Monthly Archives: June 2022

‘Everything is gone’: Eastern Ukraine residents say Russia is wiping their towns off the map – POLITICO

Posted: June 9, 2022 at 4:54 am

Under constant, heavy shelling, thousands of civilians in Ukraines east have been confined to the tenuous safety of basements and garden cellars for weeks or months. Time spent in the open means exposing oneself to weapons of war that figuratively and literally tear people apart.

Life under Russian assault is measured in minutes, steps and millimeters; the difference between life and death here has narrowed to a sliver. Those who try to flee do so at great risk to their personal safety; some interviewed by POLITICO during a week of reporting along the frontline described being forced to dash down contested roads while under fire or crawl through fields littered with landmines.

Others, like Tykhomirova, are too fragile to leave under their own power. Many more lack the means, whether money or a vehicle, to flee. Though disenchanted with the Ukrainian government for what some say is a lack of respect and attention paid to the eastern regions, almost no one wants to take their chance with the Russians.

Thousands have died while contemplating their meager options.

To be precise, between Feb. 24 and May 30, at least 4,149 civilians were killed, including 267 children, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. The true numbers of civilian casualties are much higher but cant yet be fully counted because of active fighting and lack of access to areas under the control of Russian forces, the organization added.

The deaths bring the total number of civilians killed as a result of Russian military aggression in Ukraine to more than 7,500 over the course of eight years. Prior to Feb. 24, 3,404 civilians had been killed in the war in the Donbas, which broke out in April 2014. A vast majority of those casualties occurred in the first nine months of the war, when the fighting was at its peak. Several ceasefire agreements that never fully materialized kept the fighting at a simmer, with each side trading pot shots from well-worn trenches.

Lyman, a once-quiet town surrounded by a forested nature reserve and the bone-white chalk mountains, was once home to 20,000 residents more than 43 percent of which were ethnic Russians, according to local data until people began spilling out in recent weeks. It had largely avoided hostilities, save for some street fighting with automatic rifles and grenade launchers in 2014.

Now its synonymous with Russias brutal new military campaign in the Donbas, demolished homes and shattered lives.

We can never go back. There is nothing left there for us, cried a woman brought to the Raihorodok staging area carrying several bags of clothing and possessions, her two young children in tow. They are bombing everything. Our city is dying.

Her husband interjected: No, the city is already dead.

The family, who declined to be identified, said their home had been partially destroyed in mid-May. They spent nearly two weeks living in a neighbors basement with little food and water, no toilet, electricity and gas until Holtsyev and the other rescuers came to pick them up. Everything they had to begin their new lives fit into four duffel bags. Asked about what they would do next and where they would go, the husband tried to speak but no words came out of his mouth; he just shook his head and shrugged.

Days later, on May 27, Russian forces declared Lyman captured.

'Everything is gone': Eastern Ukraine residents say Russia is wiping their towns off the map - POLITICO

Posted in Ukraine | Comments Off

Ukraine agonizes over Russian culture and language in its social fabric – NPR

Posted: at 4:54 am

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, ordered the removal of a Soviet monument in April, after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. The monument was erected in 1982 as a symbol of unification and friendship between Ukraine and Russia under the Soviet government. Officials have also ordered some streets linked to Russia to be renamed. Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

LVIV and ODESA, Ukraine In prewar Ukraine, Svitlana Panova spoke her native Russian without giving it much thought. But now, she has lost her home to Russia twice fleeing Crimea after Russia's 2014 annexation of it and then fleeing eastern Ukraine after Russia's invasion this year and the Russian language no longer feels quite right.

"It's hard for me to switch to Ukrainian, but I will learn it for sure," says Panova, one of millions of Ukrainians displaced by Russia's war, as she makes her way through the train station in the western city of Lviv.

On the streets and on social media, at family gatherings and at work, in interviews and in political journals, people across Ukraine are having a tense conversation over the place of Russian language and culture in Ukraine's social fabric. Can they even have a place now? Is this inescapable part of the country's history inherently toxic?

About a third of Ukrainians have named Russian as their mother tongue in the last census, in 2001, and in more recent surveys and the majority of Ukrainians say they speak it. Conversations often combine both languages, and some people even speak a Spanglish-type mashup called Surzhyk. Russian and Ukrainian are closely related but not enough for speakers to fully understand each other. Ukraine was Russified for centuries, under the Russian Empire and then under the Soviet Union, when Russian was the lingua franca mandated in schools.

Interest in speaking Russian has been declining, particularly after Ukraine's pivotal 2014 pro-Western revolution. The Ukrainian language emerged as a cornerstone of the nation's push toward a strong post-Soviet self-identity. After Russia commenced its violent invasion this Feb. 24, many began viewing language as a matter of national survival.

