World Kidney Day 2017: 8 Risk Factors that Could Cause Kidney Disease

Highlights

• 9th March marks World Kidney Day, which is a global campaign
• It aims to spread awareness about kidney diseases
• This year the theme highlights obesity and how it leads to kidney ailment

9th March marks World Kidney Day, which is a global campaign that aims to spread awareness about kidney diseases, their preventive measures and the importance to maintaining healthy kidneys. This year the theme highlights obesity and how it leads to kidney ailments. Obesity is one of the major health concerns affecting millions and millions of people worldwide. Obesity is not just about being overweight, but it is one of the main reasons that cause other health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, heart ailments, fatty liver, osteoarthritis and even kidney ailments. Kidney is an essential organ in the body. Its primary role is to remove toxins and excess fluids from the body through urine, and also maintain a good balance of body salts and other chemicals. It is also involved in controlling the production of red blood cells and regulating blood pressure.

So how do we prevent kidney failure? Here are some pointers -

1. Obesity is a Lead Cause

Obesity is becoming a growing worldwide epidemic, and is expected to affect more people in the years to come. One's lifestyle habits, particularly sedentary lifestyle, are adversely impacting health. According to researchers and authors of the study - Obesity and Kidney Disease: Hidden Consequences of the Epidemic, "Obesity is one of the strongest risk factors for new-onset chronic kidney disease, and also for nephrolithiasis and for kidney cancer."

As stated on the official website of the campaign, "A growing body of evidence indicates that obesity is also a potent risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). People who are overweight or obese have 2 to 7 more chances of developing ESRD compared to those of normal weight. Obesity may lead to CKD both indirectly by increasing type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, and also by causing direct kidney damage by increasing the workload of the kidneys and other mechanisms."

According to several Indian population-based studies, the number of Indians suffering from chronic kidney ailments has doubled in the past 15 years, and at present 17 in every hundred citizens suffer from some form of kidney disease. And it's not just restricted to adults. Nearly one-fifth of severely obese teens have poor kidney function.

2. Cut Down on Red Meat

According to a study done by National University of Singapore, they found that participants who ate the largest amount of red meat had about 40 percent greater risk of developing kidney failure compared with people consuming the lowest amounts of meat. "Our findings suggest that individuals can still maintain their protein intake unless their kidney function has been severely compromised. However, to reduce the risk of end-stage renal disease, it is best to eat red meat in moderation," said the lead author of the study Woon-Puay Koh.

3. Good Sleep Time is Crucial

According to a study done Brigham and Women's Hospital, shorter sleep duration can lead to a more rapid decline in kidney function. Many of the body's processes follow a natural daily rhythm or so-called circadian clock that is based on regular sleep-wake cycles. The study found that kidney function may be compromised when this natural cycle is disrupted.

4. Hypertension Ups Risk

About 20 per cent of India's youth suffer from hypertension which makes them 40 percent more vulnerable to kidney damage and cardiac arrest. There is little understanding in the country of hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, which usually does not cause symptoms but gradually affects various body parts. "As many youngsters do not get to know that they are hypertensive they continue with their sedentary lifestyle," said Gireesh Manwani, Senior Consultant (Internal Medicine), Saroj Super Speciality Hospital. "This slowly and steadily damages the kidneys and heart apart from giving rise to various other problems; it could even be fatal."

5. Say No to Junk Food

According to a study by Anglia Ruskin University in Britain, a diet that relies mostly on junk food or processed food may cause long-term damage to the kidneys and trigger diabetes. "Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes both induce changes in glucose transport in the kidney but junk food or a diet high in fat causes changes that are very similar to those found in Type 2 diabetes," said Havovi Chichger, lead author of the study.

6. Cut Down on Sugar

Dr. Anshul Jai Bharat, a Delhi-based Nutritionist, says, "Most processed food products contain too much sugar, so when it goes to your system it leads to hormonal imbalance and also your blood profile changes. High consumption of these empty calories can cause obesity and diabetes - diseases that directly impact the functioning of your kidneys. You can treat yourself to your favourite dessert or a fast food burger sometimes as long as it does not replace your daily balanced diet."

