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- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): Costlier crude oil along with a stronger US dollar will erode Spritzer's Bhd profit margin, the bottled water producer admitted. "Costlier oil will translate into costlier PET resin, which is the main raw material used in making the [plastic] bottles. "PET resin is normally quoted in US dollar so a stronger US dollar would mean we will have to pay more for our PET resin," a company representative said in a brief email reply to theedgemarkets.com recently, when asked about the impact of surging oil prices on its manufacturing costs. According to the US-based PET Resin Association, PET — which is short for polyethylene terephthalate, the chemical name for polyester — is a clear, strong, and lightweight plastic made from crude oil and ethane extracted from natural gas that is widely used for packaging food and beverages, especially convenience-sized soft drinks, juices and water. Following Russia's incursion into Ukraine, oil prices … [Read more...] about Spritzer admits costlier crude oil, stronger US dollar will erode its profit margin

According to the Health DG, the average infectivity rate showed a 1.9% drop compared to the previous week. (Photo by Zahid Izzani Mohd Said/The Edge) - A + A KUALA LUMPUR (June 27): The number of new Covid-19 infections in the country for the 25th epidemiology week (ME 25), which began from June 19 to 25, saw a 10.9% increase to 15,739 cases compared with 14,195 cases the week before. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said, however, the number of deaths showed a 38.1% drop, with 13 cases compared with 21 cases in the previous week. “The number of recovered cases in ME 25 also showed a rise of 33.8%, namely from 10,524 to 14,078 cases,” he said in a statement on Monday (June 27). Dr Noor Hisham said the admission of Covid-19 patients into health facilities (public hospitals and Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres) per 100,000 population increased by 11% in ME 25 compared to the earlier week. He said the number of Covid-19 patient … [Read more...] about Covid-19: Rise in new infections, drop in fatalities last week, says Health DG

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin When the German government announced in late 2021 its plan to legalize recreational cannabis sales in Germany , experts and cannabis enthusiasts put great expectations on the so-called "traffic light" government's plan to regulate the industry. Although Germany and other European countries focused in recent months on the war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February and the resulting efforts to detach themselves from Russian energy dependence, German officials had time to speed up the process of legalizing recreational cannabis . The consultation process Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues Burkhard Blienert officially announced on July 13 the kickoff of the first of five expert hearings to prepare for the planned legislative process to legalize recreational cannabis. More than 200 leading German and international experts will exchange their views on the legalization. The planned … [Read more...] about Inside The Process To Legalize Recreational Cannabis In Germany

Representative Image The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on June 23 issued draft guidelines for outsourcing of information technology (IT) services by lenders. The underlying principle of these guidelines is that the regulated entities must ensure that their outsourcing arrangements neither diminish their ability to fulfil their obligations to customers nor impede effective surveillance by the supervising authority, the central bank said. Through this explainer, Moneycontrol answers five key questions on why the regulator had to issue the new guidelines. What do the draft guidelines say? As per draft norms, lenders must consider all relevant laws, regulations, guidelines and conditions of approval while performing its due diligence during outsourcing of IT services. They should identify the list of services provided by the third-party service provider, including key entities involved in their supply chains. Lenders must also map their dependency on other parties and … [Read more...] about Explained: Why did RBI come out with new draft norms for IT services outsourcing by banks?

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Our global society is heavily dependent on space-based technologies. Most of us are aware that space positioning, weather and communications systems are critical to our transportation activities. I’m writing this article on a plane that is using GPS to route my flight safely around severe weather patterns that have been identified by satellites. If I finish this article inflight, I’ll upload it for publication at Forbes via a geosynchronous communications satellite. Still, many people would be surprised to learn that modern factories also depend on satellites . Manufacturing automation systems synchronize the operations of multiple robots on their production lines using the timing signals provided by GPS satellites . In fact, GPS is really a collection of 24 (plus spares) orbiting atomic clocks, each continually broadcasting time data. Your Uber is guided by tiny differences in the time signal emanating from four or more … [Read more...] about Cyber Threats Beyond Earth: Securing In-Space Manufacturing