"It is a question of our existence," says Oleh Myrhorodskyy, 57, a Russian-speaker from the southern city of Odesa, who quickly signed up for a Ukrainian-language class. "That's why everyone needs to put some effort into building a national foundation. And the language is that national foundation."

The remote class, launched online from Lviv shortly after the invasion started, filled up instantly. More than 800 people signed up within three days, organizers said.

Ihor and Olha Lysenko fled to western Ukraine when the war began. Olha initially ditched the Russian language in anger, but weeks later, she resumed using it. Russian is the language of her children and her family. "For me, language is not attached to a nation. It's not attached to certain territory," she says. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption

For example, a large share of the interviews with Ukrainian refugees that foreign viewers might see on TV or hear on the radio are in Russian. Ihor Lysenko, who fled west when the war began, points out it's the shared language with millions of people elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Lysenko's wife, Olha Lysenko, ditched Russian in anger after Russia attacked Ukraine. Weeks later, she returned to using it. Russian is the language of her children and her family it does not belong to the Russian government or its leader, Vladimir Putin, she says.

"For me, language is not attached to a nation. It's not attached to certain territory," she says. "And so the Russian language, like English, doesn't make me feel disgust. In the first week of the war, it did, and I switched entirely to Ukrainian. But over time, that first anger has passed, and as my relative says, whatever it may be, it's the language of the heart."

At a cafe in Odesa, Artyom Dorokhov voices another common view that Ukraine's cosmopolitan diversity of languages and cultures is a strength. He says he has always celebrated his Russian roots, never feeling anti-Russian bias, but the war brought a shift: He feels new pressure to speak Ukrainian and signal to friends and co-workers that his loyalties lie here, not with Russia.

"Silence is very close right now to a hostile act," Dorokhov says. "All the good stuff that we know about Russian art and literature, it's been wiped out by the current deeds of [Putin's] regime."

Oleksandr Babich, a historian from Odesa, Ukraine, sits on a commission that's considering the future of city landmarks that honor Russian figures, including the possible removal of statues and monuments. Brian Mann/NPR hide caption

Some cities, including the capital city of Kyiv, have begun removing Russian-related monuments, markers and even road signs. Odesa once a key port in imperial Russia has created a commission to consider the future of some of the city's most significant landmarks.

"My own mother tongue is Russian," says historian Oleksandr Babich, an Odesa native who sits on the monument commission. "But the war makes us want to become more Ukrainian. We don't want to have anything in common with the Russians who are killing us."

The city's Russian history is rich and won't be easy to disentangle. Walking past sandbag barricades and soldiers with assault rifles, Babich points to a house where Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol wrote the Russian literary classic Dead Souls and then a house where Russia's most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin, once lived.

Local landmarks now in question include the Potemkin Stairs featured in a classic Soviet silent film about a 1905 mutiny on an eponymous Russian battleship in the Odesa harbor. Then there's the giant statue to Russian Empress Catherine the Great, who ordered the founding of modern Odesa in 1794 but who also eroded Ukraine's autonomy with oppressive imperial politics.

Dorokhov compared this debate to the reckoning over Confederate statues and monuments in the American South: a cultural reckoning over a history of oppression. Except this one is happening amid a brutal war, with missile strikes erasing neighborhoods and cities and with Russian troops facing accusations of mass killings of civilians and other war crimes.

A Ukrainian tank sits near the Potemkin Stairs in the center of Odesa after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption

In 2014, Moscow claimed persecution of Russian-speakers to justify its annexation of Crimea. Similar claims have factored heavily into the eight years of bloody conflict between Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and the Ukrainian army.

In the late 2010s, Ukraine's government passed new mandates and quotas to boost the use of Ukrainian in education, the media and professional communication. The Kremlin launched a wave of propaganda, claiming Western anti-Russian forces were pushing ethnocentric mandatory Ukrainization.

In July 2021, Putin penned a now-infamous historical screed claiming that Russians and Ukrainians were "one people a single whole," bound by the shared language and culture of the Russian World (Russkiy Mir). With the war, the concept has taken on a sinister meaning and is loathed in Ukraine.

"Russia itself is doing everything to ensure that de-Russification takes place on the territory of our state," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, himself a native Russian-speaker, said in a March address. "You are doing it. In one generation. And forever."

A statue of a Soviet soldier lies facedown in Chervonohrad, in western Ukraine. The monument from the city's Eternal Flame memorial complex is among those that were dismantled following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Pavlo Palamarchuk/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

Many here call Russian soldiers "orcs" or "Rushists," the latter a twist on "fascists." Ukrainian officials frequently warn that there is a threat from Russian-speakers in Ukraine who sympathize with Moscow.

"It's hard to say, but the [Russians] aren't people for us anymore," says Julia Bragina, a Russian-speaker who co-owns a jazz club and theater in Odesa. She adds: "Yeah, that's mean that's gross to say."

