Launch | Common News Update

Oct42019 by adminNo Comments

Virgin Orbit selects RAF pilot as it plans satellite launch program

Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Virgin Orbit, a private company planning launches of orbital satellites, announced that a Royal Air Force pilot will join its team. Flight Lt. Mathew Stannard will join the Virgin Orbit program in a three-year contract. He will be one of the company's pilots in the trials of Boeing 747-400 aircraft from which satellites will be launched. The announcement was made on Thursday in California. Stannard is currently a Typhoon pilot with the RAF's test an evaluation squadrons. Virgin Orbit has a business relationship with the RAF and the U.S. Air Force in demonstrating the utility of launching small satellites by means other than traditional vertical rockets. The first "air launch" of a rocket and satellite is planned for the autumn. Last week the first rocket, LauncherOne, was...

Sep272019 by adminNo Comments

Walmart’s Sam’s Club to launch healthcare pilot program

Health

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The world's second largest retailer, Walmart, announced today that it is expanding its role in the healthcare marketplace. Beginning in October, Sam's Club, the company's division of membership warehouse stores, will launch a pilot program for members in Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, allowing them to purchase healthcare services including discounted dental care, free prescriptions drugs, and telephone health consultations. The company, which announced the program on Thursday, said it will offer four healthcare "bundles," with fees ranging from $ 50 to $ 240 per year. Each bundle will include free prescriptions on certain generics, and opportunities to save on dental services through a network of Humana-affiliated providers, as well as discounts on vision ex...

Sep172019 by adminNo Comments

Facebook to launch ‘supreme court’ to judge controversial content

Technology

By Rowland Manthorpe, technology correspondent Facebook has revealed the rules that will govern its "supreme court" - a new 40-person independent board that will make the final decision on controversial questions about the social network's content.Users unhappy with the way their content has been treated on the platform will be able to take their case to the board after they have "exhausted" Facebook's internal appeals process. It is not clear when the oversight board will start work. Once it has, Facebook said it would implement its decision promptly, unless doing so could violate the law. Image: Mark Zuckerberg says the board will be completely independent - even of him It a...

Aug272019 by adminNo Comments

PNB, Allahabad Bank launch loan products linked to repo rate

Finance

NEW DELHI: Leading state-owned lender Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank on Tuesday announced linking of their retail loans with the Reserve Bank's repo rate, which will make loans cheaper. Punjab National Bank launched PNB Advantage, a retail lending scheme linked with the repo rate effective Tuesday. "In the new schemes rate of interest will be 0.25 per cent less than the existing applicable rates based on MCLR. The new rates will vary from 8.25 per cent to 8.35 per cent for housing loan borrowers and 8.65 per cent for car loan borrowers," PNB said in a statement. Existing customers of the bank will also have an option to switch over to new Repo Linked Lending Rates (RLLR) with minimal charges, it said. Allahabad Bank said it has benchmarked its loans up to Rs 75 lakh with the exter...

Aug262019 by adminNo Comments

EPFO to launch e-inspection system to simplify process

Finance

BENGALURU: EPFO will launch an e-inspection system that will simplify inspection process and ensure organisations with open communications will not be subject to physical inspection until absolutely necessary, according to Central Provident Fund Commissioner Sunil Barthwal. EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) proposed to amend the Act to limit enquiry period to a maximum of two years in order to curtail harassment, he also said at a Confederation of Indian Industry-organised interactive session last Friday, a CII release said. A small percentage of employees are unable to generate UAN (a 12-digit Universal Account Number to all employees entitled to EPF) due to mismatch in data, Barthwal said, adding to address this issue, the EPFO is looking at alternative authentication vis-a-v...