Australia cuts stay of 457 visa holders, Indians to be impacted

The largest number of workers in Australia come from India (26.8 per cent), followed by employees from the UK (15 per cent) and China (6.6 per cent).

Representational image (Photo: Getty Images)

Australia has announced changes to the 457 visa for skilled foreign workers to limit their ability to look for another job after their official employment ends, a move that will impact Indians working in the country.

Foreign workers on a 457 visa will only now be able to stay in Australia for 60 days after their employment ends instead of 90.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Wednesday said, “From November 19, 2016 the period that a subclass 457 visa holder may remain in Australia after their employment ceases will be reduced from 90 days to 60 days.”

“The change is expected to assist in ensuring that the 457 programme met its intent of acting as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, Australian workers apart from reducing the vulnerability of 457 visa holders, who were only permitted to work for an approved sponsor and were not eligible for unemployment benefits, from entering into informal employment arrangements.”

The minister said that the government was committed to ensuring that Australian workers have priority and to reducing the potential for temporary visa holders to be exploited.

“This change is about reducing competition from overseas workers for those Australians who are actively looking for work,” Dutton said.

“The Government values the contribution made by the many skilled persons who work in Australia on 457 visas, but where there is an Australian worker ready, willing and able to perform a role it is the government s policy that they have priority,” he said.

He said the government’s approach compared with that of the former Labor government, which increased the time that 457 visa holders may remain in Australia when they cease employment from 28 days to 90 days in June 2013.

“The Subclass 457 programme was not effectively managed by Labor, as with so many other areas of government. Labor’s mismanagement saw the Subclass 457 programme grow from around 68,000 primary visa holders at the end of June 2010 to more than 110,000 when they were removed from office,” he said.

Upon coming to power, the Coalition undertook an independent review of the subclass 457 visa and has been implementing recommendations of that review since.

This change to 457 visa arrangements is part of the government’s ongoing commitment to ensure integrity in the programme.

The 457 visa is granted to foreign workers for four years and is designed to fill positions that are difficult to find Australians for, ABC Online said.

There are a range of different occupations on the list from different salary levels and different education backgrounds, including neurologists, midwives, cabinet makers and lift mechanics.

In the last financial year, the largest amount of visas were granted to cooks.

The largest number of workers come from India (26.8 per cent), followed by employees from the UK (15 per cent) and China (6.6 per cent).

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NASA’s Peggy Whitson set to be the oldest astronaut

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At the age of 56, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is set to be the oldest woman in space when she launches for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday.

Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) will accompany the veteran astronaut as crew members of Expedition 50/51. It will be Whitson’s third long-duration mission to the International Space Station.

During their stay aboard the orbital complex, Whitson will become the first woman to command the space station twice, NASA said.

With her scheduled launch to the space station on Friday, Whitson is set to break the record of Barbara Morgan who flew to the space station at the age of 55 in 2007. Morgan was part of the NASA Teacher in Space Programme.

Whitson, an Iowa native, completed two six-month tours of duty aboard the station for Expedition 5 in 2002, and as the station commander for Expedition 16 in 2008.

She has accumulated 377 days in space between the two missions, the most for any US woman at the time of her return to Earth. Whitson has also performed six spacewalks, totaling 39 hours and 46 minutes, according to the astronaut’s biography at NASA.

Her first tenure as commander was in 2007, when she became the first woman to hold this post.

Whitson has an advanced degree in biochemistry, and prior to her selection as an astronaut candidate in 1996, she served in prominent medical science research and supervisory positions at NASA.

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‘Great valley’ found on Mercury indicates shrinking of planet

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Scientists have discovered a “great valley” in the southern hemisphere of Mercury, providing more evidence that the small planet closest to the sun is shrinking.

Scientists used images from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to create a high-resolution topographic map that revealed the broad valley — more than 1,000 kilometres long — extending into the Rembrandt basin, one of the largest and youngest impact basins on Mercury.

“Unlike Earth’s Great Rift Valley, Mercury’s great valley is not caused by the pulling apart of lithospheric plates due to plate tectonics; it is the result of the global contraction of a shrinking one-plate planet,” said lead author of the study Tom Watters, senior scientist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

About 400 kilometres wide and three kilometres deep, Mercury’s great valley is smaller than Mars’ Valles Marineris, but larger than North America’s Grand Canyon and wider and deeper than the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, said the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Mercury’s great valley is bound by two large fault scarps ? cliff-like landforms that resemble stair steps.

The scarps formed as Mercury’s interior cooled and the planet’s shrinking was accommodated by the crustal rocks being pushed together, thrusting them upward along fault lines, the study said.

NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission was launched on August 3, 2004 to understand Mercury, the smallest, densest and least-explored of the terrestrial planets.

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Clinton reflects on loss, urges supporters to stay focused

Hillary Clinton reflected on her devastating defeat evening, acknowledging the difficulty of her loss for her supporters and urging them to persevere through the Trump era.

Hillary Clinton (Photo: AFP)

Hillary Clinton reflected on her devastating defeat evening, acknowledging the difficulty of her loss for her supporters and urging them to persevere through the Donald Trump era.

In remarks that were equal parts pep talk and funeral dirge, Clinton encouraged her backers to “never, ever give up.”

“I know this isn’t easy. I know that over the past week a lot of people have asked themselves whether America is the country we thought it was,” Clinton said at the annual gala of the Children’s Defense Fund, the child advocacy organization where she started her legal career. “But please listen to me when I say this: America is worth it.”

She added: “It’s up to each and every one of us to keep working to make America better and stronger and fairer.” Clinton never cited the president-elect by name in her remarks, making only an oblique reference to the controversial policies that fueled his rise to the White House.

Instead, she focused on the future, asking her backers to “stay engaged on every level.”

“We need you. America needs your energy,” she said.

Clinton’s surprising loss threw her party into a period of intense soul-searching, with an ascendant liberal wing blaming Clinton’s campaign for failing to embrace a more populist economic message.

In private calls with donors and Democratic officials, Clinton has largely attributed her defeat to the decision by the FBI to reexamine her use of a private server as secretary of state.

In her remarks, Clinton offered no accounting for any failures she may have made during her presidential campaign, though she admitted that the past week hasn’t been easy.

“There have been a few times this past week when all I wanted to do was just to curl up with a good book or our dogs and never leave the house again,” she ruefully admitted.

She chose friendly ground to make her first public appearance since her emotional concession speech in New York City last Wednesday.

Her first job out of law school in the 1970s was for Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman. She later became a staff attorney and chairman of the group’s board.

Throughout her campaign, she cited her work for the group as her “north star,” sparking her interest in standing up against injustice toward children and families.

The group, which helps disadvantaged children, tried to return some of the affection yesterday night.

“We love her and we appreciate all the hard work she has done and say it’s not going to be for naught,” said Edelman, in her introductory remarks. “We’re going to say that she is the people’s president.”

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Indian IT-BPM industry to grow at 8-10% in FY17: Nasscom

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The Indian IT-BPM industry is poised to grow at 8-10 per cent in the financial year 2017, demonstrating sustained growth despite global headwinds, IT industry’s representative organisation Nasscom said on Wednesday.

Sharing its revised guidance as part of its mid-year performance review of the IT-BPM industry, Nasscom reiterated that the industry remains in a strong position as it charts the future growth path for itself.

According to the guidance, India will continue to gain market share — 7 per cent of global software and IT services and 56 per cent of global sourcing.

“The industry is going through a transient phase with various domestic and global factors impacting its performance. While the effect of various short-term factors may show for a couple more quarters, the worst is behind us,” said R. Chandrashekhar, Nasscom President, at an event here.

Driven by strong and stable fundamentals, Nasscom reiterated that the long term opportunity and potential for the industry remains unchanged with a vision to achieve $350 billion by 2025.

“Global projected growth for the industry is high and our share remains strong. We are confident that the sector will continue to re-invent itself by investing in digital technologies and competencies, to drive consistent and sustained growth,” he added.

The Indian IT-BPM industry will receive 14 per cent revenues from digital solutions – four times growth since 2014.

Software and IT services globally is set to grow at a healthy pace of 7.2 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively in 2017.

“To stay globally competitive, the need of the hour is for Indian firms to invest in the future and enhance their digital capabilities. This entails a mix of reskilling, domain and platform capabilities coupled with acquisition led competencies,” the IT apex body added.

India currently is the biggest Global In-house Centres (GIC) locations globally, with over 1,000 centres focused on technology, services, R&D and innovation.

The country is also the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world with over 4,750 firms, witnessing a growth of 10-12 per cent annually.

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Chilling Out

South Africa to retain AB de Villiers as skipper

Star batsman de Villiers was ruled out of the series with a left elbow injury.

Faf du Plessis (L) and Hashim Amla (R) (Photo: AFP

AB de Villiers’ job as South African captain is safe despite Faf du Plessis impressing with his leadership as stand-in skipper during thumping back-to-back Test wins over Australia, selectors say.

Star batsman de Villiers was ruled out of the series with a left elbow injury that required surgery with du Plessis seamlessly taking over.

