According to media reports, Google is the first tech-giant to have spent a huge sum of money for corporate lobbying efforts in the United States in two decades.&nbsp;

While Jeff Bezos-led Amazon spent over&nbsp;$12.8 million over lobbying US politicians the past year, rival Google invested a whopping $18 million.&nbsp;

The two companies were followed by Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s Facebook ($11.5), Bill Gates&#39; Microsoft ($8.5 million) and Tim Cook-led Apple ($7 million).

Reportedly, the companies used the money to press the US lawmakers on issues like advertising regulations, free trade, cybersecurity and immigration.&nbsp;

Facebook is reported to have upped its spending on lobbying activities by around $3 million.&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Facebook is reported to have upped its spending on lobbying activities by around $3 million

According to media reports, Google is the first tech-giant to have spent a huge sum of money for corporate lobbying efforts in the United States in two decades. While Jeff Bezos-led Amazon spent over $12.8 million over lobbying US politicians the past year, rival Google invested a whopping $18 million. The two companies were followed by Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook ($11.5), Bill Gates' Microsoft ($8.5 million) and Tim Cook-led Apple ($7 million). Reportedly, the companies used the money to press the US lawmakers on issues like advertising regulations, free trade, cybersecurity and immigration. Facebook is reported to have upped its spending on lobbying activities by around $3 million.

US: Google becomes the biggest tech spender on lobbying politicians

Congress leaders in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday opposed Centre&#39;s plan to set up 12 special courts to try pending criminal cases against Members of Parliament (MPs) and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

After the ongoing winter session of Parliament resumed, Congress leader Anand Sharma said the demand had an inherent potential to be abused in entirety by the government of the day.

Sharma also asked the government to ensure adequate funds for setting up special courts to try criminal cases against politicians.

&nbsp;Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also joined the debate saying the law should be equal for everyone and legislators alone should not be singled out.

In reply, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asked Congress if they had vested interests in delaying trials of politicians.

The Centre had informed the Supreme Court that it has decided to set up 12 special courts to deal exclusively with criminal cases against lawmakers and politicians.

Congress said the law should be for everyone and legislators alone should not be singled out

Congress leaders in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday opposed Centre's plan to set up 12 special courts to try pending criminal cases against Members of Parliament (MPs) and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLAs). After the ongoing winter session of Parliament resumed, Congress leader Anand Sharma said the demand had an inherent potential to be abused in entirety by the government of the day. Sharma also asked the government to ensure adequate funds for setting up special courts to try criminal cases against politicians. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also joined the debate saying the law should be equal for everyone and legislators alone should not be singled out. In reply, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asked Congress if they had vested interests in delaying trials of politicians. The Centre had informed the Supreme Court that it has decided to set up 12 special courts to deal exclusively with criminal cases against lawmakers and politicians.

Special courts for MPs, MLAs: Opposition objects, says Centre can misuse

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was key in getting the Olympics to Rio, will be put on trial for allegedly trying to obstruct a corruption probe at Petrobras oil company, officials said yesterday. 
 
&quot;The charge is obstruction of justice&quot; linked to the Petrobras embezzlement probe, named Operation Car Wash, a spokesman for the justice ministry told AFP. 
 
Lula was formally charged along with six others, including former senator Delcidio do Amaral, a once-important ally in Lula&#39;s leftist Workers&#39; Party who is accused of Petrobras-related corruption and has turned state&#39;s witness. 
 
Lula, as he is universally known in Brazil, was president from 2003-2010 and left office with massive popularity thanks to social programs that lifted tens of millions of Brazilians from poverty. 
 
He also was key in the 2009 winning bid by Rio de Janeiro to host South America&#39;s first Olympics, which start next Friday. 
 
However, his legacy has been badly tainted by the emergence of the Petrobras scandal in which dozens of politicians and executives are accused of having embezzled from the huge state oil company in a web of inflated contracts, kickbacks and bribes that lasted much of his presidency. 
 
