Panasonic Jaguar Racing Head To Berlin for a Lockdown Showdown

Berlin Tempelhof

* After more than 150 days, Panasonic Jaguar Racing head to Berlin Tempelhof, Germany for the final six races of season six of ABB FIA Formula E

* The pacesetting Jaguar I-TYPE 4 will line up for six races in an incredible nine days on three different track layouts for the most intense finale in motorsport history

* Mitch Evans sits second in the ABB FIA Formula E drivers’ championship

* Panasonic Jaguar Racing are third in the ABB FIA Formula E teams’ championship

* Tom Blomqvist announced as the reserve driver for Panasonic Jaguar Racing

* Lights go green for the Berlin E-Prix at 19:00 local time (CET) on 5 August

After 158 days, Panasonic Jaguar Racing will head to Germany to complete season six of Formula E in a unique lockdown showdown. Berlin’s Tempelhof circuit will witness six races in nine days with three different track layouts.

Sitting second in the drivers’ championship, Mitch Evans, and teammate James Calado will look to push for more points, podiums and wins during the ABB FIA Formula E Berlin E-Prix with the pacesetting Jaguar I -TYPE 4.

Tom Blomqvist is confirmed as the reserve driver for the remaining six races of the season, replacing Alex Lynn who will drive for Mahindra. The British-Swedish driver previously drove for the Andretti Formula E team in 2018.

James Barclay, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director:

“We’re going into the final six races in Berlin in a great position. Whilst it’s going to be an  intense challenge for all of the team to complete six races in nine days we are looking forward to it and feeling positive that we are ready to give it our all to fight for the drivers title with Mitch and achieve our best result to date in the team standings. At Panasonic Jaguar Racing our season six objective was to compete for more points, podiums and wins and so far, we’ve done just that. It’s been a long break in the season, but we are hungry to pick up where we left off and finish the season successfully. The whole team has been working incredibly hard during lockdown to ensure that we maintain our positive momentum. We never underestimate the quality of our competition in Formula E though and the challenge that the team and the drivers will face in Berlin but we are fully prepared and ready to give it our all. It’s ultimately within reach so we will be doing our all to achieve our goals together.”

Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Driver #20:

“This season we’ve tasted success and I am really proud of my performance, particularly in the last three races. We achieved Super Pole and a Podium in Santiago, we won in Mexico City and we made history in Marrakesh by gaining 18 places and finishing P6 after starting from the back of the grid. Being second in the drivers’ championship puts me in a good position heading into Berlin but I know I can’t underestimate the challenge that we have ahead. Our Jaguar I-TYPE 4 is incredibly quick so I’m hoping to show the everyone that we can be in the fight by 13 August.”

James Calado, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Driver #51:

“I’m looking forward to getting back into the Jaguar I-TYPE 4 at the Tempelhof circuit. I started in P10 in Marrakesh and felt like I had made some solid progress. I want to give my best performance in Berlin. My role is to support Mitch and the team and secure as many points as possible. I’m sure it will come with its challenges and this break has definitely added the pressure but I’m ready for the lights to go green and finish the season on a high.”

In less than one week, the ABB FIA Formula E Berlin E-Prix will commence, with the first race of six taking place on Wednesday 5 August at 19:00 (CET) ahead of the most intense finale in motorsport history.

Takeda Strengthens Patient Offering in India Via Availability of Vedolizumab (Kynteles)

* Introduces innovative Gastrointestinal portfolio for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) and Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease

* Kynteles is likely to benefit patients with a low risk of serious or opportunistic infections like Tuberculosis[1]

* Current disease burden for IBD is over 1.5 million in India[2]

Takeda India, part of the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global values-based R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader, today announced the expansion of its highly innovative portfolio for patients in the country with the launch of Kynteles (generic name: Vedolizumab) as part of its Gastrointestinal (GI) portfolio. GI is Takeda's second therapeutic area in India after Rare Diseases (Haematology, Genetic Diseases, and Immunology). [3]

Kynteles is used for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severely active Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn's Disease (CD). Kynteles, more widely known as Entvyio, has shown favourable safety and efficacy results in treating patients suffering from moderate to severe IBD[4],[5],[6].

