MUMBAI — Saket Agarwal is a 30-year-old chartered accountant in India. How did he become Israel’s unofficial business and technology ambassador for his home country? It’s an inspiring story of how one man can significantly impact two countries — one small (Israeli population: 9 million) and one huge (Indian population: 1.35 billion). Agarwal’s unusual 5-year-old enterprise, Onnivation Ventures, offers a curated package of 15 Israeli deep-tech companies to solve challenges for India’s largest and most influential corporations and tech unicorns. “India is a land of consumers. Because our population is so large, we think of solving more consumer-led problems, while Israel…
Author: zenger.news
ALGIERS, Algeria — A report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron will do little to achieve the goal of reconciliation with its former colony, according to survivors of Algeria’s war of independence, who say nothing short of an apology from Macron for French atrocities will suffice. Labeled a document for the “reconciliation of memories” between France and Algeria, the French report outlined steps needed to heal the wounds between France and its former colony, including the after effects of atrocities committed during Algeria’s war of independence from 1954 to 1962. Macron received the report on Jan. 20 at the presidential…
HENAN, China — A bizarre video of an orthopedic surgeon breaking his arm during an arm-wrestling match with another doctor has been recorded. The incident occurred on Jan 22 in Zhumadian city, in the central Chinese province of Henan. The video of two doctors competing in a friendly arm-wrestling match, which ended on a bad note as one of the doctors accidentally broke his colleague’s arm. “Fortunately, the problem is not very serious, and now I can go to work normally, but I need to rest for a while,” the injured doctor said. The two doctors, who were not named,…
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany — The German police have confiscated a miniature gun capable of firing live ammunition from a man planning to fly with it to Australia. The mini flintlock pistol was a part of a keyring belonging to the man. The 76-year-old man was planning to travel Down Under on a flight with the keyring. However, he decided at the last minute to go to the local police station in the district of Blumke-Huellen in the German city of Gelsenkirchen and find out if it was allowed. Shocked cops then revealed to him that it was not only illegal to…
VIENNA, Austria — A baby koala born in Tiergarten Schönbrunn or Vienna Zoo in Austria has turned 9 months old and is all set to amuse the visitors once the zoo reopens for the public. In a video released by the zoo authorities on Jan 27, the cute joey can be seen climbing her mama’s back and making its way to the branches, reaching out to its food. “Our #Koala girl Millaa Millaa is now nine months old and already weighs 1.9 kg,” reads a tweet by zoo authorities. “The little one likes to be carried around on the back by #Mama Bunji, cuddles up…
PUNE, India — Indian information technology giant Tech Mahindra, which is a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group, will part ways with 5,000 employees from its business process services division with the coming in of automation and artificial intelligence, stated local media reports. The company’s profit after tax stood at $177.7 million in the October to December period of 2020, up 23.7 percent from the previous quarter. Despite the company declining to comment on the job cuts, industry experts believe automation has contributed to these mass job losses because it has brought along increased levels of productivity and revenue. “Those were the low-end…
MUMBAI, India – Sales of 5G iPhones in China helped push Apple’s fourth-quarter earnings to a record-setting $111.4 billion for the three months ending Dec. 26, 2020, a 21 percent jump in revenue year over year. China reported a 57 percent increase in iPhone sales, to $21.3 billion, on pent-up demand since the pandemic, according to media reports. Apple also shipped 1.5 million iPhones to India during the fourth quarter, another record for the company, according to Hong Kong-based research firm Counterpoint. “International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a Jan.…
NEW DELHI — The legal battles between multinational giants Future Group and Amazon continue, as the India-based retailer filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court on Feb. 3 against a court order a day earlier blocking the sale of Future Group assets to another mega-company, Reliance Retail. Amazon in October 2020 sought to halt Future Group’s deal to sell its assets to Reliance for INR 24,713 crore ($3.4 billion). In 2019, Amazon acquired a 49 percent stake in Future Coupons, the promoter firm of Future Retail, for about INR 2,000 crore (about $272 million), giving Amazon a 3.6 percent stake in Future Group. Amazon…
NEW DELHI – Tweets by Rihanna and Greta Thunberg in support of the ongoing farmers protests around New Delhi have kicked up a storm on social media and prompted pushback from the Indian government. Rhianna’s tweet, which had been retweeted 223,000 times as of the morning of Feb. 3, included a link to a CNN story about India cutting internet service in Delhi as farmers clashed with police. Among those who shared Rhianna’s tweet was Human Rights Watch, which posted: “Indian authorities should be releasing activists and others already jailed or facing criminal charges in politically motivated cases, not adding to that…
ISLAMABAD – The Taliban this week posted a strongly worded tweet warning against “the presence of foreign occupation forces” in Afghanistan and countries “baselessly” asserting that the Islamic Emirate is “continuing a senseless war, is killing civilians, is destroying public infrastructure and is involved in assassinations.” “The Islamic Emirate has a legal right to free its homeland from the presence of occupying forces with every lawful means necessary,” states the Feb. 1 tweet. The tweet posted by its spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, said, “Unfortunately most countries, including the European Union, are either directly or indirectly involved in the tragedies, destruction, bombings,…