Lula is alleged to have been at the centre of the scheme. However, the charges on which he will stand trial are limited to allegedly attempting to obstruct the enquiry. 
 
Prosecutors have been told by Delcidio in his plea bargain that Lula had asked him to assist a Petrobras director charged in the corruption scheme. 
 
Lula accuses Delcidio of fabricating his testimony to attempt to save himself from a serious sentence in his own case. 
 
Lula&#39;s spokesman issued a statement saying the charges were flimsy because they &quot;are based uniquely on (evidence from) a plea bargain.&quot; 
 
&quot;Lula has never opposed the investigations,&quot; the statement said. 
 
Olympics president 
 
The development comes a week before the opening of the Olympics and will reignite a simmering political crisis that has upended the Workers&#39; Party dominance of Brazil over the last 13 years. 
 
Lula&#39;s handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff faces an impeachment trial set to culminate days after the Olympics end. 
 
If the Senate votes to impeach by a two thirds majority, Rousseff will be removed from office and her bitter political enemy Michel Temer, who is currently serving as interim president, will take over. 
 
Rousseff is accused of breaking government budgeting rules, but has denounced the impeachment process as a coup in disguise aimed at putting Temer&#39;s center-right administration in power and destroying the Workers&#39; Party. 
 
Both Lula and Rousseff have declared they will boycott the Olympics opening ceremony, where Temer is to preside and declare the Games open. 
 
In an interview yesterday with foreign news organizations, including AFP, Temer said he expected Rousseff to be removed by the Senate in time for Brazil to know whom to send to the G20 summit in China at the start of September. 
 
&quot;We are hoping that the resolution of the impeachment comes between August 25 and 26, because if it takes to September 4, 5 or 6, Brazil will not be able to go to the G20,&quot; Temer said. 
 
Temer said he was already &quot;acting as if I will stay on&quot; and that &quot;the world needs to know who is the president.&quot; 
 
(AFP)

Lula is alleged to have been at the centre of a scandal accusing politicians and executives of embezzling from oil company Petrobras

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was key in getting the Olympics to Rio, will be put on trial for allegedly trying to obstruct a corruption probe at Petrobras oil company, officials said yesterday. "The charge is obstruction of justice" linked to the Petrobras embezzlement probe, named Operation Car Wash, a spokesman for the justice ministry told AFP. Lula was formally charged along with six others, including former senator Delcidio do Amaral, a once-important ally in Lula's leftist Workers' Party who is accused of Petrobras-related corruption and has turned state's witness. Lula, as he is universally known in Brazil, was president from 2003-2010 and left office with massive popularity thanks to social programs that lifted tens of millions of Brazilians from poverty. He also was key in the 2009 winning bid by Rio de Janeiro to host South America's first Olympics, which start next Friday. However, his legacy has been badly tainted by the emergence of the Petrobras scandal in which dozens of politicians and executives are accused of having embezzled from the huge state oil company in a web of inflated contracts, kickbacks and bribes that lasted much of his presidency. Lula is alleged to have been at the centre of the scheme. However, the charges on which he will stand trial are limited to allegedly attempting to obstruct the enquiry. Prosecutors have been told by Delcidio in his plea bargain that Lula had asked him to assist a Petrobras director charged in the corruption scheme. Lula accuses Delcidio of fabricating his testimony to attempt to save himself from a serious sentence in his own case. Lula's spokesman issued a statement saying the charges were flimsy because they "are based uniquely on (evidence from) a plea bargain." "Lula has never opposed the investigations," the statement said. Olympics president The development comes a week before the opening of the Olympics and will reignite a simmering political crisis that has upended the Workers' Party dominance of Brazil over the last 13 years. Lula's handpicked successor Dilma Rousseff faces an impeachment trial set to culminate days after the Olympics end. If the Senate votes to impeach by a two thirds majority, Rousseff will be removed from office and her bitter political enemy Michel Temer, who is currently serving as interim president, will take over. Rousseff is accused of breaking government budgeting rules, but has denounced the impeachment process as a coup in disguise aimed at putting Temer's center-right administration in power and destroying the Workers' Party. Both Lula and Rousseff have declared they will boycott the Olympics opening ceremony, where Temer is to preside and declare the Games open. In an interview yesterday with foreign news organizations, including AFP, Temer said he expected Rousseff to be removed by the Senate in time for Brazil to know whom to send to the G20 summit in China at the start of September. "We are hoping that the resolution of the impeachment comes between August 25 and 26, because if it takes to September 4, 5 or 6, Brazil will not be able to go to the G20," Temer said. Temer said he was already "acting as if I will stay on" and that "the world needs to know who is the president." (AFP)