7. Keep a Check on Phosphorous Intake

Health experts and doctors have issued a warning against excess phosphorous in the human body claiming that it may increase the risk of chronic kidney disease where the phosphate levels in the body shoot up to abnormally high levels. According to them, muscle cramps, numbness, tingling, bone or joint pain and rash are all the symptoms of hyperphosphatemia and people who experience them quite often should consult a doctor at the earliest. Foods that should be strictly avoided, or at least consumed in moderation include soft drinks, chocolates, tinned milk and processed meat," suggests Neerja Jain who works in Nephrology department at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital.

8. Pollution is to Blame As Well

According to a study by George Institute for Global Health, climate change may be accelerating the rate of chronic kidney disease caused by dehydration and heat stress. The research paper, published in Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), suggests that a condition called heat stress nephropathy may represent a disease of neglected populations but one that may emerge as a major cause of poor kidney health in the near future.

China wants 'BRICS plus' to include 'friendly' countries, plan might hurt India's interests

HIGHLIGHTS

• China eager to include 'friendly' nations in 'BRICS plus,' an expansion of the current set up
• Pro-Beijing countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Mexico might be asked to join, analysts feel
• Move might result in dilution of role played by India and other countries in BRICS

BEIJING: China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has come up with the idea of extending the remit of BRICS by inviting other developing countries under a new banner, BRICS Plus.

Addressing his annual press conference on Wednesday on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament, Wang said China would "explore modalities for BRICS-plus, to hold outreach dialogues with other major developing countries".

"We hope to establish extensive partnerships and widen our circle of friends to turn it into the most impactful platform for South-South cooperation," he said. China, which is the rotating president of BRICS this year, will host the next summit in September.

Analysts said China is trying to expand its influence by inviting its allies, and the move might result in the dilution of role played by India and other countries in BRICS. The club has five countries-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"India would be the worst affected among BRICS partners. After expansion, the organization would lose its focus and coherence on development issues and become more like a political platform for China," Mohan Malik, professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies at Honolulu in US, told TNN.

China may invite pro-Beijing countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Mexico to join, Malik said. China may be trying to turn BRICS into a China centric organization along the lines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, he said.

"At the 2016 BRICS summit in Goa, Beijing was successful in thwarting India's attempts to isolate and condemn its ally Pakistan over cross-border terrorism," Malik pointed out. "The BRICS Plus concept would nip in the bud any future attempts at isolating China and its friends," he said.

The Chinese foreign minister said China's goal is to strengthen the BRICS partnership. It planned to introduce a system of stand-alone meeting of foreign ministers, hold sports and cultural events among BRICS countries.

"As President Xi put it, BRICS are like five fingers each with their own strength but when we come together we are a fist that can punch. When we stay united we won't lose lustre but will shine more brightly," he said.

The premier said that, "BRICS countries represent emerging economies," he said. "Over the years, their fortunes may have risen or fallen, and each faces challenges."

Analysts said China might find it difficult to obtain India's approval to the idea of BRICS Plus.

"India surely will not be interested in expansion at this time," Swaran Singh, professor at at the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University told TNN. "BRICS will be focussed on consolidating at this time," he said pointing to political instability in Brazil, economic slowdown in South Africa, and difficult relationship between India and China. Singh said India would avoid taking any decisive political positions because it is still analyzing the Donald Trump presidency in the U.S.

One of China's goals is to extend the One Belt One Road+ to countries like India which has been reluctant to participate enthusiastically. Beijing is holding a forum on the Silk Road program in May.

"With protectionism and unilateralism on the rise, the Belt and Road will find common cause where all countries roll up their sleeves and pitch in together. We will help rebalance globalisation," Wang said.

Google’s Video Intelligence API can recognise objects in a video

Google's new video intelligence tool can understand, and dissect video just as a human would thanks to machine learning.

Machine learning and AI has been Google’s core strength, and this has reflected across its range of consumer products. The smart replies in Inbox, the ability of the Google Assistant to search for images from a particular keyword or phrase. Now Google wants to emphasis that its cloud platform is just as smart, and driven by Machine Learning tools that can be used by enterprise customers.