His vision has been praised in steering the team to an unassailable 2-0 lead. A win in the final day-night Test in Adelaide next week will consign Australia to their first home series whitewash in history.

Despite this, selectors are not considering promoting du Plessis to do the job full-time.

“At the moment it’s clear to us that Faf is stand-in captain and AB is the current captain when he comes back,” chairman of selectors Linda Zondi told reporters in Hobart late Wednesday.

“AB is still the captain.”

Officials hope de Villiers will be fit for the home series against Sri Lanka, starting on December 26.

“We will be guided (as to when he can play) by the medical team in terms of where he is and in terms of match fitness,” Zondi said.

“He has been away for five months — a long time. For starters, he has to be match fit.”

South Africa thrashed Australia by 177 runs in the opening Perth Test and followed it up with an innings and 80 run demolition of the hosts in Hobart this week.

It was a fifth straight defeat for Australia which saw chairman of selectors Rod Marsh quit, with Trevor Hohns temporarily replacing him.

The third and final Test starts on November 24 in Adelaide

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Trump, advisers seek to quell rumours of transition team chaos

US President-elect Donald Trump and some of his advisers sought to quell reports of disorganisation on the transition team and fierce internal battles among its members.

Donald Trump (Photo: AFP)

US President-elect Donald Trump and some of his advisers sought to quell reports of disorganisation on the transition team and fierce internal battles among its members.

Starting early Wednesday morning, Trump once again took to Twitter to reject the reports of chaos and infighting, saying in a tweet-storm that the process of selecting members of his future Cabinet was going “so smoothly”, Efe news reported.

That stance was echoed by two other people acting as advisers to the transition team and who in recent days had severely limited their remarks about the progress in crafting the group of staffers that will accompany Trump to the White House.

According to transition team communications director Jason Miller, Trump is taking a “very structured, methodical approach” in designing his future administration, although so far only two important posts have been publicly announced.

Officials are “making good on President-elect Trump’s promise that we’re not going to have any lobbyists involved with the transition efforts. When we talk about draining the swamp, this is one of the first steps. And so, the bottom line is, we’re going to get the transition team where we need it to be,” Miller said.

Some of the alleged internal fights have been attributed to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who – according to some versions – may have pushed for the removal of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as head of the transition team.

However, according to Trump and his spokesmen, none of that is true, everything is proceeding in a very “organised” way and, as Miller insisted on Wednesday, there is a firm plan in place to fill posts in the new administration.

The spokesman said that anyone who said otherwise was in all likelihood a disgruntled former member of the transition team or someone who was “bitter” about the result of the election.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s last campaign chief and now a top adviser to his transition team, said that reports of disorganization within the team were untrue, although she did say that probably no announcements of new appointments would be made on Wednesday..

So far, the President-elect’s team has announced the appointment of Republican National Committee chief Reince Priebus as Trump’s future chief of staff and Brietbart News director Stephen Bannon as the mogul’s chief strategist and senior adviser.

The president-elect’s spokespeople said that it takes time to assemble a federal government and the team is approaching the matter in all seriousness.

Miller said that the team is incorporating people who are ready to implement Trump’s vision for America, a mission – he added – that Vice President-elect Mike Pence knows very well.

Pence on Sunday replaced Christie as the head of the transition team and on Tuesday he met for about six hours with Trump and his advisors at Manhattan’s Trump Tower, although on Wednesday he was in Washington visiting with Vice President Joe Biden.

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As the Moon Rises

‘Canada-Cuba ties to remain unchanged despite Trump’s win’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reassured his hosts in Havana that the election of Donald Trump as US president won't change his country's close ties to the Caribbean island.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Twi

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reassured his hosts in Havana that the election of Donald Trump as US president “won't change” his country's close ties to the Caribbean island.

“Canada has always been a friend to Cuba, and we've never found any contradiction… between being strong friends to Cuba and good friends and partners with the US,” Trudeau said on Wednesday.

“For me, election results in the US won't change the strong relationship,” he said in a discussion with Cuban students, adding: “We make our own choices.”

A historic thaw in Cuba-US relations was begun by US President Barack Obama, with Canada hosting secret talks between the two sides to get the ball rolling in 2014.

The US and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in July 2015, after severing them in 1961 during the Cold War.

But Trump's November 8 election has raised questions about that rapprochement. The Republican billionaire at first appeared to warm to the thaw, saying “50 years is enough.”

But he then vowed to reverse the new policies unless Cuban President Raul Castro agrees to democratic reforms and other demands.

Pressed about the US embargo imposed on Cuba in 1962 but opposed by Trudeau's father, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, Trudeau said Canada “disagrees with the approach the US has taken with Cuba.”

