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Traffic congestion, waterlogging in several areas of Mumbai amid downpour

As heavy rains returned to the city with thunderstorms and flashes of lightning, this Sunday didn’t feel like a much relaxing holiday for people commuting via the Mumbai roads.

From the Western Express Highway (WEH) to the Vakola Flyer and even the Andheri Subway, there were several waterlogging reports due to heavy rains on Saturday night and Sunday morning across the city.

“It was Ganpati, and for working people like us, Sundays are the only day we get to actually celebrate by visiting our relatives’ houses or for pandal-hoppings. We started from our home in the morning around 8:30, but got stuck at WEH for more than 30 minutes due to traffic congestion in the entire stretch,” said a resident of Andheri, who didn’t wish to reveal her name.

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Delhi to get an infrastructure boost, government to build elevated road, flyover, underpass

Delhi to get an infrastructure boost, government to build elevated road, flyover, underpass

In a meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) held recently, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has approved Rs 266.89 cr for the project, it said. The Delhi government will construct an underpass at Loni Chowk and a flyover between Nand Nagri and Gagan Cinema to reduce traffic snarls in northeast Delhi. Sisodia, who also holds the PWD portfolio, approved these two projects worth Rs 341.2 crore in the EFC meeting, his office said in another statement.

Sharing details about the GT Road project, Sisodia said the Delhi Metro and PWD are working together on this project, which "will reduce the cost of construction work by about Rs 150 crore". The total length of this 2+2 lane flyover from Azadpur to Tripolia Gate will be about 2.2 km and will decongest the traffic between Central Delhi and North Delhi. The elevated road will help in eliminating the traffic problem and increase road capacity.

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Fresh tussle at the Noida twin towers site: residents, builder lock horns

There’s a fresh fight brewing over the twin towers project land in Emerald Court society, in Noida’s sector 93A. The project lands were leased to Supertech by the Noida authority in 2004 and 2006. Now that the twin towers have been reduced to rubble and work is underway to dispose of the debris, all eyes are on what use the 8,000 square metres would be put to.

Supertech's chairman and managing director R. K. Arora told news agency ANI that the company will construct a new project on the land with the approval of the Noida authority, as also with the consent of the Emerald Court residents’ welfare association (RWA).

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Sundar Pichai pledges $20mn to train 11mn students in computer science

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced a $20 million grant to impart computer science education to 11 million students in the US.

This brings Google’s total commitment to computer science education to more than $240 million since 2004.

“We’ll focus our efforts on supporting national and local organizations who reach underserved students in major urban centers and rural communities, and who help governments and educators implement CS education plans nationwide,” Pichai said in a statement late on Thursday.

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Crypto scammer stole $2 billion from clients, faces 40,000 years in jail

The founder of a Turkish crypto exchange platform who fled after stealing $2 billion from clients has been arrested in Albania. Faruk Faith Ozer, founder of Thodex, is currently facing extradition back to Turkey, where he could be sentenced to 40,564 years in jail.

Ozer fled Turkey in April 2021 after stealing around $2 billion from 400,000 clients. He initially claimed that Thodex had to stop trading due to cyberattacks. Within a week, however, clients lost access to their accounts and subsequently, their crypto funds as the 28-year-old founder fled the country.

Ozer, who became the subject of international investigation, was recently tracked down in Albania where his identity was confirmed using biometric authentication. He had reportedly shaved his head to avoid identification but fingerprint data and facial recognition helped confirm him as the fraudster.