Portrait News

Tim Cook encouraging remote work at Apple global offices due to coronavirus Calling the coronavirus outbreak an “unprecedented event,” Apple CEO Tim Cook is encouraging employees at several of its global offices to “please feel free to work remotely if your job allows” from March 9th to 13th, Bloomberg reports. Cook sent a memo to employees which expands Apple’s earlier work-from-home provisions for some Apple workers in California and the Seattle area. He said in the memo that the company is “making a major effort to reduce human density” and the remote work policy will apply to offices in “areas with the greatest density of...

Veteran journalist Anant Dixit passes away at 67 Veteran Marathi journalist Anant Dixit died here on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 67. According to sources close to his family members, Dixit was suffering from a kidney-related ailment and was undergoing treatment at a city-based private hospital where he breathed his last in evening. His last rites will be performed on Wednesday. He hailed from Barshi in neighbouring Solapur district. Dixit had worked as the editor of Marathi newspaper ‘Sakal’ in Pune as well as in Kolhapur, and also for daily ‘Lokmat’. Source: Hindustan Times

Hans Raj Bhardwaj, former Union Law minister, dies at 82 Former Union Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj passed away Sunday due to a cardiac arrest, PTI quoted his family as saying. Bhardwaj, 82, was a Congress leader and part of the UPA government, holding the second-longest tenure in the Law ministry. He was the Karnataka Governor between 2009 and 2014 and was given additional charge as the Governor of Kerala in January 2012, which he left in March 2013. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief on the Congress leader’s death, as the Prime Minister’s Office wrote o Twitter quoting him: “Anguished by...

Women’s Day 2020: ‘Be a water warrior,’ posts another woman achiever from PM’s social media account The fourth woman achiever to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s social media accounts on the occasion of Women’s Day on Sunday was Kalpana Ramesh. Kalpana is a crusader in the fight against water scarcity who puts novel ideas and techniques in place to ensure that our future generation and the environment has enough of it to survive and thrive. “I never imagined I could bring back birds to a lake or tweet from our PMs handle. With a firm resolve, the impossible can emerge. We...

Explained: Who was the woman to have organised the first-ever Women’s Day International Women’s Day (IWD), observed every year on March 8, celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Being celebrated for over a century, the Day’s roots lie in the labour movement rather than the feminist movement. It was first organised in 1911 by the early 20th century Marxist from Germany, Clara Zetkin. A prominent feminist, Zetkin is referred to as the “grandmother of German communism”. Source: The Indian Express

Kamala Harris endorses Joe Biden as Democratic presidential candidate “Biden has served our country with dignity and we need him now more than ever,” she said in a Twitter post. Her announcement is another boost for Mr Biden, the Democratic front runner to take on Donald Trump in November. Ms Harris, seen as a rising star within the party, dropped out of the presidential race in December. Support for Mr Biden surged in the Super Tuesday Democratic primaries last week, with the 77-year-old winning 10 of the 14 states that voted. The list of possible candidates who might realistically win the nomination...

Indian banks well capitalised, no reason to worry: CEA Krishnamurthy Subramanian NEW DELHI : Allaying concerns over banking sector health in the wake of Yes Bank fiasco, Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian on Sunday said Indian banks are well capitalised and there is no reason to worry. He further said that it is a wrong method to assess a lender’s health based on the ratio of deposit to m-cap (market capitalisation). “What I want to emphatically state that the m-cap ratio is a totally incorrect metric for assessing the safety of the banks. No banking sector expert or banking regulator uses...

Women entrepreneurs key to Amway’s future in India: Global CEO Milind Pant US-based direct selling major Amway expects women entrepreneurs to play a crucial role in its future growth in India — one of the four countries which it has identified as a key market, according to the company’s global CEO Milind Pant. The company, which has set a target of helping “a billion people live healthier” by 2029 under a 10-year plan to mark its 70th anniversary, currently has women accounting for around 60% of the 5.5 lakh-odd distributors it has in India. “India is going to be a...

Kareena Kapoor is looking for right script to work with sister Karisma Kareena Kapoor Khan is looking for the right script to work with her elder sister Karisma Kapoor in a film. “We have always wanted to work together but till now we haven’t got that kind of script. We have not liked anything. Somebody should come with a good script then, we will consider,” said Kareena at a special screening of Karisma’s debut web series, Mentalhood. Mentalhood marks Karisma’s return to acting after a long time, and Kareena feels fans were waiting for the comeback to happen. “I think everybody is excited...

Jonty Rhodes reveals why his application for Team India’s fielding coach got rejected Having Jonty Rhodes as the fielding coach is nothing less than a dream for any team in the world. The former South Africa star is widely regarded as the best fielder to have ever graced the game. But despite his credentials, he failed to get the job of India’s fielding coach last year. Rhodes was one of the high profile names who had applied for the post but he missed out as the BCCI re-appointed R Sridhar as the fielding coach. In fact, Rhodes’ application did not even make...