Speaking about the launch, Koki Sato, Country Head, Takeda India, said, "At Takeda, we are continuously working towards developing innovative medicines to considerably improve the quality of life of patients. The launch of our highly innovative GI portfolio is a testimony of our commitment to India and patients living with diseases like UC and CD. Patient access to Kynteles will further augment our vision of providing additional and innovative treatment options to HCPs treating UC and CD."

Both UC and CD are chronic idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Diseases that can be debilitating and sometimes lead to life-threatening complications and require life-long disease management. Therefore, their treatments involve ensuring long-term remission with a proven safety profile. Entyvio® is currently marketed in more than 60 countries. In just five years since its global launch, Entyvio has touched over 415,000 cumulative patient-years of experience.12

Talking about Kynteles, Dr. Sandeep Arora, Medical Affairs Head, Takeda India, said, "India has the highest burden of IBD in Asia and one of the highest in the world as a result of rapid urbanization, changes in diet and lifestyles. Kynteles, with its novel mechanism of action, selectively reduces intestinal inflammation that allows long-lasting remission and provides a safe and effective treatment option for patients with UC and CD. The safety and efficacy of Kynteles is well established and proven through robust and comprehensive clinical trials and large real-world evidence programs. Evidence also suggests improved quality of life without an associated increase in overall risk of infection."

There are currently over 1.5 million IBD patients in India. 

Over the next 5 years 1,000 German firms may invest in India

Upbeat on the second fastest growing economy in the world, about 1,000 German firms may invest in India in the next five years, the head of Baden-Wurttemberg, regarded as the most successful German state, said today.

"I am sure, in next five years 1,000 more companies from Germany and may be 200 from our state would be interested in investing in India," Guenther H Oettinger, the Minister- President of State of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany) said here.

About 1,800 German firms, including Porsche, Siemens, BMW, Voith and Audi have already invested in India which is being seen as the potential German manufacturing hub for the Asian market.

Indian industry and workers match the quality of Europe's and North America's, Oettinger said at the CII meeting.

With over six per cent expansion, the Indian economy is the second fastest growing after China despite global recession.

German Ambassador to India Thomas Matussek also addressed the meeting stating the India-German bilateral trade is expected to touch $27 billion by 2014 from over $18 billion in 2008.

India's major exports to Germany include garments, machinery and instruments, electronic goods and transport equipment, while imports comprises machinery, iron and steel, machine tools and organic chemicals.

Agencies

Will the Web run out of address space?

The world could well run out of internet addresses next year, unless urgent action is taken to switch to a new generation of net addresses, the European Commission has warned.

According to the commission, businesses urgently need to upgrade to internet protocol version six or IPv6, a new version of the web’s addressing protocol, which will hugely increase the number of available addresses.

The IPv6 system has been ready for over a decade and is providing 340 trillion web addresses. But, not many companies are actually ready to migrate to the new platform.

A survey, conducted by the commission, found that few companies are prepared for the switch from the current naming protocol, IPv4, to the new regime, IPv6, the Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday. The IPv4 and IPv6 protocols refer to the way in which addresses are created and assigned. Each website has a unique IP address, represented by a string of numbers, such as 192.168.1.1, which are then given a user-friendly web address to make them easier to remember.

The IPv4 protocol uses 32-bit addresses, which enables the web to support around 4.3 billion unique addresses while IPv6 uses 128-bit web addresses, creating billions of possible new web addresses. The EC survey found that of the 610 government, educational and other industry organisations questioned across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, just 17% have upgraded to IPv6.

