FOUR BIG TECH CEOs GETTING HEAT FROM CONGRESS ON COMPETITION

Fending off accusations of stifling competition, four Big Tech CEOs -

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and

Tim Cook of Apple - are answering for their companies' practices before

Congress as a House panel caps its yearlong investigation of market

dominance in the industry.

The powerful CEOs sought to defend their companies amid intense grilling by

lawmakers on Wednesday.

The executives provided bursts of data showing how competitive their markets

are, and the value of their innovation and essential services to consumers.

But they sometimes struggled to answer pointed questions about their

business practices. They also confronted a range of other concerns about

alleged political bias, their effect on U.S. democracy and their role in

China.

The four CEOs were testifying remotely to lawmakers, most of whom were

sitting, in masks, inside the hearing room in Washington.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, continued to denounce the big tech

companies, which he has accused, without evidence, of bias against him and

conservatives in general. In a tweet, he challenged Congress to crack down

on the companies.

If Congress doesn't bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done

years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders," Trump tweeted before

the start of the hearing.

In Washington, it has been ALL TALK and NO ACTION for years, and the people

of our Country are sick and tired of it!"

Trump's Justice Department has urged Congress to roll back long-held legal

protections for online platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter.

The proposed changes would strip some of the bedrock protections that have

generally shielded the companies from legal responsibility for what people

post on their platforms.

The four tech CEOs command corporations with gold-plated brands, millions or

even billions of customers, and a combined value greater than the entire

German economy.

FATF RELATED LEGISLATION WILL MOVE PAK FROM GREY LIST TO WHITE LIST, CLAIMS

FOREIGN MINISTER

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related legislation will move the

country from grey list to white list, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood

Qureshi claimed on Wednesday.

"This FATF-related legislation will move us to the white list from grey

list," he was quoted as saying while speaking over FATF-related legislation

from the Parliament.

According to a Dawn report, the Pakistan government on Wednesday "managed to

get two Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-related bills passed by the

National Assembly amidst a noisy protest by the opposition."

Last month, India had stated that Pakistan continuing to be in Financial

Action Task Force's (FATF) 'Grey List' vindicates its position that

Islamabad has not taken appropriate action against terror financing and safe

havens which exist in that country.

"Pakistan continues to be on the FATF's Grey List. It is yet to show action

on 13 out of 27 items of its FATF Action Plan. This is despite all the

deadlines of completing the action expired long ago," MEA spokesperson

Anurag Srivastava had said.

"The continued Greylisting of Pakistan vindicates our position that Pakistan

has not taken appropriate action against terror financing and safe havens

which exist in that country," he added.

This came after Pakistan received another extension on the Grey List during

the FATF plenary session.

Pakistan will likely remain in the Grey List till February 2021 even if it

completes all its action plan items by October 2020 as an on-site visit by

the FATF team would have to be held to confirm completion of the plan.

'PRESSURE PUT BY CHINA ON INDIA WILL CHANGE THEIR DYNAMICS'

Calling the disengagement of Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of

Actual Control (LAC) "a good thing", a senior Trump administration official

said the pressure China had put on India would have a long-term impact on

their dynamics.

"This [troop disengagement] is a good thing and we hope this continues. But

I think that the pressure that China put on India on the LAC will have a

long-term impact on how India views the relationship. It will change the

dynamics between the two," said Lisa Curtis, Deputy Assistant to President

Donald Trump and Director of the U.S. National Security Council's South and

Central Asia Bureau. Ms. Curtis was responding to a question on the

evolution of China's involvement in South Asia at a seminar organised by

Brookings, a think tank.

"India demonstrated that it has the will and the capabilities to stand up to

China. Of course, it played the economic card by banning the Chinese apps

and putting a hold on Chinese investment contracts. And I think the rest of

the Indo-Pacific region is watching this very carefully," Ms. Curtis said,

saying the region would be "encouraged by India's resolve."

In her keynote address at the virtual event, Ms. Curtis called the

India-U.S. relationship a "success story" and said "few countries in the

world are more familiar with Chinese malign influence than India".

TURKISH PARLIAMENT APPROVES SOCIAL MEDIA LAW WITH NEW POWERS

Turkey's parliament approved a law early Wednesday that gives authorities

greater power to regulate social media despite concerns of growing

censorship.

The law requires major social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter

to keep representative offices in Turkey to deal with complaints against

content on their platforms.