At the ongoing Next conference in San Francisco, Google’s chief scientist for cloud and machine learning Dr Fei Fei Li, unveiled a new tool that could allow for computers to understand and decode a video, just how humans do; the new Video Intelligence API. Li, who is the head of AI lab at Stanford and currently on a sabbatical leave for her stint at Google, is credited with helping build ImageNet. ImageNet is one of the largest repositories for images, and is used for machine learning and training AI.

In the current state of machine learning for images, computers are taught to learn or understand an object by constantly showing them pictures of the same object. For instance, in order for the computer to recognise the picture of a dog, the machine learning algorithm is shown a lot of pictures of dogs. In fact, Photos app by Google can recognise pictures of food, dogs, or even cats thanks to the advancements in machine learning, although this is still at a basic stage, and far from the kind of AI that scientists dreaming of creating.

While training computers to understand images is something that Google has been good at, videos is another matter. In fact, according to Dr Li, it is the ‘dark matter’ of the digital universe, but it looks like Google has cracked how to decode some part of this. Essentially Google’s new Video Intelligent tool, which is for now in private beta, will able to identify the exact part of a video that a user wants to find.

The tool, which Google wants to make available to enterprises, would allow for videos to be searchable and discoverable just like photos are currently on the Google Photos app. In its demo during the keynote address, Google showed how the tool could figure out exact labels; when asked to find beach or baseball from a series of videos the tool was able to locate exactly which clips had images of a beach/baseball and at what points.

Essentially a user would search each shot, frame thanks to the tool, without relying manually, in order find the exact video footage.

According to Google, the API can annotate videos stored in Google Cloud Storage, and label each of the objects. Labelling means it can figure out the daily objects or items inside the video. So even if your clips are named randomly, the tool will still let you search, for say footage of a beach, as Google showed in the demo.

Google also says the tool can detect scene changes within the video, and can help organisations with media archiving and boost content discovery for video. This API relies on Google’s current vision recognition models, which are also driving video search in YouTube.

Google also announced improvements to its Cloud Vision API which include expansion of meta data from the company’s knowledge graph. Essentially Google is bringing its successes in the consumer side of business, and offering them to enterprises, as it seeks to catch up with Amazon and Microsoft in the race for the cloud.

Karnataka may build new city to decongest Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Call it an over-ambitious or non-implementable project, the Karnataka government is thinking of developing a new city in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) to decongest Bengaluru. The plan is to relocate at least 20 lakh of the state capital's population to the new city.

Urban development minister R Roshan Baig told reporters on Tuesday that the city will be developed on 11,000 acres of abandoned mining land in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), around 100 km from Bengaluru. To meet the drinking water needs of the city, desalination plants will be set up and sea water from Mangaluru will be brought to KGF through Yettinahole project pipelines.

This is on the lines of the Tamil Nadu government's proposed desalination plants to cater to the drinking water requirements of Chennai city. The neighbouring state has proposed to set up Minjur desalination plant and Nammeli desalination plant at a cost of Rs 515 crore and Rs 871 crore respectively. 

Global tenders will be called for designing the city. It will be developed by launching a special purpose vehicle by roping in private investors. The cost will be known only after a detailed project report is prepared by a global agency, he added.

Over the last 15 years, the Centre has been planning to revive a cluster of colonial-era gold mines as there were reports that deposits worth Rs 14,000 crore are left. The government's move has come as a surprise for those within the government and also activists who have been fighting for its revival.

Baig said the state decided to develop a new city after all efforts to revive the mines went in vain. He said the Centre has agreed to hand over the land and the assets of the Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML), a public enterprise that shut down in 2001. The BGML closed down as the gold ore reserves got exhausted after 150 years of continuous and heavy extraction.

Speculations were rife earlier that there's a possibility of KGF turning into Bengaluru's next landfill. On January 31 last year, a daylong bandh was observed in KGF to protest any such possible moves. The Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) had reportedly put forward the option of dumping Bengaluru's trash near Marikuppam in Bangarpet taluk of Kolar district.

Karnataka has also proposed four desalination plants at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore. These plants will be established in Udupi (Rs 735.30 crore), Mangaluru (Rs 2,533.61 crore), Saligrama (Rs 76.71 crore) and Kundapura ( Rs 154.42 crore) with the joint venture of Israel-based IDE and Vagas of Indian firm. This apart, six clusters, including Devenahalli, Doddaballapur, Harohalli, Dobbespet and Bidadi around Bengaluru will be developed as satellite towns.