Former Brazilian president to stand trial for obstruction of justice

More than two dozen people have signed up to run for Haiti&#39;s presidency, authorities said on Wednesday, including the four leading candidates from an earlier election aborted after a commission found widespread fraud. 
 
Unless registrations rise significantly before a midnight (0400 GMT) deadline, the number of presidential candidates will be about half those who contested the last ballot in Haiti, the hemisphere&#39;s poorest country. 
 
Fewer candidates could make the election due on October 9 easier to organise, with several politicians who ran last time pledging support for Jude Celestin, who came second in the previous ballot. 
 
&quot;This joint effort is a choice for stability and democracy, against corruption and fraudulent election,&quot; Celestin told reporters. 
 
Jovenel Moise, who came first last time, again registered to run, as did Jean-Charles Moise and Maryse Narcisse who came third and fourth last time. 
 
The registration of Moise removes uncertainty over whether his PHTK party would take part in the new election. The party&#39;s position had been that irregularities in the first round were not large enough to alter the outcome and that it would be better to hold a run-off vote between Celestin and Moise, a position supported by Washington and other donors. 
 
&quot;There is no question of abandoning the election process because we believe in democracy, and the only way to access power in a democracy is through election,&quot; &nbsp; said&nbsp;Rudy Heriveaux, a spokesman for Moise&#39;s PHTK party,. 
 
Haiti&#39;s last elected president left office without an elected successor, paving the way for an interim government led by President Jocelerme Privert. He failed to organise elections by May in a timeline set in a multi-party deal, but may end up staying on to organise the next vote. 
 
&quot;We continue to believe that Jocelerme Privert should leave power because his term is over, and he is manipulating the election process in favor of his political family,&quot; Heriveaux said. 
 
&quot;If the election is free, fair and democratic, there is no doubt that Jovenel Moise will win,&quot; he said. 
 
Former presidential candidate, Sauveur Pierre Etienne, who is now supporting Celestin, said he made that choice because he believes Celestin is the best man to lead the country. 
 
&quot;I support Jude Celestin because he showed that he is a man of character,&quot; he said. 
 
(Reuters)

Several politicians who ran last time pledge support for Jude Celestin, who came second in the previous ballot

More than two dozen people have signed up to run for Haiti's presidency, authorities said on Wednesday, including the four leading candidates from an earlier election aborted after a commission found widespread fraud. Unless registrations rise significantly before a midnight (0400 GMT) deadline, the number of presidential candidates will be about half those who contested the last ballot in Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country. Fewer candidates could make the election due on October 9 easier to organise, with several politicians who ran last time pledging support for Jude Celestin, who came second in the previous ballot. "This joint effort is a choice for stability and democracy, against corruption and fraudulent election," Celestin told reporters. Jovenel Moise, who came first last time, again registered to run, as did Jean-Charles Moise and Maryse Narcisse who came third and fourth last time. The registration of Moise removes uncertainty over whether his PHTK party would take part in the new election. The party's position had been that irregularities in the first round were not large enough to alter the outcome and that it would be better to hold a run-off vote between Celestin and Moise, a position supported by Washington and other donors. "There is no question of abandoning the election process because we believe in democracy, and the only way to access power in a democracy is through election," said Rudy Heriveaux, a spokesman for Moise's PHTK party,. Haiti's last elected president left office without an elected successor, paving the way for an interim government led by President Jocelerme Privert. He failed to organise elections by May in a timeline set in a multi-party deal, but may end up staying on to organise the next vote. "We continue to believe that Jocelerme Privert should leave power because his term is over, and he is manipulating the election process in favor of his political family," Heriveaux said. "If the election is free, fair and democratic, there is no doubt that Jovenel Moise will win," he said. Former presidential candidate, Sauveur Pierre Etienne, who is now supporting Celestin, said he made that choice because he believes Celestin is the best man to lead the country. "I support Jude Celestin because he showed that he is a man of character," he said. (Reuters)

