Pichai says ‘Google cares’, Bezos ‘can’t remember’ in Congressional hearing

Sundar Pichai squirms when asked whether he signed off on the company’s 2016 decision to merge data from the advertising company Double Click

Four big tech CEOs — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple — pushed back against accusations during a US Congress panel hearing capping a yearlong investigation into these companies’ market domination online. Amid intense grilling on issues that centred on market power derived from uninhibited collection and access to data, all four CEOs focused their attention on the value of their innovations and services to consumers. They testified via video link to lawmakers in Washington, DC.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai struggled to deflect accusations of anti-conservative bias and retreated multiple times to a “Happy to engage with you” answer in response to questions that went deep into the working of the company’s mighty algorithms. Pichai squirmed when asked whether he signed off on the company’s 2016 decision to merge data from the advertising company Double Click — bought in 2007 — with Google’s own data. Rep. Val Demings described this move as one that effectively “destroyed users’ anonymity” on the internet.

ALSO READ: ‘They have too much power’: US lawmakers grill Big Tech as Trump weighs in

“I reviewed at a high level all the important decisions we make,” Pichai said. He talked up how Google “cares” about privacy and security of users and noted that Google no longer uses data from Gmail for ad targeting, a relatively recent change. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos repeatedly offered “I don’t remember” or “We are looking into it” as an answer to lawmaker concerns about how the company might be killing off small businesses, poaching ideas from competitors or employee testimony that there is “nobody enforcing” policies in a company that has become a “candy shop” of seller data.

My mother had me when she was 17: Jeff Bezos testifies before US Congress

Amazon founder and CEO talks about personal life and narrates the difficulties the company faced in initial years of its existence

International News: Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, spoke about his personal life and narrated the difficulties his company faced in its initial years when he testified before the US Congress. “I’m Jeff Bezos. I founded ‘Amazon’ 26 years ago with the long-term mission of making it Earth’s most customer-centric company. My mom, Jackie, had me when she was a 17-year-old high school student in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Being pregnant in high school was not popular in Albuquerque in 1964. It was difficult for her,” he said in his testimony before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law .

The world’s richest man said that when the school tried to kick out his mother, his grandfather went to bat for her. “After some negotiation, the principal said, “OK, she can stay and finish high school, but she can’t do any extracurricular activities, and she can’t have a locker.” My grandfather took the deal, and my mother finished high school, though she wasn’t allowed to walk across the stage with her classmates to get her diploma,” he said. He further revealed that determined to keep up with her education, she enrolled in night school, picking classes led by professors who would let her bring an infant to class.

‘My dad’s name is Miguel’

“She would show up with two duffel bags–one full of textbooks, and one packed with diapers, bottles, and anything that would keep me interested and quiet for a few minutes. My dad’s name is Miguel. He adopted me when I was four years old,” said the Amazon CEO. “He was 16 when he came to the United States from Cuba as part of Operation Pedro Pan, shortly after Castro took over. My dad arrived in America alone. His parents felt he’d be safer here. His mom imagined America would be cold, so she made him a jacket sewn entirely out of cleaning cloths, the only material they had on hand,” added Bezos. “We still have that jacket; it hangs in my parents’ dining room.”

Bill introduced in US Congress to stop predatory acquisitions by China

The legislation will prevent companies with ties to China from owning more than 51 per cent of shares in the critical infrastructure

An influential American Congressman on Wednesday introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives that would prevent predatory investments of American companies by the Chinese government. Introduced by Congressman Jim Banks, member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Restricting Predatory Acquisition During Covid-19 Act would expand the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review purchases by companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party during the Covid-19 pandemic, news agency PTI reported.

“Our job is to ensure the Chinese Communist Party does not profit off a pandemic of their own making. President Trump won an election vowing to stop China from taking advantage of Americans. I am glad to be working with him now to stop Chinese predation,” Banks said in a statement. The bill proposes to increase the scope of cases the CFIUS reviews and sends to the president prior to a financial transaction…

ALSO READ: Will cancel trade deal if China fails to buy goods worth $200 bn : Trump

Congressman Sharice Davids on Wednesday introduced a legislation to rapidly increase the supply of equipment like face masks, hospital gowns, ventilators and testing materials needed to fight the coronavirus and keep the frontline workers safe. The bill would also promote manufacturing these goods in the United States. “We have seen first hand that relying on China to produce the vast majority of medical equipment we use in the US is a big problem,” Davids said….Click Here

US coronavirus stimulus: Here's what Trump, Republicans, and Democrats say

Any plan the White House introduces will need to be approved by both houses of the U.S. Congress.

