Day: March 17, 2022

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2022 Global State of IT Automation Report Reveals 88% of Enterprises Plan to Grow Their Investment in IT Automation and Orchestration this Year

Growth accelerates as complex hybrid IT and multi-cloud environments become the norm

ALPHARETTA, Ga., March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stonebranch, a leading provider of service orchestration and automation solutions, today published the inaugural Stonebranch 2022 Global State of IT Automation report. Developed in partnership with IEEE Computer Society, the premier technical education organization, this study collects the perspectives of automation-focused IT professionals worldwide.

Respondents, all from companies with over 1000 employees, shared their views about automation and orchestration as it relates to cloud, data pipelines, IT operations, self-service enablement, and more.

“Stonebranch is proud to share this important report — the first of its kind in the IT automation industry,” said Giuseppe Damiani, CEO at Stonebranch. “This research serves as a window into how the best and brightest industry practitioners plan to evolve their IT automation programs. Most importantly, the report illustrates a shift from IT automation to IT orchestration, which is driven by the continued growth of cloud, multi-cloud, and overall hybrid IT environments.”

The research indicates that orchestration is critical for successful hybrid IT environments, which have taken the lead for mid-size and large enterprises alike. Nearly half (46%) of respondents work in a hybrid IT environment comprised of on-premises, private cloud, public cloud, and containerized microservices. This number far exceeds on-premises only (31%) and cloud-only (23%) environments.

“Siloed automation programs may have worked when only targeting on-premises servers, mainframes, and applications,” said Peter Baljet, CTO at Stonebranch. “However, the cloud — both public and private — added a whole new layer of complexity, requiring organizations to think through how they orchestrate automated workflows that span between both on-premises and cloud environments.”

Additional key findings in the Stonebranch 2022 Global State of IT Automation report include:

  • Automation growth is driven by cloud adoption. Most enterprises (69%) automate cloud applications and platforms, as well as containers.
  • Multi-cloud environments are the norm. 92% of enterprises use more than two public cloud service providers in day-to-day operations. Additionally, 91% automate data transfers between multiple public cloud providers.
  • Service orchestration and automation platforms (SOAP) have grown in popularity. 43% of enterprises will invest in SOAP by the end of 2022, only two years after Gartner coined the SOAP category in 2020.
  • Self-service automation creates citizen automators. 93% of enterprises have a centralized IT automation team. 84% offer a self-service IT automation portal to business users, data teams, and developers.
  • Data pipeline orchestration relies heavily on cloud. 90% of enterprises have more than half of their data tools in the cloud.
  • Integration is key to orchestration. 78% of enterprises change data sources or tools that they automate at least quarterly, if not more often.

There are two ways to explore all the findings in the research:

Report Methodology

The data in this report comes from a global online survey conducted by IEEE in January and February 2022. The survey generated 366 responses from IT professionals (primarily team leads, managers, and directors) involved in IT automation. Respondents reported responsibility for IT Ops, DataOps, CloudOps, PlatformOps, IT Service Management, and Application Development in enterprises with more than 1000 employees. A cross-section of industries including technology, banking and finance, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and government are represented, as are locations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

About Stonebranch

Stonebranch builds IT orchestration and automation solutions that transform business IT environments from simple IT task automation into sophisticated, real-time business service automation. No matter the degree of automation, the Stonebranch platform is simple, modern, and secure. Using the Stonebranch Universal Automation Platform, enterprises can seamlessly orchestrate workloads and data across technology ecosystems and silos. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with points of contact and support throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, Stonebranch serves some of the world’s largest financial, manufacturing, healthcare, travel, transportation, energy, and technology institutions.

About IEEE

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics.

