Uber on Thursday announced the appointment of Prabhjeet Singh as President Uber India and South Asia, tasked with overseeing the next phase of growth in the company’s  mobility business and ensuring safety for riders and drivers across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

His appointment is effective immediately.

While making the announcement Pradeep Parameswaran, Regional General Manager for Asia Pacific, said, “I’m delighted to announce that Prabh is  replacing me as Uber’s new President for India and South Asia, one of our fastest growing and most strategic markets."

"Prabh is a passionate and innovative leader and has been instrumental in helping build Uber from the ground up and established our category leadership in the ride-sharing market. I’m confident Prabh will exceed our expectations by leading Uber India SA on to the path of profitability, further consolidate our partnership with public transport authorities, continue our growth trajectory by expanding Auto and Moto to the next batch of cities, and build iconic teams.’’

Commenting on his new appointment Prabhjeet, said, “I’m thrilled to have been given the responsibility of leading Uber in India and South Asia, and look forward to collaborating with exceptional teams and gifted colleagues across the Uber family to strengthen our services and product offerings."

"Uber is an integral part of the fabric of our cities and as they start moving again, we have prioritized the highest standards of safety, sustainability and service that our riders and drivers expect of us.’’

Prabh, an IIT Kharagpur and IIM-A alum, joined Uber in August 2015 from McKinsey and Co., where he was an Associate Partner. Since, he’s been part of the core team that adapted the global business model to India, launched multiple new cities and led several India-first innovations, including scaling up Auto and Moto categories and building a multi-modal platform, which have both been exported to other emerging markets.

The federal government incurred the biggest monthly budget deficit in history last month as spending on programmes to combat the coronavirus recession exploded while millions of job losses cut into tax revenues.

The Treasury Department reported that the deficit hit $864 billion in June while for the first nine months of this budget year, which began October 1, the deficit totals $2.74 trillion.

That puts the country well on the way to hitting the $3.7 trillion deficit for the whole year that has been forecast by the Congressional Budget Office, reports AP.

That total would surpass the previous annual record of $1.4 trillion set in 2009 when the government was spending heavily to lift the country out of the recession caused by the 2008 financial crisis.

The Trump administration is predicting that the economy will make a comeback in the second half of this year but many private forecasters are concerned that a resurgence of virus cases could make consumers too fearful to resume spending, which drives 70 percent of the economy.

Congress, which has already approved more than $3 trillion in a series of rescue packages, is scheduled to debate another support effort when it returns from recess on June 20. Democrats are pushing for an extension of the expanded unemployment benefits which will soon run out.

“The risk is that the deficit will be larger due to additional stimulus but given the congressional timetable, the impact of the next package will likely be skewed to fiscal 2021, which starts Oct 1,” Nancy Vanden Houten, senior economist at Oxford Economics said.

Read Also: As budget deficit balloons, few in Washington seem to care

Leading ICT infrastructure provider Huawei has ranked 6th in the Boston Consulting Group’s recently released list of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2020, moving up by 42 places.

According to the report, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Huawei occupy the top 6 spots in the new ranking, followed by Alibaba, IBM, Sony and Facebook, said a press release.

The ranking is based on a survey of 2,500 global innovation executives and assesses

companies’ performance on four dimensions of Global “Mindshare”, Industry Disruption, Industry Peer View and Value Creation.

This year, BCG also added a new scoring dimension that captures each company’s variety and intensity of boundary-breaking, by assessing its ability to breach established industry entry barriers and play in an array of markets outside its own.

As the world’s largest supplier of telecommunications equipment, Huawei has continuously invested over 10percent of its annual revenue back into R&D.

In 2019, the company’s R& D expenditure totaled CNY131, 659 million (Chinese Yuan, $1 = CNY7 approx.) accounting for 15.3% of its total revenue.

In terms of 5G, Huawei invested 4 billion USD in the past decade, which makes it the global leader in this next-generation technology. To further commercial adoption and promote new innovation in 5G applications, the company has established 5G joint innovation centers together with carriers worldwide.

Huawei, the global leading provider of ICT technologies, has received grand prizes in Interop Tokyo 2020, the largest ICT exhibition in Japan.

Interop Tokyo 2020 announced the winners of the ‘Best of Show Awards’ with Huawei’s innovative products and solutions winning eight awards, said a press release.

The first one came in Network Infrastructure for showing the industry’s first super C-band transmission product while the prizes come in different categories, namely Cloud Infrastructure, Server and Storage, IoT, Facility solution, AI solution and Enterprise IT.

Read Also: Huawei’s solution for SSC results over SMS avoiding virus

The awards show the industry’s recognition of Huawei’s emphasis on innovation and quality and it’s a reflection of its long-term strategic investment in R&D.

Affected by the pandemic, Interop Tokyo 2020 canceled on-site demonstrations, with online demonstrations and ICT award selection activities being held from April 13 to June 30 instead.

The conference showcased the most advanced technological innovation and practices in the industry and gathered together leading solutions in multiple fields, including AI, IoT, edge computing, and the industrial Internet.

As a result, Interop Tokyo has helped to inject new vitality and confidence into the industry and the wider world.

Read Also: Huawei unveils new tool for all-scenario remote collaboration

Demonstrating its cooperation with partners, Huawei also showcased a brand new digital intelligent ecosystem and its relevant application cases, including 14 products and solutions at Interop Tokyo 2020.

These cutting-edge offerings ably illustrated Huawei’s capabilities to comprehensively promote rapid digital and intelligent development in the ICT field.

With continuous investment in new ICT technologies and ecosystems, and with the ongoing accumulation of global service experience, Huawei has been gaining trust from an increasing number of industry-leading enterprises.

Over 700 cities and 228 Fortune Global 500 companies — including 58 in the top 100 — have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner till the date.

Emirates Airline has launched a special activity page on its website  to keep kids entertained during the summer holidays amid the suspension of leisure travel and days out of schools.

The Emirates ‘Fly With me Animals’ colouring books have been digitised as families can take advantage of colourful puzzles, stories and activities featuring friendly, familiar faces – all from the comfort of their own home, said a press release on Friday.

Parents and kids can download and print out a 16-page Fly with Me Animals colouring bookto get re-acquainted with Lewis the Lion, Peek U the Panda, Ernie the Penguin, Savannah the Elephant, Brett the Bear, Mia the Manta Ray and ChaoChao the alligator.

Familes and friends can remain connected by sending a special message to those near and far, using one of the easily downloadable postcards or keep the most treasured snaps in a downloadable photo frame featuring the much-loved animals.

Kids can learn to bake a tasty treat with a yummy banana cake recipe or go on an adventure with the Animals in a series of videos for children.

The Fly with me Animals activity magazines are also available to download and each issue is filled with puzzles and games making learning fun. Those missing the cuddly travel companions, can still visit the Emirates Official Store to purchase the toys and take them home.

Last year, Emirates presented 4.4 million ‘Fly with me’ kids’ toys and Lonely Planet bags and 3.7 million ‘Fly with me’ magazines and sets of colouring pencils on board, reaffirming its position as the preferred airline worldwide for family travel.