President Donald Trump met with fellow Republicans in the US Senate on Tuesday to discuss a fiscal stimulus plan to bolster the nation’s economy in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. Any plan the White House introduces will need to be approved by both houses of the US Congress. Expect Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, and Republicans, who control the Senate, to battle over the shape of the stimulus in the weeks to come.

Here are some of the ideas being put forward by the different groups.

The White House : Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin presented options for a stimulus package, but did not have a detailed plan. Trump has been focused on a payroll tax cut, advisers say, but has also publicly pledged relief for the airline, hotel, and cruise industries in recent days.

Employees and employers each pay 6.2% of a worker’s gross pay in payroll tax, which goes to fund Social Security and unemployment compensation, among other things. Donald Trump, who is up for re-election in November, told Republicans at the meeting that if a payroll tax cut is implemented, he would like it to last until after the election, or for it to become permanent.

Pence told the senators that the government insurers Medicare and Medicaid, as well as private insurers, have agreed to cover the cost of coronavirus tests, and the deductibles related to them. Mnuchin presented several options for deferred tax payments, Republicans said, including allowing companies and individuals to defer taxes interest free.

My mother had me when she was 17: Jeff Bezos testifies before US Congress

Amazon founder and CEO talks about personal life and narrates the difficulties the company faced in initial years of its existence

International News: Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, spoke about his personal life and narrated the difficulties his company faced in its initial years when he testified before the US Congress. “I’m Jeff Bezos. I founded ‘Amazon’ 26 years ago with the long-term mission of making it Earth’s most customer-centric company. My mom, Jackie, had me when she was a 17-year-old high school student in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Being pregnant in high school was not popular in Albuquerque in 1964. It was difficult for her,” he said in his testimony before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law .

The world’s richest man said that when the school tried to kick out his mother, his grandfather went to bat for her. “After some negotiation, the principal said, “OK, she can stay and finish high school, but she can’t do any extracurricular activities, and she can’t have a locker.” My grandfather took the deal, and my mother finished high school, though she wasn’t allowed to walk across the stage with her classmates to get her diploma,” he said. He further revealed that determined to keep up with her education, she enrolled in night school, picking classes led by professors who would let her bring an infant to class.

‘My dad’s name is Miguel’

“She would show up with two duffel bags–one full of textbooks, and one packed with diapers, bottles, and anything that would keep me interested and quiet for a few minutes. My dad’s name is Miguel. He adopted me when I was four years old,” said the Amazon CEO. “He was 16 when he came to the United States from Cuba as part of Operation Pedro Pan, shortly after Castro took over. My dad arrived in America alone. His parents felt he’d be safer here. His mom imagined America would be cold, so she made him a jacket sewn entirely out of cleaning cloths, the only material they had on hand,” added Bezos. “We still have that jacket; it hangs in my parents’ dining room.”

Is Facebook a bank? US lawmakers push for answers on Libra cryptocurrency

Libra will likewise confront extra worries from universal controllers and administrators, which could further defer its encouraging

In the wake of enduring a two-day battering on Capitol Hill, presently comes the critical step for Facebook Inc: transforming its 12-page white paper into a genuine cryptographic money despite profound distrust from national banks, controllers and lawmakers everything being equal.

David Marcus, the Facebook official driving its blockchain endeavors, invested quite a bit of his energy at congressional hearings this week saying ‘sorry’ for the past errors of his boss. When he wasn’t guarding Facebook, Marcus attempted to clarify how Libra – the proposed money – would really work. He said over and over that he needs to work with Congress and controllers to get Libra off the ground, and has no designs to make a big appearance the new money before administrative bodies are fulfilled.

“Nothing is propelled and nothing will dispatch until all worries are tended to,” Marcus said Wednesday. He emphasized a form of that guarantee again and again during over six hours of declaration in Washington this prior week individuals from the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee.