Contact
Scott Davis
Vice President of Global Marketing, Stonebranch
scott.davis@stonebranch.com

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Wasder Announces Collaboration With Alien Samurai Dino Warriors & Dimitri Vegas

Wasder Announces Partnership with NFT Comic Book Art Collection on the Wasder Battlepass

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

STOCKHOLM, March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wasder, a global gamified social microverse for gamers, announced its collaboration with Alien Samurai Dino Warriors – an NFT art collection based on an upcoming comic book novel created by Dimitri “Vegas” Thivaios (of chart-topping EDM duo Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike) under the mentorship of Michael Uslan, originator and executive producer of the Batman movie franchise, and his son, David Uslan, an expert in the animation and graphic novel field.

The series revolves around a group of teen dinosaurs who defend a modern-day Earth through martial arts. The dinosaurs, who follow the code of the Samurai, are armed with glowing weapons that are powered by a mysterious crystal.

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors will be featured on the upcoming Wasder Battlepass in the Game of Wasder, the gamified portion of the social microverse platform. It allows each person to earn rewards for one month only. The game will offer exclusive rewards only available to Wasder users who participate in the Battlepass. Users will then be able to display their rewards/NFTs on their interactive user profiles, a new way of expressing both themselves and their reward stash in the community.

To celebrate the partnership, exclusive NFTs will be “airdropped” to the Wasder and Dino Warrior communities, and users will have a chance to win an interaction with Dimitri and challenge him in a game of his choice. The challenge will be streamed on the Wasder Twitch channel.

“For Wasder, this solidifies exactly what we envisioned our Game of Wasder would be – strong, innovative brands and amazing teams connected to them. I grew up on comic books, and to now be able to present a partnership with Dimitri and his team is full circle for me. Our Battlepass is featured for a full month, and this is our first exclusive feature we are announcing,” says Thomas Gronnevik, CEO of Wasder.

“I think our users will be very happy with the celebratory NFT airdrop we’re doing. The NFTs can of course be shown in our upcoming user profile showroom, together with future features and drops we will do. I also look forward to the streaming challenge with Dimitri and whoever wins the right to challenge him,” he adds.

Also on the Dino Warriors team is comic book writer Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, Back To The Future, Transformers, A-Team, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics) and has artists like Jim Starlin (the creator of Marvel’s Infinity War Thanos and Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Draw & Gamorra ) working on art. Dimitri himself is appearing next summer in the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion blockbuster, as well as in his first lead role in the European movie ‘Hazard’.

We’re starting to see a huge uptick between the crossing of entertainment and gaming as music artists look to expand their brand and use their creativity in other ways. Alien Samurai Dino Warriors was born from Dimitri Vegas’ childhood passion for comic books and cartoons.

“I had the privilege to grow up in a world of Saturday morning cartoons and stores filled with comic books. My goal is to bring some of that golden age to a new generation of kids and have Dino Warriors claim their place in pop culture history. Looking forward to connecting with the Wasder fans and bringing some awesome content to their Battlepass,” says Dimitri.

About Wasder 

Wasder is a global gamified social microverse for gamers with a multitude of tools that solve the biggest challenges they face with approximately 530,000 users. With features like Matchmaking, Communities, Party Chats, Game Spaces, and a personalized feed, it’s easy to both find new friends to play with and to stay in touch and up-to-date with them. The ecosystem is built on blockchain technology, which enables true ownership of in-game items like NFTs, and for players to showcase items from different games and metaverses in their interactive profile. Wasder believes that continuously innovating this ever-growing industry is imperative for its growth. Partnerships with cutting-edge organizations such as Solana, Chainlink and more allow them to stay ahead of the curve.

By providing a framework to millions of gamers, Wasder gives the industry access to what they need — a unified target audience and a framework where their offering makes it easier for users to access quickly. This provides real value to both industry and consumers by strengthening the engagement for everyone involved. By providing this framework, Wasder becomes an authority on everything gaming and a must-be space to be in it.

About Alien Samurai Dino Warriors

Alien Samurai Dino Warriors is an entertainment franchise created in 2021 by actor and electronic music artist Dimitri “Vegas” Thivaios. It follows five dinosaur siblings from another reality, trained in bushido and fighting crime in Los Angeles.

