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US looking at banning TikTok & other Chinese apps

7Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

USA

US looking at banning TikTok & other Chinese apps

Washington, Jul 7, 2020: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US is "certainly looking" at banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, days after India blocked the popular video-sharing platform. India banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including TikTok and UC Browser, on June 29, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. During an interview on Monday with Fox News'' Laura Ingraham, Pompeo said that he and President Donald Trump are taking the reports seriously after he was told by the host that India had already banned the app and Australia is considering doing so. "We are taking this very seriously and we are certainly looking at it. We have worked on this very issue for a long time, whether it's the problem of having Huawei ...

US President Donald Trump suspends H-1B visas till year end

23Jun By PriyankaNo Comments

USA

US President Donald Trump suspends H-1B visas till year end

US President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation to suspend issuing of H-1B visas, which is popular among Indian and Chinese workers, along with other foreign work visas for the rest of the year. Trump said the step was essential to help millions of Americans who have lost their jobs due to the current economic crisis. Issuing the proclamation ahead of the November presidential elections, Trump has ignored the mounting opposition to the order by various business organisations, lawmakers and human rights bodies. The proclamation that comes into effect on June 24, is expected to impact a large number of Indian IT professionals and several American and Indian companies who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1. They would now have to...

155 Indian companies Invest $22 billion, creates 125K jobs in US in 2020

17Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

USA

155 Indian companies Invest $22 billion, creates 125K jobs in US in 2020

Washington, Jun 15, 2020: As many as 155 Indian companies have invested USD 22 billion in the US, thus creating nearly 125,000 jobs in the country, according to a report issued by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on Monday. The report, “Indian Roots, American Soil 2020,” is a state-by-state breakdown of tangible investments made and jobs created by 155 surveyed Indian companies doing business in all 50 states, as well as Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. Texas, California, New Jersey, New York and Florida are home to the greatest number of workers in the US directly employed by the reporting Indian companies, the report said. “Indian-Americans have made so many important cultural, economic, and scientific contributions to our country and Texas values your hard work and ...

Twitter fact check controversy: President Trump threatens new regulation or shutdown

28May By NitishNo Comments

USA

Twitter fact check controversy: President Trump threatens new regulation or shutdown

Washington, May 28 (AP): President Donald Trump, the historically prolific tweeter of political barbs and blasts, threatened social media companies with new regulation or even shuttering after Twitter added fact checks to two of his tweets. He turned to his Twitter account to tweet his threats. The president can''t unilaterally regulate or close the companies, and any effort would likely require action by Congress. His administration has shelved a proposed executive order empowering the Federal Communications Commission to regulate technology companies, citing concerns it wouldn''t pass legal muster. But that didn''t stop Trump from angrily issuing strong warnings. Tech giants “silence conservative voices," he claimed on Twitter early Wednesday. “We will strongly regulate, or clos...

Twitter adds fact check warnings to President Trump’s tweets

27May By AnkitaNo Comments

USA

Twitter adds fact check warnings to President Trump’s tweets

Washington, May 27th, 2020: For the first time, Twitter has flagged some of President Donald Trump's tweets with a fact-check warning. On Tuesday, Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots "fraudulent” and predicted that "mail boxes will be robbed,” among other things. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that guides users to a Twitter “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about Trump''s unsubstantiated claims. Until now, the president has simply blown past Twitter's half-hearted attempts to enforce rules intended to promote civility and “healthy” conversation on its most prominent user. Trump frequently amplifies misinformation, spreads abuse, and uses his pulpit to personally attack...

Chinese Tech Company criticize US Government

25May By AnkitaNo Comments

CHINA

Chinese Tech Company criticize US Government

One of China's biggest tech companies has criticised the Trump administration for "politicising business" after it slapped export sanctions on 33 more Chinese enterprises and government entities. The new measures announced on Friday expanded a US campaign against Chinese companies Washington says might be security threats or involved in human rights abuses. Beijing criticised curbs imposed earlier on tech giant Huawei and other Chinese companies but has yet to say whether it will retaliate. The most prominent name on the latest blacklist is Qihoo 360, a major supplier of anti-virus software and a web browser. The decision to add the companies to the Commerce Department's Entity List limits their access to US components and technology by requiring government permission for exports....