Baig said the work on Devanahalli is expected to be taken up soon by taking a loan of Rs 400 crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) though the estimated cost of developing the town would be Rs 2,800 crore. A proposal for developing the town will be placed before the Cabinet soon, he added.

Paytm to Charge 2 Percent Fee on Adding Money to Wallet Using Credit Cards

HIGHLIGHTS

• Paytm found that some credit card users were abusing that 0-fee transfers
• To combat this, Paytm is charging all CC deposits a 2% transfer fee
• It is refunding this money in the form of a coupon you can use on Paytm

On Wednesday, wallet company Paytm announced that it will be charging a 2 percent deposit fee from credit card users going forward. According to Paytm, this was being done to combat misuse of its zero-fee transfers, explaining that savvy users were rotating their cash through the wallet to earn essentially "free" money in the form of reward points. Paytm said that to ensure that genuine users don't lose money, it will return the 2 percent charge in the form of coupons that can be used on Paytm.

Later, its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma clarified that the coupons can also be used on third-party sites to pay Swiggy or Uber, although this mechanism has not been activated yet.

As noted in the post announcing this decision, since November, Paytm has been allowing users to take cash out of the wallet to their bank accounts at no charge.

Typically, cashing out has attracted a fee from wallets. At the same time, Paytm and other wallets haven't charged fees for depositing cash into their systems. This meant that credit card users could fill up their Paytm wallets using the card, then transfer that money back to their bank accounts, at no charge. "They were not only getting free loyalty points which effectively is free cash but also getting access to free credit," Paytm noted.

This would be subsidised by Paytm's own costs, as the company pointed out.

“Incidentally, Paytm pays fee to card networks or banks whenever you use any payment instrument like any other online commerce company. Paytm pays a hefty charges when you use your credit card to card networks and issuing banks. If user simply adds money and takes to bank, we lose money. Our revenue model requires users to spend money within our network and we make money from the margins available to us on various products/services we offer.”

For this reason, Paytm is now charging a 2 percent deposit fee from credit card users, and refunding them the same in the form of a coupon that can be used on the Paytm app. As we mentioned, on Twitter, Sharma has clarified that the coupons can work on third-party sites as well, and added that you will be able to use these with apps such as Swiggy, Uber, although the FAQ on the page currently still states that it can only be used on the Paytm app.

There are a couple of other caveats listed on the FAQ page. For one, these refund coupons will only be given when the amount you're filling up is more than Rs. 250. If your transaction is lower than that, you will not get a coupon. Also, you will get a fresh coupon every time you top-up Paytm using a credit card, these coupons can not be clubbed, and have to be applied manually and individually. Also, these coupons can only be used in a single transaction. Also, the coupon isn't applied as a discount on the transaction - it gives you an instant cashback to your Paytm wallet.

The coupons can also be used for bill payments, recharges, and so on, these are not limited to shopping on Paytm Mall. The vouchers will expire on December 31, 2017, but the FAQ mentions that this can be extended on request.

These charges are only being applied on credit card users, so if you're using a debit card, net banking, or UPI/ IMPS payments, then you are not affected by this move.

India, alongwith Brazil, Germany and Japan offers to temporarily give up veto power in expanded UNSC

While the new permanent members would in principle have veto powers that the current five have, Akbaruddin said, "they shall not exercise the veto until a decision on the matter has been taken during a review".

India and other members of the G4 have offered to initially forgo veto powers as permanent members in a reformed Security Council as a bargaining chip to get the reform process moving.

"The issue of veto is important, but we should not allow it to have a veto over the process of Council reform itself," said India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin, who was speaking on Tuesday on behalf of the G4 at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on Council reforms.

While the new permanent members would in principle have veto powers that the current five have, Akbaruddin said, "they shall not exercise the veto until a decision on the matter has been taken during a review".

TEN THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT THE UN:

1.      India, Brazil, Germany and Japan constitute the G4, which lobbies for Council reforms and they mutually support each other's candidatures for permanent seats on an expanded body.

2.      The G4 group rejected suggestions to create a category of longer-term elected members of the Council as a ploy to block adding new permanent members.