Before the war, Bragina regularly hosted performances by Russian musicians and counted many of them as her friends. Now, she says she views their cultural influence as tainted, in part because many Russian artists have been silent about the invasion or support it publicly.

Moscow has passed new laws that criminalize even referring to Russia's presence in Ukraine as a "war" or "invasion." The Kremlin insists it's engaged in a "special military operation" to "denazify" Ukrainian leadership and protect the Russian-speakers of the eastern Donbas region.

At the same time, Bragina and many others say they believe the difficult conversation about undoing centuries of Russification in Ukrainian culture can unfold peacefully and with nuance. Babich says it's a sign that Ukrainian society is free and capable of wrestling with complicated problems the kind of open debate that would be instantly stifled by Putin's regime.

Ievgen Afanasiev reported from Lviv; Brian Mann reported from Odesa; Alina Selyukh is based in Washington, D.C.; Elissa Nadworny reported from Chervonohrad. Tim Mak contributed reporting from Odesa.

‘In this war, the ordinary infantryman is nothing’: Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas feel abandoned and outgunned – CBC News

Posted: at 4:54 am

Throughout more than three months of war, Ukrainian troops have largely held Russian forces at bay. With skilful tactics and grim determination, Ukrainian defenders have pushed Moscow's troops away from the capital, Kyiv, and forced them to abandon designs for capturing the entire country.

But in the country's east, where Russian forces are intensifying efforts on the embattled Donbas region, weeks of brutal combat have pushed the defenders to a breaking point.

Now, under ceaseless bombardment and after immense casualties, some Ukrainian troops say they are feeling abandoned by their leadership left to die in hopeless conditions.

On a sunny day last week in Bakhmut, the Eastern Ukrainian city was preparing for a seemingly imminent siege. Buses streamed out of the city heading west, carrying loads of the most vulnerable: the elderly and mothers with children. Heavy military equipment passed them in the other direction, with a pair of BM-27 Uragan rocket launchers carrying deadly cargo toward the front lines with Russia.

The region is no stranger to war. Ukrainian forces have been battling Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas since 2014, long before this most recent invasion.

At one of the city's few open businesses, a shawarma stand, a steady stream of exhausted soldiers and emergency workers returning from the front paused for a quick break, as artillery boomed in the near distance.

Alexey, a 28-year-old paramedic, had just returned from his latest journey. He and a colleague spent most of the day dashing to and from the town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, which is under direct Russian shelling.

"There were 23 shells that hit Soledar in the last day alone," recalled Alexey. "We were bringing a wounded civilian back he didn't make it."

(As active-duty servicemen, none of the soldiers or emergency workers CBC spoke with were authorized to give their last names.)

Despite worsening conditions in the region, some people who had fled earlier in the fighting have since returned to the area, driven by simple economic necessity.

Alexey estimates that about 30 per cent of Bakhmut'spre-war population of about 75,000 remains, before mentioning a nine-storey building that was recently hit by a missile.

"At least 10 apartments are inhabited the people came back and just patched up their flats as best they could," he said. "They're afraid, but they've got no money."

Despite the war around him, Alexey's spirits seem high enough. It's a different story for other soldiers and volunteers returning from the front.

Two fighters Nikita, 35, and his companion, Mikhail, 56, both members of a Ukrainian army unit stationed nearby just returned from the front line east of Bakhmut, about five kilometres from the city.

"The front just comes closer and closer," said Nikita. "We keep getting pushed back, further and further."

Nikita has been fighting in this region for more than a month now, pushing back against a Russian assault that broke through Ukrainian lines in mid-May and continues to close in on Bakhmut.

His colleague, Mikhail, had also fought in 2014, against the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine. This time, he says, is different.

"[In 2014], I could fight well enough with my rifle," said Mikhail. "Now, I can't. They hit us with planes, helicopters, mortars, tanks, GRADs [rocket artillery]."

"In this war, the ordinary infantryman is nothing," said Nikita. "Now it's all artillery and heavy weapons. The average soldier, he can't do anything."

"We are just cannon fodder," Mikhail interjects.

Ukraine's forces are taking massive casualties in the region. In a May 31 interview, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was losing between 60 to 100 soldiers every day on the eastern front, with about another 500 people wounded daily.

On June 5, he met with some of the soldiersin Bakhmutduring a visit to the eastern front and thanked them for their service. "I am grateful to everyone," he said, according to Agence France-Presse. "Take care of yourselves."

While Russian forces are likely suffering heavy losses as well roughly 10,000 Russian soldiers are believed to have been killed in the war to date this has not yet blunted their assault in the Donbas.

Despite the thousands of pieces of Western military aid delivered to Ukraine, Nikita said he and his men have seen nothing of them.

