IRL, the recently pivoted calendar app that aggregates live virtual events, has today launched a web version of the platform. The company, which has $11 million in funding from Goodwater Capital, Founders Fund and Floodgate, started as a social planning app that helped folks find each other in the real world, based on interest and […]

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo issued a joint call on 24 April for governments to refrain from imposing export and other trade restrictions on key medical supplies and food and to quickly lift those put in place since the start of the year.

The worlds of virtual and augmented reality have yet to land on the applications and hardware to truly spark mass-market, consumer interest in the space, but in the meantime, a startup building mixed reality services for business users has raised a round of funding, underscoring the opportunity in enterprise. Spatial, which has developed a “holographic” […]

Fintech companies have been lobbying for weeks to be able to participate in the U.S. government’s emergency lending program for small businesses. Now those efforts have paid off, as PayPal, Intuit and Square have all been approved to participate in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program, which provides aid in the form […]

In recent years, fintech’s revolution has felt like a rising tide. Behemoths like Stripe and Square edged out banks while newbies like Brex nonchalantly raised nine-figure rounds. Today, however, the state of the financial technology industry feels more wobbly — some healthy startups in the genre are faring better than ever, while others are feeling […]

Apple and Google ask for developer feedback on their contact tracing efforts, Facebook sees a “significant reduction” in ads and Microsoft makes life easier for IT managers. Here’s your Daily Crunch for April 30, 2020. 1. Apple and Google release first seed of COVID-19 exposure notification API for contact tracing app developers This is a […]

While global stay-at-home orders have been a blow to most companies, they’ve also created opportunities for businesses helping to keep people entertained. So if you’re a YouTube creator hoping to capture some additional eyeballs while everyone’s stuck at home, online video agency Butter Works has released an interactive report outlining the most promising topics for […]

Apple announces a new MacBook Pro, tech stocks take a dip and Uber Eats shuts down in seven markets. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 4, 2020. 1. The 13-inch MacBook Pro gets Apple’s much-improved keyboard Following in the footsteps of the MacBook Air and 16-inch Pro, Apple’s 13-inch Pro model is finally getting the […]

In its March 2020 update, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) significantly revised its Short-Term Energy Outlook for global oil supply, demand, and prices compared with the February Short-Term Energy Outlook. These updates largely resulted from updated data and assumptions about the effects of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on global oil demand and assumptions regarding the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude oil production following its meeting on March 6. EIA now forecasts that OPEC will target market share instead of a balanced global oil market. As a result, EIA expects that OPEC crude oil production will increase to an average 29.1 million barrels per day in the second and third quarters of 2020. EIA forecasts that global demand for liquid fuels will grow by 0.4 million barrels per day from 2019 to 2020, down from the 1.0 million barrels per day increase EIA previously forecasted in February. The revised March estimate is driven by EIA's expectations of slowing economic growth, primarily related to the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. EIA expects the decline in global liquid fuels demand, combined with the increase in OPEC production, to result in significant global oil inventory builds in the first half of 2020-putting continued downward pressure on prices. EIA forecasts Brent oil prices will average 43 dollars per barrel in 2020 and 55 dollars per barrel in 2021.

As a result of the global economic slowdown related to COVID-19, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that global petroleum and liquids consumption will average 95.5 million barrels per day in 2020, down 5.2 million barrels per day from 2019. EIA forecasts that U.S. oil consumption will decline 6.5% in 2020 to average 19.1 million barrels per day, which would be the largest percentage decline in U.S. consumption since 1980. At the same time, in its April 2020 Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA expects global oil supply to increase in the coming months from first-quarter 2020 levels. Total world liquids supply will average 98.7 million barrels per day through the third quarter of 2020. These supply and demand developments are contributing to a significant increase in liquid fuels inventories. EIA estimates that second-quarter 2020 global petroleum inventories will increase an average 11.4 million barrels per day. Within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the most stocks recorded in historical data were in July 2016 at 3.1 billion barrels. EIA forecasts inventories will surpass this level as production continues to outpace consumption. EIA expects these large stock builds will put downward pressure on crude oil prices for several months. Brent crude oil prices averaged 32 dollars per barrel in March, the lowest monthly average since January 2016. EIA forecasts Brent crude oil to average 23 dollars per barrel during the second quarter of 2020 before increasing to an average 46 dollars per barrels in 2021.