3.      Expanding only the non-permanent categories would only worsen "the imbalance of influence" in the Council and "tilt the scales" in favour of an outdated set-up, he said.

4.      Akbaruddin was responding to Italy's Permanent Representative Sebastiano Cardi, who opposed expanding the permanent membership and instead suggested creating a new category of elected membership with longer terms than the current two years.

5.      Cardi made the proposal on behalf of Uniting for Consensus (UfC), a 13-member group that includes Pakistan. The group has been waging a decades-long battle against expanding permanent membership and blocking the reform process.

6.      Approaching reforms from a narrow national perspective of ensuring that certain countries do not get permanent membership - for example, Pakistan's opposition to India - through the reform process, the UfC suggested adding 11 seats to the Council, with nine of them having longer terms.

7.      Deriding the UfC proposal as "old hat", Akbaruddin said that the 1944 Dumbarton Oaks conference held in Washington to negotiate the shape of the UN had rejected suggestions for the longer-term Council membership.

8.      Any proposal for Council reforms without an expansion of the number of the permanent seats does "grave injustice to Africa's aspirations for equality," he said.

9.      The G4 also pointed out that the number and allocation of non-permanent seats have outlived their relevance since the UN was formed and the reform in 1965 when the number of non-permanent members was increased from six to 10.

10. Akbaruddin said that 53 members of the Asia-Pacific group of nations have only two elected seats on the council, while the 26-member Western Europe group also get two.

(Inputs from IANS) 

Arsenal's worst period, says ex-star Wright

LONDON: Arsenal great Ian Wright claimed the club were going through the worst period in their recent history after their 10-2 Champions League last 16 humiliation by Bayern Munich.

Bayern repeated their 5-1 first-leg win in Tuesday's second leg to condemn Arsene Wenger's side to their heaviest defeat at the Emirates Stadium since they moved from Highbury in 2006.

It is the seventh year in succession that Arsenal have gone out of the Champions League in the last 16.

"It's a sad day because we've gone out again at this stage. We're going through a period in our history that's the worst," Wright, who played under Wenger, said on BT Sport.

"With everything that's going on, you have to say it will take some sort of monumental effort for Arsenal to turn it around in terms of the drive and determination of the players.

"It feels like something is coming to an end."

Wenger, who has been Arsenal manager since 1996, is out of contract at the end of the season and was the target of a protest from around 200 disgruntled fans prior to Tuesday's game.

At the final whistle, some fans held up banners calling for him to leave.

Wenger has said he will make an announcement about his future either this month or next.

"He looks like a lost man," said Wright. "It just seems to be mounting up. You've got the fans, the protests. It's imploding."

Wednesday's British newspaper sports pages put the boot in, with several screaming "WENGER OUT" in a nod both to Arsenal's elimination and the calls from supporters for him to step down.

The Daily Express headlined its match report "SHAME AGAIN" and The Times said Wenger had hit an "all-time low".

The Daily Telegraph said Arsenal had been "humiliated", with Wenger "urged to quit by fans", while The Guardian said he had been left "staring into the abyss".

The Daily Mirror focused on a picture of Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez supposedly smirking on the bench after being taken off, beneath the headline: "LAUGHING STOCK".

Wenger, 67, revolutionised Arsenal after arriving in England as a virtual unknown from Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight in September 1996.

Recommended By Colombia

He led the club to three Premier League titles and four FA Cups in his first nine seasons, including the famous 'Invincibles' league campaign of 2003-04 when Arsenal went 38 games without defeat.

But the years since have yielded only two FA Cup successes, in 2014 and 2015, and while Arsenal have continually qualified for the Champions League, they last reached the semi-finals in 2009.

A recent run of three defeats in five games has seen Arsenal drop out of the Champions League places in the Premier League.

Their best hope of silverware lies in the FA Cup, with non-league Lincoln City due to visit the Emirates in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s father Krishnaraj Rai in ICU, Abhishek Bachchan visits with Aishwarya. See pics

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's father Krishnaraj Rai has been in the hospital for nearly two weeks and Aishwarya has been taking care of him.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s father, Krishnaraj Rai, who has been in Mumbai’s Leelavati Hospital for the last two weeks has been shifted to the ICU. Aishwarya was seen at the hospital last night with husband Abhishek Bachchan. The couple’s appearance at the hospital led to a lot of speculation and later the actor’s spokesperson confirmed the news. Abhishek, who returned from New York, rushed to meet his father-in-law.

