Political

Business

AI: After Odisha TV’s Lisa, e-com startup hires Lina, sacks 90% of staff!

July 11, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Just six months after it jolted the world with its potential, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has started impacting the economy in India. On Monday, Odisha TV launched India’s first regional AI news anchor named “Lisa”, who can speak multiple languages, including Odia and English. The TV station plans to enhance Lisa’s proficiency and […]

Business

Roving Periscope: Will Putin physically attend the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg in August?

July 11, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: With the ongoing Russian war logjammed and producing no tangible results in Ukraine, the Wagner militia’s abortive mutiny in June, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) ’s arrest warrant hanging like a Damocles’ Sword on his head, it would be a surprise if President Vladimir Putin physically attends the BRICS […]

Business

Semiconductors: Taiwan’s chipmaker Foxconn pulls out of Vedanta’s $19.5 bn Gujarat project

July 10, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Taiwan’s chipmaker Foxconn on Monday announced it is pulling out of a joint venture (JV) with Indian conglomerate Vedanta Ltd that was set up to produce semiconductors from Gujarat, the media reported. In 2022, Foxconn and Vedanta signed a pact to invest USD 19.5 billion to set up semiconductor and […]

Business

Media: Now, the BBC ‘covers up’ the anchor’s name after sexual pictures payoff

July 10, 2023 Vinayak Barot

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Weeks after flouting tax norms in India and its disgraced chairman quitting on corruption charges, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a self-proclaimed defender of ‘free’ journalism worldwide, is now being accused of not disclosing the name of an anchor, suspended for payments in a sex scandal. The media reported on […]

Defence

Politics: Dutch PM resigns on migration issue, seeks re-election

July 8, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Days after the killing of an Algerian-origin migrant teenager triggered widespread arson and violence across France, and the Qur’an burning incident in Sweden, which angered Muslims across the world, the Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government collapsed on Friday over “insurmountable” differences on how to tackle migration of aliens into […]

Business

Roving Periscope: “You saved us… prevented bloodbath,” Sri Lanka tells India

July 8, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Friday expressed deep gratitude to India, calling it a “trustworthy friend” which saved the island nation and prevented a “bloodbath” during its unprecedented economic crisis in 2022. He said that not a single nation extended that kind of assistance to Colombo as New […]

Business

Green Cards: Thousands of Indian-Americans may benefit

July 7, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Thousands of Indian-Americans are expected to benefit from the latest US move on providing green cards to them after a US President’s Advisory Commission approved that over 230,000 unused cards for family and employment categories since 1992 be recaptured. A green card, officially known as a Permanent Resident Card (PRC), […]

Business

Roving Periscope: China criticizes India for not signing the SCO Summit Declaration.

July 7, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: It happens rarely when a nation hosting a key international summit refuses to sign the document issued at the end of the event. But that’s what exactly happened on July 4 when India declined to sign the New Delhi Declaration at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit […]

Business

Technology: Meta’s Threads challenges Elon Musk’s Twitter

July 7, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Within 24 hours after its launch, Meta’s fresh-from-oven microblogging platform Threads has attracted over 30 million users worldwide, threatening big-boy Twitter, in what is seen as the latest revolution in the social media networking ecosystem. Marc Zukerberg’s Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, launched the new platform on Thursday, […]

Business

Roving Periscope: Pakistan Army has no fuel for tanks; suspends exercises!

July 6, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit New Delhi: Two years after then Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa admitted that Islamabad cannot go to war against India as its tanks were not in working condition, the bankrupt South Asian country’s troops have also run out of fuel and suspended all military drills and war exercises until the […]