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Last updated: 2020-11-26 00:52:00 +00:00
LatestWill the US court rule against the tighter H-1B visa rule that comes into effect on December 7? On December 7, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) tougher H1-B visa rule will come into effect. President-Elect Joe Biden could change it, but it might take a few months and might not be easy, immigration experts had earlier pointed out. Though there was a 60-day comment period for the DHS H-1B rules, the probability of the current administration making changes is low, pointed out experts.
All these would have a huge impact on Indian IT service providers and techies, who are one of the major beneficiaries of the visa. Indians account for about 1.3 lakh of the total 1.8 lakh H-1B visas issued in FY19.
IT executives in recent interactions with Moneycontrol had pointed out that wage hikes and tighter H-1B norms would impact them as they explore alternatives like offshoring (moving to low-cost locations like India), with remote working picking up and accelerating localisation drives.
Stuart Anderson, founder, National Foundation for Public Policy (NFAP), in a Forbes report, pointed out that computer-related fields where the majority of H-1B workers were deployed saw the least unemployment rate at 3.5 percent, compared to 7.8 percent in other fields, as of September 2020. Unemployment rate in computer-related fields was 3 percent in January 2020, and for non-computer related fields, it was 4.1 percent.
In addition, there were 6.5 lakh job openings that required Bachelor’s degrees and above, as of October 2020, a 4.7 percent increase compared to May 2020, noted a report submitted by the US agency that supports entrepreneurs and small businesses in America.
LatestCalifornia’s Massive Number Of New Coronavirus Cases Jumps 17% In 24 Hours Tuesday’s daily new case count was 15,329, more than double that from two weeks ago. Just 24 hours later, the number of hospitalizations jumped another 5%, with 408 new patients recorded. As Deadline reported Tuesday. Wednesday’s number brought the number of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the state to 7,049, which is approaching the all-time high of 8,820 hospitalizations seen on July 21.
According to Ghaly and others, Covid-19-related hospitalizations down the road have worked out to be 12% of the daily infections number. Frightening Rate Could Overwhelm Facilities By Early December.
The number of weekly jobless claims in the United States has risen again, and economic recovery under the influence of the epidemic has slowed The number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time last week has further increased, which shows that the outbreak of the coronavirus and business restrictions are driving layoffs and undermining the recovery of the labor market. The number of unadjusted applicants soared by 78,372 last week to 827,710. At the same time, personal income fell last month and may fall further. About 13.6 million Americans will lose government-funded unemployment benefits the day after Christmas.
New York Governor Cuomo said that "all states are broke" and need federal funds to distribute the coronavirus vaccine The governor of New York said at a press conference that the estimated cost of distributing a vaccine in each state is about 8 billion U.S. dollars, and Washington has not approved state and local funds. So far, the government has only provided $200 million. Cuomo also emphasized that the difficulty of distributing vaccines is much greater than expected.
The coronavirus test is already a very simple test, but with everyone's best efforts, a total of 180 million coronavirus tests have been conducted nationwide in 9 months. For vaccination, nearly 330 million vaccines are required, and each person may have to get two shots. This difficulty is much more difficult than the coronavirus test.
Cuomo said that he plans to meet with President-elect Biden's team of coronavirus advisors later on Wednesday to discuss how the states need to distribute vaccines. Biden’s plan calls for an allocation of $25 billion for the development and distribution of vaccines to ensure that they can be “delivered” to every American for free.
COVID crackdown underway as 'substantial' restrictions coming to NYC Across the state, the positivity rate has increased by 120% for the same time period. With high-risk businesses closed indefinitely on southern Staten Island as of Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio is warning of more 'substantial' COVID restrictions citywide in the days to come.
All of the south shore of Staten Island is now in an orange zone of restrictions forcing the closures of gyms, salons, and indoor dining. Outdoor dining is allowed, but indoor and outdoor gatherings must be capped at 10 people.
Officials in New York City and around the state will be on the lookout for mass gatherings and travelers this holiday season.