An India Today report quoted a source as saying, “Yes he (Krishnaraj Rai) has been in the hospital for nearly two weeks. Aishwarya is taking care of him despite her being alone as Abhishek was in New York for work. He just got back. Recently at Aaradhya’s sports day, Aishwarya was seen cheering for the kids and her own daughter too. But simultaneously she was also keeping a tab on her dad’s health.”

Another source said Aishwarya has been constantly at her dad’s side and is also managing Aaradhya. In a few images from last night, Abhishek and Aishwarya were seen exiting the hospital together.

See pics of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan at Lilavati hospital:

  

We hope Aishwarya’s father gets well soon.

On the work front, Aishwarya and Abhishek will reportedly be seen together on screen once again. The film that is said to bring this golden jodi together on screen is Anurag Kashyap’s next, titled Gulab Jamun. However, no confirmation has come on the same till now. They have earlier worked in films such as Kuch Naa Kaho, Guru, Dhoom 2 and Sarkar Raj.

Wikileaks CIA Files: 5 Things We Learnt About Gadgets That Spy on You

HIGHLIGHTS

• The CIA has targeted iOS, Android, Microsoft devices, Samsung Smart TVs
• By breaching the phones it can go around encrypted chat apps
• The Smart TVs allegedly appear switched off even as they record you

If the latest documents released by WikiLeaks - called Vault 7 - are to be believed, the CIA can turn your TV into a mic, bypass the encryption in chat apps by accessing your OS directly, and do a whole lot more.

The documents released by WikiLeaks allege that the CIA is now rivalling the NSA (which was the focus of a a similar round of documents leaked by Edward Snowden), but with much less oversight. WikiLeaks posted nearly 9,000 documents it said were leaked from the Central Intelligence Agency, in what it described as the largest-ever publication of secret intelligence materials. The latest leak represents the "entire hacking capacity of the CIA," WikiLeaks said while announcing the first release of the documents.

Here are just some of the main findings from the WikiLeaks documents:

1.      WikiLeaks revealed that the CIA has developed a tool to turn your Samsung Smart TV into a spying device. We already know that Samsung Smart TVs record your living room chatter, but the company had clarified this was only when the TV is on and said the feature can be disabled via the settings. However, WikiLeaks released documents showing that US and British personnel developed a way to take over Samsung Smart TVs, making them appear switched off even when recording conversations in the room, using a program called Weeping Angel.

2.      If you're using an encrypted chat app like Signal, there's good news, and bad news. The good news is that the actual encryption for Signal et al has not been breached. The bad news is that the CIA apparently has a workaround to that. By gaining access to the phone OS, hackers can bypass the protection those apps offer too. This isn't a mass-surveillance tool, and your personal device will have to be hacked for this to work. That's why using encrypted apps like Signal is still a useful precaution for people to take.

3.      CIA allegedly targeted vulnerabilities in both Google's Android and Apple's iOS to gain access to people's data. While Apple has said that "many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS", Google has so far remained silent on the subject of WikiLeaks CIA files.

4.      Documents show the CIA has produced more than 1,000 malware systems - viruses, trojans and other software that can infiltrate and take control of personal electronics, WikiLeaks noted. The hacking tools have targeted Android phones, iPhones, Smart TVs, and Microsoft devices, according to WikiLeaks.

5.      WikiLeaks also claims that the CIA was targeting control systems used by cars, though it didn't have details on how that might be used. Though the revelations have not been confirmed, cyber security experts say they are legitimate. On Twitter, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden added that the leak looks authentic, and added that this is the "first public evidence that the US Government is secretly paying to keep US software unsafe."

Trump govt puts H1B workers' spouses on thin ice; H4 work authorisation in limbo

The H4 visa nightmare is happening.

It doesn’t take a Trump executive order to make the H1B community run for cover - a series of measures by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and other government arms to tighten the screws is good enough.

