Mercedes-Benz teases a new super-efficient electric car
concept, the Vision EQXX, with more than 750 miles of range on a single
charge.
At Daimler’s latest company update, the automaker teased a new
technical program to develop “the longest-range and highest-efficiency
electric car the world has ever seen.”
Mercedes-Benz’s head of research and development, Markus Schafer, commented:
We have set up a group of our engineers to take on an extraordinary
task: to build the longest-range and highest-efficiency electric car the
world has ever seen. This is a serious project, chasing next-generation
technologies. We intend to incorporate the learning into the next
generation of series production cars.
The project takes the shape of the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX concept, which the company teased with a few images:
The German automaker said that the electric vehicle should be able to
travel from Beijing to Shanghai, a journey that covers about 750 miles
(1,200 km), on a single charge.
This incredible range will be achieved through efficency improvements rather than just a bigger battery pack.
Daimler noted that the program will be used to test new technologies to improve efficiency and bring those to production cars:
While Vision EQXX is a technology program, it is expected to result
in innovations that will quickly make their way into series production
cars.
The automaker said that its Mercedes-Benz F1 HPP group in the UK is also working on the project:
Mercedes-Benz also announced an exciting next step in electric
vehicle development today, with the Vision EQXX technology program. The
aim is to build an electric vehicle with spectacular efficiency and
range. Mercedes-Benz has tasked its engineering group with pushing the
boundaries of electric range and efficiency with a cross-functional,
multi-disciplinary team based in Stuttgart, supported by specialists
from the Mercedes-Benz F1 HPP group in the UK, who bring expertise in
eMotors plus motorsport-inspired development speed.
They haven’t disclosed when they plan to unveil the Vision EQXX electric prototype.
A
12-year-old boy has managed to build a working fusion reactor and have
it recorded by the Guinness Book of Records, making him the youngest on
record to achieve this feat.
While
most 12-year-olds play video games and enjoy the lack of responsibility
that comes with youth, Jackson Oswalt had been fusing atoms. The young
man, who has just turned 13, has taken the time to explain his
motivation behind the endeavour and it is admirable to see how much work
the child has done.
Jackson, from Memphis, Tennessee, began building his own DIY fusion reactor after being inspired by the previous Guinness World Record
holder Taylor Wilson, who had managed to construct one by the age of
14. The teenager claims to have built the entire reactor himself, and
offered insight into how to achieve the fusion of atoms.
Guinness Book of R
Oswalt
explained that he had been working on the project for around two years,
and encountered issues with seals that gave him setbacks:
The
project was very hard. I’d say the hardest part was figuring out how to
make the seal airtight on the chamber, so I spent about…probably about
half a year trying to get the seal correct.
Nevertheless,
he persevered and his parents appear to have encouraged this activity –
which is still being attempted by some countries.
Jackson’s
mother claims that while she was excited by her son’s interest, ‘I
would definitely be googling things before he turned on various stages.’
This internet activity seems understandable given that atoms are being
collided in her house. She went on to explain that part of her support
was because her son explained what he was doing so well.
The
fact that a 12-year-old could even understand nuclear fusion is
incredible, never mind putting together the components to actually
perform the act. This will undoubtedly be a huge achievement for
Jackson, and it will be fascinating to see what he does next.
NEW
DELHI - China was accused by Taiwan of trying to impose
censorship in India after its embassy in New Delhi advised journalists
to observe the “one-China” principle after newspapers carried
advertisements for Taiwan’s national day.
Coming
just months after deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops on
the disputed Himalayan border between the two Asian giants, the
controversy has flared at a time when Indian sentiments toward China are
filled with antipathy and suspicion.
China’s
hackles were raised on Wednesday by advertisements placed in leading
Indian newspapers by Taiwan’s government to mark the democratic,
Chinese-claimed island’s national day on Saturday.
The
advertisement carried a photograph of President Tsai Ing-wen and hailed
India, a fellow democracy, as a natural partner of Taiwan.
