Google announces $4 million crisis fund battling President Trump"s immigration ban

January 30, 2017

Jan 30: Tech bigwigs across the globe are supporting immigrants stranded outside the US, courtesy President Trump"s immigration ban. Taking the concerns and offering support, Google has today announced its largest humanitarian fund in support for people impacted by this order.

google The $4 million crisis fund so announced is a mix of $2 million in donations from employees and the remaining $2 million directly being pooled in by the search giant. Google will be delivering the funds to numerous human rights and liberty organizations of the States, which include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), International Rescue Committee (IRC) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees / UN Refugee Agency (UNHR).

These organizations will channelize the received funds to aid immigrants stuck at airports or those who"re in urgent need of finding an accommodation. Further, the funds will also be utilized towards demonstrating outrage among the 50 states and carry out legal actions that counter the ban.

This fund marks the company"s largest crisis campaign ever and adds to the $16 million donations made by Google. Previously, the company has shown its support towards educational programs, internet access, technology development and poverty alleviation.

The mentioned campaign was initially publicized through an internal memo sent by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and was confirmed by a Google spokeswoman late Sunday to USA Today. It reported that Google has at least 187 staff members who could be affected by the said order relative to Muslim dominant countries like Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.

Exhibiting its concerns over the matter, a Google spokesperson commented,

We"re concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the U.S.,We"ll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere.

The news comes just after the company recalled all of its employees abroad, who could potentially be impacted by the new order from the administration. Moreover, company"s co-founder Sergey Brin also participated in a protest at San Francisco International Airport.

Apart from Google, executives from Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb and Tesla Motors have also condemned the immigration order. The action so taken was temporarily postponed by a federal judge in New York Saturday night. The tech community"s steps towards the ban clearly state instability of President Trump"s immigrant order and measures.

So far, Lyft has been the single most vocal tech company to have openly condemned Trump administration"s order. It also donated a Million dollars to the ACLU.

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Entire Earth vibrating less due to COVID-19 lockdowns says study

Agencies

July 25,2020

In a study conducted in 117 countries, researchers have found that the world is experiencing the most dramatic reduction in the seismic noise (the hum of vibrations in the planet's crust) in recorded history due to global COVID-19 lockdowns.

Measured by instruments called seismometers, seismic noise is caused by vibrations within the Earth, which travel like waves and the waves can be triggered by earthquakes, volcanoes, and bombs - but also by daily human activity like travel and industry.

This quiet period was likely caused by the total global effect of social distancing measures, closure of services and industry, and drops in tourism and travel, the study published in the journal Science, reported.

The new research, led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium and five other institutions around the world including Imperial College London (ICL), showed that the dampening of 'seismic noise' caused by humans was more pronounced in more densely populated areas.

"Our study uniquely highlights just how much human activities impact the solid Earth, and could let us see more clearly than ever what differentiates human and natural noise," said study co-author Stephen Hicks from ICL in the UK.

For the findings, the research team looked at seismic data from a global network of 268 seismic stations in 117 countries and found significant noise reductions compared to before any lockdown at 185 of those stations.

Researchers tracked the 'wave' of quietening between March and May as worldwide lockdown measures took hold.

The largest drops in vibrations were seen in the most densely populated areas, like Singapore and New York City, but drops were also seen in remote areas like Germany's the Black Forest and Rundu in Namibia.

Citizen-owned seismometers, which tend to measure more localised noise, noted large drops around universities and schools around Cornwall, UK and Boston, US - a drop in noise 20 per cent larger than seen during school holidays.

The findings showed that countries like Barbados, where lockdown coincided with the tourist season, saw a 50 per cent decrease in noise.

"The changes have also given us the opportunity to listen in to the Earth's natural vibrations without the distortions of human input," the study authors wrote.

Earlier in April, a study published in the journal Nature, reported at least a 30 per cent reduction in that amount of ambient human noise since lockdown began in Belgium.

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Will not roll out payment services without compliance: WhatsApp tells SC

Agencies

May 14,2020

Social media platform WhatsApp assured the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it will not roll out its payment services without complying with all payment regulations and norms in the country.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and Hrishikesh Roy took up the matter through video conferencing. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the social media platform, said "WhatsApp Inc makes a statement on behalf of his client that they will not go ahead with the payments' scheme without complying with all the regulations in force."

The statement was made during the hearing of a petition seeking a ban on payment through WhatsApp, as it does not conform to the data localization norms. The top court took the assurance made by WhatsApp on record.

WhatsApp made the statement during the hearing of a plea seeking a ban on its payment service, for not being in line with data localization norms.

In 2018, WhatsApp was granted a beta licence to launch its payment service, but a dedicated and separate app is yet to be launched. A petition was moved in the apex court that WhatsApp's existing model for its payments service should be declared inconsistent with the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Scheme, as a separate dedicated app has not been offered by the company.

The petitioner NGO, Good Governance Chambers, argued that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) must change its model on the lines of the UPI payment scheme, and its operations may be suspended until these conditions are met.

The apex court today asked the Centre, Facebook and WhatsApp to file their replies within three weeks and it will take up the matter thereafter. The court noted that the government may process the applications filed by WhatsApp in accordance with the law and there is no stay on the same. Facebook was represented by senior advocate Arvind Datar.

The petitioner argued that lapses have been found in relation to WhatsApp's claims of having a secure and safe technological interface for securing sensitive user data.

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Siddaramaiah says BJP trying to destabilise Congress government in Rajasthan

News Network

July 28,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 28: Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Monday alleged that BJP is trying to destabilise the Congress government in Rajasthan.

"It is the duty of the Governor to act according to the decision of the state cabinet. But he is acting like a central government puppet," he said at a protest organised here by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

He said the Congress is protesting across the country to save democracy and save the constitution.

"We are not fighting through violence. We are protesting peacefully. The Constitution has given the right to protest in a democratic system," he said.

He accused the BJP of "being disrespectful" to the Constitution.

"Governments must walk within the framework of the Constitution. The Constitution gives everyone rights and duties. BJP destabilises elected governments and buys our legislators by horse-trading by spending crores of money. The same thing happened in Karnataka as well," he alleged.

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