The two-time #1 DJ of the world has been building an all-star creative team around the property, including acclaimed producer David Uslan and his renowned father Michael Uslan, the originator and executive producer of the Batman movie franchise from 1989’s Batman by Tim Burton, through to Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, the Oscar-winning The Joker to 2022’s The Batman.

The first Alien Samurai Dino Warriors graphic novel series was written by Dimitri and Erik Burnham, one of IDW Publishing’s most critically acclaimed writers, best known for writing Ghostbusters, Back to The Future, Transformers, A-Team, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics.

The book will introduce the world to the cornerstones of ASDW mythology and the dinosaur’s first adventures. The concept for Dino Warriors was born from Dimitri’s passion for comic books and is a love letter to the ’80s & ’90s golden age of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Next to his countless global hits and appearing as a character in videogames such as Mortal Kombat 11 and Garena’s Free Fire, Dimitri is set to star in his first lead role in the European action movie HAZARD and the forthcoming blockbuster Jurassic World: Dominion, the final installment of the Jurassic Saga.

Press contact: Nabeela Aysen, nabeela@nabeelapr.com

Related Images

Image 1: Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

Image 2: Alien Samurai Dino Warriors and Wasder

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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TaskUs Announces New Office Expansions in Japan and the U.S.

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas, March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TaskUs, Inc. (NASDAQ: TASK), a provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to innovative and disruptive technology companies, today announced two new locations in Fukuoka, Japan and Shreveport, Louisiana.

In both locations TaskUs will open centrally located hubs to support teammates working on TaskUs’ work-from-home platform Cirrus. In Shreveport, TaskUs has already begun hiring teammates and plans to add hundreds of roles in the coming months. In Fukuoka, TaskUs plans to begin operations in the first half of 2022.

“We are thrilled to announce our expansion into Fukuoka, Japan and Shreveport, Louisiana,” said Bryce Maddock, TaskUs CEO and Co-Founder. “Our clients – some of the most innovative technology companies in the world – are expanding globally and demanding specialized services delivered close to their customers, whether those customers are in Japan or the United States.”

TaskUs has experienced exponential growth since its founding in 2008, growing to 40,100 employees and 23 sites in 10 countries as of December 31, 2021. These two new offices will exemplify the company’s modern, collaborative, and #RidiculouslyRefreshing culture. TaskUs is committed to prioritizing its people and creates fun, engaging workspaces that encourage a productive environment for employee well-being, creativity, and happiness.

These expansions come soon after its announcement in December of the addition of Malaysia, Poland, and Romania to its growing global footprint.

To learn more about TaskUs, visit https://www.taskus.com or the following social media accounts:

About TaskUs

TaskUs is a provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to innovative and disruptive technology companies, helping its clients represent, protect and grow their brands. Leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure, TaskUs serves clients in the fastest-growing sectors, including social media, e-commerce, gaming, streaming media, food delivery and ride-sharing, HiTech, FinTech and HealthTech. As of December 31, 2021, TaskUs had approximately 40,100 employees across twenty-three locations in 10 countries, including the United States, the Philippines and India.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “outlook,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “seeks,” “predicts,” “intends,” “trends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. These forward-looking statements include any statements regarding the offering of TaskUs Class A common stock. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors include but are not limited to those described under “Risk Factors” in the registration statement relating to the public offering. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in the registration statement. TaskUs undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Media Contact:

David de Castro
Director, Communications
david.decastro@taskus.com
mediainquiries@taskus.com

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The Metals Company Enters into Business Collaboration MoU with Epsilon Carbon to Complete A Pre-Feasibility Study For the World’s First Commercial Polymetallic Nodule Processing Plant in India

Nodules to Battery Metals

TMC’s pilot-scale campaign successfully converted seafloor nodules into an alloy containing critical battery metals

