Nepalinews

BEIJING:  China has added two satellites to its homegrown global navigation and positioning network that seeks to reduce reliance on the US-based Global Positioning System, state media reported Monday. The pair of Beidou-3 satellites were launched aboard a single Long March-3B rocket from the Xichang launch center in the southwestern province of Sichuan on Sunday night, broadcaster CCTV and the Xinhua News Agency reported.China plans to complete a network linking more than 30 satellites providing real-time geospatial information worldwide by 2020. The system started operating in mainland China in 2000 and then expanded to cover the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. The Beidou-3 satellites represent an upgrade with greater accuracy and an enhanced ability to communicate with other satellite navigation systems. The network would eventually provide monitoring and safety information along the nation’s multinational infrastructure megaproject, the Belt and Road Initiative, designed to

JAKARTA:  Indonesia said on Tuesday it will summon executives of messaging services and search engines, including Google, to demand they remove obscene content, but dropped a threat to block WhatsApp Messenger after “GIF” images were taken off the service. The Internet is already partly censored in Indonesia, but the latest steps mark an escalation against a background of growing conservatism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.“We will call all providers, including Google to clean up their network,” said Semuel Pangerapan, a director general at Indonesia’s communication and informatics ministry. Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ministry vowed on Monday to block Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp Messenger within 48 hours if the service did not ensure that obscene Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) images were removed. WhatsApp said on Monday that message encryption prevented it from monitoring the animate

NEW YORK:  A Japanese software company is suing Apple Inc in a US court over the trademark for the term “animoji”, alleging the US technology company stole the name to use on a feature of its iPhone X. Tokyo-based Emonster kk sued Apple on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, saying it holds the US trademark on the term animoji and that Apple’s use of the word is a “textbook case” of deliberate infringement.An Apple spokesman declined to comment. Apple’s animoji feature allow users to animate the facial expressions of emojis using facial recognition technology. It will be included on the iPhone X which is scheduled for release in November. Phil Schiller, Apple’s chief marketing officer, touted the animoji feature during the iPhone X launch event on Sept 12, calling it a “great experience” for communicating with family and friends. Emonster chief executive Enrique Bonansea launched an animated texting app in 2014 called Animoji and registered a trademark on the produ

ISCHIA:  The Group of Seven industrialized nations threw their support behind a new technology industry alliance aimed at detecting and blunting online propaganda, saying Friday it had a “major role” to play in combatting extremism on the internet. G7 interior ministers meeting in Italy invited representatives from Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter to a session Friday dedicated to the fight against terrorism. In a final communique, the ministers pressed the industry as a whole to do more. “Internet companies will continue to take a proactive role and ensure decisive action in making their platforms more hostile to terrorism, and will support actions aimed at empowering civil society partners in the development of alternative narratives online,” the statement said. Social media companies have long seen themselves as neutral platforms for other people to share information, and have traditionally been cautious about taking down objectionable material. But as social med

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS:  Scientists in the United States and Europe have for the first time paired the detection of gravitational waves, the ripples in space and time predicted by Albert Einstein, with light from the same cosmic event, according to research published on Monday. The waves, caused by the collision of two extremely dense neutron stars some 130 million years ago, were first detected in August by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatories, known as LIGO, in Washington state and Louisiana as well as at a third detector, named Virgo, in Italy.Starting two seconds later, observatories across earth and in space detected a burst of light in the form of gamma rays from the same part of the southern sky, which analysis showed was likely from the same source. “Imagine that gravitational waves are like thunder,” astronomer Philip Cowperthwaite, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said in a statement. “We’ve heard this thunder before, but this

