by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology, World
Steve Bannon
New York : Targeting Facebook’s business model, US President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist and former Vice President of Cambridge Analytica Steve Bannon has accused the social network giant of selling people’s data.
Speaking at a conference held by the Financial Times newspaper on Thursday, Bannon, however, said that he did not know about the political data analytics firm’s data mining from Facebook, CNBC reported.
“They take your stuff for free. They sell it and monetise it for huge margins. That’s why the companies trade for such high valuations,” Bannon was quoted as saying.
“Then they write algorithms and control your life,” he added.
Cambridge Analytica, which worked with Trump’s election team, was accused of harvesting millions of Facebook profiles of US voters.
The firm has allegedly been using Facebook users’ data to unfairly influence election results by psychological manipulation, entrapment techniques and fake news campaigns.
According to a report in the Guardian, Bannon later said outside the conference room that he “did not remember” being part of any scheme to buy data that came from Facebook and divert it to use for election propaganda.
He claimed that neither he nor Cambridge Analytica had anything to do with “dirty tricks” in the use of information harvested from Facebook to make computer models to sway elections.
He blamed any “dirty tricks” on Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL).
“Facebook data is for sale all over the world,” Bannon told the Guardian.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday admitted that the social media giant “made mistakes” over the scandal and a “breach of trust” had occurred between it and its users.
Cambridge Analytica is now being probed in the US for the company’s role inTrump’s presidential election campaign.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : The US State Department has approved the sale of an estimated $670 million in anti-tank missiles to Saudi Arabia, just hours after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met US Defence Chief James Mattis.
A statement from the State Department on Thursday confirmed approval of “TOW 2B (BGM-71F-Series) missiles for an estimated cost of $670 million” to the Kingdom. Congress was notified of the proposed sale and lawmakers have 30 days to try to stop it, the New York Times said.
The proposed package included up to 6,700 missiles made by Raytheon Missile Systems as well as spare parts for American-made tanks and helicopters that Saudi Arabia already owns.
The statement said the sale “will support US foreign policy and national security objectives by improving the security of a friendly country which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East”.
The proposed sale is bound to be questioned by Congress where the Senate this week rejected a bipartisan effort to halt US military support for the bombing campaign in Yemen.
The Trump administration strenuously protested the effort and sent Pentagon and State Department officials to Capitol Hill last week to lobby against its passage.
In the end, the administration prevailed and lawmakers from both parties shelved the measure for further debate by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to the Times.
Hours earlier, Prince Mohammed met Mattis, who characterized Saudi Arabia as “part of the solution” in Yemen, which has been ripped apart by civil war.
He said Saudi Arabia supported the government in Yemen’s capital Sana, which is recognized by the UN. “We are going to end this war. That is the bottom line,” Mattis said.
“And we are going to end it on positive terms for the people of Yemen but also security for the nations in the peninsula.”
Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said Mattis did not bring up the mounting civilian casualties in Yemen during his discussion with Prince Mohammed.
Instead, she said, the Defence Secretary discussed the continued cooperation between the US and Saudi Arabia through additional training and military education.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington/Beijing : US President Donald Trump has signed an order imposing tariffs worth $60 billion in Chinese imports in his strongest trade action against any country. Beijing threatened Washington with higher tariffs worth $3 billion for imported US products.
Financial markets plunged on fears of a potential trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trump declared that China was responsible for thousands of lost American jobs and billions in lost revenues.
The White House said on Thursday it was taking action in retaliation for China’s use of pressure and intimidation to obtain American technology and trade secrets.
The measures included a significant change in Trump’s looming steel and aluminium tariffs that would aim them primarily at China, the Washington Post reported.
After Trump’s announcement, China’s Commerce Ministry said it was proposing tariffs on 128 US products including pork, wine and seamless steel tubes.
It will include an additional 15 per cent tariff on products including fruit, nuts, wines and seamless steel tubes and an additional 25 per cent tariff on pork and recycled aluminium products.
“The measures will be implemented in two stages: in the first stage, the 15 per cent tariff will be imposed if the two countries cannot reach an agreement on trade issues within a scheduled time. In the second stage, the 25 per cent import tax will be imposed after evaluating the impact caused by the US policies,” the Chinese Ministry said.
But it also urged the Trump administration to resolve differences through dialogue to “avoid damage to the broader picture of Chinese-US cooperation”.
Trump’s actions fulfil his campaign pledge to demand fairer trade deals with countries and to retaliate against trading partners if the US does not secure better agreements.
