Receiver shuts off when volume turned up

Uditha Jayasinghe (Reuters) (The Jakarta Post) PREMIUM Colombo   ● Tue, June 28 2022 Troops in Sri Lanka handed tokens on Monday to people queuing for petrol amid a severe fuel shortage in the nation battling its worst economic crisis in seven decades, while schools shut in Colombo and public employees were asked to work from home. With its foreign-exchange reserves at a record low, the island of 22 million is struggling to pay for essential imports of food, medicine and most critically, fuel. "I have been in line for four days, I haven't slept or eaten properly during this time," said auto-rickshaw driver W.D. Shelton, 67, one of those who received a token meant to hold his place in the queue for when fuel becomes available. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs … [Read more...] about Crisis-hit Sri Lanka shuts schools, urges work-from-home to save fuel

Source: Reuters Over 79,000 calls, including those related to pension, Covid support and abuse, have been received by the national helpline for the elderly since October last year, according to official data. However, out of the total 5,07,493 calls received by the helpline since October 1 last year, 4,28,442 have been 'non serviceable calls', constituting 84 per cent of the total calls received on the helpline. The non-serviceable calls include call drops, nuisance calls, calls for services for non-elderly, calls with out of scope requests and calls outside office hours. As many as 79,051 serviceable calls have been received by the helpline over the period on issues related to pension (22,430 calls), Covid support (6,406), abuse (4,748), old age homes (2040), emotional support (1,856) and maintenance (1,326), according to official data. More calls on the toll-free number 14567 have been received from men (44,348) than women (18,363). The helpline was launched to address … [Read more...] about Helpline for elderly receives over 79,000 calls seeking pension, COVID support

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A DESPITE the reopening of borders since April 1, when Malaysia allowed quarantine-free travel for fully-vaccinated travellers into the country, it will be some time before the hotel industry regains a strong footing following the debilitating lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. In fact, it may well take another year at least before operators can operate at their full capacities at pre-pandemic levels, Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (MAHO) president Tan Sri Teo Chiang Hong tells The Edge. “Average occupancy rates are an estimated 30% to 50% of pre-pandemic levels,” says Teo, who is owner and director of One World Hotel in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. He notes that resort destinations are seeing full occupancies while city hotels still face low occupancy. As at November 2020, a total of 204 tourism and hotel operators had shut down following the impact of the … [Read more...] about The State of the Nation: Hospitality industry struggling to cope despite borders reopening, brighter prospects

Representative image Small Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies that operate at regional levels are struggling in the face of unprecedented inflation across categories. Several of these companies have witnessed a slump in sales, according to data from Kantar, the data analytics and brand consulting firm, despite the overall categories posting growth. For instance, Ponvandu and Oorvashi, noted South Indian detergent bar brands, lost 17 percent and 8 percent of their sales by volume, respectively, in February, March and April compared to the same period last year, shows data from Kantar. The overall detergent bar category, however, grew 2.3 percent in the period, according to Kantar. Other local brands are in a similar situation. (As shown below) Close Small brands ideally are expected to gain out of inflation, which typically prompts consumer to switch to smaller and cheaper versions when confronted with price hikes in products of daily use. The … [Read more...] about Small FMCG companies struggle despite consumers switching to cheaper products

Have an idea for a new product? Early on, spend some time determining what your strategy for bringing it to market will be. Is venturing required, or can you license it instead Personally, after venturing uniquely shaped guitar picks geared towards fans and licensing many of my ideas , I'd choose the latter every time. That's because running a small business, even an ultimately successful one, stressed me out. Who wants to worry about cash flow? I much preferred the freedom to keep creating that licensing affords. Primarily because you can get to market faster, licensing to a large company is also one of the best ways of protecting yourself. These are among the many benefits of licensing . If this is the route you choose, it's understandable, then, that you might be asking yourself how to get the highest royalty rate possible. Royalty rates differ across industries. Knowing what's typical can be extremely helpful when negotiating, so get familiar with the … [Read more...] about How to Get a Higher Royalty Rate For Your Invention

