5.0-Magnitude quake strikes south Japan, no tsunami warning Tokyo, November 27 (IANS): An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck Japan’s southern Ibaraki Prefecture, the weather agency here said Tuesday. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the temblor’s epicenter was located at a latitude of 36.1 degrees north and longitude of 139.9 degrees east and occurred at a depth of 50 km, Xinhua news agency reported. The quake, which struck at 8:33 am local time, logged 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale which peaks at 7 in some areas of Ibaraki, as well as in neighboring prefectures of Tochigi, Gumma and Saitama. The weather agency also said the temblor registered 3 on Japan’s seismic scale in Fukushima, Chiba and Tokyo. There have been no reports so far of major damage or injuries as a result of the inland quake, and no tsunami warning has been issued by the JMA. Japan’s nuclear watchdog has not, thus far, reported any abnormalities at any of its nuclear plants in the affected areas. Apple launches free coding education program for students San Francisco, November 27 (IANS): Apple said Monday it will offer new resources to open thousands of free “Hour of Code” sessions at its Apple Store facilities across the world to bring coding education to students. The Cupertino, California-based company said customers can register for coding education, made available through the Everyone Can Code programme, at the Apple Store locations from Dec. 1 through Dec 14, Xinhua news agency reported. For the sixth year, Apple said it will host Hour of Code daily coding sessions through Today at Apple, which will provide opportunities for people at a variety of skill levels to learn coding. Kids Hour sessions will help children aged six to 12 explore coding with robots, while those aged 12 and above can attend sessions using Swift Playgrounds and iPad to learn coding concepts, Apple said. The sessions are part of Apple’s several programmes being unveiled to help more people learn coding skills both inside and outside the classroom. Also on Monday, Apple encouraged teachers to attend its Computer Science Education Week, an educational campaign scheduled for early December to introduce computer science and coding to K-12 students. Apple created a new Hour of Code Facilitator Guide to help teachers conduct in-classroom education by using Swift Playgrounds and other iPad apps. For coding education outside of the classroom, Apple’s new Swift Coding Club kit gives teachers, students and club mentors the tools they need to start their own coding clubs. The kit, designed for students aged eight years or old, will build their ability to collaborate, prototype apps and how to code an app. ‘Asleep’ pilot missed destination in Australia Canberra, November 27 (IANS): A small plane overshot its destination in Australia by almost 50 km after its pilot fell asleep in the cockpit, air safety officials said on Tuesday. The pilot was the only person on board the Piper PA-31 aircraft from Devonport to King Island in Tasmania on November 8, the BBC reported. The incident, classified as a case of “incapacitation”, is being investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Officials have not said how the pilot awoke before landing the plane safely. “During the cruise, the pilot fell asleep, resulting in the aircraft overflying King Island by 46 kilometres,” the ATSB said in a statement. The ATSB said it would interview the pilot and review operating procedures before releasing a report next year. Last year, five people died when a plane on its way to King Island crashed moments after takeoff in Melbourne. Nepal imports 86% mobile sets from China Kathmandu, November 27 (IANS): Nepal imported 86% of the country’s total mobile sets from China as of the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2018-19 that began in mid-July, the Department of Customs (DoC) said. According to DoC data, Nepal imported a total of 1,173,107 mobile sets from China, accounting for 86% of the total mobile imports, reports Xinhua news agency. The country imported a total of 1,362,331 mobile sets during the period from mid-July to mid-October this year. In terms of value, mobile import from China was worth 5.26 billion Nepali Rupees ($46 million) which is 9.9% of the total import of goods from China. Nepal imported goods worth 53.11 billion Nepali Rupees ($468 million) as of the first three months of this fiscal. Chinese mobile brands like Gionee, Huawei, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Vivo, Oppo and OnePlus are doing brisk business in Nepal, according to importers. Mobile set imports from other countries to Nepal is far lower compared to that from China. Nepal imported the second largest number of mobile sets from India as the Himalayan country imported 114,751 from its southern neighbour followed by 74,198 from Vietnam. Sanjaya Agrawal, chief executive officer of Tele Direct, authorised distributor of Xiaomi mobile phones in Nepal, told Xinhua on Monday that Chinese mobile sets have been popular in Nepal because they have been able to main high quality along with reasonable prices. People jailed for over 2 years can’t contest polls: Bangladesh court Dhaka, November 27 (IANS): A Bangladesh court on Tuesday ruled that people who have been jailed for more than two years with their appeals pending, cannot contest the December 30 general elections. The order was passed in response to an appeal seeking a stay order on the imprisonment of five opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders: Amanullah Aman, AZM Zahid Hossain, Wadud Bhuiyan, Md Moshiur Rahman and Md Abdul Wahab, reports bdnews24. As per the Constitution, if a person is sentenced to more than two years in prison, he or she will not be able to participate in elections until an Appellate Division rejects or suspends the verdict, according to the court observation. Tuesday’s ruling will prevent BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia from contesting the upcoming election as she was awarded a 17-year jail term in two graft cases. US Cyber Monday online sales to reach record $7 bln Washington, November 27 (IANS): American consumers were on track to spend $7.8 billion in online shopping on Cyber Monday, up 18.3% from last year, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 80% of online transactions at 100 of the largest retailers in the US. Cyber Monday, which falls on the first Monday after Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, is considered the biggest online shopping day of the year, reports Xinhua news agency. Last year, it hit a record 6.6 billion dollars in online sales. With growing online sales, Black Friday might be stealing Cyber Monday’s thunder. Online sales for Black Friday reached $6.22 billion, up 23% compared with last year. Smartphone-enabled purchases amounted to $2.1 billion, accounting for one third of the overall sales. Figures from Internet Retailer, a publisher of e-commerce news and analysis, predicted that the total amount to be spent over the period between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday will reach $21.6 billion. For the whole holiday season, which will last until end of December, online sales could hit a record $124 billion, up by 15% from last year, Adobe Analytics said.
