that could help with facing the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that he called Modi on Saturday morning and told him: “I’d appreciate if they would release the amounts that we ordered and they are giving it serious consideration.” On March 25, India banned the export of hydroxychloroquine, which is used primarily to treat malaria and lupus. Trump held out hope of the ban being released because “they make large amounts of hydroxychloroquine, very large amounts, frankly.” About India’s ban on its…
On April 2 Air India operated two flights from Mumbai to Frankfurt in Germany; these flights carried relief materials and European national stranded in India after the “total lockdown” announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25. “The flight took off from Mumbai at 1430 hours. We entered Pakistan airspace at 1700 hours. We tried to contact Air Traffic Control but did not get a response. So we changed frequencies and (then) managed to contact ATC,” a senior Air India officer said. The first words from Pakistan ATC surprised the pilots. “As-salamu alaykum (Peace be upon you). This is…
The worst stage of coronavirus pandemic became visible in the US when the Donald Trump government reported that employers cut over 7 lakh jobs in the first two weeks of March — close to the May 2009 financial crisis peak of 800,000 job losses. Most of the job losses were reported from restaurants and bars, followed by retailers. It was the first decline in payrolls since September 2010, CNBC reported. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4 per cent – from 3.5 per cent — the first job decline in a decade, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.…
The two charities, which lobbied against India over Kashmir in the US Congress last year, work closely with Pakistan-based terror groups Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Both Helping Hand for Relief & Development (HHRD) and its sister organisation Islamic Council of North America (ICNA) charities, which ran the disinformation campaign against India after New Delhi revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir state, are self-identified US charities of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) based out of Pakistan. Not only does the JeI, an Islamist organisation founded in 1941 in British India by Maulana Maududi, strive towards the establishment of Islamic rule,…
A Pakistani national and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) chief, Aslam Faruqi, responsible for the recent Kabul terror attack on Sikhs, was arrested by Afghan security forces in a special operation on Saturday. Afghan intel agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) in a release confirmed the arrest. Sources told that Aslam Farooqi’s real name is Abdullah Orakzai and he comes from the Orakzai agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Before Faruqi joined the Islamic State (ISKP), he was an active member of the Tehreek-e-Taliban terror outfit. He replaced Abu Omar Khorasani as ISKP chief a year ago, sources said.…
In the ongoing efforts against COVID-19 pandemic, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been using scientific endeavours to develop products in an accelerated manner. The DRDO laboratories are working with industry partners for volume production. Vehicle Research Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar, a DRDO Laboratory has designed full body disinfection chamber called as PSE. This walk through enclosure is designed for personnel decontamination, one person at a time. This is a portable system equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser. The decontamination is started using a foot pedal at the entry. On entering the chamber, electrically operated pump creates a disinfectant…
A day after announcing one week- long virtual classrooms on DD Bangla for Class 9 to 12 students from April 7, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Saturday said the state has shelved the plan for the time being due to logistical reasons. Chatterjee told reporters in videoconferencing that while the state had fixed the 4-5 pm time slot on certain subjects for class 9 to 12 students in state-run/aided schools, that timing was not mutually acceptable to both teachers and guardians. “Even as the Education department had booked the 4-5 pm time slot on DD Bangla for a…