"We have just our rifles. Maybe an RPG [launcher] or two. Against a tank or an armoured vehicle? What am I supposed to do?" he said rhetorically.

In his view, the leadership in Kyiv cares little for those fighting out here.

"[Kyiv] has not sent us any new weapons and they're not going to," said Nikita.

"Everything new and fancy has been reserved for those other places: Kyiv, Kharkiv, the big cities. Headquarters thinks, 'Well, you [in the east] have been fighting the Russians for eight years already. You'll be fine.'"

Nikita shakes his head, before turning to even harsher words for his superiors.

"You have to understand that there are two castes in this country," he said. "There's the upper caste, and then there's us: the lower caste. We are just pawns. Nothing more. The upper caste gets the money, and we get the command: 'Forward!'

"That's how it's always worked here [in Ukraine]," he said, before emphasizing that he doesn't expect anyone to believe him.

"No one here wants to hear the truth," said Nikita. "They just want the beautiful story of how Ukraine is united. But here, we're f--ked."

Other soldiers filtering through the shawarma stand also tell dire tales of being outgunned and outnumbered as fighting in the region intensifies.

Two scouts with Ukraine's naval infantry, both in their early 20s and both named Sergei, have been fighting since the first days of the war.

They arrived in the Donbas after escaping the most difficult battle of Ukraine's war to date: Mariupol, the port city destroyed during a brutal two-month siege.

"We've been [fighting] along the entire eastern front line," said the younger Sergei, 21.

"We were sent all over in the Mariupol area, in Nikolne, Rozivka, Zachativka," he said, listing villages north of the port city.

One of their assignments involved being sent to cover the retreat of Ukrainian forces pulling out of Mariupol a task they say nearly saw them killed as they were overwhelmed by a Russian force they were not equipped to fight.

"Our guys [in Mariupol] were almost encircled, so we were sent there to guard the exodus," said the younger Sergei. "The Russians put out 200 vehicles against us. They caught us and surrounded us in a village. [It was] just 70 of us against all that."

The only weapons on hand for that fight, said the older Sergei, 24, were machine guns and a few N-LAWs, British-made anti-tank missiles.

"We held out for six days. We managed to destroy the first tank in their column and that held them up, as the others were stuck behind it," he said.

"But they brought up their artillery. We had almost nothing to fight them with. Finally, we managed to escape at night we snuck out on foot."

Ukraine's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the soldiers' allegations, including the claims that at least some units were not receiving the donated weapons.

Over the course of the war, Zelensky has repeatedly called on allies to supply Ukraine with more and better weapons, at times accusing the West of moving too slowly.

The U.S., the U.K. and Germany recently pledged some of the most advanced weapons yet, including helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery pieces.

The U.S. military has also begun training Ukrainian forces on the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a sophisticated medium-range multiple rocket launcher though officials have said it would take about three weeks of training before they could go to the battlefront.

WATCH |Canada committed to supporting Ukraine 'as long as it takes,' defence minister says:

There is evidence that some of the new weaponry has made it to Eastern Ukraine. Reports show American-made M777 advanced howitzers in use at Lysychansk, at the northern edge of the Donbas front. A Politico report further describes M777s at Kramatorsk, about 30 kilometres northwest of Bakhmut.

Still, for these soldiers, the fight is not getting any easier.

Dmitry, a 41-year-old member of Ukraine's Territorial Defence, uses a little humour to confront the grim reality of the situation. "Bakhmut, it's like Monte Carlo," he said, laughing. "Russian roulette on every corner!"

Then his eyes darken, and his smile fades.

"I can describe the situation here in a few short words," Dmitry said. "Very f--king awful."

Excerpt from:

'In this war, the ordinary infantryman is nothing': Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas feel abandoned and outgunned - CBC News

Posted in Ukraine | Comments Off

No Longer Sure Bets: Tech Giants Are Dropping Bad News Daily

Posted: at 4:52 am

(Bloomberg) -- From Seattle to Silicon Valley to Austin, a grim new reality is setting in across the tech landscape: a heady, decades-long era of rapid sales gains, boundless jobs growth and ever-soaring stock prices is coming to an end.

Meta, other tech giants flock to Raleigh and Durham – Axios

Posted: at 4:52 am

On Monday, WRAL reported that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was looking at opening an office in Durham.

Yes, but: Meta said last month it would reduce its hiring after posting slowing revenue growth in the first quarter of the year. Its possible that could impact the reported plans.

Why it matters: Even if Meta doesn't expand to the Triangle, companies from Apple to Amazon are already hiring here whether remotely or for a planned office.

What theyre saying: "I think what you are seeing in the Triangle is a maturation," former N.C. Commerce Secretary Anthony Copeland, who helped recruit many tech companies, told Axios.