  • India’s leading producer of graphite materials for lithium-ion battery anodes with ambitions to enter cathode material production, Epsilon Carbon intends to deliver a pre-feasibility report for a plant in India powered by renewables and with the targeted processing capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per annum of wet nodules
  • Epsilon Carbon expects to draw on The Metals Company’s near-zero solid waste flowsheet developments and pilot plant program results as well as its own operational experience of building greenfield plants in India to establish the pre-feasibility and business case for a nodule processing plant in India
  • Subject to the outcome of the pre-feasibility report and execution of commercial agreements with TMC, Epsilon Carbon intends to finance, engineer, permit, build and operate a commercial scale plant in India to process polymetallic nodules from the NORI-D area of the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean

NEW YORK, March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TMC, The Metals Company Inc. (Nasdaq: TMC) (“TMC”) today announced that it has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) with Epsilon Carbon Pvt. Ltd. (“Epsilon Carbon”) to complete a pre-feasibility study for a commercial-scale deep-sea nodule processing plant in India with targeted production capacity of more than 30,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) of an intermediate nickel-copper-cobalt matte product used for active cathode material (CAM) for Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) and other nickel-rich cathode chemistries for lithium-ion batteries and more than 750,000 TPA of manganese silicate by-product expected to be used in manganese alloy production for the steel industry (“Project Zero Plant”).

TMC and Epsilon Carbon envision a long-term partnership: TMC, through its subsidiaries, intends to supply polymetallic nodules and onshore processing expertise; Epsilon Carbon intends to finance, engineer, permit, build and operate the Project Zero Plant. TMC has shared with Epsilon Carbon the near-zero solid waste processing flowsheet developed together with Canadian technology and engineering firms between 2018 and 2021 and technical results from a pilot plant program completed in 2021 at FLSmidth’s facilities in Whitehall, PA, USA, and at eXpert Processing Solutions’ (XPS) facilities in Sudbury, ON, Canada. Epsilon Carbon intends to deliver a pre-feasibility report (“PFR”) for a plant in India powered by renewables and with the targeted processing capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of wet nodules and production start in time to receive nodules collected from NORI-D area starting around Q4 2024, provided, that TMC’s subsidiary NORI secures an exploitation contract from the International Seabed Authority. It is anticipated that TMC and Epsilon Carbon will enter a binding Heads of Terms for construction and operations of Project Zero Plant by September 30, 2022.

TMC and Epsilon Carbon have both agreed not to enter into any binding agreements with third parties for the construction and operation of a processing plant for polymetallic nodules through the earlier of TMC and Epsilon Carbon entering into binding Heads of Terms contemplated in the MoU or March 31, 2023.

Gerard Barron, Chairman and CEO of TMC commented: “Over the last three years, we have engaged with many parties and visited plants around the world in search of the right onshore partners. In Epsilon Carbon, we have found a rare mix: a proven operational execution track record in anode materials, a 21st century approach to industrial development grounded in making use of waste products, deep care about safety, environmental and social impacts, and an entrepreneurial ambition to develop cathode precursor materials. We could not be more excited about partnering with the Epsilon Carbon team and the prospect of locating our first plant in India, the world’s largest democracy and home to 20% of the world’s population with robust development-led demand for the raw materials that can be derived from polymetallic nodules. Prime Minister Modi’s allocation last year of $600 million for India’s ‘Deep Ocean Mission and the development of a polymetallic nodule collection system shows the country’s commitment to this new, abundant, secure, lower-cost and lower-ESG-impact potential source of critical metals.”

