New Delhi, Jun 20 ; Amid heightened tension between India and the US on trades and the Trump administration reportedly imposed caps to hire advanced tech workers, the Indian government on Thursday said it has “not heard anything officially” on this.
“We have not heard anything officially from the US government. We continue to reiterate and engage with the US government on this matter,” MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters while briefing the media on the US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo’s US visit beginning June 25.
According to media reports, the US has told India that it is considering caps on H-1B visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally.
Indian government had in 2018 mandated payment firms to store customer data exclusively in the country without creating mirror sites overseas.
Some American firms are opposed to this.
Market experts and observers feel if the US administration made it more difficult to hire advanced tech workers, it could weaken the American companies only as many of them such as Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc depend on Indians to help fill their skill gaps
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked payment firms to ensure their data are stored exclusively on local servers, setting a tight six-month deadline for compliance.
Reports also claim that Nasscom – which represents Indian IT majors like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro as well as smaller tech firms – noted that there is no official confirmation yet on the development from the US government on the matter and that it is awaiting clarity from official channels.
India had earlier repeatedly raised the issue of H-1B and L1 visas with the US administration.
The US Secretary of State Mr Pompeo will arrive India on a three-day crucial visit starting June 25, MEA spokesman said.
A Turkish court on Thursday gave life sentences to 24 people including senior military officers in one of the biggest trials over the 2016 failed bid to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The judge handed 17 of those sentenced 141 aggravated life terms each over the deaths of 139 people, for “violating the constitution” and “attempting to assassinate the president”, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Seven others were given between one and 17 aggravated life sentences each, according to Anadolu.
Such sentences carry harsher prison conditions.
More sentences are expected to be handed down on Thursday against others among the 224 suspects on trial.
Among them is US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey accuses of ordering the attempted putsch which left hundreds dead and thousands more injured in July 2016.
Gulen strongly denies the claims. Turkey has failed to secure his extradition.
Former air force chief Akin Ozturk and Mehmet Disli, the brother of former ruling party lawmaker Saban Disli, who since September has served as Turkey’s ambassador to the Netherlands, were among the 17.
One suspect, Lieutenant Colonel Levent Turkkan, who was the aide to then Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar, was given one aggravated life sentence, Anadolu reported. Akar was appointed defence minister in July 2018.
There was a tense atmosphere minutes before the judge issued his verdicts with dozens of people including relatives of those killed during the coup bid in July 2016, lambasting the court for not allowing them to enter.
Saliha Arigan, whose son was killed on the night of the failed overthrow, pressed herself against the gates, crying and shouting to be allowed inside.
“The state should be ashamed,” she said. Even as the verdicts were handed down, the strained mood continued with further attempts by individuals to enter the courtroom complex by force.
An AFP correspondent was not allowed to enter the courtroom by police.
– Erdogan aide given life –
The trial began in May 2017 in the country’s largest courtroom inside a prison complex in Sincan, outside the capital Ankara.
The court also handed down an aggravated life sentence for “violating the constitution” to Colonel Ali Yazici, Erdogan’s former military aide, Anadolu reported.
Yazici was already sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2017 after a trial of dozens who plotted to assassinate Erdogan at a luxury Aegean hotel during the coup attempt.
Former brigadier general Gokhan Sahin Sonmezates, who was suspected of leading the assassination attempt against Erdogan on the night of the coup bid, was given 137 aggravated life sentences and a 540-year prison sentence, Anadolu said.
The judge ordered the case of 13 fugitives including Gulen to be separated from the main coup ringleaders’ trial.
Of the suspects, 176 were in jail while 35 had been free pending trial, according to Anadolu.
The failed overthrow left 248 people dead, according to the Turkish presidency, not including 24 coup-plotters killed on the night.
Dozens of those on trial were accused of being members of the “Peace At Home Council”, the name the plotters apparently gave themselves on the night of the coup attempt.
Since July 2016, tens of thousands of people have been arrested over alleged links to the coup bid under a two-year state of emergency which ended last year.
But nationwide raids by police have continued and there are almost daily reports of public prosecutors issuing detention warrants for suspects over Gulen ties.
Nearly 290 coup-linked court cases have been launched, 261 of which ended with 3,239 defendants convicted, according to justice ministry figures given to AFP before the verdicts.
Tokyo, Jun 19 : A 6.7-magnitude earthquake striking Japan’s northeastern region late Tuesday night left at least 15 people injured with thousands forced to take shelter at evacuation centers, officials said on Wednesday.
According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, of those injured, nine were in the hardest-hit region of Yamagata, four were in Niigata, one in Miyagi and another in Ishikawa prefecture.
The quake struck at 2222 hrs local time at a depth of 14 km, reported Japan Today.
Its epicenter was located off Yamagata and the quake caused a tsunami warning to be issued which was lifted hours later, the Japan Meteorological Agency said (JMA).
The temblor registered upper 6 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale which peaks at 7 in Murakami in Niigata.
Thousands of people in the city and surrounding regions had to take shelter at temporary evacuation centers, local officials said.
Railway operators said that Shinkansen bullet train operations were delayed on Tuesday as a result of the quake, and around 10,000 passengers were delayed, but train schedules returned to normal as of Wednesday.
Airline companies said that flights to and from the regions hit by the quake would not affect flight scheduling.
The weather agency said the quake might cause landslides and warned that houses could possibly collapse.