China,
which claims Taiwan and regards it as a wayward province, made its
displeasure evident in an e-mail sent by its embassy on Wednesday night
to journalists in India, including Reuters.
“Regarding
the so-called forthcoming ‘National Day of Taiwan’, the Chinese Embassy
in India would like to remind our media friends that there is only one
China in the world, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China
is the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China,” the
embassy said.
“We hope Indian media can stick to Indian government’s position on Taiwan question and do not violate the ‘One China’ principle.
“In
particular, Taiwan shall not be referred to as a ‘country (nation)’ or
‘Republic of China’ or the leader of China’s Taiwan region as
‘President’, so as not to send the wrong signals to the general public.”
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu scoffed at Beijing’s advice to Indian media.
“India
is the largest democracy on Earth with a vibrant press &
freedom-loving people. But it looks like communist #China is hoping to
march into the subcontinent by imposing censorship. #Taiwan’s Indian
friends will have one reply: GET LOST!” he said in a tweet.
New Delhi has no formal diplomatic relations with Taipei, but both sides have close business and cultural ties.
India’s
government has carefully avoided upsetting China over Taiwan. But
relations became fraught after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash
with Chinese troops in June, and there have been calls from some Indian
nationalist groups for a boycott of Chinese goods.
“The
Chinese government behaves like a street goon, not like an aspiring
super-power. It threatens us,” said Nitin Gokhale, the editor of a
defence and security website, after receiving the Chinese embassy’s
email.
The Tamil Nadu company has now set a target to sell the pistols to civilians by the end of March 2021.
By Tanmay Chatterjee
The Glock is sold to citizens in many countries, including the USA. (Courtesy- https://eu.glock.com/en)
Currently serving with the military, police and special forces
in more than 70 nations, including India, America, England and France,
the famous polymer-frame Glock pistols from Austria may soon be
available to Indian citizens in non-service calibres.
In
2019, the Tamil Nadu-based Counter measures technologies pvt. ltd.
(CMT) and Glock Ges.m.b.H, Austria, entered into a partnership to
produce the pistols at the CMT plant in Tiruvallur district, which is
part of the state’s defence industrial corridor planned by the Centre.
The
joint venture was initially signed for supplying Glocks only to the
government. With permission from the Centre, CMT has now set a target to
sell the pistols to civilians by the end of March 2021, one of the
Indian company’s directors and major shareholder, Jayakumar Jayarajan,
told HT.
For India’s civilian arms market, the arrival of the
Glock will be a game changer, stakeholders feel. The pistol is sold to
citizens in many countries, including the USA.
“The
Covid-19 lockdown delayed our project by more than six months. We are
trying to pick up speed. Our first priority is to supply the 9 mm
pistols to the armed forces. Civilians will get the .22 LR, .380, .357
Sig, .40 and .45 calibre pistols. We have permission to set up our own
proof testing facility,” said Jayarajan.
“A team from Glock
landed in Chennai in January 2019 and flew to Delhi to meet Union
defence ministry officials after visiting our site. In the delegation
was a man who was part of the team that helped the designer, Gaston
Glock, make the first pistol in 1981,” said Jayarajan.
Today, Glock produces fifth generation pistols with competitors following its polymer technology.
In
India, the majority of licensed firearms owners are saddled with old or
antiquated foreign handguns imported before 1984 or the ones being made
by government ordnance factories. The erstwhile Congress government at
the Centre banned import of all types of firearms in 1984, giving
exemptions only to national and international shooters and state
agencies.
Though out of reach of India’s gun owners till now, the
world’s first military service pistol to sport a light polymer frame
and trigger safety feature, is a familiar name to the nation.
A
9 mm Glock 26 compact pistol was the only weapon wing commander
Abhinandan Varthaman was armed with when he was captured in Pakistan in
February 2019 after the Balakot air strikes.
Glocks
also went into action with National Security Guard (NSG) commandos
during the terror attack on Pathankot air force base in 2016 and in
other operations.