“We think that our approach is much better, of a partnership, collaboration, of engagement,” he said, while adding that “it's not our job to tell our friend and allies what they should do or shouldn't do.”

Justin Trudeau is the first Canadian leader to visit Cuba in 18 years.

He met Tuesday with President Raul Castro, and was scheduled to leave on Wednesday for Argentina before travelling to an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru.

In Cuba, Trudeau also met with Cuban civil society representatives, religious leaders, environmental activists and free press proponents.

Reporters were told there was also a chance he might meet with Fidel Castro, Cuba's ailing former president who turned over power to his brother Raul.

His father formed a lifelong friendship with Fidel Castro during his 1976 visit to Cuba.

Canada is Cuba's fourth-largest trading partner and the largest source of foreign tourists, with 1.3 million Canadian visitors last year making up nearly 40 per cent of Cuba's total tourist visits.

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Umbrella!

Facebook buys emotion detection startup FacioMetrics

(Photo: Getty Images)

Facebook has acquired emotion detection start-up FacioMetrics to push its artificial intelligence (AI) research into building facial gesture controls.

FacioMetrics developed an app called Intraface that can detect seven different emotions in people’s faces, TechCrunch reported on Thursday.

“Future applications of deep learning platform on mobile: Gesture-based controls, recognize facial expressions and perform related actions,” Facebook wrote.

The social media giant will use FacioMetrics to enhance its Snapchat selfie Lens-style augmented reality face masks that are making their way into its videos and Live broadcasts, the report added.

“How people share and communicate is changing and things like masks and other effects allow people to express themselves in fun and creative ways. We’re excited to welcome the Faciometrics team who will help bring more fun effects to photos and videos and build even more engaging sharing experiences on Facebook,” Facebook said.

According to FacioMetrics founder Fernando De la Torre, associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University, they started FacioMetrics to respond to the increasing interest and demand for facial image analysis – “with all kinds of applications including augmented/virtual reality, animation, audience reaction measurement, and others”.

The team began research at Carnegie Mellon University developing state-of-the-art computer vision and machine learning algorithms for facial image analysis.

“Over time, we have successfully developed and integrated this cutting-edge technology into battery-friendly and efficient mobile applications, and also created new applications of this technology,” he explained.

De la Torre’s app can help identify drowsy drivers, detect depression and improve avatars in video games.

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Indian-American Haley considered for top post in Trump’s govt

The transition team's spokesman Sean Spicer listed 44-year-old Haley as one of the candidates Trump would be meeting.

Nikki Haley (Photo: Twitter)

Indian-American Nikki Haley will meet US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, the presidential transition team has said amid reports that the two-term Governor of South Carolina is being considered for a Cabinet position, particularly for the high-profile post of Secretary of State.

In a conference call with reporters last night, the transition team's spokesman Sean Spicer listed 44-year-old Haley as one of the candidates Trump would be meeting on Thursday.

Among others the 70-year-old Trump would be meeting include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Gen (rtd) Jack Keane, Admiral Mike Rogers and Ken Blackwell.

While some of these meetings are about potential cabinet members, others are about sharing ideas and advice.

Earlier in the day, a close aide of Trump from South Carolina said that Haley was being considered for a Cabinet position, including that of the Secretary of State.

“It would be like how Mr Trump is bringing fresh eyes to running our government,” South Carolina Lt Governor Henry McMaster told The Post and Courier. The daily did not provide any other details.

McMaster was one of the earliest ones to have endorsed Trump during the primaries and has been praised by the President-elect several times in the past.

Haley had endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio during the primaries and was also critical of Trump in her Republican response to the State of the Union Address by US President Barack Obama in January.

However, before the general elections, Haley came out in support of Trump, saying that she would be voting for the billionaire tycoon from New York.

The Trump transition team has so far not given any indication of who all will be filling various Cabinet positions. The President-elect himself has tweeted that only he knows the final list.

McMaster, who started speaking with the Trump team soon after their historic victory told the local South Carolina daily that the first women governor of the State, who is also the first Indian-American woman governor, is being considered for various Cabinet position, including the State of State.

Neither the office of the South Carolina Governor nor the Trump transition team have responded to this report so far.

While the news was welcomed in South Carolina, a political analyst appeared to be skeptical of such a proposal.

“Secretary of state is going to be a bit of a stretch for Haley's area of expertise. Haley has yet to be vetted about foreign policy, trade and protectionism,” said College of Charleston political scientist Kendra Stewart.

Haley is the second Indian-American name being floated for a Cabinet position in the Trump Administration. Former Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal is also appearing in many short lists of potential Cabinet names.