Vikram Handa, founder of Epsilon Carbon, added: “Having developed technology to tap an unconventional source of graphite — a waste stream from steel manufacturing — we are rapidly growing our anode materials’ business in India and establishing a new plant in Finland. Our strategy is to expand into cathode materials by 2024. TMC’s polymetallic nodule resource struck us as a game-changing opportunity to tap another unconventional resource with several intrinsic properties that potentially allow us to develop a cathode precursor materials business with a much lower environmental and social impact. We have started with a PFR for a relatively small-scale plant but we believe that the scale of TMC’s resource has the potential to turn India into a significant supplier of critical minerals for battery and steel industries.”

About The Metals Company
The Metals Company is an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for the clean energy transition with the least possible negative environmental and social impact and (2) accelerate the transition to a circular metal economy. The company through its subsidiaries holds exploration and commercial rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the governments of Nauru, Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga. More information about The Metals Company is available at www.metals.co.

About Epsilon Group
Epsilon Carbon Pvt Ltd is a leading manufacturer of coal tar derivatives and India’s only backward-integrated company with a long term exclusive raw materials purchase agreement with JSW Steel. Epsilon Carbon entered the lithium-ion battery materials value chain in 2018 with the vision to develop and manufacture innovative, high performance and quality carbon products for anode components of lithium-ion batteries by founding a dedicated subsidiary Epsilon Advanced Materials Pvt. Ltd. The subsidiary is currently focused on the production of synthetic flake graphite, a precursor material used in battery anodes. To complement their proprietary anode technology, Epsilon Carbon aims to produce cathode materials in India by 2024. More information about Epsilon Carbon is available at https://www.epsiloncarbon.com/.

More Info

Media | media@metals.co
Investors | investors@metals.co

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this press release are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside TMC’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: TMC’s ability to enter into definitive agreement(s) with Epsilon to construct, operate and supply the potential processing plant in India on terms and conditionals substantially similar to those set forth in the non-binding MoU; the successful completion of the PFR; TMC’s ability to obtain exploitation contracts for its areas in the CCZ; TMC and Epsilon’s ability to secure binding offtake arrangements for the proposed plant’s production on acceptable terms and in sufficient quantities; regulatory uncertainties and the impact of government regulation and political instability on TMC’s resource activities; changes to any of the laws, rules, regulations or policies to which TMC is subject; the impact of extensive and costly environmental requirements on TMC’s operations; environmental liabilities; the impact of polymetallic nodule collection on biodiversity in the CCZ and recovery rates of impacted ecosystems; TMC’s ability to develop minerals in sufficient grade or quantities to justify commercial operations; the lack of development of seafloor polymetallic nodule deposit; uncertainty in the estimates for mineral resource calculations from certain contract areas and for the grade and quality of polymetallic nodule deposits; risks associated with natural hazards; uncertainty with respect to the specialized treatment and processing of polymetallic nodules that TMC may recover; risks associated with collective, development and processing operations, including the successful permitting, completion and operation of the proposed plant in India; fluctuations in transportation costs; testing and manufacturing of equipment; risks associated with TMC’s limited operating history; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; risks associated with TMC’s intellectual property; and other risks and uncertainties, including those under Item 1A “Risk Factors” in TMC’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, filed by TMC with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on November 15, 2021, and in TMC’s other future filings with the SEC. TMC cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. TMC cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. TMC does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based except as required by law.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4ab5f1a8-54e0-44dc-b08a-60a980d80a39

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Azerbaijani currency rates for March 17

The official exchange rate of the US dollar and the euro against the Azerbaijani manat as of March 17, 2022 was set at 1.7 and 1.8759 manat respectively, Trend reports with reference to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA).

