Habibganj to be Indian Railways’ 1st world-class station! Here are 10 facts about this ambitious project

Habibganj railway station to be India's first world-class station! The redevelopment work of Indian Railways stations across the country is going on and the first railway station that will be ready soon is the Habibganj railway station in Madhya Pradesh.

stations across the country is going on and the first railway station that will be ready soon is the Habibganj railway station in Madhya Pradesh. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal recently reviewed the progress of work at the Habibganj railway station. After checking on the status of work, Goyal expressed satisfaction. The idea of redevelopment of stations is to develop the concourse areas into airport-like swanky retail spaces where passengers can spend quality time while waiting for their train. Here are 10 interesting things to know about the redevelopment of Habibganj railway station into a world-class railway station:

1) The Habibganj railway station is India’s first to be reconstructed on the lines of Germany’s Heidelberg railway station.

2) Once the reconstruction work is complete, the railway station will have a glass dome-like structure that will serve as the entrance to the station.

3) After the redevelopment, the railway station will become a “green building” with LED lighting and also, waste water will be treated for reuse.

4) The new station is being provided with cafeterias and food plaza. Also, a plush waiting lounge is being developed for passengers.

5) Other than ‘holding areas’ for passengers at every platform, the national transporter is also making an exit underpass for passengers de-boarding trains. This is being done in order to decongest the platforms.

6) The station is being redeveloped by Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) along with a private firm, the Bansal Group.

7) Interestingly, it will become the first railway station in the country to be redeveloped under the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model.

8) Outside the station, commercial establishments, a bus terminal, office lobbies as well as service apartments will be there on the western side.

9) On the other hand, the eastern side, outside the station, will have hotels, hospitals, spas and a convention centre.

10) For the overall revamp of the Habibganj railway station, Rs 450 crore is being spent, out of which the cost of station redevelopment is around Rs 100 crore and the cost of commercial development is around Rs 350 crore.

Plane Ditches Into Lagoon, Passengers Swim For Their Lives

The Air Niugini Boeing 737 was attempting to land at Weno airport in Micronesia but ended up half submerged in Chuuk lagoon after the accident on Friday morning.

• Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was attempting to land at Weno airport
• Within minutes, locals scrambled a flotilla of small boats
• Airline said plane "landed short of the runway"

Wellington, New Zealand : 

Passengers were forced to swim for their lives Friday when an airliner ditched into a lagoon after missing the runway on a remote Pacific island and began sinking.
The Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was attempting to land at Weno airport in Micronesia but ended up half submerged in Chuuk lagoon after the accident on Friday morning.

Within minutes, locals scrambled a flotilla of small boats to pluck the 35 passengers and 12 crew from the water.

The airline said the plane, which was involved in a collision with another aircraft earlier this year, had "landed short of the runway".

Remarkably, it reported no serious injuries among those on the plane, which was making a scheduled stop on its way from the Micronesian capital Pohnpei to Port Moresby.

"Air Niugini can confirm that all on board were able to safely evacuate the aircraft," the firm said in a brief statement.

"The airline is making all efforts to ensure the safety and immediate needs of our passengers and crew."

The airline did not detail what caused the accident, which occurred at about 9:30am (2330 GMT Thursday).

But it said it had been informed that "the weather was very poor with heavy rain and reduced visibility at the time of incident".

Passenger Bill Jaynes, editor of the Pohnpei-based Kaselehlie Press newspaper said he did not even realise there had been an accident until he saw water gushing into the fuselage.

"It was surreal," he told Bible Baptist Radio Chuuk shortly after being discharged from hospital with a gash on his forehead.

"I thought we landed hard until I looked over and saw a hole in the side of the plane and water coming in. I thought 'this is not the way it's supposed to happen'."

Jaynes praised the response of the locals.

"They immediately starting coming out in boats. They were awesome and I was really impressed," he said.

Previous accident

A witness told the media the plane approached the airport "very low" before hitting the water.