14May By PriyankaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

How Coronavirus Hit Jobs Globally

Since the pandemic hit, claims for unemployment benefits have soared in some countries notably the US and by far less in others, for example, Japan. According to the UN’s International Labour Organization, as job losses escalate, nearly half of the global workforce at risk of losing livelihoods. As a result of the economic crisis created by the pandemic, almost 1.6 billion informal economy workers (representing the most vulnerable in the labour market), out of a worldwide total of two billion and a global workforce of 3.3 billion, have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living. This is due to lockdown measures and/or because they work in the hardest-hit sectors. The first month of the crisis is estimated to have resulted in a drop of 60 per cent in the income of i...

US government sees record monthly deficit of $737.9 billion

13May By AnkitaNo Comments

USA

US government sees record monthly deficit of $737.9 billion

The federal government piled up a record deficit in April, traditionally a month of big budget surpluses. The sea of red ink is being created by a drop in revenue and a massive increase in spending to fund efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the government racked up a shortfall of $737.9 billion last month. That was more than three times larger than the previous record monthly deficit of $235 billion set in February. The deficit so far for the fiscal year that began Sept. 1 climbed to $1.48 trillion. Treasury normally runs surpluses in April as the government revenues swell because of the annual April filing deadline for tax payments. But this year, among the many measures the government has taken to try to cushion the blow o...

Chinese investment lowest in US since 2009 But Coronavirus is not the reason

11May By PriyankaNo Comments

CHINA

Chinese investment lowest in US since 2009 But Coronavirus is not the reason

China's direct investment in the United States fell last year to its lowest level since the Great Recession, even before the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of global commerce. The decline in Beijing's investment in the United States reflected tensions between the world's two biggest economies and Chinese government restrictions on overseas investment. A report out Monday from the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Rhodium Group consultancy found that China's direct investment in the US dropped from USD 5.4 billion in 2018 to USD 5 billion last year, the lowest level since the recession year of 2009. Direct investment includes mergers, acquisitions and investments in things like offices and factories but not financial investments like purchases of stocks and bond...

Trump admin working to temporarily ban work-based Visas

9May By AdityaNo Comments

USA

Trump admin working to temporarily ban work-based Visas

The US is working to temporarily ban the issuance of some work-based visas like H-1B, popular among highly-skilled IT professionals, as well as students visas and work authorization that accompanies them, amidst the high level of unemployment due to the coronavirus, according to a media report on Friday. The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers from countries like India and China in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Nearly 500,000 migrant workers are employed in the US in the H-1B status. "The president's immigration advisers are drawing up plans for a coming executive order, expected this month, that would ban the issuance of some new temporary, work-based visas," The Wall Street Journal reported Frid...

More than 20 million US Jobs vanish in April

7May By AnkitaNo Comments

USA

More than 20 million US Jobs vanish in April

US businesses cut an unprecedented 20.2 million jobs in April, an epic collapse as the coronavirus outbreak closed of offices, factories, schools, construction sites and stores that propel the US economy. The Wednesday report from payroll company ADP showed the tragic depth and scale of job losses that left no part of the world's largest economy unscathed. The leisure and hospitality sector shed 8.6 million workers last month. Trade, transportation and utilities let 3.4 million people go. Construction firms cut nearly 2.5 million jobs, while manufacturers let go of roughly 1.7 million employees. This private industry report comes two days ahead of the official monthly figures from the U.S. Labor Department. Economists expect that report will show 21 million job losses, accord...

US Trade Gap rises to USD 44.4 billion as Virus slams Commerce

6May By AnkitaNo Comments

USA

US Trade Gap rises to USD 44.4 billion as Virus slams Commerce

The US trade deficit rose in March as the coronavirus outbreak battered America's trade with the world. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the gap between what the United States sells and what it buys abroad widened 11.6 percent in March to USD 44.4 billion from USD 39.8 billion in February. US exports fell 9.6 percent to USD 187.7 billion on plunging orders for cars, auto parts, and industrial machines. Imports fell by 6.2 percent to USD 232.2 billion. Total trade exports plus imports came in at USD 419.9 billion in March, down 7.8 per cent from February and 11.4 per cent from March 2019. The politically sensitive deficit in the trade of goods with China fell 21.3 per cent to USD 15.5 billion in March as exports rose slightly and imports plummeted. The coronavirus ...