Detlef Eckert, director in commission’s information society and media directorate-general, said: “Only by ensuring that all devices connected to the internet are compatible with IPv6 can we stay connected and safeguard sustainable growth of the internet.”

Agencies

Can India emerge as the 3rd largest Internet users by 2013?

The number of internet users worldwide is expected to touch 2.2 billion by 2013 and India is projected to have the third largest online population during the same time, says a report.

"The number of people online around the world will grow more than 45 per cent to 2.2 billion users by 2013 and Asia will continue to be the biggest Internet growth engine.

"... India will be the third largest internet user base by 2013 - with China and the US taking the first two spots, respectively," technology and market research firm Forrester Research said in a report.

Globally, there were about 1.5 billion Internet users in the year 2008.

Titled 'Global Online Population Forecast, 2008 to 2013', the report noted that emerging markets like India would see a growth of 10 to 20 per cent by 2013.

"In some of the emerging markets in Asia such as China, India and Indonesia, the average annual growth rates will be 10 to 20 per cent over the next five years (2008-13)," the report said. India's number of Internet users was estimated to be 52 million in 2008.

In the next four years, about 43 per cent of the Internet users globally are anticipated to reside in Asia and neighbouring China would account for about half of that population.

"... the shifting online population and growing spending power among Asian consumers means that Asian markets will represent a far greater percentage of the total in 2013 than they do today," Forrester Research Senior Analyst Zia Daniell Wigder said.

According to the report, the percentage of internet users in Asia would increase to 43 per cent in 2013 from 38 per cent in 2008.

"The percentage of the global online population located in North America will drop from 17 per cent to 13 per cent between 2008 and 2013, while Europe's share will shrink from 26 per cent to 22 per cent.

"The percentage of those in Asia will increase from 38 per cent to 43 per cent and Latin America will remain steady at about 11 per cent of the global total," Forrester noted.

The report said apart from China, other Asian countries with substantial online growth rates include India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

"By contrast, growth rates in some of the more mature markets such as Japan and South Korea will rise by less than two per cent each year," it added.

Agencies

Will Indian outsourcing benefit from downturn?

The turmoil in the financial market is likely to spell good news for the Indian outsourcing companies, as the downturn will compel multinationals to seek further economies for sustenance in these tough times, Wipro Technologies founder Azim Premji has said.

In an interview to the Sunday Times, Premji insisted that "the Indian outsourcing giants will benefit from this downturn, as all multinationals seek further economies."

Premji's statement comes at a time when the United States President Barack Obama has proposed changes in tax laws to curb outsourcing.

Obama proposing change in tax laws of that country had reportedly said, it's a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York.

Premji also voiced its concern about the "creeping tide of protectionism" in the West and said that "If we get into protectionism, then the West is going to get a wave of protectionism in response, and that is going to turn back the clock 20 years".

Premji further warned that it will be America and Europe that will suffer, because they will be excluded from the only growth markets left, in Asia, Africa and China.

CXOtoday

Nortel opens new center in Bangalore

Nortel has opened a new Global Network Operations Center (GNOC) in Bangalore, India, to help remotely manage and support communications networks for enterprise and carrier customers across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The Bangalore GNOC provides round-the-clock network surveillance and performance monitoring for voice and data networks. This enables Nortel enterprise and carrier customers to focus their resources on their core business, instead of dedicating costly IT resources to maintain and manage their communications networks. This, in turn, helps these companies lower operational costs, maximize network efficiency and performance, and keep abreast with new, evolving technologies.

The GNOC monitors customer network to identify network problems before they can impact business functions or productivity, and seeks to resolve issues either remotely from the GNOC or by dispatching technicians to the customer's site. This is Nortel's fifth Network Operations Center.

Nortel's other NOCs are located in North America, Europe, China and India (Gurgaon). The latter supports the managed services requirements of Bharti Airtel and other local customers.