MOSCOW:   In its latest attempt to wrest control of the Internet, Russia’s communications agency on Tuesday threatened to block access to Facebook if the company refuses to store its data locally. Alexander Zharov, chief of the Federal Communications Agency, told Russian news agencies on Tuesday that they will work to “make Facebook comply with the law” on personal data, which obliges foreign companies to store it in Russia. Critics have slammed the law, which went into effect in 2015, for potentially exposing the data to Russian intelligence agencies. Zharov said that the Russian government understands Facebook is a “unique service” but said it will not make exceptions and will have to block it next year if Facebook does not comply. Last year, Russia blocked business-focused social network LinkedIn after a court ruled it violated the law on data storage. LinkedIn is available in Russia only if accessed via proxy servers. In the most recent step to crack down on Internet free

TOKYO:  At a studio in the Japanese capital, director Taro Kambe peers into a black headset to check a scene from his first video to make use of virtual reality technology. “I have directed hundreds of adult videos but it was my first virtual reality movie,” said the 39-year-old.Japan is the world’s second biggest virtual reality market after the United States and the adult entertainment industry and gaming sector are turning to VR as a new way to distribute content. Virtual romantic liaisons for men and women were on display at the Tokyo Game Show on Thursday. Voltage, a developer which creates gaming apps aimed at women, showcased its virtual reality game “Wedding VR”, in which players don a headset and tie the knot with an animated male character. The company hopes to roll out the game in Japan’s ubiquitous game centers. Voltage had success last year with a game in which the seated player is approached by a handsome virtual man who reaches in, potentially for a kiss.

Apple Inc’s newest operating system for iPhones and iPads introduces changes to its marketplace for third-party software to satisfy app developers and add new so-called augmented reality apps. The system, called iOS 11, is being released on Tuesday ahead of its two newest phone handsets, the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, set to start shipping to customers on Friday and November 3, respectively.The most visible changes will come to App Store. The App Store is the backbone of Apple’s services segment, which brought in $21.5 billion in revenue in the past nine months, a 19 percent increase over the previous year and a bright spot as overall sales grew only 5 percent. The store has been redesigned to give app developers more space for images and text to describe their software. Developers have long grumbled that their software is hard to find in Apple’s store unless users type in the precise name of the app or follow a link to it. “The redesign make it much cleaner and speaks to the pai

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS:  Scientists taking on the deep questions of whether cats are liquid or solid, how holding a crocodile influences gambling and whether playing the didgeridoo can help cure snoring were honored Thursday at the Ig Nobel Prize spoof awards. The prizes are the brainchild of Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, and are intended not to honor the best or worst in science, but rather to highlight research that encourages people to think in unusual ways. “We hope that this will get people back into the habits they probably had when they were kids of paying attention to odd things and holding out for a moment and deciding whether they are good or bad only after they have a chance to think,” Abrahams said in a phone interview. Some of the honorees tend towards the spurious: French researcher Marc-Antoine Fardin’s 2014 study “Can a Cat Be Both a Solid and a Liquid?” was inspired by internet photos of cats tucked into glasses, buckets and sink

ZURICH:  Switzerland’s defence ministry has foiled a cyber attack by malware similar to that used in other global hacking campaigns, the government said in a statement on Friday. The attack was detected in July by software that operated much like the Turla malware family, it said.The government declined to give information about the origin of the attack or say if any damage including data theft had occurred. It cited security considerations. Government specialists took counter measures and an investigation is underway, while criminal charges have been lodged with federal prosecutors against persons unknown to them. The Turla spyware was detected in 2014 and suspected of infecting hundreds of government computers and military targets across Europe and the Middle East. Several security researchers and Western intelligence officers say they believe the malware in those attacks was the work of the Russian government.

CUPERTINO:  More than two years after releasing the Apple Watch, Apple Inc has finally been able to replicate 1940s comic strip technology, an advance that analysts say will spur sales. The Series 3 of the Apple Watch, released on Tuesday along with the much-anticipated iPhone X, features wireless LTE connectivity. That means customers will be able to make phone calls or send text messages from the watch without needing to have an iPhone nearby, as they do with earlier models.The ability to make calls with a wristwatch has captured the imagination of tech enthusiasts at least since it was prominently featured in “Dick Tracy,” the comic about a private detective who, starting in 1946, used calls from his wrist to help bust bad guys. “This has been our vision from the beginning,” Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams said at the launch event. “Now you can go for a run with just your watch and still be connected. It’s really nice to know you can be reached if needed.” To be sure

