Mukesh Ambani calls for urgent policy steps to do away with 2G

India still has 300 million mobile subscribers trapped in the 2G era.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Friday called for urgent policy measures to move away from 2G services, which started 25 years ago, and make it a “part of history”. On the silver jubilee of the 1st mobile phone call made in India, Mr. Ambani said that 2G era feature phones have kept around 30 crore subscribers away from basic internet services when both India and other countries are venturing into 5G era.

“I specifically refer to the fact that India still has 300 million mobile subscribers trapped in the 2G era, their feature phones keep them excluded even from the basic usage of the internet at a time when both India and the rest of the world are standing at the doorsteps of 5G telephony. I think necessary policy steps should be taken with utmost urgency to make 2G a part of history,” Mr. Ambani said.

Earlier, Mr. Ambani had announced that RIL’s telecom arm Jio will strive to make India free of 2G by migrating from feature phones to an affordable smartphone.

Donald Trump’s Latest Claim About Helping Women Gets Ripped Apart

Donald Trump drew stinging backlash on Friday with his boast on Twitter that he’d “done more for WOMEN than just about any President in HISTORY!”

Trump also proposed in his post, ahead of the 100th anniversary on Aug. 26 of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, building “a BEAUTIFUL STATUE in Washington D.C. to honor the many brave women who made this possible for our GREAT COUNTRY.”

Twitter users doubted the sincerity of Trump’s statue suggestion.

Some reminded the president of his past offensive rhetoric against women.

Trump only this week called Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) “nasty” and a “mad woman” after presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden named her as his running mate in the 2020 election.

He also described Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a “poor student” and accused her of yapping, prompting the progressive lawmaker to challenge the president to a grades fight.

Critics also noted the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct that have been leveled at Trump. Others highlighted the Trump White House’s anti-women agenda ― from its push to defund Planned Parenthood to dissolving the White House Council on Women and Girls.

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Colombia economic slump: Fears 20 years of gains could be erased

Many shops that have reopened since the beginning of July are struggling to get back into gear.

Colombia’s economy has suffered its worst slump on record as businesses struggle during the coronavirus pandemic.

Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti reports from Bogota.

Ryan Reynolds tells young people to stop ‘dangerous’ partying

Ryan Reynolds has urged Canadian residents to stop going to parties and help slow the spread of coronavirus, saying: “I hope young people don’t kill my mom.”

The Deadpool star, 43, responded to a request for help from British Columbia premier John Horgan as coronavirus cases spiked in the province.

On Wednesday, Mr Horgan tweeted that he needs “young people to understand that now is not the time to go to large parties”.

Zimbabwe Annual Inflation Soars to 837%, Statistics Agency Says

Annual inflation in Zimbabwe accelerated to 837.53% in July, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency said on Saturday in a Twitter post. The year-on-year rate for June was 737.3%.

The monthly rate was 35.53%, up from 31.7% in June.

The southern African nation is struggling with food and fuel shortages and a local currency that has imploded since being re-introduced last year after a decade-long hiatus. The previous bout of hyperinflation, during which the annual rate of price growth surged to 500 billion percent, according to the IMF, forced the government to drop the Zimbabwe dollar and foreign currencies became legal tender in 2009.

The Zimbabwe dollar officially trades at 82.56 per U.S. dollar, after authorities abandoned a currency peg of 25:1, introduced in March.

Trump Rips ‘Politically Correct’ Fox News As No ‘Big Deal’ This Election

Donald Trump and Fox News may have been thick as thieves last election, but not this time, the president grumbled on Twitter.

He scorched the right-leaning news operation from his Bedminster golf course on Friday as “politically correct” and said it’s “no longer the big deal” this time around.

But the biggest difference this election, according to Trump, is that his former rival Hillary Clinton “was much smarter and sharper than Slow Joe” Biden, who has graduated from Trump’s last school-boy nickname, “Sleepy Joe.”

And there’s even more “ENTHUSIASM” now, Trump insisted.

Twitter critics came up with a few other campaign differences — and had some ideas about “smart” candidates and campaign “enthusiasm.”

Lufthansa Cabin Crew Vote in Favor of Collective Agreements

Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s cabin crew voted in favor of a 500 million-euro ($592 million) savings pact, its union said in a statement late on Friday, a day after talks with ground staff collapsed.

Members of the UFO union agreed to two collective agreements, and also voted in favor of clarifying rules around state wage support and severance payments, according to the statement.

The results come after talks with the Ver.di labor group broke down on Thursday, as Lufthansa attempted to secure a 20% reduction in personnel costs from the 24,000 employees represented by the union representing some of its ground crews.

The airline, Europe’s biggest, is trying to eliminate 22,000 full-time jobs and trim its fleet by at least 100 planes to reduce costs and repay the roughly 9 billion euros it received in state aid.