Agencies

About 26,000 jobs lost in Malaysia due to global crisis

More than 26,000 people have lost their jobs in Malaysia so far this year as the economic slowdown forced employers to cut back, state news agency Bernama reported Sunday.

Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan told Bernama he expected further job losses in the coming weeks.

He said a 16.2 billion dollar stimulus package unveiled earlier this month had not provided immediate incentive for companies to retain their workers.

The government has slashed its work permit approvals for foreign workers by almost 70 percent so far this year and cancelled work visas for 55,000 Bangladeshi workers after unions said the situation for Malaysians was bleak enough.

In January, the government also banned the hiring of new foreigners in the manufacturing and services sectors after a report forecast 45,000 Malaysians would lose their jobs in the next few months.

Malaysia is one of Asia's largest importers of labour and has an estimated 2.2 million foreign workers, who are the mainstay of the plantation and manufacturing sectors.

However, the government has become concerned about the ramifications of having such a large migrant workforce and periodically tries to reduce it.

Agencies

Oil near $35 amid grim US economic news

Oil prices rose slightly to above $35 a barrel on Thursday in Asia despite grim U.S. economic news that pointed to a deep recession and weaker crude demand.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 54 cents to $35.18 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract on Wednesday fell 31 cents to settle at $34.62.

The March contract expires on Friday, and traders switched their focus to the April contract, which rose 62 cents to $38.03.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday confirmed what many investors already suspected _ that the US economy has significantly deteriorated in the last few months.

The Fed said it expects the economy will contract between 0.5 and 1.3 per cent this year. Its previous forecast from November had a 0.2 per cent contraction as the worst case scenario.

The Fed also said the unemployment rate will likely rise to between 8.5 and 8.8 per cent this year, higher than its previous forecast of between 7.1 and 7.6 per cent.

The current global economic slump began in 2007 with a crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage sector, and the housing market continues to buckle under the weight of surging foreclosures.

A report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday said construction of new homes and apartments plunged 16.8 per cent in January from the previous month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units, a record low.

``The housing data suggests the recession is even worse than we thought,'' said Christoffer Moltke-Leth, head of sales trading for Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore. ``We need to see the housing market stabilize because consumer sentiment is very much correlated to it.''

Investors are skeptical that a $787 billion stimulus bill signed this week by President Barack Obama will spark a quick recovery. The White House on Wednesday said the government will spend $75 billion to help prevent millions of Americans from losing their homes.

Crude investors are also concerned a jump in oil inventories is reflecting a steep drop-off in demand.

Analysts expect crude stocks will grow by 3.5 million barrels when the Energy Department releases inventory data for the week ended Feb. 13, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Inventories have risen more than 30 million barrels in the last six weeks.

``Inventories are the focus now,'' said Moltke-Leth. ``If they rise again, it will put more downward pressure on crude.''

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has struggled to bolster prices as output cuts fail to keep up with falling demand.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Wednesday the group may cut production again at a meeting on March 15, on top of the reduction of 4.2 million barrels a day announced since September. Ramirez said the 13-member cartel would like prices to rise to $70 a barrel.

``OPEC is looking very weak right now,'' said Moltke-Leth said. ``There's a lot of chatter from them, but the market isn't really listening.''

Moltke-Leth said prices will likely fall to about $32 a barrel, which would test the 10-year average price.

``$32 and a half is a significant line in the sand,'' he said. ``It's a key support level, and I expect the market to test how strong it is.''

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures rose 0.83 cent to $1.07 a gallon. Heating oil gained 1.71 cents to $1.16 a gallon, while natural gas for March delivery jumped 3.0 cents to $4.24 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, the March Brent contract rose 98 cents to $40.54 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Agencies

Computer sales across Asia drop

Sales of computers in the Asia Pacific region outside Japan fell for the first time in a decade during the fourth quarter, as the global meltdown hit consumer spending, a study said on Monday.