The runway, like others in the north Pacific, is relatively short at 1,831 metres (6,006 feet).

It is surrounded on three sides by water. The Chuuk lagoon was a famous World War II battle site and dozens of Japanese vessels and planes are on the lagoon floor, now a tourist attraction for scuba divers.

It is not the first time a plane has overshot the runway in Micronesia.

In 2008, an Asia Pacific Airlines cargo Boeing 727 overran and ended up with its nose landing gear in the lagoon at the end of the Pohnpei airport runway.

Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission (AIC) said it was preparing to send investigators to Weno.

"We're trying to arrange a team to go there but I cannot give you any more information because I simply don't have it," a spokesman told AFP.

Air Niugini is Papua New Guinea's national airline and lists only one 737-800 among its fleet of 21 aircraft on its official website.

According to registration details supplied by the airline, the plane was built in 2005 and had previously been owned by Air India Express and Mumbai-based Jet Airways.

The AIC website details an incident involving the aircraft in May this year when a Hercules operated by a freight company clipped the 737's wing while taxiing, causing "significant damage".

The website said the accident is still under investigation.

Pakistan vs Australia: Amir dropped from 17-member PAK squad for Test series

Pakistan on Thursday left out struggling pace spearhead Mohammad Amir from the 17-member squad for the two-match Test series against Australia starting in United Arab Emirates next month.

The 26-year-old fast bowler, who returned from a five-year ban for match-fixing in January 2016, had a wicket-less Asia Cup in which he was dropped for two matches.

Pakistan crashed out of the Asia Cup after losing to Bangladesh, who meet India in the final in Dubai on Friday.

Pakistan will heavily rely on its ace leg-spinner Yasir Shah who played a key role in the 2-0 win over Australia in UAE in 2014, when he took 12 wickets. Besides Yasir the squad has 19-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Khan and 33-year-old off-spinner Bilal Asif, who has yet to play a Test match but played three one-day internationals in 2015.

Shadab has eight wickets in four Tests.

Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said the team was selected keeping in mind the conditions in the UAE, where Pakistan had been forced to play its home matches since 2009.

“The team has been selected keeping in mind the conditions of the UAE. Amir has been dropped on lack of form and Wahab Riaz and Mir Hamza comes in the side.

“We have three spinners Yasir, Shadab and Asif who are in the squad keeping in view the UAE wickets,” said Inzamam.

The first Test starts in Dubai from October 7 while the second is in Abu Dhabi from October 16.

Both teams will also play three Twenty20 internationals, the squads for which will be announced later.

Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Shadab Khan, Bilal Asif, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan.

Google Pixel 3 promo materials leak, showing

It's almost like the upcoming Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are competing with each other now, for the dubious title of 'most leaked smartphone in recent years'. The 3 XL had a huge lead in that department a few weeks ago, but its smaller sibling is slowly starting to pick up the pace - and maybe it still has a chance of catching up.

Today a trove of marketing materials regarding the Pixel 3 has been outed. Alongside the assortment of images above and below this paragraph, we even get a leaked video explainer about how to use some of the phone's most important features.

Google Pixel 3 marketing images

The video seems to be pulled from a Pixel Tips app that should come preinstalled on the third generation models. You'll see it as a category in the Settings menu on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL.

Not a lot is new here, since the OS' new looks have debuted on previous-gen Pixels with the Android Pie update, and most of the functions depicted are baked in there too. The one exception is the new, revamped camera app.

You'll swipe to the right (or left) to switch modes, while a "More" tab holds even more modes and settings. The swiping gesture for this action is becoming more and more of a staple in camera apps by most manufacturers, and Google is the latest to jump on this train.

The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will become official on October 9 at simultaneous events in New York City, London, and Paris.