For members of Australia's start up community, Adelaide is fast growing the reputation of a national entrepreneurial hub.

PwC has appointed the former CEO of Transdev Australasia, Jonathan Metcalfe, to lead the public transport practice.

PwC has acquired infrastructure advisory firm Appian Group, bolstering the firm’s focus on health and social infrastructure, PwC Managing Partner, Deals Sean Gregory announced today.

PwC has joined forces with leading not-for-profit food safety agency SSAFE to develop a new industry tool to help fight food fraud and protect consumers.

PwC has been appointed as a Skills Service Organisation by the Federal Department of Education and Training to work with Industry Reference Committees to develop modern and relevant training packages.

Chairman of the Board of Partners of PwC Australia, Michael Happell, has announced that Luke Sayers will continue as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian firm for a further four years.

The emerging global market for business services using drone technology is valued at over US$127 billion with the drone revolution disrupting industries ranging from agriculture to filmmaking.

Puppet, the Portland-based infrastructure automation company, today announced that it has named former Cloud Foundry Foundation executive director Abby Kearns as its new CTO. Current Puppet CTO Deepak Giridharagopal will remain in his role and focus on R&D and leading new projects, while Kearns will focus on expanding the company’s product portfolio and communicating with […]

Google today launched an update to its Duo video chat app (which you definitely shouldn’t confuse with Hangouts or Google Meet, Google’s other video, audio and text chat apps). There are plenty of jokes to be made about Google’s plethora of chat options, but Duo is trying to be a bit different from Hangouts and […]

You can now debunk thousands of coronavirus-related hoaxes with a few texts on WhatsApp . Poynter Institute, a non-profit organization that supports journalism, today launched a bot on the Facebook -owned service that will allow people across the globe to debunk over 4,000 hoaxes surrounding the pandemic such as whether the infectious disease originated in […]

The Indian government has said that its contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu “by design” fetches the location data of its 90 million users and allows them to view the concentration of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in their vicinity. New Delhi issued the statement after France-based security researcher Baptiste Robert found what he […]

Twitter announced today it’s introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier to understand who you’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. The company will also test putting engagement actions — including likes, Retweet and reply icons — behind an extra tap to make replies […]

IRL, the recently pivoted calendar app that aggregates live virtual events, has today launched a web version of the platform. The company, which has $11 million in funding from Goodwater Capital, Founders Fund and Floodgate, started as a social planning app that helped folks find each other in the real world, based on interest and […]

Some of you may recall the South Korean app Zepeto that went viral among Gen Z users a year and a half ago. The app, which renders selfies into animated avatars and lets people adorn their computer-generated manifestations with virtual items, appears to have sustained its relevance. It has amassed 150 million registered users, the […]

1. Dhoni turns up in video with daughter, his appearance inspires memes on social media  The Indian Express
2. ‘Please do not use it’: Matthew Hayden reveals MS Dhoni’s reaction on his ‘mongoose bat’  India Gone Viral
3. Watch: MS Dhoni's New Look Sends Twitter Into A Frenzy  NDTV Tamil
4. WATCH: A grey-bearded MS Dhoni enjoys playtime with Ziva Dhoni inside his Ranchi farmhouse  DNA India
5. MS Dhoni makes fun of Suresh Raina in this priceless video posted by CSK; watch - Republic World  Republic World
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Countingup, the business current account that “automates” your accounting, has raised £4 million in self-described bridge funding. Leading the round is ING Ventures, with co-investment from Triple Point, CVentures, and BiG Start Ventures. Founded by Tim Fouracre, who previously founded cloud accounting software Clear Books, and now boasting 20,000 business customers, Countingup’s long term vision […]

Founders hunting down capital in the middle of this pandemic may feel like they’re on a fool’s errand, but some investors are still offering financing, even if the terms might not be as good as they once were. One avenue that appears to remain open: corporate venture capital. The corporate route offers its own set […]

Some say the ads would diminish user privacy, but WhatsApp already collects user data.