Preliminary figures showed 17.2 million desktop computers and laptops were sold in the December quarter, down 14 per cent from the previous quarter and 5 per cent lower than a year ago, global market intelligence firm IDC said.

The figures marked the first year-on-year decline since the third quarter of 1998 when the region was grappling with the Asian financial crisis, it added.

"This quarter was quite a jaw-dropper" not just in China but also in India, said Bryan Ma, regional director for personal systems research with IDC.

"The clouds are darkening in 2009, although there might be some pockets of shelter in the region's public sector."

For 2008, struggling Chinese computer giant Lenovo was the region's number one vendor with market share of 18.3 percent, followed by US rival Hewlett Packard which had 14.1 per cent, and Dell at 9.1 per cent, IDC said.

Taiwanese computer firm Acer was fourth with market share of 7.5 per cent and China's Founder ranked fifth, with 4.0 per cent.

Agencies

Oil falls to below $42 a barrel in Asia

Oil prices fell below $42 a barrel Friday in Asia after Russia and Ukraine said a dispute over natural gas payments wouldn't affect shipments to Western Europe.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $3.05 to $41.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Singapore. Trading was closed Thursday for New Year's Day.

The contract rose $5.57 on Wednesday, the last trading day of 2008, to settle at $44.60 after Russia threatened to cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine. Russia followed through with that threat Thursday, though both countries pledged they would keep supplies to the rest of Europe flowing.

Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom shut off gas supplies after talks broke down over Ukraine's payments for past shipments and a new price contract for 2009. Gazprom said it had boosted natural gas deliveries through other pipelines to Western Europe.

The European Union depends on Russia for about a quarter of its gas, with some 80 per cent of that delivered through pipelines controlled by Ukraine.

Concerns that the week-old conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could disrupt supplies in the oil-rich Middle East helped keep prices from falling further. Israeli troops massed on the Gaza border Thursday in preparation for a possible ground offensive.

Oil prices began 2009 the same way they spent the most of the second half of 2008 _ going down. Crude peaked at $147.27 a barrel in July before plummeting to as low as $33.87 on Dec. 19.

Prices fell 54 per cent last year after soaring 57 per cent in 2007.

Investors remain focused on the slowing global economy and its impact on crude demand. The Department of Energy said earlier this week that U.S. fuel consumption fell 3.7 per cent in the four weeks ended Dec. 26 from a year earlier.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures fell 3.55 cents to $1.03 a gallon. Heating oil dropped 3.55 cents to $1.41 a gallon while natural gas for February delivery slid 2.2 cents to $5.60 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, February Brent crude fell $3.31 to $42.28 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Source: Agencies

As crisis drags on; layoffs mount globally

Credit Suisse and Nomura Holdings announced big job cuts on Thursday, further evidence the global financial crisis is unrelenting for an industry battered by heavy losses and weak markets.

The 5,300 layoffs by the Swiss bank and a further 1,000 in London by Japan’s biggest broker are the latest in the global financial sector which has now seen over 150,000 jobs culled since September when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.

Of these, more than 50,000 were at Citigroup, which has made more writedowns than any other bank in the world during the crisis.

While the axe had been falling for months in the industry, Lehman’s fall sparked carnage in financial markets and reshaped the industry landscape, resulting in job losses from New York to Singapore to Mumbai. “I don’t think people really know what’s next. It depends on sentiment, which will in turn drive credit markets, which in turn will weigh on banks or not,” said a London-based equities trader.

From the United States to Asian export giant Japan to European powerhouse Germany, the world’s top economies are now in recession as the global crisis deepens.

They are not the only ones with Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong also joining in. The losses at banks are increasing. Credit Suisse said on Thursday it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in October and November.

It has already cut 1,800 jobs this year and said this week it would cut 650 investment banking jobs in Britain. “Investment banking had a significant pretax loss, reflecting the challenging conditions in the financial markets in the quarter and the costs associated with risk reduction,” the bank said.