Source | Via

Biggest Bird Confusion Over. It's Vorombe Titan Of Madagascar, Says Study

Elephant bird from Madagascar Vorombe titan would have stood at least three metres (10 feet) tall, and had an average weight of 650 kilograms, making it the largest bird genus yet uncovered.

Updated : September 27, 2018 13:04 IST

Vorombe titan in Malagasy means "big bird". (AFP PHOTO / ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON / JAIME CHIRINOS)

Paris: 

After more than a century of conflicting evidence, Anglo-French animosity and a HG Wells novella involving murder most fowl, scientists said Wednesday they have finally solved the riddle of the world's largest bird.

For 60 million years the colossal, flightless elephant bird -- Aepyornis maximus -- stalked the savannah and rainforests of Madagascar until it was hunted to extinction around 1,000 years ago.

In the 19th century, a new breed of buccaneering European zoologist obsessed over the creature, pillaging skeletons and fossilized eggs to prove they had discovered the biggest bird on Earth

But a study released Wednesday by British scientists suggests that one species of elephant bird was even larger than previously thought, with a specimen weighing an estimated 860 kilograms (1,895 pounds) -- about the same as a fully grown giraffe.

"They would have towered over people," James Hansford, lead author at the Zoological Society of London, told AFP. "They definitely couldn't fly as they couldn't have supported anywhere near their weight."

In the study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Hanson examined elephant bird bones found around the world, feeding their dimensions into a machine-learned algorithm to create a spread of expected animal sizes.

Until now, the largest-ever elephant bird was described in 1894 by the British scientist CW Andrews as Aepyornis titan -- a larger species of Aepyornis maximus

And there were some that led up to that too, so it's not an outlier -- there was a range of masses that are extraordinarily large."

- Extinct, but not forgotten -

A close cousin of the now-extinct moa in New Zealand, the elephant bird belonged to the same family of flightless animals that today includes the kiwi, emu and ostrich.

Its petrified eggs still fetch large sums at auction, and it stars in Wells' 1895 work "Aepyornis Island" alongside a pugnacious mercenary named Butcher who improbably ends up living with -- and eventually killing -- one of the creatures.

Despite having one of the longest existences of any animal in Madagascar -- whose isolation from the rest of Africa led to the development of several entirely unique species -- the elephant bird died out after a new wave of human settlers arrived around a millenia ago.

"You start to see large amounts of agricultural settlements and habitat change with burning of forests... that seems to have driven all the megafauna in Madagascar, including the elephant bird, to extinction," said Hanson.

Far from being an ancient curiosity, Hanson believes the elephant bird could hold vital clues in how to manage Madagascar's future ecosystem, despite being extinct for 1,000 years.

Elephant birds "probably played the most significant roles in maintaining and developing the landscapes that were natural to Madagascar before humans got there," he said.

"We need to understand the role of these animals within these landscapes in order to start regenerating and conserving what we have left."

The Realme 2 Pro smartphone is priced in India

The Realme 2 Pro smartphone is priced in India at Rs. 13,990 for the 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage model, Rs.15,990 for the 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage variant, and Rs. 17,990 for the 8GB RAM/ 128GB storage option. It will go on sale exclusively on Flipkart on October 11 from 12am IST, and will be available in Black Sea, Blue Ocean, and Ice Lake colour options. Launch offers include up to 1.1TB of data for Reliance Jio customers with benefits up to Rs. 4,450, and No Cost EMI options. 

Realme 2 Pro specifications

The dual-SIM Realme 2 Pro runs on Android 8.1 Oreo-based ColorOS OS 5.2 custom software. The smartphone sports a 6.3-inch (1080x2340 pixels) full-HD+ screen with 90.8 percent screen-to-body ratio, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and 409ppi pixel density. It is powered by the Snapdragon 660 AIE octa-core processor paired with Adreno 512 GPU, and 4GB/ 6GB/ 8GB RAM options. Internal storage options are 64GB and 128GB, and it supports expansion of memory via microSD card slot (up to 256GB).