All things considered, huge existential inquiries stay about the task, including who or what will control Libra. Marcus said it was not his place to choose who Libra’s controller would be, however he seemed to dismiss the possibility that Facebook ought to be dealt with like a bank. Marcus denied that the organization would offer financial administrations, and furthermore contended that he doesn’t trust Libra is a security that should fall under the Securities and Exchange Commission…

No country caps on Green Cards: US House passes bill; India to benefit

Indian IT experts are most exceedingly terrible sufferers of current movement framework which forces a 7% per nation amount on portion of Green Card

The US legislators Wednesday passed a bill went for lifting the present seven percent nation top on issuing Green Cards, a move which would profit a huge number of very gifted Indian IT experts.

A Green Card enables an individual to live and work forever in the US. Gone by the US House of Representatives, the bill, on being marked into law, would extensively abbreviate the horrifying hold up of skilled experts from nations like India who have connected for perpetual residency in the United States.

Indian IT experts, the vast majority of whom are exceptionally talented and gone to the US for the most part on the H-1B work visas, are the most noticeably terrible sufferers of the present migration framework which forces a seven percent for each nation share on apportioning of the desired Green Cards or perpetual legitimate residency. Lifting the per-nation top would mostly profit experts from nations like India, for whom the hang tight for Green Card is over 10 years.

A portion of the ongoing investigations have said the sitting tight period for Indian IT experts on H-1B visas is over 70 years. Close to seven percent of the visas might be issued to locals of any one autonomous nation in a monetary year, as per the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. As indicated by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), this bill builds the per-nation top on family-based foreigner visas from seven percent of the complete number of such visas accessible that year to 15 percent and dispenses with the seven percent top for business based migrant visas…

Gauri Lankesh: A firebrand journalist vocal on secularism and Dalit rights

Best quality in Gauri was one could always argue with her, dispute her and tell her she was wrong

 

“Be careful about what you post on social media. We live in dangerous times,” I told Gauri Lankesh last week. She replied saying “We can’t be so dead. It is human to express and react. What we feel impulsively is usually our most honest response.”

On Tuesday night, she was shot and killed in cold blood. The killing was not impulsive. It was well thought and carefully planned, like the murders in Maharashtra and Karnataka of the rationalists and thinkers Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi that she had herself condemned and protested.

I grew up in a family of writers. My father, K. Marulasiddappa, and P Lankesh, Gauri’s father, were colleagues and close friends. Lankesh was an English lecturer. My father taught Kannada.
We lived in the same neighbourhood. My mother often left me in the care of the Lankesh household. Whenever I argued with Gauri, she used to joke saying “Magane (child), I used to babysit you before you learned how to speak.”

But the best quality in Gauri was that one could always argue with her, dispute her and tell her she was wrong. And no matter how fierce our arguments, she respected our right to say what we did. We were close friends because we could disagree. It was a quality that she inherited from her father...read more

20,000 Indian immigrants in US fear deportation as Trump repeals DACA

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions yesterday announced the rescinding of the DACA

 

Thousands of people from India, who arrived in the US illegally as children, are fearing deportation after President Donald Trump's decision to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) programme, a South Asian Advocacy group has said.

The number of such people from India, could be more than 20,000, according to an estimate carried out by South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions yesterday announced the rescinding of the Deferred Action for Children Arrival (DACA), an Obama-era amnesty programme that granted work permits to immigrants who arrived in the country illegally as children.

The announcement, which was anticipated for the past few days, was greeted with protests from across the country.

"Over 27,000 Asian Americans, including 5,500 Indians and Pakistanis, have already received DACA. An additional estimated 17,000 individuals from India and 6,000 Pakistan respectively are eligible for DACA, placing India in the top ten countries for DACA eligibility," SAALT said.

With the termination of DACA, these individuals could face deportation at the discretion of the administration, it said.(economy news)

"The President's decision to terminate DACA puts 800,000 individuals at risk of deportation from the only country they've ever called home. Ending DACA is the latest evidence of this administration's utter lack of commitment to our nation's founding values of equality and fairness," Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT, said.

"Our current patchwork of immigration policies and programs is broken, and we demand the Congress does its job to craft a commonsense immigration process that creates a road- map to citizenship for aspiring new Americans.

"This is the only way to align our immigration laws with the values Americans hold dear," she said.

In a statement, South Asian Bar Association (SABA) president Rishi Bagga said "DREAMERS" were brought to the US by their parents in hopes of a better life.

"As children, they did not choose to break the law. Most of these young men and women have never returned to the countries of their birth, and many do not even speak the language of their native countries. Rescinding DACA effectually takes away these young people's right to live in the only country they have ever known,"Bagga said....(Read More)