Credit Suisse’s shares jumped 8% in European trade in a broader market up 1.6%.
In Asia, Nomura, Japan’s biggest brokerage, said the decision to cut as much as 22% of its London staff followed an internal review after the purchase of the Asian, European and Middle Eastern assets of Lehman Brothers.

Nomura had said the purchase of parts of Lehman Brothers would help the Japanese brokerage achieve its profit target despite poor financial market conditions. “This is a natural move,” said Azuma Ohno, a brokerage analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in Japan.

“Once Nomura bought Lehman, it cannot continue Japanese-style life-time employment. It needs to be flexible in costs to be profitable.”Australia’s top investment bank, Macquarie Group, is cutting 10 to 15% of its jobs in Asia, two sources said last week.

Banks are axing jobs across Asia and even in countries such as India, where investment bankers were snapped up feverishly in the last few years in anticipation of strong initial public offerings and M&A markets. “The layoffs will come in phases and will stretch into 2009,” said Singapore-based Will Tan of Webbe International, an executive search firm specializing in the financial sector.

The job cuts from Nomura and Credit Suisse came a few hours after a report of layoffs at Bank of America. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said the bank is in the “final stage of our analysis” for planned job cuts following its purchase of Merrill Lynch, the Charlotte observer said on its website on Wednesday. Layoffs have also gathered pace at fund management firms.

State Street, one of the world’s biggest institutional money managers, said on Wednesday it plans to lay off as many as 1,800 people, or 6% of its staff, in the first three months of 2009. Private equity firm Carlyle Group is cutting about 100 jobs — around 10% of its staff — a source familiar with the situation said. The reductions are the first major cuts made by a large US private equity firm since the global economic crisis hit.

Middle market investment bank Jefferies Group will slash nearly 15% of its employees worldwide and close offices in Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo as it contends with heavy losses for 2008.

Source: Reuters

AT&T launches first super Internet Data Centre in Singapore

AT&T Inc. announced the launch of the first super Internet Data Centre (IDC) in Asia, located in Singapore.

The super IDC, an expansion of AT&T's existing facilities, would act as a regional gateway to the Internet and the AT&T network to deliver AT&T Synaptic HostingSM, its next-generation utility computing services.

This launch is part of AT&T's $1 billion planned global network investment in 2008 to increase global data centre hosting capacity throughout the 38 data centres in AT&T's global Internet protocol (IP) network.

Other super IDCs are located in Piscataway, New Jersey; San Diego, California; Annapolis, Maryland and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, which will form the regional hubs in the US and Europe.

Bernard Yee, vice president, AT&T Asia Pacific, said: "AT&T continues to invest in growing its business to support customers and to meet the demands of multinational corporations for next-generation services and solutions. To help customers in this challenging economic environment, the first super IDC in Asia, combined with our Synaptic Hosting platform, will offer them much greater flexibility to scale their information technology resources up or down to meet their business requirements."

"The super IDC will enable us to offer information technology and infrastructure service as turn-key managed infrastructure solutions on demand," Yee added.

"In addition, AT&T is going to offer managed application services within the sectors of enterprise resource planning software, eCommerce, web services, messaging and unified communications services to enhance our value proposition and managed services proposition for our customers in Asia and globally."

"Our goal is to allow them to focus on running their businesses while achieving greater flexibility, improved performance and further cost-savings," Yee said.

The AT&T IDCs allow AT&T to deliver consistent, highly scalable, enterprise-class information technology (IT) services around the globe. In addition to the hosting services available in all other centres, the super IDC supports large-scale computing and application infrastructure on demand that can be combined with other AT&T hosting services, such as managed networking, virtualised security, application acceleration and storage.

Companies can deliver end-user applications infrastructure whenever and wherever they are needed on a pay-for-use model. The new services can be accessed from anywhere in the world and combines technology acquired by AT&T from application service provider US inter-networking.