Coming to optics, the Realme 2 Pro sports a dual camera setup - one 16-megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture, 1/2.8-inch Sony IMX398 sensor, 1.12-micron pixel size, and 6P lens. It supports 4K video recording at 30fps, and another 2-megapixel secondary depth sensor. At the front, there is a 16-megapixel sensor as well with f/2.0 aperture, and AI Beauty 2.0 for better selfies. As is the case with all the smartphones nowadays, there are AI features in the camera app for portrait mode, multi-frame noise reduction, and scene recognition. The phone also supports AR stickers on both the front and rear cameras.

Sensors on board the Realme 2 Pro include light and distance sensor, acceleration sensor, gyroscope, and geomagnetic sensor. The Realme 2 Pro dimensions are at 156.7x74.0x8.5mm, and it weighs 174 grams. The Realme 2 Pro packs a 3,500mAh battery, slightly less than Realme 2, which integrated a 4,230mAh battery. Connectivity options include USB OTG, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth, 4G VoLTE, GPS, and more.

Display

6.30-inch

Processor

1.8GHz octa-core

Front Camera

16-megapixel

Resolution

1080x2340 pixels

RAM

8GB

OS

Android 8.1

Storage

128GB

Rear Camera

16-megapixel + 2-megapixel

Battery Capacity

3500mAh

No. 1 plan to keep Yasir Shah out - Peter Siddle

Peter Siddle, Australia pacer, has admitted that the team is wary of the spin challenge at hand in the upcoming two-match Test series against Pakistan and keeping leggie Yasir Shah at bay would be their No. 1 target in order to achieve success.

"He's (Yasir) going to play a big part," Siddle said on Tuesday (September 25). "Spin bowling in this series is going to play a massive part. I think it's going to be a tough contest. He bowled well against us last series over here. He took a lot of wickets, so I think it's going to be number one plan to keep him out."

Yasir played a massive role in Pakistan's 2-0 win the last time Australia had toured UAE - in 2015 - picking up 12 wickets at an average of 17.25.

However, this time around, it is not just Yasir but also the threat of young leggie Shadab Khan that will have to be countered. Australia have been preparing extensively for the spin challenge. After a couple of camps in Brisbane and an A series in India, where several of their squad players were involved, they are in Dubai for pre-series training. S Sriram, their spin bowling coach, has roped in two Indian spinners - legspinner Pardeep Sahu and slow left-armer K Jiyas - to aid them in their preparation.

Siddle believes they have had an ideal preparation for the two-match series. "I think in the past we've come into series, worked hard on spin but not specifically on what they're bowling, the deliveries they bowl and the cues to watch as a batter," he said. "We've been lucky enough to get a couple of guys come in that are very good spin bowlers. I think the big focus is they've got two star legspinners, Yasir Shah who we've played before, a great player, and Shadab Khan, who's been playing and we expect to line up.

Galaxy A7 is Samsung’s one of the first phones to come

Galaxy A7 is Samsung’s one of the first phones to come with three cameras on the back. On the front it has 24-megapixel camera for selfies. Check out full specifications of Samsung Galaxy A7 2018.

Samsung on Tuesday launched its first triple-camera smartphone in India. The 2018 rendition of  comes with three cameras at the rear. The smartphone is available in two variants, 4GB + 64GB and 6GB+ 128GB, priced at Rs 23,990 and Rs 28,990 respectively.

The phone is available in three blue, black and gold colour options. Galaxy A7 will be first available through Flipkart and Samsung’s stores on September 27 and September 28. The phone will be available across all channels from September 29.

The highlight of Galaxy A7 is a triple-camera setup includes a 24-megapixel autofocus sensor with f/1.7 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f/2.4 aperture, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor with f/2.2 aperture. The smartphone features a 24-megapixel with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash for selfies.

