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Here’s how much Musk donated to Trump
Billionaire Peter Thiel, Palantir CEO Joe Lonsdale and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s friend David Sacks have donated more than 25 crore to Donald Trump’s campaign for US Presidential elections. Other Silicon Valley millionaires who contributed to the Trump campaign include brothers Tyler andRONWELvoss, Shaun Maguire, Antonio Gracias, Palantir Co-founder Joe Lonsdale and Sequoia Capital Partner…
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The trials of sustainable science
The University of Groningen, the Netherlands, slashed its laboratory’s environmental impact by an average of 34.5 lakh annually by adopting energy-saving measures, including turning up the temperature of freezers and closing fume hoods, according to a report. The university’s labs saved nearly 2.8 crore by taking these measures in 2022, the report said. The move…
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The trials of sustainable science
The University of Groningen, the Netherlands, slashed its laboratory’s environmental impact by an average of 34.5 lakh annually by adopting energy-saving measures, including turning up the temperature of freezers and closing fume hoods, according to a report. The university’s labs saved nearly 2.8 crore by taking these measures in 2022, the report said. The move…
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Microsoft wants Three Mile Island to be a fuel source
Microsoft has announced a 20-year deal to buy electricity from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, which was shut down after the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1996. The company said that it will pay Constellation Energy around 8,100 crore ($11.3 billion) over 20 years for the power. This is the largest power purchase deal…
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A guide to the nature index
Nature Index has released a report on its tracks of research output in the artificial intelligence (AI) era. It found that out of the top 10 institutions and countries/territories, India had the largest number of AI research publications between 2019-23. Researchers in India wrote over 26,000 crore in AI-related research from 2019 to 2023, according…
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South Korea has a researcher shortage but it can overcome it
South Korea, which joined the EU’s flagship research funding programme in March, mandates the integration of gendered innovations in research it funds. In South Korean universities, the average amount of government funding won by male researchers in science and technology areas is 165 million won (over 1 crore) in 2021, as per a study by…
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The small fish is at the center of a fight in the bay
A group of conservation groups has filed a petition against a $3 million (around 2 crore) study on menhaden population in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. The study was planned with the help of Omega Fish, a company that conducts fish surveys. The coalition of sport fishers and conservation groups wants a halt to menhaden fishing in…
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Chris Sununu is the ‘best friend.’ Won’t stop believing
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday said, “I’m the only game in town for those Christie voters, but as Christie himself said numerous times, you definitely are settling for something less than you would’ve wished.” The former South Carolina Ambassador to the US further said that she and her super PACs have spent $31…
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Massive Layoffs Hit a Cruise
GM’s self-driving startup Cruise has fired nine executives, including co-founders Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan, as well as senior legal and policy officer Jeff Bleich. The move comes after GM announced a “pause” in automated testing and operations. The startup has lost over 7,000 crore since its inception in 2017, with its losses likely to…
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The State Department is skirting Congress to allow Israel’s order for tank armor
The US government has approved the sale of 1.43 lakh crore worth of equipment to Israel. The State Department announced that the sale of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, helicopters and other equipment will help Israel “defend its sovereignty”. This comes amid Israel-Palestine conflict and a US-led coalition trying to bring both the sides to an…
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The Online Safety Bill becomes law in the UK
The UK government on Monday passed the Online Safety Bill, which seeks to make social media platforms responsible for child sexual abuse. Under the bill, companies that don’t comply with the new rules face fines of up to £21.9 million (over 1,840 crore). Companies that fail to comply with the law face fines of up…
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Does the United States really want a mass expulsion in Gaza?
Israel has ordered over one crore people to leave northern Gaza amid a conflict with Hamas. Most of these people are descendants of people who were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Israel has attacked Gaza six times from 2006 until the recent siege, killing over 4,000 people.