“We support any initiative that promotes the
‘Make in India’ programme and moves us closer to an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’
(self-sufficient India),” said Delhi-based Abhijeet Singh, spokesperson
for National association for gun rights India (NAGRI), the only
pan-nation organisation fighting for liberal gun laws for citizens.
Prakash
Simson, owner of Simson gun house in Mangalore, Karnataka, said,
“Indians still pay a premium price for 50 or 70-year-old handguns
because of their reliability. The India-made Glocks have to meet
people’s expectations. But before that, the government must ensure that
law-abiding citizens get gun licence without being caught in red tape
for years. If licences are not issued there will no market. The
companies will wind up their business.”
A
gun owner and sports enthusiast, Yuvraj Yograjsinh of Mansa, Gujarat,
said, “Glocks are not made in .32 ACP which is the most popular pistol
calibre in India because the ammunition is made by our ordnance factory,
the other one being .22 LR. Ammunition for the rest of the calibres
being offered to civilians by CMT is not made here. Imported ammunitions
are frightfully expensive. This needs to be addressed first.”
Jayarajan
said CMT has been given permission to manufacture ammunition of all
calibres, ranging from the small .22 LR to the 12.7 x 108 mm heavy
machine-gun cartridge used by the army. “We plan to make the ammunition
factory operational by the end of 2021,” he said.
Everyone,
as the saying goes, has a plan until they get punched in the face. By
the same principle, the time for Rahul Raju, to make an honest
assessment of his career would have come in his fourth professional
mixed martial arts fight. Competing in the Philippines against Reydon
Romero, Raju caught a punch in the first round, shattering an orbital
bone. Fighting on with a facial fracture, Raju recalls thinking to
himself, "Well, this is the path I chose, now I have to deal with it. I
finally realized what I was there to do," he says.
There wasn't a
movie-quality happy ending to Raju's tale of perseverance on that day in
January 2017. He fought through three rounds of agony and still ended
up dropping a unanimous decision to the local fighter. But he saw a
silver lining through it all. "Despite the injury, I fought one of my
best fights ever. It was really painful and I had to have surgery
immediately afterwards. Until that moment, there is always a question
how badly you want something, and at that moment, I realized I really
wanted it," says Raju.
'It', for Raju, was the dream to be a mixed
martial arts fighter. Raju is a seasoned competitor now. Next Friday,
he'll be looking to extend a two-fight win streak at ONE Championship
and improve on a 7-4 record, when he takes on former title contender
Amir Khan in a lightweight contest. When the 29-year-old, who goes by
the moniker 'Kerala Krusher', thinks about his dream, he admits it was
an unlikely one for a Kerala native who'd studied engineering and
already had a well paying, white-collar job as a technician in a
semiconductor plant in Singapore.
Kerala
might be home to the ancient martial art tradition of Kalaripayattu,
but there isn't much of a modern combat sports culture. Certainly not in
the town of Pathanamthitta, in central Kerala where Raju grew up.
"There were some boxing and wrestling training facilities but compared
to North India or the North East, these were really few," he recalls.
The
lack of opportunities didn't stop him from idolizing martial arts -
usually in the form of movies. "I'd watch all the movies I could which
had Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan," he recalls. His parents weren't too keen
about his interest though. "There was a kung fu coaching center near my
home and I used to beg my mother and father to let me join but they'd
always tell me to focus on my studies or tell me they'd think about it
later," he says.
Raju would get his wish through an unexpectedly
fortuitous beating. "I got into a school fight, which ended up with me
getting thrashed by a few seniors. I told my father it wouldn't have
happened if I'd only got some martial arts training and the day after
that incident, he enrolled me for my first class," Raju recalls with a
laugh.
While he became a devoted practitioner, studies remained
his first priority. He studied for a course in mechatronics - an
engineering field that combines robotics, electronics, computer,
telecommunications, systems, control, and product engineering. His
studies would take him to the Temasek Polytechnic institute in
Singapore, where he continued his training, albeit now in the Indonesian
martial art of selat, which was popular at his institute.