If the social media company refuses to designate an official representative,

the legislation mandates steep fines, advertising bans and bandwidth

reductions. With a court ruling, bandwidth would be reduced by 50% and then

by 50% to 90%. Bandwidth reductions mean social media networks would be too

slow to use.

The representative will be be tasked with responding to individual requests

to take down content violating privacy and personal rights within 48 hours

or to provide grounds for rejection. The company would be held liable for

damages if the content is not removed or blocked within 24 hours.

Most alarmingly, the new legislation also would require social media

providers to store user data in Turkey.

The government says the legislation was needed to combat cybercrime and

protect users. Speaking in parliament Wednesday morning, ruling party

lawmaker Rumeysa Kadak said it would be used to remove posts that contain

cyberbullying and insults against women.

Opposition lawmakers said the law would further limit freedom of expression

in a country where the media is already under tight government control and

dozens of journalists are in jail. Hundreds of people have been investigated

and some arrested over social media posts.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demanded the law, vowing to

"control social media platforms" and eradicate immorality.

US SAYS NO PLANS TO DEPLOY TROOPS FROM GERMANY TO INDO-PACIFIC

The United States on Wednesday said there were no plans of deploying troops

being pulled out of Germany to the Indo-Pacific, contrary to earlier

indications from senior officials of the Trump administration..

"Right know there are no plans to do so," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told

reporters at a briefing on the review of troops posture in the European

Command. He was responding to a specific question if troops being pulled out

of Germany will be sent to the Indo-Pacific to respond to the Chinese

military threat.

The top Pentagon official however, kept open the possibility saying a the US

could "eventually take a look" at the Indo-Pacific during a review of the

Indo-Pacific command.

TRUMP SAYS US LOOKING INTO BANNING TIKTOK

President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the US government is

thinking about imposing a ban on Chinese video-sharing application TikTok.

"We are looking at TikTok," Trump said when asked about possibly banning the

Chinese application. "We are thinking about making a decision."

Earlier in the day, treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the US

government was carrying out a national security review on TikTok and that

his department would advise Trump what, if any, action he should take

against it later this week.

PELOSI WARNS MASKLESS LAWMAKERS MAY BE THROWN OUT

The US House of Representatives has ordered all members and staff to wear

masks as the nation's death toll from coronavirus passed 150,000.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned anyone who breaks the new rule face being

removed from the chamber.

She took the decision after Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican often seen

around the Capitol without a face covering, tested positive on Wednesday.

Mrs Pelosi, a California Democrat, said on the House floor on Wednesday

evening that members would be allowed to remove their masks when addressing

the chamber.

"The chair expects all members and staff to adhere to this requirement as a

sign of respect for the health, safety, and wellbeing of others present in

the chamber and surrounding areas," she said.

Mrs Pelosi said she would view "failure to wear a mask as a serious breach

of decorum", warning the House Sergeant at Arms could kick out anyone who

did not wear a mask.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO REJECT NEW DACA APPLICATIONS

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced it will continue to reject new

applications from undocumented immigrants brought as children as it reviews

an Obama-era regulation that protects them from deportation.

During the review of the programme, Deferred Action on Childhood Arrival

(DACA), those already signed up will be granted shortened renewal from 2

year to 1 and all applications for "advance parole", which allows these

immigrants to travel abroad, will be denied barring "exceptional

circumstances".

This new arrangement is likely to be challenged in court as it violates a

federal court's order preventing the administration from rejecting new

applications and denying advance parole.

There are an estimated 644,000 undocumented immigrants protected from

deportation under this regulation and they are also called DREAMERs,

including at least 2,500 from India.

PUTIN WARNS RUSSIA'S VIRUS OUTBREAK COULD GET WORSE

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said the country's coronavirus

outbreak had stabilised but warned the situation remained difficult and

could easily deteriorate.

Russia has registered the fourth-highest number of infections in the world

and health officials on Wednesday reported a total of 828,990 cases and

13,673 fatalities.

Officials eased most virus restrictions in June ahead of a large military

parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms that could

extend Putin's rule.

"The number of coronavirus infections in Russia gradually decreased in June

and July," Putin said during a video conference with officials, adding that

the number of new cases had halved since the peak in May.

Yet Putin cautioned that, "the situation remains difficult -- it could swing

in any direction".

The president called on Russians to observe the rules in place to prevent

the spread of the virus to avoid any need to "re-impose restrictions,

especially large-scale ones".

It was important that "kindergartens, colleges, and organisations can work

safely, in the regular manner to which people are accustomed", he added.