Samsung Galaxy A7 specifications
Galaxy A7 features a full HD+ 6-inch Super AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. Under the hood of the smartphone runs an Exynos 7885 octa-core processor paired with 4GB and 6GB of RAM. Storage options for Galaxy A7 include 64GB and 128GB. Both variants come with 512GB expandable storage (via microSD).

Connectivity options on the smartphone include 4G VoLTE, dual SIM support, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the software front, Galaxy A7 runs on Android Oreo layered with Samsung Experience on top.

The smartphone also comes equipped with Dolby Atmos audio. It has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, a new trend currently available in the recently launched Galaxy J6+ and Galaxy J4+. 

Maruti Suzuki Swift limited edition launched at Rs 4.99 lakh

• The limited edition Swift is based on the base LXi/LDi variants
• It gets a host of additional features -- including Bluetooth stereo, front power windows and reverse parking sensors -- without any extra cost

NEW DELHI: To attract buyers during the festive season, India's leading carmaker Maruti 

Suzuki

 has launched a limited edition of its popular hatchback - 

Swift

. Starting at Rs 4.99 lakh, the version has been priced similar to the base variants (LXi/LDi) of the car, however, gets a host of additional features as a limited-time package.

The additional features of the 

Swift limited edition

 variant include a single-din Bluetooth stereo, front power windows, reverse parking sensors, central locking with remote control and black wheel caps. All these features are in addition to the standard features of the base variant, which already comes with safety features like dual airbags, anti-lock braking system (ABS) and electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) with brake assist (BA).

This limited edition scheme will help the company to score even better numbers in the festive season from its Swift model which is already one of the best selling cars in the country.

The petrol version of the 

Maruti Suzuki Swift

comes with an 83PS, 1.2-litre, four-cylinder VVT engine which claims to return a fuel efficiency of 22kmpl. The diesel version gets the 75PS, 1.3-litre, DDiS 190 powertrain which claims a best-in-class efficiency of 28.4kmpl. The base variants come with a five-speed manual transmission -- which is standard -- while the higher trims also offer an Auto Gear Shift (AGS)/Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) option.

The price of the Swift goes up to Rs 7.76 lakh for the range-topping ZXi+ AMT petrol and Rs 8.76 lakh for the ZDi+ AMT diesel variant.

Other options in the similar price range: Hyundai Grand i10 (Rs 4.74-5.9 lakh), Honda Brio (Rs 4.73-6.81 lakh), Ford Figo (Rs 5.51-8.15 lakh) and Volkswagen Polo (Rs 5.53-8.9 lakh).

(All prices in mentioned above are ex-showroom for Delhi)

Moeen Ali's 'Osama' Probe Closed By Cricket Australia

• 1CA
  
  inquiry had sought information from England and Wales Cricket Board
• 2Ca Moeen Ali had alleged that an Australian player had called him "Osama"
• 3CA closed the investigation because of no fresh details

Cricket Australia (CA) on Monday closed an investigation into Moeen Ali's complaint of being addressed as "Osama" by an Australian player during the 2015 Ashes series as no fresh details emerged during the inquiry. Moeen had made the claim in his autobiography earlier this month. "An Australian player turned to me on the field and said, 'Take that, Osama'. I could not believe what I had heard. I remember going really red. I have never been so angry on a cricket field," said the 31-year-old. Cricket Australia announced it was launching an investigation, saying the comment was "unacceptable".But a CA spokesman said: "We have followed up with the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and our team management and confirmed that the incident was investigated at the time, with a response provided to Moeen. 

"Moeen elected not to progress the matter any further and we have not been able to ascertain any new additional evidence through our enquiries. As such, the matter is considered closed."