The manat rate in relation to world currencies on March 17:

Currencies Official exchange rate
US dollar USD 1.7
1 euro EUR 1.8759
1 Australian dollar AUD 1.2441
1 Argentine peso ARS 0.0155
100 Belarus ruble BYN 0.6186
1 Brazil real BRL 0.3349
1 UAE dirham AED 0.4628
1 South African rand ZAR 0.1139
100 South Korean won KRW 0.1398
1 Czech koruna CZK 0.0761
1 Chilean peso CLP 0.2128
1 Chinese yuan CNY 0.2678
1 Danish krone DKK 0.2521
1 Georgian lari GEL 0.5270
1 Hong Kong dollar HKD 0.2174
1 Indian rupee INR 0.0224
1 British pound GBP 2.2368
100 Indonesian rupiah IDR 0.0119
100 Iranian rials IRR 0.0040
1 Swedish krona SEK 0.1803
1 Swiss franc CHF 1.8088
1 Israeli shekel ILS 0.5229
1 Canadian dollar CAD 1.3411
1 Kuwaiti dinar KWD 5.5916
1 Kazakh tenge KZT 0.0034
1 Kyrgyz som KGS 0.0163
100 Lebanese pound LBP 0.1128
1 Malaysian ringgit MYR 0.4057
1 Mexican peso MXN 0.0825
1 Moldovan leu MDL 0.0922
1 Egyptian pound EGP 0.1082
1 Norwegian krone NOK 0.1910
100 Uzbek soum UZS 0.0155
1 Polish zloty PLN 0.4021
1 Russian ruble RUB 0.0177
1 Singapore dollar SGD 1.2524
1 Saudi riyal SAR 0.4531
1 SDR (Special Drawing Rights of IMF) XDR 2.3483
1 Turkish lira TRY 0.1162
1 Taiwan dollar TWD 0.0597
1 Tajik somoni TJS 0.1402
1 New Turkmen manat TMT 0.4857
1 Ukrainian hryvna UAH 0.0563
100 Japanese yen JPY 1.4316
1 New Zealand dollar NZD 1.1637

 

 

Source: TREND News Agency

 

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Iranian currency rates for March 17

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 17. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has announced the official rate of foreign currencies on March 17, Trend reports referring to CBI.

According to the currency exchange rate of the Central Bank of Iran, 26 currencies have grown and 11 have decreased in price, compared to March 16.

According to CBI, $1 equals 42,000 Iranian rials and 1 euro equals 46,177 rials.

Currency Iranian rial on March 17 Iranian rial on March 16
1 US dollar USD 42,000 42,000
1 British pound GBP 55,007 54,889
1 Swiss franc CHF 44,611 44,614
1 Swedish krona SEK 4,437 4,370
1 Norwegian krone NOK 4,706 4,664
1 Danish krone DKK 6,205 6,196
1 Indian rupee INR 552 550
1 UAE dirham AED 11,437 11,437
1 Kuwaiti dinar KWD 138,176 138,154
100 Pakistani rupees PKR 23,381 23,403
100 Japanese yens JPY 35,458 35,534
1 Hong Kong dollar HKD 5,371 5,366
1 Omani rial OMR 109,233 109,233
1 Canadian dollar CAD 32,968 32,801
1 New Zealand dollar NZD 28,587 28,454
1 South African rand ZAR 2,799 2,782
1 Turkish lira TRY 2,866 2,856
1 Russian ruble RUB 406 392
1 Qatari riyal QAR 11,539 11,539
100 Iraq dinars IQD 2,876 2,880
1 Syrian pound SYP 17 17
1 Australian dollar AUD 30,457 30,227
1 Saudi riyal SAR 11,200 11,200
1 Bahraini dinar BHD 111,701 111,703
1 Singapore dollar SGD 30,871 30,751
100 Bangladeshi takas BDT 48,784 48,967
10 Sri Lankan rupees LKR 1,585 1,543
1 Myanmar kyat MMK 24 24
100 Nepalese rupees NPR 34,432 34,333
1 Libyan dinar LYD 8,997 9,046
1 Chinese yuan CNY 6,613 6,593
100 Thai baths THB 125,779 125,191
1 Malaysian ringgit MYR 10,005 9,983
1,000 South Korean wons KRW 34,197 33,783
1 Jordanian dinar JOD 59,238 59,238
1 euro EUR 46,177 46,095
100 Kazakh tenge KZT 8,233 8,156
1 Georgian lari GEL 13,025 13,047
1,000 Indonesian rupiahs IDR 2,937 2,933
1 Afghan afghani AFN 478 485
1 Belarus ruble BYN 12,688 12,608
1 Azerbaijani manat AZN 24,720 24,721
100 Philippine pesos PHP 80,447 80,272
1 Tajik somoni TJS 3,222 3,744
1 Turkmen manat TMT 12,022 11,989

In Iran, the official exchange rate is used for the import of some essential products.

