The State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday announced it will not ask customers to maintain a minimum balance in savings accounts, news agency PTI reported.

The state-owned bank rationalised interest rate on savings bank accounts to a flat 3 per cent annum. It also waived off SMS charges.

“This announcement will bring in more smiles and delight to our valuable customers. We believe this initiative would empower our customers towards banking with SBI and boost their confidence in SBI,” said chairman Rajnish Kumar in a statement.

SBI, earlier in the day, slashed its Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) by 10-15 basis points across all tenors from March 10, 2020, moving to make make home and auto loans cheaper. Read Complete Article

Mahindra Group’s MeraKisan, an organic agri producer, has partnered with Ajinkya Rahane, Vice-Captain of the Indian Test Cricket team.

As part of this partnership, Ajinkya has invested and will own equity in MeraKisan and would also be its brand ambassador.

His goal is to contribute toward delivering sustainable prosperity to Indian farmers through the adoption of new-age organic farming techniques which align perfectly with the DNA of MeraKisan, Mahindra said in a statement. The company did not disclose the quantum of investment by the cricketer. Read Complete Article

Hotstar has launched the Disney+ service on its platform. Exclusive Disney content is now available on the platform. Series like Timon and Pumbaa, Atlantis and many more are now available for the VIP users of the streaming service.

Interestingly, no extra charges have been levied for Disney. Most of the Disney titles are available in English and a few India languages like Hindu, Tamil, Telugu, etc. However, The original English version of the shows is available to Premium users only. VIP users can access the Indian language dubbed version, and not the English version.

Disney had announced in February that its subscription-based streaming service Disney Plus, which launched in the US in November, 2019, would arrive in India on March 29 through its Hotstar app. The announcement was made by Disney CEO Robert Iger during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

“We’re excited to announce that we will be launching Disney Plus in India through our Hotstar service on March 29th at the beginning of the Indian Premier League cricket season,” Iger said.

Read Complete Article

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) has announced the roll-out of Android 10 for ROG Phone II. The new development comes after the company started beta testing a few months back.

Android 10 is packed with new features and enhancements that focus on simplifying users’ everyday lives. Highlights include a new Dark theme that can be enabled or disabled for specific apps or the entire phone, making it easier on the eye in dim environments.

Gesture Navigation allows users to perform common tasks, such as navigate back, go to the home screen, or launch Google Assistant, with simple swipe and pull gestures.

Privacy has also been improved to give users easier control over their personal data: all privacy controls are now in one place, and users can customize how location information is shared with apps.

This new update also includes several new system improvements and bug fixes ROG Phone II, making it an even more compelling platform for serious mobile gamers.

Read Complete Article

Be Healthy: These 8 practical tips cover the basics of healthy eating and can help you make healthier choices.

The key to a healthy diet is to eat the right amount of calories for how active you are so you balance the energy you consume with the energy you use.

If you eat or drink more than your body needs, you’ll put on weight because the energy you do not use is stored as fat. If you eat and drink too little, you’ll lose weight.

You should also eat a wide range of foods to make sure you’re getting a balanced diet and your body is receiving all the nutrients it needs.

It’s recommended that men have around 2,500 calories a day (10,500 kilojoules). Women should have around 2,000 calories a day (8,400 kilojoules). Read Complete Article

Until now, you could tell Google Assistant to show you web results for a search term. Now, you can tell the digital assistant to even read out web articles from a browser.

As part of the latest update, if you say, “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page,” and it will read aloud the content of the web page. It will also scroll the page automatically and highlight words are they’re being read to help you follow along, the official blog explains.

You can choose the reading speed and voice. Google Assistant can also trigger the browser to read aloud in 42 languages.

Google and Apple have begun taking action on fake mischievous apps to fight new coronavirus-related misinformation on their app stores.

Apple is removing all coronavirus-related mobile software not from recognized health organizations or the government, reports CNBC.

Google, on the other hand, has stopped throwing results if someone search about coronavirus on its Play Store.

Some of these apps used public data from reliable sources like the World Health Organization (WHO) to create dashboards or live maps.

“Some developers asked not to be named to avoid further complications with Apple’s review process,” the report mentioned.

On the Apple App Store, the top result for “COVID 19” is a “virus tracker” app from a developer called Healthlynked with WHO figures and maps charting where confirmed cases have been.

Read Complete Article

Long queues were witnessed outside YES Bank ATMs and branches even as customers expressed shock at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed month-long moratorium on withdrawals.

“It was shocking that the RBI put a limit of Rs 50,000. I have tried to take out cash from ATMs but they were blocked by YES Bank. NEFT transactions were also not taking place. I came here at 7 am to withdraw money,” Yogesh Sharma, a YES Bank customer at Fort Branch in Mumbai told ANI.

“I will think about continuing my account with YES Bank. I had an account with YES Bank for two years,” he said.

Another customer said: “It was shocking. I think RBI took the decision to make YES Bank strong and structured. I believe RBI will protect depositors’ money.”

RBI on Thursday imposed a month-long moratorium on YES Bank citing “serious deterioration in its financial position”.

Read Complete Article

Be Healthy: It’s not always easy to encourage your children to eat a balanced diet.

Here are ten tips for helping them to develop healthy habits at a young age.

10. Eat breakfast

Eating breakfast, even if it’s just a banana and a glass of milk, kick-starts the body and makes it easier to maintain lasting energy throughout the day.

If you can get your kids to establish the habit of eating a good breakfast at a young age, it should stay with them as they get older.

9. Choose healthier snacks

It’s easy to reach for chips or biscuits when you and your children feel like nibbling on something, but these snacks tend to be low in nutrients and high in calories. Read Complete Article

To date, public health officials have reported tens of thousands of cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

This situation has caused many people around the world to feel anxious about becoming infected, and social media outlets and public forums abound with questions about how to keep COVID-19 at bay.

This Special Feature is a practical guide that describes the best ways to avoid a respiratory infection at home, at work, at school, and while traveling. The recommendations that we outline are based on those of official sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), and the American Red Cross, as well as our correspondence with a WHO spokesperson. Read Complete Article