Take the latest whiplash on Women’s Day which skewers the one bright spot in the H4 visa - The US Department of Justice is seeking a 60-day freeze over issuance of new work 

authorisations for H4 visa holders as a follow up of an ongoing case filed by Save Jobs USA which has found new resolve after the Trump win last November. For more on the case details, this press release by Immigration Voice is a useful resource. Note that the DoJ move is limited to the EAD or Employment Authorization Document given to certain H4 visa holders depending upon the status of the H1B principal and this latest move is not about the visa itself, which is safe for now.

H1B workers’ dependant spouses on the H4 visa ( under certain conditions, explained below) were allowed to find paid work in the fag end of the Obama rule.

The new US Attorney general Jeff Sessions has said emphatically that the H4 rule ( to allow work authorisation) “hurts American workers.”

Considering that Trump’s spate of executive orders that has created chaos worldwide is anti-Obama at its core, the H4 backlash is no surprise at all.

By clamping down on premium processing of H1B visas and now upping the difficulty level for H4 visas, the Trump government is showing that it does not take executive orders to spread panic and confusion among immigrant labour force. Starting April 3, 2017, the USCIS will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H1B petitions. This suspension may last up to six months. Premium Processing is basically a fast track option that gets your H1B visa or extension the USCIS nod swiftly if you pony up the extra cash.

A Times of India report quotes three examples of people who have contributed positively to the US while benefitting from the rule and explains how the H4 rule to allow work authorisation is not all about “bored spouses” potentially taking away an American’s job.

Here’s what has been making the H4 community uneasy over the last few weeks - Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer’s pointed remarks during what is clearly honeymoon season for Trump staffers: “With respect to H-1Bs and other visas, it’s part of a larger immigration reform effort that the president will continue to talk about through executive order and through working with Congress.”

There has already been “a lot of action on immigration,”Spicer said, and “whether it’s that or the spousal visas or other types of visas I think there’s an overall need to look at all these programs.”

Up until the summer of 2015, H4 visa holders could not legally hold paid employment in the United States.

The fag end of the Obama years changed all that and was met with wild celebrations among Indians in the US. With Trump in office and the prospect of benign neglect to immigration red flags that marked the Obama presidency now gone, H-4s have a lot to be edgy about even if nothing eventually changes.

Although the H-4 is not applicable to all H1-B workers’ dependants, it covers a lot of ground.

Work authorisation for H4 covers dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants on two conditions - the more crucial one being that the H1-B visa holder is the principal beneficiary of an approved Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker which is basically a mild upgrade of the plain vanilla H1B under which an IT worker may have entered the US.

When the H4 tweaks came into force in the summer of 2015, a copious document of the final rule explained that the concern about “disincentives” to skilled, well educated spouses of H1B workers and the social/ family disruptions therein were at the soul of the new permissions: “This rule is intended to remove a disincentive to pursuing lawful permanent resident (LPR) status due to the potentially long wait for employment-based immigrant visas for many H-1B nonimmigrants and their family members. This rule will encourage H-1B nonimmigrants who have already taken steps to become LPRs to not abandon their efforts because their H-4 dependent spouses are unable to work. By encouraging H-1B nonimmigrants to continue in their pursuit of becoming LPRs, this rule would minimize disruptions to petitioning U.S. employers. Additionally, eligible H-4 dependent spouses who participate in the labor market will benefit financially. DHS also anticipates that the socioeconomic benefits associated with permitting H-4 spouses to participate in the labor market will assist H-1B families in integrating into the U.S. community and economy.”

The H4 rule has not been without its critics, though. Pushback came thick and fast. Former employees of Southern California Edison filed a suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to try and block the new regulation allowing qualifying H-4 spouses to apply for employment authorization documents (EADs). A federal district court in September 2016 dismissed the petition on the grounds of the plaintiff’s lack of legal standing. H4s have taken up paid employment all over America but the pushback both then and now is symptomatic of powerful social-economic ingredients that put Trump in the White House - hyper nationalism.

The same plaintiffs, armed with new resolve after the Trump win, are not backing off. They are in the process of appealing the dismissal of their case and immigration law firms in the US are being flooded with queries on whether the Trump administration may try to end the H4 employment permissions via this pending lawsuit.

With the Trump administration going hammer and tongs at closing all the loopholes commonly exploited by H1B body shops, expect the latest move to spark protests both on main street and in the living room.