The growth has really accelerated since the pandemic, which has caused a reshuffling of workers from the country's largest cities to cheaper markets.

Apple, for example, just recently started hiring for the first jobs at its new East Coast HQ in Research Triangle Park, and sublet space in Cary.

The big picture: The Triangle has been identified as a place for future growth by the countrys largest tech firms. The growth brings a lot of new opportunities to the region, but also many challenges, most noticeably rising housing and rental prices.

See the original post:

Meta, other tech giants flock to Raleigh and Durham - Axios

Comments Off

Tech giants IBM and Microsoft lay off hundreds of employees in Russia – Business Insider

Posted: at 4:52 am

Tech giants IBM and Microsoft are laying off hundreds of employees in Russia as companies continue to leave or scale down businesses in the country.

IBM suspended its Russian operations in March after the country invaded Ukraine, but employees were kept on the payroll.In a memo to staff on Tuesday, chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna announced an "orderly wind-down" of business in Russia. The local workforce will be laid off, he said.

"Our colleagues in Russia have, through no fault of their own, endured months of stress and uncertainty," said Krishna. "We recognize that this news is difficult, and I want to assure them that IBM will continue to stand by them and take all reasonable steps to provide support and make their transition as orderly as possible," he continued.

IBM did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment but told Reuters it employs several hundred people in Russia.

Krishna said during IBM's first-quarter earnings call in April that the company's business in Russia is "not large" and concentrated on high-end infrastructure and software, according to an official copy of his remarks.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is significantly scaling down its business in Russia, a company spokesperson told Insider on Thursday.Microsoft suspended new sales and services in Russia in March, but is still servicing existing customers.

"As a result of the changes to the economic outlook and the impact on our business in Russia, we have made the decision to significantly scale down our operations in Russia," the Microsoft spokesperson told Insider. "We will continue to fulfill our existing contractual obligations with Russian customers while the suspension of new sales remains in effect."

Microsoft is laying off 400 employees in Russia, a spokesperson told Bloomberg, which first reported the news.

"We are working closely with impacted employees to ensure they are treated with respect and have our full support during this difficult time," the tech giant told Insider.

Microsoft and IBM now number among the major US and European companies including Goldman Sachs, McDonald's, and Disney that have announced they'd be ending their operations in Russia.

Go here to read the rest:

Tech giants IBM and Microsoft lay off hundreds of employees in Russia - Business Insider

Comments Off

Online safety and social media regulation gains momentum on both sides of the Atlantic are tech giants ready? – JD Supra

Posted: at 4:52 am

When the UK Government first introduced the Online Safety Bill (the "Bill") to Parliament, it lauded the Bill as creating "world-leading online safety laws" which "marked a milestone in the fight for a new digital age".1 The Bill is currently at committee stage, where it is being scrutinised by MPs who have heard evidence from tech giants including TikTok and Twitter, alongside online safety advocates like the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

If enacted, the Bill will create a new regulatory and enforcement framework requiring Online Content Providers ("OCPs") to tackle illegal and other harmful content on their services. It mirrors laws recently proposed in the EU and US, and has the potential to be a leading legislative model for other countries seeking to improve online safety by regulating OCPs.

This OnPoint summarises the main elements of the UK Bill and examines the global trend towards increased regulation of OCPs, and how that will impact OCPs who provide online services around the World.2

New Regulatory Obligations

As a minimum, the Bill will impose statutory duties of care on social media platforms, online forums and search engines that host user-generated content as well as sites featuring adult content ("OCPs") to:

The Bill also requires the Secretary of State to pass regulations specifying threshold conditions by which OCPs services will be categorised as Category 1, Category 2A or Category 2B. Additional duties will be imposed on OCPs providing Category 1 services, including an enhanced duty to carry out and record risk assessments, a duty to protect adult users online safety, a duty to empower users to take greater control over their exposure to harmful content, and duties to protect content of democratic importance and journalistic content.5 The threshold conditions will be set with reference to the OCPs number of users and the functionality of its services.6

The Bill also imposes various duties relating to transparency, reporting, user identity verification and payment of fees. The administrative burden on OCPs will be substantial, and the Government estimates that it expects OCPs collectively to spend anything from 50 million to 95 million on transition costs, followed by an estimated 290 million in annual costs thereafter.7

Investigation, Enforcement and Penalties

The Bill appoints Ofcom, the UK regulator responsible for regulating communications services including TV, radio and post office, with responsibility for enforcement and oversight of the regime. It gives Ofcom new criminal investigatory and enforcement powers including the power to compel OCPs to provide information and witnesses to attend interviews. It also gives Ofcom new powers of entry, inspection and audit.8 It creates criminal offences relating to failure to cooperate with Ofcom investigatory measures, and provides for the possibility of joint liability for parent and subsidiary companies in certain cases where Ofcom deems it appropriate.9 It will also allow Ofcom to apply to the English courts for "business disruption orders" requiring OCPs to withdraw services or, in extreme cases, blocking access to non-compliant OCP services.10