More than two dozen register to run for Haiti presidency

The President of Mexico&#39;s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, announced his resignation on Monday, two weeks after the party of President Enrique Pena Nieto suffered a humiliating defeat in regional elections. 
 
Manlio Fabio Beltrones, a former governor and veteran federal lawmaker, announced his decision to step down after the PRI won only five of the dozen governors races up for grabs in the June 5 vote. It previously held nine of them. 
 
The results were far worse for the centrist party than most polls had forecast. 
 
The PRI&#39;s losses included two oil-rich strongholds in the Gulf of Mexico, Veracruz and neighboring Tamaulipas, both of which have been plagued by gang violence for years, as well as Quintana Roo, home to Mexico&#39;s top tourist destination Cancun. All three states have been run by the PRI for over eight decades. 
 
&quot;It&#39;s time for a necessary pause,&quot; Beltrones told a news conference at the PRI&#39;s Mexico City headquarters. 
 
&quot;This is a responsible decision that opens space for an internal debate and allows our party to freely decide the best path forward,&quot; he said. 
 
Beltrones, 63, is still seen as a possible presidential contender for the PRI in 2018. Pena Nieto is not allowed by law to seek a second six-year term. 
 
In a poll published Monday by daily newspaper El Financiero, Beltrones was tied for second with 10 per cent among PRI voters, trailing Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, who had 32 per cent support. 
(Reuters)

Manlio Fabio Beltrones announced his decision after the PRI won only five of the dozen governors races up for grabs in the June 5 vote

The President of Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, announced his resignation on Monday, two weeks after the party of President Enrique Pena Nieto suffered a humiliating defeat in regional elections. Manlio Fabio Beltrones, a former governor and veteran federal lawmaker, announced his decision to step down after the PRI won only five of the dozen governors races up for grabs in the June 5 vote. It previously held nine of them. The results were far worse for the centrist party than most polls had forecast. The PRI's losses included two oil-rich strongholds in the Gulf of Mexico, Veracruz and neighboring Tamaulipas, both of which have been plagued by gang violence for years, as well as Quintana Roo, home to Mexico's top tourist destination Cancun. All three states have been run by the PRI for over eight decades. "It's time for a necessary pause," Beltrones told a news conference at the PRI's Mexico City headquarters. "This is a responsible decision that opens space for an internal debate and allows our party to freely decide the best path forward," he said. Beltrones, 63, is still seen as a possible presidential contender for the PRI in 2018. Pena Nieto is not allowed by law to seek a second six-year term. In a poll published Monday by daily newspaper El Financiero, Beltrones was tied for second with 10 per cent among PRI voters, trailing Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, who had 32 per cent support. (Reuters)

Head of Mexico's ruling party resigns after electoral drubbing

&ldquo;When the earth is sick and polluted, human health is impossible.... To heal ourselves we must heal our planet, and to heal our planet we must heal ourselves&rdquo; --Bobby Mcleod, Aboriginal poet and activist,&nbsp; 
 
These words provide us with a poignant reminder about what needs to be done to save our planet. Fast-paced consumerism and insatiable materialism have come to define our species and in the process set our planet on the path to destruction. Our rapacious greed has put a question mark on the future of the only known planet in the universe that can sustain life. 
 