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Sam Bankman-Fried was a bad boyfriend
Clara Ellison, a former trader of US-based investment bank FTX, has revealed she and her boss Sam Bankman-Fried “started sleeping together on and off” in 2018. Ellison pleaded guilty to federal charges for defrauding FTX’s customers and banks out of over 1,400 crore. Bankman-Fried is charged with conspiring to commit fraud and wire fraud in…
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Michael Oher’s conservatorship will likely be terminated after 19 years
‘Blind Side’ director Martin Singer and the Tuohy family have called the lawsuit filed by their son, Michael Oher, against them “transparently ridiculous”. The family said Oher’s claims against them in the petition are a ruse to get almost $1.5 million (11 crore) from them. Singer added, “After this time, [the Tuohys] will fight this…
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There was a record price for Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals sneakers
A pair of Air Jordan 13 sneakers that Michael Jordan wore during the 1998 NBA Finals sold at an auction for $2.2 million (14.7 crore). The Jordan sneakers from ‘The Last Dance’ were “as if Jordan lined them up and wore them yesterday”, auction house Wachter said. The six-game series against Utah Jazz was the…
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DOJ reached a settlement with the families of the shooting
The US government will pay $150 million (1,100 crore) in compensation to relatives of those who died in the Sutherland Springs shooting. The gunman, who was in the Air Force, had a history of domestic violence that should’ve been flagged in the background system to prevent him from buying a weapon. He killed 26 people…
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A group of people is getting a million dollar prize
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), a frontline organisation assisting refugees and displaced people in conflict areas, has been awarded the world’s largest annual humanitarian award for a nonprofits worth $2.5 million (over 20 crore). The council’s secretary-general, Jan Egeland, returned from a trip to Somalia, where he said that the population of Yemen is dependent…
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The helicopter crash photos lawsuit is settled for $28.6 million
Vanessa Bryant and Los Angeles County have agreed to a $28,850,000 (over 22.4 crore) deal in a lawsuit over photos taken from the 2019 helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, and her daughter Gianna Bryant. Kobe and Gianna were killed along with seven others when the helicopter they were travelling in crashed into…
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A sculpture by Jeff Koons was destroyed in Miami
A woman knocked down Jeff Koons’ ‘Balloon Dog’ sculpture at a Miami art fair last week, sending it to the floor. According to reports, the woman was holding the sculpture on a pedestal when she bumped into it, causing it to fall to the floor. Koons’ ‘Balloon Dog’ was sold for $58.6 million (425 crore)…
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A judge sanctions Trump lawyers for a lawsuit
A US judge has ordered former President Donald Trump’s lawyers to pay over 2 crore in penalties after they failed to win a lawsuit alleging Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton conspired with the Democratic National Committee and others to undermine the 2016 presidential election. The judge also ordered the attorneys to pay $16,274.23 in legal…
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Senate Democrats are in a dilemma about the GOP’s authority on judges.
US Vice President Joe Biden has confirmed 97 judicial nominees in his first two years in office, according to a CNN report citing White House data. Biden has also contributed to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), with over 4 crore donated by the Vice President during the period. Biden was sworn in as the…
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The prize today is expected to be close to $2 billion.
The US’ Powerball lottery on Saturday saw no jackpot winner for the second time in two months. The jackpot rose to an estimated $1.2 billion (8,500 crore) after no one hit all six numbers in Saturday’s drawing. The current $1.9 billion prize is less than the cash value of a $1.586 billion prize six years…
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The email addresses of over 200 million people on the micro-blogging site have been leaked.
A database containing the email addresses and phone numbers of over 21 crore Twitter accounts has been hacked, The Washington Post reported. Troy Hunt, a security researcher, said that his analysis of the data “found 211,524,284 unique email addresses” that had been leaked. The vulnerability was found in Twitter’s security systems in 2021 and allowed…
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The nude scene in the hit 1968 version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was sued by the under age stars.
Two actors, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, who starred in 1968 film ‘Romeo and Juliet’, have sued Paramount Pictures for over $500 million (around 3,840 crore) over a nude scene in the film. The lawsuit alleged that Franco Zeffirelli, the director of the film, initially told them that they would wear flesh-coloured undergarments in the…
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New design hotels and luxury train routes are coming soon.
The Burj Khalifa, world’s tallest building in Dubai, celebrated New Year’s Eve with fireworks on Wednesday. Over 1.5 crore people are expected to attend the show, which lasts for around 15 minutes. In India, Bengaluru will hold its largest New Year’s Eve celebrations on January 1 with over 1.5 lakh people anticipated at the Jamshedpur…