The Bill stops short of imposing criminal liability on OCPs for failing to comply with their statutory duties, but in such cases Ofcom may impose financial penalties of up to 18 million or 10% of the OCPs qualifying worldwide revenue in the most recent complete accounting period, whichever is the greater.11 Where two or more entities are jointly and severally liable for a penalty, the maximum penalty will be the greater of either 18 million or 10% of the qualifying worldwide revenue for the group.12

Separately, the Bill updates some of the existing communications offices in England and Wales, creating three new communications offences for (i) sending online threats and harassment, (ii) sending false communications with intent to cause psychological or physical harm, and (iii) sending unsolicited sexual pictures and videos. The purpose of the new offences is to enhance the protection of vulnerable users and to reduce online abuse. The offence of sending false communications will require prosecutors to show that the person sending the message knew at the time of sending that the message was false, and that it was likely to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to its audience.13 The offence cannot therefore be committed by OCPs whose users publish false information on their platform, unless the prosecution could show that the OCP knew at the time the message was sent that it was false and likely to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to its audience.

Public Response

The response to the Bill has been varied. Gill Whitehead, the head of the UK Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, a new group created to streamline internet regulation expressed concern that the law could "weigh down small businesses with new costs" and stifle important innovation.14 Others believe it does not go far enough. The End Surveillance Advertising to Kids coalition flags that the Bill does not restrict OCPs powers to collect and use data to aim targeted advertising at children, unless the advertising in question falls within the definition of harmful.15 Whichever side of the argument you agree with, there is no denying that the Bill will impose additional administrative and financial burdens on the OCP market.

Global Outlook

The UK is not alone in legislating to regulate OCPs. In April, the EU agreed the text of a new Digital Services Act ("DSA") which, similarly to the UK Bill, aims to increase accountability for online platforms regarding illegal and harmful content.16 Separately, the EU has agreed the text of a new Digital Markets Act ("DMA") which will increase competition by forcing companies who provide browsers, social networks and search engines designated as "gatekeepers" (in that they have at least 45 million monthly end users and at least 10,000 yearly active business users in the EU) to allow users greater flexibility in terms of uninstalling pre-installed apps, achieve interconnectivity between different apps and services, and curtailing targeted advertising.17 The DMA and DSA will be enforced by the European Commission, and are currently awaiting formal approval by the EU Parliament and Council, later this year.18

Further afield, the US is also making inroads in this area, following criticism that it has historically failed to regulate big platform companies operating in its own backyard.19 In February 2022, US senators introduced the Kids Online Safety Act to Congress, seeking to impose a duty on OCPs to prevent the promotion of harmful and criminal activity, and limit exposure to harmful behaviours like suicide, self-harm, eating disorders and substance abuse. In fact, the US Bill goes further than the UK Bill, in that it will require OCPs to give parents greater control to opt out of data mining and algorithmic recommendations.20

Concluding Remarks

Some critics of the EU and UK legislators argue that the trend leans towards protectionism but, as the US introduces its own draft legislation at a federal level, that argument is falling away. Whatever your perspective, it is clear that OCP regulation in the near future is a legal certainty, and OCPs need to start preparing quickly. The financial costs and administrative burden will be significant. The UK Government intends to raise the funds to cover the costs of regulation in the UK from industry in the form of fees.21 Add to that the costs of risk assessments, implementation of mitigation measures, transparency reporting and cooperating with regulatory investigations, the financial cost to OCPs will increase sharply as and when these Bills become law. OCPs are already feeling the pinch as investors get nervous about the potential impact of the proposed laws on OCP profitability.

Footnotes

1) Press Release World-first online safety laws introduced to Parliament, 17 March 2022.

2) Unless specified, all provisions cited are taken from the Online Safety Bill, Bill 4, 53/8.

3) Section 53.

4) Online Safety Bill Explanatory Notes, Bill 258-EN (Explanatory Notes), paragraph 19.

5) Part 3, ss 12 16.

6) Schedule 10, Paragraph 1.

7) Online Safety Bill Impact Assessment, Full Economic Assessment, Page 2, see here.

8) Schedule 11.

9) Section 161 and Schedule 14.

10) Explanatory Notes, paragraph 573.

11) Section 122(4)(1).

12) Section 122(5)(2).

13) Section 151.

14) Financial Times, Online safety bill risks stifling start-ups, says UK tech regulator chief, 28 April 2022, see here.

15) End Surveillance Advertising to Kids coalitionwritten evidence to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry into Digital Regulation, dated October 2021 (DRG0017), see here.

16) See here.

17) See here.

18) See here.