The time could not be more ripe to launch aggressive self-correction measures. Unfortunately, our leaders are still in a game of establishing onus on the basis of traditional responsibility, rather than coming together to take strong and decisive measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions. While the political economy of climate change goals has led to some sort of a stalemate in the international arena, there are solutions which can be adopted by cities to rein in rising air pollution levels without much dependence from political leaders. These solutions can be implemented by business models that inherently support environmental goals.&nbsp; 
 
For example, one of the biggest sources of pollution is automobiles. While moving to cleaner and more efficient fuel-operated vehicles is the most ideal option for curtailing city pollution levels, in emerging economies considerable time is needed before complementary infrastructure can be created to support this move. Thus, there is a dire need to think of short-term solutions that can address the challenge of rising car ownership and pollution levels in the city. 
 
Recently, the role of transporting people from point A to point B in a city has been assumed by technology aggregators. A complex innovation displayed in the simplest form is solving the inefficiencies that have haunted the urban transportation sector for centuries. But do these players solve other challenges through their technology? In particular, aren&rsquo;t the aggregators simply adding more cars on the road and adding to traffic snarls and city pollution levels? The answer is no!&nbsp; 
 
The sophistication of technology has allowed them to build products that marry innovation with traditional concepts aimed at reducing congestion and pollution. One such product is &ldquo;carpooling&rdquo; or &ldquo;ridesharing&rdquo; as these aggregators are calling it today. Simply put, the idea is aimed at efficient utilisation of existing assets while directly impacting a city&rsquo;s space availability and carbon emissions generated by vehicles. The concept is old but the advancement in technology has navigated the challenges the idea encountered in a non-digital space such as optimising conflicting schedules, making sharing a ride comfortable, et cetera. However, amid all the talk about decongestion of cities and cheaper transport options that have been generated by these options, a quiet revolution has the potential of making significant value additions to our climate change goals. 
 
Ridesharing promotes more people in fewer cars and results in the reduction of emissions, because the number of kilometres driven across a city and fuel burned are reduced significantly. Further, as more people embrace this means of transportation, a wonderful and complementary relationship is created between public transport and these services, which disincentivises car ownership substantially. At a time when cities like Delhi have a vehicular density of 80 vehicles per kilometre and 27 lakh personal vehicles with 1,463 new vehicles added to the city every day, one is compelled to think of scenarios which can reverse this trend. 
 
A &ldquo;stick&rdquo; approach would entail levy of congestion charges and other related taxes, but a more innovative solution comes in the form of people using their existing personal vehicles to offer rides to other people travelling to the same destination or nearby. The experiment has already generated positive impact from both a decongestion and environmental perspective. 
 
For example, Uber&rsquo;s study of ridesharing in LA revealed that in eight months it managed to reduce 1,400 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions. In San Francisco, the monthly reduction totalled 120 metric tonnes. As this model is scaled, it will further benefit the environment not only because of reduced emissions but also because of the opening up of urban space which would otherwise be earmarked for public parking or extension of road lengths. The free space could be used for environmental goals, such as the creation of public parks.&nbsp; 
 
It is estimated that every carpool helps remove four cars from the road, which is as good as planting 4,000 trees. Imagine the impact we can have on Delhi&rsquo;s abysmal air pollution levels if we turned on the private ridesharing switch on each of its its 27 lakh personal vehicle. 
 
This is essentially the way forward for ensuring sustainable development &ndash; building profitable business models led by technology-driven solutions that also benefit collective environmental goals. Such ideas require public and government support. An enabling regulatory landscape would help environmentally-conscious companies to scale their business and effect momentous transformation in the way we have traditionally operated. 
 
To this end, while we continue to bicker over the Intended Nationally Determined Commitments (INDC) and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), there is a real opportunity for local government, citizenry and businesses to come together and bring about incremental changes to reduce emissions.

As climate change worsens cleaner transportation is essential, but waiting for politicians to act is taking forever...

