Author: Vinayak Lalitha

Indian lounges dominated the main Promenade street of Davos, with re-purposed storefronts focused on female leadership and empowerment as well as digital infrastructure. Along the Davos Promenade, attendees of the World Economic Forum stumble across the WeLead Lounge, a repurposed storefront showcasing India’s female leadership and talent. There’s also the India Engagement Center, a space promoting India’s growth story, digital infrastructure, and its burgeoning startup ecosystem. Elsewhere at the forum, Indian technology and consulting giants Wipro, Infosys, Tata and HCLTech are out in full force to showcase the country’s prowess in key technologies like artificial intelligence, the subject that’s on everyone’s lips.…

Shares of India’s Zee Entertainment fell 31% on Tuesday after a division of Japanese tech giant Sony scrapped plans for a merger. Shares of India’s Zee Entertainment fell 31% on Tuesday after a division of Japanese tech giant Sony scrapped plans for a merger. Sony first proposed to combine its India entertainment business with Zee in December 2021. Those negotiations collapsed after more than two years. On Monday, Sony said that it terminated the merger because “among other things, the closing conditions to the Merger were not satisfied” by the agreed closing date. Sony said it had engaged “in good faith” discussions to get…

The phone conversations of ministers through familiar communication apps are not secure, according to a warning issued by the National Intelligence Service (EYP) to government and top state officials. Kathimerini understands the warning was sent in a letter last week to government ministers, triggering concern and fueling scenarios regarding what really drove the country’s intelligence agencies to take the initiative. A well-informed source revealed to Kathimerini that in the letter, EYP briefed government officials that their telephone conversations as well as text messaging through the already known encrypted communication applications should not be considered secure and encrypted. It asks them…

50 individuals who have been languishing at mental hospitals for years to be released soon Over the past decade, 475 individuals awaiting discharge from mental hospitals in Thane, Nagpur, Pune and Ratnagiri have undergone review board assessments, with 263 deemed fit for discharge. The Bombay High Court (HC) recently directed the State Mental Health Authority (SMHA) to create a priority list for the swift rehabilitation of such patients. In prior hearings, the court even came down on the state government authorities for not having a comprehensive plan for discharge in place. The release is now being facilitated in a phased manner, with 50…

Oct 28 (Reuters) – India has set a floor price of $800 per metric ton minimum export price on onions up to Dec. 31, the government said on Saturday, in a bid to ensure adequate domestic availability and to stabilise prices. “The measure has been taken to maintain sufficient availability of onion to domestic consumers at affordable prices as the quantity of stored rabi 2023 onion is declining,” the government said in a statement, referring to crops sown in winter. The government also announced procurement of 200,000 tons of onions for its buffer, over and above the 500,000 tons already…

ASTANA – Kazakh Minister of Internal Affairs Yerzhan Sadenov met with the Deputy Director General of the European Commission for Migration and Home Affairs, Johannes Luchner, to discuss the harmonization and simplification of visa requirements for citizens of Kazakhstan during his working visit to Brussels on Oct. 4, according to Kazinform. According to the Kazakh Embassy in Belgium, Sadenov met with the leadership and experts of the European Commission Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, which is responsible for regulating the visa policy of the Schengen countries for the first time. Minister Sadenov provided detailed information on socio-political reforms…

People from all over the country flocked to the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Sept. 9 and 10 to experience a cultural feast for the senses.  The Festival of India, one of Richmond’s largest Indian showcases, returned for its 42nd year of sharing traditional Indian cuisine, music, dance and clothing.  G. Kurup founded the Festival of India in 1981 as a fundraising event to build a larger temple for the Indian community, according to Bina Mehta, the chair of culture for the festival. “Dr. Kurup is the pioneer of the Hindu temple,” Mehta said. “When the Indian community started growing,…

Frankfurt, Brussels (11/3 – 120 Tajikistan’s reliance on a limited range of export products, including aluminium and cotton, makes its economy vulnerable to external shocks, such as changes in global demand or prices. Diversifying the export base by promoting new industries and products could help to reduce this vulnerability and create new opportunities for growth. The problem is the kleptocratic approach of a Stalin like economic regime of the Rahmonov clan. Improving trade relationships with existing partners, such as China, Turkey, Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan, and exploring new markets could also help to expand the country’s export base. However, to…

Fugitive tycoon Vassil Bojkov, former lottery business and football club owner, was arrested in Sofia after suddenly returning from exile in Dubai on Friday. Exiled and charged Bulgarian mogul Vassil Bojkov has been arrested after surprisingly announcing earlier on Friday that he was flying back to Bulgaria from Dubai, where he was based the last three years. Bojkov was put under arrest for 72 hours on arrival at Sofia airport on 20 charges, including being a leader of an organised crime group, wrongfully obtaining cultural and historical riches, murder threats and orchestrating assassinations. He was travelling on a commercial flight…

According to a report by the news agency PTI, the website of a prominent private school in the Indian city of Noida, Uttar Pradesh was hacked by an unknown group identifying itself as “Muslim hackers from Bangladesh,” on Thursday (August 10).  About the hack The incident came to light on Thursday night and the local police said that they are yet to receive a complaint about the alleged hack.  “When liberty is at risk, expect us,” read a line from a message visible on the website’s homepage, as quoted by the media report. It added, “We are Bangladeshi Muslim hacker’s never try to…