City officials are stepping up enforcement to control the spread of the virus by trying to limit non-essential travel. Vehicle checkpoints and inspections will take place at transit hubs by sheriffs officers. Anyone arriving from out-of-state must quarantine for 14 days or show proof of a negative COVID test before and after arrival.
Sputnik’s ‘efficacy at 95%’, to be cheaper than US vaccines Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, that reported an efficacy of over 95%, will be twice as cheap as those by Pfizer and Moderna with similar positive results. Sputnik V, developed by Gamaleya Institute and RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund), will be priced under $20 per person for the two doses in global markets, and may be available here by February. The first international deliveries of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine will be made in January 2021 based on the existing partnerships with foreign manufacturers, the statement adds.
Moderna boss says COVID-19 vaccine not proven to stop spread of virus Research has shown that the biotech firm’s shot is effective at preventing people from getting sick with COVID-19, but there’s no hard evidence that it stops them from carrying the virus “transiently” and potentially infecting others who haven’t been vaccinated, according to Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer.“Do I believe that it reduces transmission? Absolutely yes, and I say this because of the science,” he added.
Elon Musk is now the world’s second richest person` Tesla tops $500 billion market value as shares hit all-time high
Tesla co-founder Elon Musk is now the world’s second richest person after he leapfrogged Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, which tracks the wealth of the world’s 500 richest people.
The 49-year-old entrepreneur, who is also the co-founder of space exploration firm SpaceX, saw his net worth rise by $7.2 billion to $128 billion on Monday as Tesla shares surged days after the news that the electric car company will be admitted to the S&P 500 index in December.
Musk’s net worth has risen by $100.3 billion in 2020, marking the largest increase among those on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. In January, Musk ranked 35th.
Last week, Musk pushed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg down into fourth position when he claimed the third spot.
The only person ahead of Musk now is Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who took the top spot from Gates in 2017 and has stayed there since.
The presidential transition of the Biden team has begun, and Biden will begin to receive the president’s daily briefing Two days ago, the General Services Administration informed Biden that the president’s transition can be officially launched. According to the Presidential Transition Act, ODNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence) will provide support to the transition team. The spokesperson said that this afternoon, the White House approved ODNI to begin providing Biden with a daily briefing (PDB) as part of supporting the transition.
Normally, the president-elect will start receiving PDB within a few days after winning the election. But this year, because President Trump has not accepted the election results and recounts have occurred, the official transition process has been delayed for nearly three weeks. Trump only agreed to authorize the transition process late yesterday, allowing the General Services Administration to provide federal funds to the Biden transition team, while still saying that the election results have not yet been finalized, and continue to conduct election results in several states litigation.
Court Hearing Shows Businesses Could Prevail Against H-1B Visa Rules Paul Hughes of McDermott Will & Emery, the lead counsel for plaintiffs in the Chamber lawsuit, emphasized the high stakes during the November 23rd hearing. “We think this is an overt attempt to destroy the H-1B program,” said Hughes, and several company executives and university leaders provided declarations to that effect. Zane Brown said, “Many of Amazon’s most tenured employees,” including data scientists and software engineers, would have to leave the United States.
Ken Cuccinelli at the Department of Homeland Security said up to 200,000 H-1B professionals could lose their jobs under the rule. The Department of Labor estimated its rule, which inflates H-1B wage requirements by 40% or more, would cost employers $198 billion over 10 years, making it potentially the most expensive regulation imposed on businesses in modern U.S. history, based on an analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
During the court hearing, held via Zoom, the Trump administration did not offer strong responses to arguments plaintiffs put forward in their reply brief or in court.
On behalf of the plaintiffs, Paul Hughes appeared to make the stronger legal and factual arguments. Judge White will decide if what plaintiffs describe as an “overt attempt to destroy the H-1B program” will be stopped.
Court Hearing Shows Businesses Could Prevail Against H-1B Visa Rules
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