India aims to acquire seismic data of 48,243 line kilometers in five years as the world’s third biggest oil consumer seeks to boost its output by offering more areas for exploration, the government said on Tuesday. State-run explorers Oil India Ltd and Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd will carry out the 2D seismic survey in areas spread across 24 states. The two companies will invest 29.33 billion rupees ($457.99 million) for this which will be reimbursed by the government. “As a basis for launching future exploration and production activities, appraisal of all unappraised areas is an important task,” the government said in a statement. Oil India will cover the north-eastern states, while the remaining areas will be surveyed by ONGC.

NEW DELHI:  India’s aggressive push to electrify all new vehicles by 2030 is compelling auto part manufacturers and carmakers to draw up early plans for electrification, company executives said. A new auto policy is in the works and will include a roadmap for electric vehicles, a government official said, adding that this is likely to be made public before year-end.Engine-maker Cummins India is investing in research on electric mobility solutions for India, while Hyundai Motor Co has begun talks with some of its suppliers for components for electric cars, company executives said. Ashok Leyland, which launched an electric bus last year, has partnered with Indian start-up SUN Mobility to develop battery-swapping technology for cars, buses and trucks. “This is going to be a major challenge but it is one we have to embrace and not duck,” Anant Talaulicar, managing director, Cummins India said. He said commercial vehicle makers in India have asked Cummins to look into electric m

SAN FRANCISCO:  Apple is expected to sell its fanciest iPhone yet for $1,000, crossing into a new financial frontier that will test how much consumers are willing to pay for a device that’s become an indispensable part of modern life. The unveiling of a dramatically redesigned iPhone will likely be the marquee moment Tuesday when Apple hosts its first product event at its new spaceship-like headquarters in Cupertino, California. True to its secretive ways, Apple won’t confirm that it will be introducing a new iPhone, though a financial forecast issued last month telegraphed something significant is in the pipeline.In addition to several new features, a souped-up “anniversary” iPhone — coming a decade after Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs unveiled the first version — could also debut at an attention-getting $999 price tag, twice what the original iPhone cost. It would set a new price threshold for any smartphone intended to appeal to a mass market. WHAT A THOUSAND BUCKS WILL BU

LUXOR:  Egypt on Saturday announced the discovery in the southern city of Luxor of a pharaonic tomb belonging to a royal goldsmith who lived more than 3,500 years ago during the reign of the 18th dynasty. The tomb, located on the west bank of the river Nile in a cemetery for noblemen and top officials, is a relatively modest discovery, but one that authorities has announced with a great deal of fanfare in a bid to boost the country’s slowly recovering tourism industry.“We want tomorrow’s newspapers to speak about Egypt and make people want to come to Egypt,” Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anani told reporters. El-Anani said the tomb was not in good condition, but it contains a statue of the goldsmith and his wife as well as a funerary mask. He said a shaft inside the tomb contained pottery as well as mummies and coffins belonging to ancient Egyptian people who lived during the 21st and 22nd dynasties. The minister identified the goldsmith as Amunhat. The tomb was discovered

CHICAGO:  Researchers are tackling fresh questions about a degenerative brain disease now that it has been detected in the brains of nearly 200 football players after death. The suspected cause is repeated head blows, an almost unavoidable part of contact sports. As a new NFL season gets underway, here’s a look at what’s known — and what still needs to be learned — about the condition: WHAT’S NEW? The largest report to date on chronic traumatic encephalopathy included 202 brains from football players at the youth, college and professional level, all donated postmortem to a Boston brain bank. CTE was detected in all but one of the 111 NFL players studied, 90 percent of the college players and 20 percent of the high school players. It was absent in two younger players’ brains. A previous report had described the disease in an 18-year-old football player, but finding additional cases at the high school level raises new questions about the game’s safety for young players. HOW C