Category: News

A massive earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, shook the southern coast of Papua New Ginea’s New Britain Island. Due to the intensity of the quake, a tsunami alert has been issued for the neighbouring coastlines. According to media reports, United States Geological Survey states that the earthquake has occurred for about 144 km East of Kimbe, with a depth of over 35 km. More details are awaited.

Dubai gets its first 24/7 bookshop at Sports City, which doesn’t employ any staff and is not by any robots. Book Hero, which has more than 20,000 novels in store, relies on a payment drop box called the Trust Box, making it the region’s first unmanned bookshop. The customers have to just drop their money in the box and be on their way. Montserrat Martin, owner of the store, partnered up with Mohammad Al Qubaisi to come up with the idea, believing in customer trust. “We don’t employ staff simply because we trust our customers. I visit the place once a day ... Read more

South Korea announced a change in tourist visa application for Filipinos, following substantial increase in the number of applicants. ‘In the near future, walk-in applicants will no longer be accepted,’ the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Philippines wrote on their Facebook page. Only travel agencies will be allowed to file tourist visa applications on behalf of the travellers. Since the embassy will no longer accept walk-in applicants, it will be designating travel agencies in Philippines to facilitate the application for tourist visa. Only the designated travel agencies will be authorised to apply for visas at the embassy. ... Read more

The government has started implementing the policy and issuing ‘visa-on-arrival’ to foreigners from a select group of 68 countries — including the US, Russia and the UK. The visa-on-arrival facility has been introduced under the ‘business visa on arrival (BVOA) for businessmen of these countries. The BVOA facility has 30 days validity for single entry and is being issued to businessmen coming to Pakistan from business-friendly countries. Pakistan is also offering visa-on-arrival to group tourists from 24 friendly countries.

The German Embassy in Armenia said it will no longer accept applications for Schengen visa starting from April 3, 2018. The embassy has informed that from April 3 onwards, VisaMetric center will accept the applications for Schengen visa for Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, and Sweden. “There has been an increase in number of applications, and the waiting time took at least 6 weeks. Now the applicant will be able to apply to VisaMetric within 48 hours,” he said, adding that there were no other changes related to applications for national visas and other consular issues. In addition, the clients ... Read more

The Republic of Chinese government is about to open the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese mainland. The project is estimated to cost around 100 billion yuan ($15.1 billion), that houses an underwater tunnel, and a curved snaking road. It is said that the structure has used about 420,000 tonnes of steel that could build nearly 60 Eiffel Towers. The 55- kilometre mega-engineering marvel is expected to last around 120 years, and took 9 years to construct. And hence engineers predict that the bridge aims to cut travel time by around 60 per cent. “The bridge’s major ... Read more

Volvo XC60, the compact luxury crossover SUV model from Volvo cars has won the World Car of the Year title 2018, at the New York Auto Show. The Swedish manufacturer has won the title for the first time, and previously it was Jaguar F-Pace that won the World Car of the Year title back in 2017. Volvo XC60, has similarities in design paradigms with its predecessor XC90 SUV. In India, the XC60 model comes with a 2 litre 4 cylinder twin turbo diesel engine, which gives a power output of 233 bhp and 480 Nm of torque. Volvo brand is ... Read more

An earthquake measuring over 4.6 magnitude was measured on the Richter scale, around 4.03 am today at Gujarat. Following the quake, a mild tremor was noted down in Hanjiyasar village of Rajkot district, with no reported casualties or damage. Meanwhile, on 10th March, an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 was noted in the parts of Kutch district with Bhachau city as the epicentre. Moreover, Gujarat has the darkest days in the history of natural disasters. On 26th January 2001, a powerful 7.7 magnitude tremor caused wide damage to life and property and over 20,000 lives and 4 lakh homes were taken ... Read more

ISRO, India’s all-time pioneer in space research is about to launch, GSAT-6A communication satellites in the orbit at 4.56pm today from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Today’s launch have another highlight, as ISRO is back again introducing home-made satellites into mainstream. GSLV-F08 will be the launch vehicle used today to carry the indigenous GSAT6A communication satellites. GSAT-6A, satellites have a high power S-band satellite primarily used for communication with a life of over 10 years. The new mission thus provides a new benchmark in the mobile communication coverage, through the introduction of multibeam technology. ISRO’s GSLV-F08, launch vehicle weighs over ... Read more

According to a survey by LinkedIn, famous social networking site dedicated to business and employment-related services, had revealed that Indian’s prefer being happy besides health and money. About 72 per cent Indians in the survey states that being happy is the ultimate achievement of success in their life. Survey also reveals that about 65 per cent of the respondent’s marks having good health, and a healthy work-life balance as the key symbol of success. The survey had conducted online during the month of October and November, with over 18,191 adults from across 16 countries – Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong ... Read more

If tourism needs to get a boost in the Kashmir valley, it needs to raise civic infrastructure and build institutional framework within tourism industry so that the benefits reach the local economy and help common people. “Limited number of five-star hotels in Kashmir is a lacuna that needs to be overcome. Kashmir needs more of them. What is the point of asking more airlines to fly to Srinagar when the starred hotel infrastructure is quite weak?,” said Kapil Kaul, CEO of New Delhi-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India while addressing a session at the second day of the three-day convention of ... Read more

Andhra Pradesh Tourism, in association with E Factor, is conducting first- ever Vizag Yachting Festival. The festival, which was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 28, has been postponed to a day and will be inaugurated today. The five-day event will see a fleet of nine luxury yachts arrive at the coast promising an exciting line-up of events for adventure seekers. “We have set ambitious goals to develop Andhra Pradesh as a tourism destination for every kind of tourists – be it the millennial generation traveller seeking an exciting adventure, a family of four looking for a placid beach side holiday ... Read more

Indian Railways will replace Shatabdi Express trains with its first engine-less semi-high speed train for inter-city travel in June this year. The train boasts of world-class amenities and has been completely manufactured in Chennai under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ programme. The train that has been codenamed ‘Train 18’ after the year its year of manufacture, is self-propelled like the Metro trains and capable of traveling at speeds of 160 kmph. THe train will have driving cabins on both ends and coaches will be inter-connected with fully sealed gangways. Compared to current trains, it will cut down travel time ... Read more

Emirates said it will add a second daily flight between Dubai and Prague, after steadily growing passenger numbers on the route during the eight years since launch of operations in July 2010. The new Emirates flight will commence from 1st July 2018 to meet the increasing demand for both inbound and outbound travel. The second daily flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER with a capacity of 360 seats, boosting inbound tourism through the additional 262,800 seats a year it will provide. The year-round flight will have a three class configuration offering eight Private Suites in First Class, 42 ... Read more

Qatar filed a serious complaint at United Nations, regarding a Bahrain warplane over breaching the Qatari airspace. According to reports, two Qatari warplanes had flown dangerously close to two civilian aircraft approaching from UAE. The incident took place at Bahrain airspace and the complaint has been forwarded to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). However, Qatar denied the claim and said that UAE is covering its own violations happening at the Qatari airspace. Back in June 2017 Qatar has been banned by UAE along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt in terms of its diplomatic and trade associations.