Elon Musk named Time's Person of the Year for 2021
Time magazine has named Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as its Person of the Year, for an incredible 12 months of achievements in which he jockeyed for the crown of world’s richest person and made his Twitter account a must-read while moving the needle on climate change, cryptocurrencies, space exploration, and universal broadband. “Had the 800,000 Teslas sold in the last year been gas-powered cars, they would have emitted more than 40 million metric tons of CO₂ over their lifetimes—equivalent to the annual emissions of Finland,” Time magazine wrote in its profile of Musk.
Akshaya Patra Foundation USA appoints Navin Goel as new CEO
Indian American executive Navin Goel has been named the new CEO of the Akshaya Patra Foundation USA effective Dec. 6. The Board of Akshaya Patra Foundation USA’s chairman Siva Sivaram announced the appointment on Dec. 9. Goel joins Akshaya Patra after a successful career as former CIO of Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. He was also the former chairman and CEO of Sogeti USA, a subsidiary of Capgemini. “I am honored to serve and extremely humbled to join Akshaya Patra USA as the new CEO,” said Goel. Rajiv Jain served as Akshaya Patra’s Interim CEO for the past 6 months.
China faces new COVID outbreak
The major Chinese manufacturing province of Zhejiang is fighting its first COVID-19 cluster this year, with tens of thousands of citizens in quarantine and virus-hit areas suspending business operations, cutting flights and cancelling events. The news comes as health authorities reported the country’s first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in a traveller who arrived in the city from overseas in the northern port city of Tianjin. More than 50,000 people in Zhejiang have been quarantined at centralised facilities and nearly half a million people’s health conditions were monitored, a provincial health official said. As of December 12, mainland China had 99,780 symptomatic cases, including those arriving from abroad. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.
Danish ex-minister jailed for separating asylum-seeking couples
Denmark’s former immigration minister has been sentenced to two months in prison after a special court found her guilty of illegally separating several couples of asylum seekers where the female member was a minor. “Inger Stojberg is found guilty of a deliberate violation of the Ministerial Responsibility Act,” Denmark’s Court of Impeachment of the Realm said in a statement on Monday, adding that the punishment had been set at 60 days in jail. Stojberg was accused of violating the European Convention on Human Rights by ordering the separation of asylum-seeking couples, some of whom had children, when the female member was under the age of 18.