Tag: of

Life of a finance head in the time of COVID-19 in Wallonia

Loknath Das

Akash Ohri moved to the Seraing municipality in Liege province of Belgium as the Financial Controller for the industry sector at industrial machinery manufacturer John Cockerill Group in July 2019. The group, having a turnover of 1.3 billion euros, has five verticals and the industry sector is one of them. For Ohri, this move from India to Belgium was a transfer within the company because of a shuffle of responsibilities. Ohri is a board member of the Indian subsidiary CMI Industry Automation and the Chinese joint venture Cockerill Engineering Beijing…

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What you need to know about your home finance in the time of Covid-19

Loknath Das

With lockdown and its economic fallout causing untold damage to the economy, more and more South Africans are finding themselves on unpaid leave, reduced salary packages or laid-off entirely. This is places many homeowners under severe stress when it comes to keeping up with their mortgage repayments and could well be deterring new buyers from entering the market as well. Under difficult circumstances like these, it’s easy to give in to feelings of hopelessness. However, according to Leonard Kondowe, National Admin Hub Manager for Rawson Finance, there are actually some…

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Tata Motors, two group finance firms accused of antitrust violations in India: Sources

Loknath Das

India’s competition regulator is examining allegations that Tata Motors and two finance firms of its $100 billion parent group abused their market position while selling commercial vehicles, according to three sources and legal documents seen by Reuters. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is reviewing a complaint which alleges the country’s biggest seller of trucks dictated terms around the quantity and type of vehicles its former dealer in northern India – Varanasi Auto Sales – should stock. More than a dozen lawyers representing the three Tata companies attended a private hearing at…

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China theft of technology is biggest law enforcement threat to US, FBI says

Loknath Das

A lamp post outside the White House is adorned with Chinese and US national flags in Washington. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images The FBI on Thursday identified China as the biggest law enforcement threat to the United States, and its director said Beijing was seeking to steal American technology by “any means necessary”. The FBI director, Christopher Wray, told a conference the bureau currently had about 1,000 investigations open into Chinese technology theft across its 56 regional offices. The agency’s counterintelligence chief, John Brown, said the bureau arrested 24 people in 2019 in…

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‘Do not travel to China’ because of coronavirus risk, US tells citizens

Loknath Das

Americans shouldn’t travel to China because of the risks from the new coronavirus, the US State Department said. US citizens currently in China should “consider departing using commercial means,” the alert said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed the warning on Twitter. A Level 4 travel advisory is the most severe warning issued by the State Department, and it applies only to areas with a “greater likelihood of life-threatening risks.” The warning cites a decision earlier today by the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a global public health emergency. The virus has…

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Why This Is The Era Of Crossroads For Technology

Loknath Das

When digital became the New Normal, a silo that used to be the safe dwelling place of nerds and geeks all over the world suddenly opened up to the mainstream. When I was studying computer science at the beginning of the nineties, most of my non-engineering friends had no interest whatsoever in technology. Now I see them casually talking about the impressive 12 Megapixel camera on their latest Smartphone or their AI-powered lawn mower robot. Technology is no longer the sole domain of the technologist. It is now the intersection…

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And justice for all: new issue of Future Power Technology

Loknath Das

Future Power Technology is now available on all devices. Read the new issue here. At the Business Booster event in Paris, former Irish President Mary Robinson highlighted the need for a “just” energy transition. We consider whether renewable power can deliver social change, as well as technological change, and some of the companies and projects leading the way. Also, we look at whether California’s energy infrastructure can keep up with its ambitions, ask what makes a PPA more attractive than buying energy off power companies, and talk to Good Energy about…

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Best of The Interpreter 2019: Technology

Loknath Das

The endless blessings of technology – where would we be without them? Not reading this page, for a start. Several decades into the so-called digital revolution (depending where you mark the start), tech has become almost as essential to our everyday lives as air and water, and yet behind the utopian glimmer, doubts linger that we have tricked ourselves, and the Luciferian fire that brings light also has the power to consume us and destroy us. The Interpreter traced how technology has continued to influence and infiltrate international affairs this past…

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Benefits and importance of open source technology for enterprises

Loknath Das

Technology should be carefully selected to actively grow business over the long term, so it requires careful consideration and foresight. Open source has been gaining popularity or a long time due to the benefits it comes with. Those who don’t know the difference between the two, open source software’s source code is available to everyone. Anyone can modify its code while proprietary software is owned by enterprises or individuals and its source code can only be modified by its owners. Enterprises that use open source software enjoy many advantages over…

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Qantas completes record 19-hour flight to test limits of air travel

Loknath Das

Qantas just broke a record for air travel, and it may have helped science in the process. The Australian airline has completed the first non-stop commercial flight from New York City to Sydney as part of a project researching the effects of very long flights — in this case, 19 hours and 16 minutes. The study measured pilots’ brain waves, melatonin and overall alertness, while passengers helped gauge the effectiveness of anti-jetlag measures like changes to cabin lighting and meals. Travelers even participated in exercises to keep their bodies limber. There are two…

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