Motorola One Power With 5,000mAh Battery Launched in India: Price,

smartphone with Snapdragon 636 has been launched in the Indian market to take on the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro. To be manufactured in India, the new Motorola One Power is powered by a 5,000mAh battery, has a display notch, and is part of the Android One programme, meaning it will get timely Android updates. The company - which will turn 90 years old tomorrow - has developed the smartphone in partnership with Google, it says. It also said it will enter segments such as Internet of Things, cloud, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Taking a dig at
The Motorola One Power price in India has been set as Rs. 15,999 and the handset comes in only one configuration - 64GB internal storage and 4GB of RAM. The smartphone is a and registrations begin today on the e-commerce platform. It will go on sale 
starting October 5.The Motorola One Power sport a 6.2-inch full-HD+ LCD Max Vision panel along with a 19:9 aspect ratio. It runs stock Android 8.1 Oreo software, upgradable to Android Pie. Under the hood, the handset has an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC, coupled with an Adreno 509 GPU and 4GB of RAM. There is a dual rear camera setup that includes a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor, with support for 4K video recording. Further, the handset comes with a 12-megapixel sensor at the front.

washed away into Beas river

• A bus weighing approximately 19,000 kg was washed away into Beas river
• Manali has received heavy rainfall in the state in 24 hours
• Met Office has forecast heavy rain in the upper hills till Monday

New Delhi: 

A tourist bus was washed away into a flooded river in Himachal Pradesh's Manali, a famous tourist destination in the state. The bus was empty when it was washed away into the flooded Beas river, news agency ANI said.

Manali, which falls in Kullu district, has received heavy rainfall in the state in 24 hours, recording 127.4 mm, the Met department said.

The southwest monsoon has caused heavy to extremely heavy rains, causing landslides in some areas and blocking the highways. The water level in the Beas river has risen abnormally touching the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway 21 near the Hanogi temple in Mandi district. Vehicular traffic has been blocked on National Highway 3 near Aut in Mandi district due to water from flooded Beas river entering the highway, news agency ANI reported.

San Francisco

San Francisco: 

Festival sale product

In its bid to suppress a memo revealing information about a plan to launch a censored search engine in China, Google has sent an email to employees asking them to delete the sensitive document, The Intercept reported.

Authored by a Google engineer familiar with the project, the memo disclosed that the search system would require users in China to log in to perform searches.

Festival sale product

Codenamed Dragonfly, the search engine would track the location of users and share the data with a Chinese partner who would have "unilateral access" to the data, said the report on Friday, citing the memo.

North Indian Food

• North Indian cuisine is one the world's most spicy cuisines
• Spices prevent our food from spoilage and thus
• Countries with a hotter climate have comparatively spicy cuisine

North Indian cuisine is one the world's most spicy cuisines. North Indian food, as we know it today, was born out of the fusion of the Indian cuisine and Persian food that the Mughal rulers brought with them. The first Mughal emperor, Babur, did not live long enough to establish a royal cuisine that would be synonymous to his name someday. However, he did establish the tradition of hiring Indian chefs to prepare Persian dishes out of local ingredients. The temperature of Babur's homeland and northern India was not the same, and that was a big problem. India was much hotter and the food would soon go bad. The solution? Spice it up! It has been scientifically proven that spices prevent our food from spoilage and thus, north Indian foods tend to be so spicy. Bacteria and foodborne pathogens cannot survive in a hot environment, which is provided by spices. Countries with a hotter climate have comparatively spicy cuisine.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=blog02c8-21&keywords=Ied tv&index=aps&camp=3638&creative=24630&linkCode=ur2&linkId=49b1eb12c16a70c632711958881eaf70iv style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px;"> Another important element of north Indian food is oil and butter. Although it serves a similar purpose (preventing food from spoilage), its use was started much later. The legend holds it that Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor, consulted all his ministers before moving the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi. However, he did not consult his health minister. After moving to the new capital, the emperor found out that main source of water, Yamuna, was much polluted in Delhi as compared to Agra. So, in order to prevent the food from waterborne pathogens and bacteria, excessive oil had to be used.

Now, although times have changed and medical sciences have advanced, it is not necessary for us to eat such spicy food. However, it has become a genetic habit.