First papal 'selfie' goes viral on social media

New Delhi, Mar 7: The Union government has issued a Global Invite for Expression of Interest for disinvestment in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) from prospective bidders with a minimum net worth of $10 billion as of Saturday.

The EoI submissions can be made till May 2, whereas investor queries will be entertained till April 4.

Another condition pertains to a maximum of four members are permitted in a consortium, and the lead member must hold 40 per cent in proportion. Other members of the consortium must have a minimum $1 billion net worth.

The EOI allows changes in the consortium within 45 days, though the lead member cannot be changed.

The GoI proposes to disinvest its entire shareholding in BPCL comprising 1,14,91,83,592 equity shares held through the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which constitutes 52.98 per cent of BPCL's equity share capital, along with the transfer of management control to the strategic buyer (except BPCL's equity shareholding of 61.65 per cent in Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and management control thereon).

The shareholding of BPCL in NRL will be transferred to a Central Public Sector Enterprise operating in the oil and gas sector under the Ministry and accordingly is not a part of the proposed transaction.

San Francisco, Mar 18: Facebook said a bug in its anti-spam system temporarily blocked the publication of links to news stories about the coronavirus. Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, said on Twitter Tuesday that the company was working on a fix for the problem.

Users complained that links to news stories about school closings and other information related to the virus outbreak were blocked by the company's automated system.

Later on Tuesday, Rosen tweeted that Facebook had restored all the incorrectly deleted posts, which also covered topics beyond the coronavirus.

Rosen said the problems were unrelated to any changes in Facebook's content-moderator workforce. The company reportedly sent its human moderators home this week because of the coronavirus outbreak.

A representative for Facebook did not immediately respond to questions on the status of Facebook's content moderators, many of whom do not work directly for the company and are not always able to work from home.

Citing the current dismal aviation scenario, Air India is terminating the services of trainee cabin crew and cabin crew by withdrawing the offer of employment of those who were under training.

As per sources, the new crew and trainee pilots might reduce contracts from five years to one year. Sources said Air India is terminating 1,200 crew and employees who are more than 55-yr-old including 190 trainee pilots.

In a letter reviewed by IANS, Air India has informed an applicant who had been selected as cabin crew in August 2019 subject to successful completion of training.

"On behalf of Air India we would like to thank you for the interest shown by you in joining our organization. However, in view of the current aviation scenario, it would not be possible for Air India to impart any further training to you for engaging your services," the company said.

"In view of the above reasons, which are beyond the control of the company, it has been decided to discontinue your training arrangements and dispense with the offer of engagement with immediate effect. The bank guarantee furnished by you at the time of joining is returned herewith," Air India told the cabin crew.

"Once again on behalf of Air India we thank you for your cooperation and trust that you will appreciate the circumstances under which we are constrained to discontinue the training arrangements," the carrier said.