19) For example see Brookings online article U.S. regulatory inaction opened the doors for the EU to step up on internet, 29 March 2022.

20) See here.

21) See here.

Link:

Online safety and social media regulation gains momentum on both sides of the Atlantic are tech giants ready? - JD Supra

Comments Off

Teal Is Revolutionizing The Career Journey With Tech, AI And Machine Learning – Forbes

Posted: at 4:52 am

Teal members have found jobs with top companies, such as Google, Apple, TikTok, Spotify and Bumble.

The United States is heading into uncharted waters. After nearly two years of a steadily improving job market, better economy and optimism, it feels like America is losing some of the gains it has made. There have been a number of tech companiesranging from startups to big tech giants that have announced hiring freezes and layoffs. Its disconcerting that after talking about the Great Resignation and war for talent, workers are worried about holding onto their jobs.

On the positive side, there are still around 11.4 million jobs open, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Department of Labor also announced on Friday that the U.S. added 390,000 new jobs in May, and the unemployment rate is at 3.6%, a little higher than the 50-year low back in February 2020, prior to the pandemic.

Despite low unemployment and more jobs available than people to fill them, there are economic concerns. Runaway inflation, supply chain disruptions and the possibility of being sucked into a World War emanating from Russias invasion of Ukraine all create future uncertainty. When corporate executives are faced with the unknown, it's easier to hold off on doing anything, hunker down and wait for better clarity. This is the prime time when people need help and guidance.

Looking for a new job sometimes feels like a lonely pursuit. The companies have talent acquisition teams, the latest software, internal recruiters, human resources and a plethora of other personnel. You have to basically go it all alone. The matchup doesnt feel as if the odds are in your favor. However, there is a startup that can help level the playing field.

David Fano, founder and CEO of Teal, created a machine learning and AI- based careertech platform to help job seekers and people who want to advance their careers. Fano said, In the future of work, the employee is the enterprise."

As the head of a platform that offers the tech tools to empower people to take control over their career journey, the chief executive added, "Companies have HR teams, recruiters and sophisticated technology to manage their pipelines, but all that most job seekers have is a spreadsheet. Were leveling the playing field by building the infrastructure that helps people grow their careers with confidence.

To help professionals, Teal offers a free suite of web-based career tools.

To help professionals, Teal offers a free suite of web-based career tools. These features include a job tracker, rsum builder, Chrome extension and other tech tools. Members will receive prompts and guidance on the site to help with their career journey. There wont be any pushy salespeople, as the job seekers take control over their future.

More than 65,000 people have signed up to the program to help fast-track their careers. Fano shared that Teal members have found jobs with top companies, such as Google, Apple, TikTok, Spotify and Bumble.

Catherine Daneliak, a Teal member, said about her experience, Teal has brought all aspects of the job search together in one platform, which has enabled me to organize my job search and keep track of the status of each potential job.

Before Fano started Teal, he was on paternity leave when his then-employer, WeWork, conducted its first round of mass layoffs. At the time, Teal was an aspirational idea. Fano felt that he needed to help his former colleagues. Along with a group of ex-WeWorkers, Fano put together a career day. They offered free rsum reviews, networking opportunities and other career assistance.

He recognized that even experienced, knowledgeable professionals need resources to navigate layoffs and strategies on how to find a new job. Fano wrote in a LinkedIn post, For me, that was the big bang moment of why Teal needed to existto provide employees with the tools and infrastructure to take control of their careers. It was his big aha moment.

In light of the economic and geopolitical events that pushed both tech giants and startups to cut costs and enact hiring freezes, downsings and in the case of Coinbase, rescinding job offers, venture capital funding wont be as prolific for the foreseeable future. Teal fortunately raised a $6.3 million seed round before the window of opportunity started to close.

The latest funding will be used to develop Teals next phase of product initiatives. This will include a recommendations engine, matching members with relevant skills-based online courses to help them further their careers through upskilling and learning. The job hunters and career-focused individuals will be able to easily find and sign up to well-known online coursework with notable organizations, such as Coursera, General Assembly, Udemy and LinkedIn Learning.

"Teal is building the tools to help people navigate the future of work where career agility is more important than ever," said Jeff Rinehart, partner at City Light Capital and former chief marketing officer at 2U. We need a new category of technology that champions the candidatenot the companyempowering users to take control of their careers and develop the skills they need to excel long-term. Teals business model positions them to both do good and do well, and we couldnt be more excited to back them at this pivotal moment.

Teals seed round was led by City Light Capital with participation from Rethink Education, Human Ventures, Gaingels, Pareto Ventures, Basecamp Fund, Zelkova Ventures and angel investors, like Tom Willerer (former chief product officer at OpenDoor and Coursera). Previous investors include Flybridge, Lerer Hippeau and Oceans.