SANA system is a system introduced by the Central Bank of Iran to the currency exchange offices, where the price of 1 euro is 269,477 rials, and the price of $1 is 245,099 rials.

NIMA is a system intended for the sale of a certain percentage of the foreign currency gained from export.

The price of 1 euro in this system is 263,849 rials, and the price of $1 is 239,980 rials.

In the black market, $1 is worth about 260,000-263,000 rials, while 1 euro is worth about 287,000-290,000 rials.

 

 

Source: TREND News Agency

 

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St. Patrick’s Day Parades in US Turn Pandemic Blues Irish Green

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations across the country are back after a two-year hiatus, including the nation’s largest in New York City, in a sign of growing hope that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic may be over.

The holiday served as a key marker in the outbreak’s progression, with parades celebrating Irish heritage among the first big public events to be called off in 2020. An ominous acceleration in infections quickly cascaded into broad shutdowns.

The full-fledged return of New York’s parade on Thursday coincides with the city’s wider reopening. Major mask and vaccination rules were recently lifted.

“Psychologically, it means a lot,” said Sean Lane, the chair of the parade’s organizing group. “New York really needs this.”

The city’s entertainment and nightlife scenes have particularly welcomed the return to a normal St. Patrick’s Day party.

“This is the best thing that happened to us in two years,” said Mike Carty, the Ireland-born owner of Rosie O’Grady’s, a restaurant and pub in the Theater District.

“We need the business, and this really kicked it off,” said Carty, who will be hosting the parade’s grand marshal after the procession.

Celebrations are back in other cities, too.

Over the weekend, Chicago dyed its river green, after doing so without much fanfare last year and skipping the tradition altogether during the initial virus onslaught.

Boston, home to one of the country’s largest Irish enclaves, is resuming its annual parade Sunday after a two-year absence. So is Savannah, Georgia, where the parade’s cancellation disrupted a nearly two-century tradition.

Some communities in Florida, one of the first states to reopen its economy, were also bringing their parades back.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chose St. Patrick’s Day two years ago to shutter restaurants, bars and nightclubs — a dramatic move by the Republican and which underscored the fear and uncertainty of the time.

Since then, DeSantis has been one of the country’s leading voices against mask and vaccine mandates, as well as other pandemic measures.

New York’s parade — the largest and oldest of them all, first held in 1762 — starts at 11 a.m. and runs 35 blocks along Fifth Avenue, past St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Central Park.

It’s being held as the city emerges from a discouraging bout with the highly contagious omicron variant, which killed more than 4,000 people in New York City in January and February.

New infections and hospitalizations have declined since the surge, prompting city officials to green-light the procession.

On the eve of the holiday, Mayor Eric Adams raised the Irish flag at a park located on the southern tip of Manhattan, not far from Ellis Island, to honor the city’s Irish history.

“This St. Patrick’s Day, we honor those Irish immigrants who relocated and helped build our city, and the many Irish Americans who serve New York City to this day,” the mayor said. “Today, we celebrate the fighting spirit of the Irish with the courage and resilience of this entire city.”

Currently, you don’t need to show proof of vaccination to dine indoors at a restaurant in New York, but huge numbers of people still wear masks in public and avoid big crowds. Office towers remain partially empty, as many businesses still haven’t called employees back to their cubicles. Tourists, once thick enough to obstruct Manhattan sidewalks, are still not back in their usual numbers.