“We have one particular problem,” the US President said before signing the order that will impose tariffs on hundreds of Chinese products, from shoes and clothing to consumer electronics. “We have a tremendous intellectual property theft situation going on.
“We’re doing things for this country that should have been done for many, many years… It’s going to make us a much stronger, much richer nation,” he said at the White House.
In addition to the tariffs, the US also plans to impose new investment restrictions, take action against China at the World Trade Organisation while the Treasury Department also will propose additional measures.
Trump said he respected his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping but Washington “would no longer tolerate running a trade deficit of nearly $400 billion with China”, its second-largest trading partner, after the EU.
The US administration’s increasing focus on punishing China was evident in its decision to exempt allies like the EU, South Korea, Brazil, Canada and Mexico from what were supposed to be worldwide tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
The levies, which go into effect on Friday, will largely hit China.
Stock markets were hit by fears that Trump’s tariff plan could trigger a trade war. Japan’s Nikkei share index fell 4.5 per cent and in the US the Dow Jones sank 2.9 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed down 3.4 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended 2.5 per cent lower.
Trump, on March 8, signed proclamations to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminium, causing mounting dissent among trading partners around the world.
Trump had exempted Canada and Mexico from the import levies for the duration of talks aimed at renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
House Speaker Paul Ryan
Washington : The US Congress has unveiled a massive bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending package that will keep the government funded until the end of September and has President Donald Trump’s support, the media reported.
But it was not immediately clear whether the proposal will pass Congress in time to avert a government shutdown on Friday at midnight, reports CNN.
Lawmakers on Wednesday night agreed on funding levels for every corner of the government with $700 billion budgeted for defence and $591 billion slated for non-defence spending, but the legislation also include policy riders like a bill that incentivizes state and federal authorities to report more data to the country’s gun background check system called “Fix NICS”.
The rush now was to move the legislation as quickly as possible.
Lawmakers have until Friday at midnight to pass the bill before the government runs out of money.
The House is expected to vote on the plan later this week but the main obstacle will be whether the Senate can move fast enough to avert a shutdown given its rules.
If one lawmaker objects, it could force Senate leaders to run out the clock and even face a temporary shutdown into the weekend, reports CNN.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said that while “no bill this size is perfect”, this one strengthens the country.
“No bill of this size is perfect… And we must reform our broken budget process to return to a regular appropriations process. But this legislation addresses important priorities and makes us stronger at home and abroad,” Ryan said early Thursday morning.
The spending package includes additional money that could be used to fund a controversial New York and New Jersey infrastructure project.
It also contains the Taylor Force Act, which would cut off US aid to the Palestinian Authority until the government there ceases payments to families of terrorists.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : President Donald Trump has said that he would ask for the death penalty for certain “really bad” convicted drug traffickers and will try to toughen sentencing guidelines in an attempt to fight the opioid epidemic that takes 175 lives per day in the US.
On Monday, Trump travelled to New Hampshire to present his plan to deal with the opioid crisis that will have the Department of Justice request the death penalty for drug traffickers although current law does not allow it, reports Efe news.
“This scourge of drug addiction in America will stop,” Trump said in a speech in Manchester.
“It will stop. Failure is not an option. We will raise a drug-free generation of American children.”
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were accompanied by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and several cabinet members to launch the administration’s “Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse” at the Manchester Community College.
“We have to get tough on these people,” said Trump.
“These are terrible people, and that toughness includes the death penalty. They will kill thousands of people in their lifetime, and yet they get caught and go away for 30 days.
“This isn’t about nice anymore… No more ‘let’s have everyone go to a blue ribbon committee and get a medal.’ This is about a very tough problem. If we don’t get tough on these dealers, we are not going to win this battle. I don’t want to leave at the end of seven years and still have this problem,” he said.
Trump said that it was “possible” that Americans might not be prepared to impose the death penalty on all drug traffickers, as some other nations do.
The event was attended by more than 250 community members, law enforcement officials, first responders and local families affected by the opioid crisis.
Also in the audience were New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.
Sessions confirmed in a statement that his department will utilise federal law to seek the death penalty “when appropriate”.
US law permits applying the death penalty only in cases of murders linked to drug trafficking or drugs, according to the independent Death Penalty Information Centre.
The Trump administration also had considered imposing capital punishment on people who traffic even small quantities of fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid used as a painkiller.
Current anti-drug law establishes penalties of up to 20 years behind bars for small traffickers and reserves a term of life in prison for especially serious cases.
According to US Centres for Disease Control figures, 64,000 people died of opioid overdoses in in 2016.
—IANS