“When the earth is sick and polluted, human health is impossible.... To heal ourselves we must heal our planet, and to heal our planet we must heal ourselves” --Bobby Mcleod, Aboriginal poet and activist, These words provide us with a poignant reminder about what needs to be done to save our planet. Fast-paced consumerism and insatiable materialism have come to define our species and in the process set our planet on the path to destruction. Our rapacious greed has put a question mark on the future of the only known planet in the universe that can sustain life. The time could not be more ripe to launch aggressive self-correction measures. Unfortunately, our leaders are still in a game of establishing onus on the basis of traditional responsibility, rather than coming together to take strong and decisive measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions. While the political economy of climate change goals has led to some sort of a stalemate in the international arena, there are solutions which can be adopted by cities to rein in rising air pollution levels without much dependence from political leaders. These solutions can be implemented by business models that inherently support environmental goals. For example, one of the biggest sources of pollution is automobiles. While moving to cleaner and more efficient fuel-operated vehicles is the most ideal option for curtailing city pollution levels, in emerging economies considerable time is needed before complementary infrastructure can be created to support this move. Thus, there is a dire need to think of short-term solutions that can address the challenge of rising car ownership and pollution levels in the city. Recently, the role of transporting people from point A to point B in a city has been assumed by technology aggregators. A complex innovation displayed in the simplest form is solving the inefficiencies that have haunted the urban transportation sector for centuries. But do these players solve other challenges through their technology? In particular, aren’t the aggregators simply adding more cars on the road and adding to traffic snarls and city pollution levels? The answer is no! The sophistication of technology has allowed them to build products that marry innovation with traditional concepts aimed at reducing congestion and pollution. One such product is “carpooling” or “ridesharing” as these aggregators are calling it today. Simply put, the idea is aimed at efficient utilisation of existing assets while directly impacting a city’s space availability and carbon emissions generated by vehicles. The concept is old but the advancement in technology has navigated the challenges the idea encountered in a non-digital space such as optimising conflicting schedules, making sharing a ride comfortable, et cetera. However, amid all the talk about decongestion of cities and cheaper transport options that have been generated by these options, a quiet revolution has the potential of making significant value additions to our climate change goals. Ridesharing promotes more people in fewer cars and results in the reduction of emissions, because the number of kilometres driven across a city and fuel burned are reduced significantly. Further, as more people embrace this means of transportation, a wonderful and complementary relationship is created between public transport and these services, which disincentivises car ownership substantially. At a time when cities like Delhi have a vehicular density of 80 vehicles per kilometre and 27 lakh personal vehicles with 1,463 new vehicles added to the city every day, one is compelled to think of scenarios which can reverse this trend. A “stick” approach would entail levy of congestion charges and other related taxes, but a more innovative solution comes in the form of people using their existing personal vehicles to offer rides to other people travelling to the same destination or nearby. The experiment has already generated positive impact from both a decongestion and environmental perspective. For example, Uber’s study of ridesharing in LA revealed that in eight months it managed to reduce 1,400 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions. In San Francisco, the monthly reduction totalled 120 metric tonnes. As this model is scaled, it will further benefit the environment not only because of reduced emissions but also because of the opening up of urban space which would otherwise be earmarked for public parking or extension of road lengths. The free space could be used for environmental goals, such as the creation of public parks. It is estimated that every carpool helps remove four cars from the road, which is as good as planting 4,000 trees. Imagine the impact we can have on Delhi’s abysmal air pollution levels if we turned on the private ridesharing switch on each of its its 27 lakh personal vehicle. This is essentially the way forward for ensuring sustainable development – building profitable business models led by technology-driven solutions that also benefit collective environmental goals. Such ideas require public and government support. An enabling regulatory landscape would help environmentally-conscious companies to scale their business and effect momentous transformation in the way we have traditionally operated. To this end, while we continue to bicker over the Intended Nationally Determined Commitments (INDC) and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), there is a real opportunity for local government, citizenry and businesses to come together and bring about incremental changes to reduce emissions.

Technology and business must combine to help commuters navigate congested cities

politicians

Politicians, News on Politicians, stories on Politicians, articles on Politicians, Politicians stories at Wion, Politicians news, Politicians latest news