It
was in Singapore, in the final semester of his engineering course, that
he was first introduced to mixed martial arts (MMA). It came through a
poster that was put up in his selat training group, advertising an
amateur MMA competition. The only thing he remembers of what it said
were the words "no rules". "I'd never even heard of the sport until
then. But I was really intrigued by the "no rules" concept. I'd gone to a
lot of selat competitions but I felt there were too many restrictions.
But this poster said you could punch, kick, grapple," he recalls.
Raju
entered his name, and although he had never trained a day as a mixed
martial artist, ended up winning. "There were rules that made things
easier for me. You had to stand the fighters up after twenty seconds on
the ground. That worked because I'd only trained as a striker all my
life. In the final, I faced an actual MMA guy. I got taken down a couple
of times and it was just brute strength with which I threw him off.
After that fight I knew that if I had to beat others like that MMA
fighter, if that opponent was a little better, I had no chance. I had to
develop other skills. I had to learn jujitsu and wrestling," he says.
Raju
walked into an MMA gym soon after. His initiation into the sport
coincided with his first job, working in the semiconductor industry.
There was little to complain about the latter, which was what his
education had prepared him for. "I was an a senior technician in a chip
manufacturing plant, testing the microchips for mobile phones. It was an
interesting job," he admits. But even as his desire to excel in his
sport grew, he found himself struggling to find the time to do both.
"I
was doing my job but also training. I was also competing in my first
amateur bouts then. It was nearly impossible to find a balance. I'd
complete my shift and then rush out immediately to get to training.
Often times I'd train without sleep because there wasn't any time. That
caused so many injuries," he recalls. When I got the opportunity to
start coaching in the gym, I took it.
Raju struggled to juggle his
job and his passion for three years before eventually making the
decision to focus entirely on MMA. "I got a job as a trainer at the same
club where I trained and I made the decision to quit my job. My bosses
and colleagues and friends were not that surprised because they knew how
bad I wanted it. They saw I was coming to work without sleep and how I
was running to the gym right after work. My parents were not happy. They
told me to focus on my regular job. But I had a dream and I had to stay
strong," he says.
Having
made his choice, there were tradeoffs to be made. "The first few years
were a struggle. As a trainer, I wasn't making anything like the money I
did in my old job. I had to downgrade a lot of my needs and adjust my
budget. I also couldn't socialize with my friends. If I'd made a
decision to focus on my sport, I had to give it everything," he says.
The
learning curve was steep. Over the first few months of his career,
Raju's broken his collarbone and had several ligament issues. And that
orbital eye fracture in the Philippines. There have been setbacks in the
ring too. In his first fight at ONE Championship, a couple of years
ago, Raju was caught with a counter right hook and knocked out in the
first round.
His passion is undiminished though. "There have been
moments of struggle. Losing in the first round was one of the lowest
moments of my life. It brought out a lot of bad emotions, but as a
fighter you have to put these things aside and remember why you are
doing what you do. From my childhood, I wanted to be a fighter. More
than just a profession, I wanted to be the alpha male in a group. I had
to be the best. First, it was to be the best at the gym, and then it was
to be the best in Singapore. Now it's to be the best at ONE
Championship," he says.
On
a two-fight winning streak now, Raju believes his career has turned the
corner. His grappling game has improved significantly and he now has a
brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. "I'm probably one of only a handful
of Indians who have this," he reckons.
His parents too have come
around to their son's career choice. "It's taken time but they realized
that I wasn't giving this up. They've become very supportive since
then," he says. It wouldn't have mattered even if they hadn't, he says.
"There are parts of India where a career in combat sports is considered
acceptable. It's not the same in Kerala. It's a gradual change and while
I'm happy when I am supported, I don't expect much," he says.
For
now he's just glad to be chasing his own dream. "I don't regret
anything that's happened to me. I consider myself very blessed to have
left my old job. It's probably the best decision I made in my life," he
says.