Biotech company Moderna said it plans to start phase 2 trials with 600 participants shortly.

A team of researchers from Apple and Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute have presented a system for embedded AIs to learn by listening to noises in their environment without the need for up-front training data or without placing a huge burden on the user to supervise the learning process. The overarching goal is for […]

A German research institute that’s involved in developing a COVID-19 contacts tracing app with the backing of the national government has released some new details about the work, which suggests the app is being designed as more of a “one-stop shop” to manage coronavirus impacts at an individual level, rather than having a sole function […]

Apple and Google have provided a number of updates about the technical details of their joint contact tracing system, which they’re now exclusively referring to as an “exposure notification” technology, since the companies say this is a better way to describe what they’re offering. The system is just one part of a contact tracing system, […]

Germany has U-turned on building a centralized COVID-19 contacts tracing app — and will instead adopt a decentralized architecture, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a joint statement by chancellery minister Helge Braun and health minister Jens Spahn. In Europe in recent weeks, a battle has raged between different groups backing centralized vs decentralized infrastructure for apps […]

More details have emerged about a coronavirus contacts tracing app being developed by UK authorities. NHSX CEO, Matthew Gould, said today that future versions of the app could ask users to share location data to help authorities learn more about how the virus propagates. Gould, who heads up the digital transformation unit of the UK’s […]

A number of UK computer security and privacy experts have signed an open letter raising transparency and mission creep concerns about the national approach to develop a coronavirus contacts tracing app. The letter, signed by 177 academics, follows a similar letter earlier this month signed by around 300 academics from across the world, who urged […]

The UK’s data protection watchdog confirmed today the government still hasn’t given it sight of a key legal document attached to the coronavirus contacts tracing app which is being developed by the NHSX, the digital transformation branch of the country’s National Health Service . Under UK and EU law, a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) […]

The UK has this week started testing a coronavirus contacts-tracing app which NHSX, a digital arm of the country’s National Health Service, has been planning and developing since early March. The test is taking place in the Isle of Wight, a 380km2 island off the south coast of England, with a population of around 140,000. […]

The UK may be rethinking its decision to shun Apple and Google’s API for its national coronavirus contacts tracing app, according to the Financial Times, which reported yesterday that the government is paying an IT supplier to investigate whether it can integrate the tech giants’ approach after all. As we’ve reported before coronavirus contacts tracing […]

A UK parliamentary committee that focuses on human rights issues has called for primary legislation to be put in place to ensure that legal protections wrap around the national coronavirus contact tracing app. The app, called NHS COVID-19, is being fast tracked for public use — with a test ongoing this week in the Isle […]

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The actress, 32, looked nothing short of sensational as she attended the red carpet premiere of Downton Abbey in Leicester Square on Monday.

On Tuesday Michelle Dockery was far from the walls of the Abbey, as she promoted the new film on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She looked super chic in an all black pantsuit.

RICHARD EDEN: I can reveal the 32-year-old British actress Tuppence Middleton (pictured) has split up with her long-term boyfriend, the artist Robert Fry.

BRIAN VINER: Jesse is on the run, needing money to fund a new identity, the instinct to stay alive and ahead of the law just about overcoming the travails of post-traumatic stress disorder. It sounds grim.

The actress, 38, posed in a series of stunning images for the publication while reflecting on her career and forthcoming role in Guy Ritchie's latest flick, which is set for release in January 2020

JAN MOIR: Like Downton, Belgravia starts with a tragedy - only this one develops into a secret that threatens to engulf two families in scandal and could start or end a dynasty.