UK may ban kids under 13 from social media to curb sexual abuse

Under a new legislation to be debated in the UK's House of Lords later this week, children under the age of 13 will be banned from joining Facebook and Twitter to keep them safe from child abuse on the social media platforms.

According to a report in The Telegraph, the government's Data Protection Bill will legally enshrine the age at which children will be allowed to create accounts on social media platforms.

The proposal, however, might not get support from cross-party peers who are insisting that the measure must be accompanied by new rules forcing companies to adapt their sites for younger users.

The move comes as Home Secretary Amber Rudd is to meet executives from the Internet giants in the US this week.

Writing in a national daily The Sun on Sunday, Rudd said social media giants must do more to stop child sexual exploitation, adding that the companies have a "moral duty" to go "further and faster" in their efforts to tackle the abuse.

"Online technology had made 'vile child sexual abuse content vastly easier to find'. It is an absolute urgency that I call on all Internet companies to go further and go faster in tackling online child sexual abuse.

"We need you all to bring your resources and your technical expertise to help us turn the tide on this horrendous scourge. It is your moral duty," she added.

During her trip to Washington, Rudd will attend a roundtable discussion which will be joined by tech companies, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

As per a BBC report, new government figures show there was a 700 per cent increase in the number of indecent images identified on technology company servers and flagged to law enforcement agencies between 2013 and 2017.

Each month there are more than 400 arrests for indecent images of children offences in Britain and some 500 children are being protected from online sexual exploitation, BBC cited the government data as saying.
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Trump names 'safe' choice Jerome Powell to lead US Fed: 5 questions answered

ditor’s note: Markets breathed a sigh of relief after President Donald Trump named Jerome Powell his pick to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve. If confirmed, Powell – considered a “safe” choice – would take over from current Chair Janet Yellen in February, becoming one of the world’s most powerful people. So what’s the big deal? Economist Greg Wright explains why who leads the U.S. central bank matters to us all.

What does the Fed do?

The Federal Reserve oversees all banks and financial institutions based in the U.S., including branches of foreign companies, and also sets U.S. monetary policy.

The main way it does the latter is through its target interest rate. This benchmark influences the pace of economic growth, the level of employment and the price of goods, services and assets around the world. As the engine behind the world’s most important economy, the Fed’s influence is hard to overstate.

As a result, the Fed affects the likelihood that you – and millions of others around the world – will keep your job, will be able to afford a new home and will be able to retire when you want. And while most Fed decisions are made by a seven-member Board of Governors, the chair’s voice is by the far the most important. For this reason the Fed chair is sometimes referred to as the “second-most-powerful person in the world” – after the U.S. president
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Make Edison Great Again: Racial ads want Asian-Americans deported from US

Flyers with xenophobic messages targeting two Asian-American school board candidates have reached the mailboxes of several New Jersey residents, sparking outrage among the community members in the city.

The residents of Edison City in New Jersey have received anonymous letters in their mail this week that seeks to deport Indian-American Falguni Patel and Chinese-American Jerry Shi - who are candidates of the school board - alleging that the Chinese and Indians are taking over the town.

Under the banner "Make Edison Great Again", the flyer has mugshot pictures of Jerry and Falguni with "deport" stamped over them.

"Stop Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel from taking over our school board," says the letter that has reached mailboxes of a large number of Edison residents.

The New Jersey City of Edison, is considered as part of the New York City metropolitan area and has a sizable population of Indian-Americans.

The appearance of such racial fliers has sent shock waves among the residents of Edison, which earns its name from Thomas Edison, inventor of electric bulb.

The letter claims that "Chinese and Indians are taking over our town," and goes on to say, "Enough is enough!"

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Senate confirms Indian-American lawyer Manisha Singh to key State Dept post

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of Manisha Singh, a prominent Indian-American lawyer, to a key administration position in the State Department that would make her in charge of the country's economic diplomacy.

Singh was chief counsel and senior policy adviser to Senator Dan Sullivan till now. Her nomination was confirmed by a voice vote in block along with several other diplomatic nominations.

Singh replaces Charles Rivkin as the assistant secretary of state for economic affairs.

The position has been vacant since January after Rivkin resigned following Trump's swearing-in as the 45th president of the United States.

A resident of Florida, Singh, 45, has served as the deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, and as an aide to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Her private sector experience includes practising law at multinational firms and working in-house at an investment bank.

She holds an LL.M degree in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington College of Law, a J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law and completed her BA from the University of Miami at the age of 19.
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Obamacare enrolment begins, but no major gain for Wipro, Cognizant

IT services companies, which were betting on the enrolment for Obamacare to revive faster growth in healthcare services business in the US, may be disappointed as the Trump administration has cut budgets and time for enrolment of the landmark healthcare programme.

Software service providers such as Wipro, Cognizant, Accenture and BPO companies earn a good portion of their revenues by providing services to health insurance companies and the marketplaces for buying health insurance in the US. These companies were awaiting clarity on the proposed change in legislation of Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare and some of them felt the pinch as clients delayed in making decisions for new projects.

While Wipro, which counts close to 15 per cent of its revenues from healthcare services, claimed to have lost $120 million on a run-rate basis in the past 12 months; another IT major Accenture saw business being impacted due to delay in decision making.

As the Open Enrollment has begun for 2018 on November 1, the US administration has shortened the duration to 45 days, unlike earlier years, and not given enough publicity resulting in confusion among citizens.

Global analysts largely say "nothing much has changed" despite efforts by the current administration to replace the healthcare legislation and this could mean no major change in business for IT services companies, both Indian and global, at least this year.
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Harassment of women can't be tolerated, says Ivanka Trump in Japan

US President Donald Trump's daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump said here on Friday that sexual harassment of women should "never be tolerated".

Ivanka Trump's visit came just two days before the US President's scheduled arrival in Japan on the first stop of an Asia tour.

At a World Assembly for Women, she spoke about boosting equal participation in "traditionally male-dominated sectors of our economy" but there were many empty seats that officials blamed on tight security restrictions, the BBC reported.

Ivanka Trump's father had been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault, all of which his representatives denied.

Accusations of groping, forced kissing and walking unannounced into changing areas at beauty pageants were made against Trump when he was running for President.

Past weeks brought heightened focus on sexual harassment around the world, which was sparked by the accusations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, continued in the #metoo movement where victims shared stories online, and already claimed the job of a UK Cabinet Minister, Michael Fallon.

When asked last week about the claims against Trump, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said all the women who made the accusations were lying.

At the Tokyo conference, Ivanka Trump said: "All too often, our workplace culture fails to treat women with appropriate respect. This takes many forms, including harassment, which can never be tolerated."
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BMW recalls 1 mn vehicles in North America over fire risks

BMW AG said Friday it is recalling about 1 million vehicles in North America for two separate issues involving fire risks and said it may expand the recalls to other countries.

One recall covers 670,000 2006-2011 US 3-series vehicles to address a wiring issue for heating and air conditioning system may overheat and could increase the risk of a fire.

The second recall covers 740,000 US 2007-2011 vehicles with a valve that could rust and lead to a fire in rare cases. The recall includes some 128i vehicles, 3-series, 5-series and X3, X5 and Z4 vehicles. BMW spokesman Michael Rebstock said the recalls have overlapping vehicles and cover about 1 million vehicles, nearly all in the United States and about 15,000 in Canada.
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