- A + A HONG KONG/JOHANNESBURG (June 27): Prosus NV is planning to sell more of its US$134 billion stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd to finance a buyback programme, reversing a pledge to hold onto the full shareholding. Tencent declined in Hong Kong on Monday as investors pondered the extent to which Prosus, the Chinese company’s biggest shareholder, will unload its stock. The shares fell as much as 2.5% and traded 1.6% lower at the close. “We will keep selling Tencent shares to buy back our own, it’s open-ended and an unlimited programme,” Prosus Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk said in an interview. “It’s actually a small part of Tencent daily traded volumes — it should be maximum between 3% to 5%.” The move represents a change of heart by Dutch e-commerce giant Prosus — majority owned by South Africa’s Naspers Ltd — which said after its last sale in April 2021 it wouldn’t offload more shares for three years. The company, spun off from … [Read more...] about Tencent backer Prosus to cut US$134 bil stake to buy stock

Lee Ha-kyung The author is the chief editor of the JoongAng Ilbo. A perfect storm is threatening the Korean Peninsula. President Yoon Suk-yeol raised the alarm about the mix of crisis factors in the economy. Economic policy chiefs insist on taking emergency and preemptive measures to weather the storm. We are back to the wake of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, where dissident-turned-president Kim Dae-jung helped save the country from the brink of a national default. Frankly, I had never imagined Kim would become a president. To foreign eyes, he was a symbol and hope for Korean democracy. But at home, he was an anti-government threat to the military regime at war with North Korea. I interviewed Kim when he was confined at home upon returning to Seoul in February 1985 from the U.S., where he had stayed after his release from a death sentence for treason. Kim was watched day and night by intelligence officers. He had to raise the volume of the FM radio to avoid wiretapping. … [Read more...] about Miracles don’t come on their own

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A THE momentum to adopt environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and sustainability practices in the capital market has picked up significantly in the past few years. By the third quarter of 2021, assets in global sustainable funds hit a record high, according to investment research firm Morningstar. At the same time, more than 70 countries — including the biggest polluters — have set a net-zero target and over 1,200 companies have put in place science-based targets to reach net-zero emissions, according to the United Nations. In Malaysia, at least 44 out of the 54 Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) funds approved by Securities Commission Malaysia were launched in the last two years. As at December 2021, 94% of the top 50 listed companies in Malaysia had ESG strategies and 68% had emissions reduction policies, according to PwC’s research. … [Read more...] about HONOURING MALAYSIA’S BEST PERFORMERS IN ESG EXCELLENCE: The Edge to roll out Malaysia’s first ESG awards

- A + A (June 27): Russia defaulted on its external sovereign bonds for the first time in a century, the culmination of ever-tougher Western sanctions that shut down payment routes to overseas creditors. For months, Russia had found paths around the penalties imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. But at the end of the day on Sunday, the grace period on about US$100 million of trapped interest payments due May 27 expired, a deadline considered an “Event of Default” if missed. The route to this point has been far from normal, as Russia has the resources to pay its bills — and tried to do so — but was blocked by the sanctions. Those restrictions also mean there’s huge uncertainty about what comes next, and about how investors can go about getting their money. “With Russia benefiting from the high price of its energy exports, it clearly has both the means and the desire to pay its foreign debt,” said Giles Coghlan, chief analyst at HYCM Group. It’s a … [Read more...] about Russia slips into historic default as sanctions muddy next steps

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Youth mental illness has reached crisis levels in America. The percentage of adolescents who have experienced at least one major depressive episode increased by 60 percent from 2007 to 2019. Rates of anxiety, self-harm, and attempted suicide were skyrocketing even before the Covid-19 pandemic, and since then matters have only gotten worse . Filmmaker Ken Burns has executive produced a powerful new two-part documentary film on this subject. Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness will air on June 27 and 28 at 9:00 pm ET on PBS and will be available for streaming on the PBS App. The film was directed and edited by Burns’ long-time colleagues Erik Ewers and Christopher Ewers. It shares the voices of 21 diverse youth across America who are living with mental health challenges, addressing issues of stigma, discrimination, awareness, and silence. Hiding in Plain Sight is part of a larger public media mental … [Read more...] about Ken Burns And Ewers Brothers Spotlight Youth Mental Illness In New Documentary