“If you walk around the city, it’s still very different,” said Lane, the parade organizer and a financial adviser at a major Wall Street firm. “It’s a very different vibe when you walk in Manhattan versus what it would have been two years ago, because the people aren’t fully back yet.”

Allowing the parade to proceed, he said, could provide a surge of confidence among New Yorkers to return to public life.

This year’s parade is two years in the making, after token processions during the pandemic.

To keep the tradition going, organizers in 2020 and 2021 quietly held small parades on St. Patrick’s Day, right around sunrise, when the streets were empty. Bagpipes accompanied a tiny contingent of officials and a smattering of people drawn by the music.

It remains to be seen if big crowds will show up for this year’s parade, although organizers expect hordes — even if many New Yorkers remain skittish about massive, potentially virus-spreading public events.

Organizers hope people will turn out not just to commemorate the holiday, but to honor the first responders who helped the city get through the pandemic, as well as in support of a delegation of Ukrainian marchers bringing attention to the war in their homeland.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

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WHO Says Africa Faces Rising Substance Abuse Post-COVID

 

African health groups have warned that the COVID pandemic has led to a rise in drug and alcohol abuse on the continent, but a gap in data is making it hard to monitor. In South Africa, a Soweto-based nonprofit is scrambling to help youth to stay clean and sober.

Substance abuse — particularly alcohol consumption — has been on the rise in Africa for years, according to the World Health Organization.

The coronavirus pandemic that resulted in job losses and school closures has now amplified the problem.

The Ikageng children’s charity in Soweto says as many as 10 young people contact them daily suffering from addiction. Lydia Motloung, the acting program manager says that “during the lockdowns, they used to go and drink and some they were left in the houses alone, the parents are at work. And they start having the house parties and introduced to the alcohol, end up into crystal meth, which is very common around here, especially with schoolchildren.”

While Ikageng monitors the rise of addiction in the young people they’re helping, Motloung says national statistics on drug and alcohol abuse are sorely lacking.

“We normally get the statistics for COVID, you get the statistics for HIV, but we will never had any statistics for drugs and substance. I think if we can have that plan, the government can have that plan. … And then start funding the organization that are working with drugs and substance so that they fight it as they’re fighting for HIV and AIDS as they’re fighting for COVID,” she noted.

It’s not just South Africa that is lacking data on substance abuse, but the continent as a whole.

Florence Baingana is the African regional advisor on substance abuse for the World Health Organization.

“We may not count the exact numbers in each and every country. We know we have a problem. We also know that the services are inadequate, that one we know for a fact. Very often the alcohol treatment centers in the government facilities are underfunded. But I think if we were to begin by investing resources into building up the services, then we would be able to collect the data,” Baingana expressed.

She says investing in prevention would also be beneficial and less costly than treating addiction later on.

Ikageng’s caregivers like Nomali Monareng look for warning signs among the children they support.

She knows them first-hand, having struggled with addiction herself.

“Sometimes we need to start with parents. Most of children don’t, you don’t know how to talk about their feelings, don’t know how to express. Children need to be, to be taking care in all of their life, in all areas, like talking, having the conversation, even if it’s deep, even if it’s uncomfortable, you need to give the child a chance to talk,” she pointed out.

For those looking to get clean, the organization refers them to support groups that help people transition in and out of rehab.

They’re trying to offer skills training as well, so recoverees can find jobs and a purpose.

Vusi Nzimande is a project manager for the support program called Still We Rise.

“Where you find people idling, they don’t do nothing with their lives. That’s one of those things that causes us because of the mind is playing around. You started thinking too much. You don’t have a job; you don’t have anything to do. And then suddenly you see yourself going back to your old ways,” Nzimande said.

For the young people he’s helped, getting clean has been the first step. But experts say they’ll need opportunities and jobs to give them hope and keep them out of trouble in the long run.

 

 

Source: Voice of America