See original here:

Teal Is Revolutionizing The Career Journey With Tech, AI And Machine Learning - Forbes

Comments Off

Apple’s watchOS 9 emphasises the tech giant’s focus on cutting-edge health features – Moneycontrol

Posted: at 4:52 am

As is the case with the Apple Watch line-up, Apple puts a lot of effortto focus on the health and safety features they build in, on their wearables. The watchOS 9 reflects that, with a dedicated FDA approved AFib History system and more thorough options to customize your workouts.

More Watch Faces and Complications

Apple is going to introduce four new watch faces with the update. The Lunar watch face will let you keep track of both the Gregorian and Lunar calendar, which is used in cultures such as Chinese, Islamic and Hebrew.

The second face called Playtime, has been created with artist Joi Fulton. The third, Metropolitan, is a classical looking watch face, which changes style when you rotate the digital crown, and Astronomy, which features a full star map and cloud data.

Also Read:Apple WWDC 2022 | Multitasking and productivity is at the heart of Apple's upcoming software updates

Along with the new faces, come modernised complications for older watch faces. Utility, Simple and Activity Analog, and options for background editing on faces like Modular, Modular Compact, and X-Large. The Portraits face has been updated to showcase more depth effect on photos, including cats, dogs and landscapes.

Chinese scripts have been added for the California and Typograph faces. Focus mode will also allow you to change watch faces, depending on which profile you have selected on your iPhone.

More options in the Workout App

The Workout app has been updated to provide even more detailedstatistics, and metrics to gauge your performance. The in-session display can now be controlled using the Digital Crown, to move between workout views.

New Heart Rate Zones can be manually created or calculated using existing Health data, and custom workouts allow you to fine-tune a specific workout, according to your liking. There are new alerts as well, like pace, power, hear-rate and cadence. Apple has redesigned the summary page for its Fitness app, to account for all the changes.

Also Read:Apple WWDC 2022 | Apple unveils next generation M2 silicon, now with an 18% faster CPU

Running and Swimmingenhancements

Running has been updated with new form metrics, including stride length, ground contact time and vertical oscillation. These also appear on the Fitness and Health apps, allowing users to see their patterns over time.

Users can now choose to race against their best time, on frequently or recently used routes, and watchOS will update you when you are behind the pace or go off the path.

A new Pacer mode will allow users to dial a distance and goal for the time they want to complete the run in, and the device will provide pace alerts with metrics.

For Swimming, Apple has added kickboard detection for pool workouts, which allows Apple Watch to detect when swimmers are using a kickboard to swim.

There is also a new SWOLF score, which is a stroke count, counted out in seconds, that tells you how long you take to swim one length of the pool. SWOLF counts can be recorded per set.

Sleep insights updated with Sleep stages

The Apple Watch will now be able to detect various sleep stages - REM, Core or Deep Sleep. This data will shared in the Sleep app with detailed information and metrics.

More information has also been added to the metrics, like time asleep, heart rate, respiratory rates and sleep comparison charts in the Health app.

New Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) History

Apple watch can already detect potential signs of AFib, but with watchOS 9, Apple has introduced a AFib history feature that takes into account how often a users heart rhythm shows signs of AFib.

Along with this, you will also get weekly notifications, and detailed history metrics on the Health app, which can be shared privately with your doctor.

Track your doses and medicine requirements with Medications

Medications allows users to manage and schedule their medicational requirements, like medicine, supplements or vitamins. These can be organized in a medications list, that you can then use to schedule for refills.

You can also set-up reminders, and view detailed information on the Health app. Medications will also alert you if it finds a potentially critical interaction between two drugs, which can cause severe side effects.

Other Improvements

Notifications have been redesigned to be less intrusive, and have new slimline borders when displayed.

More quick actions added to Apple Watch, like phone calls, taking photos, playing music, start or stop a workout and pause or play media files.

The QWERTY keyboard now supportsFrench, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Mexico, Spain, Latin America).

Here is the original post:

Apple's watchOS 9 emphasises the tech giant's focus on cutting-edge health features - Moneycontrol

Comments Off

6 reasons to invest in startups from Ukraine – TechCrunch

Posted: at 4:52 am

Oleksandr YaroshenkoContributor

For more than three months, Ukraine has been engulfed in the flames of a war with Russia. That might look like a red flag from an investors point of view, but everything is not so black and white in the countrys tech sector.

Tech companies with Ukrainian roots and core markets in the U.S. and Europe continue to operate uninterrupted after making sure their teams and data are completely safe abroad or in the west of Ukraine. Also, foreign embassies are returning to Kyiv, indicating that Ukraines capital could soon be safe enough for companies to reopen offices.

IT companies have demonstrated their resilience and ability to deliver results amid the worst of challenges. It is one of many reasons that make Ukraine a successful hub for future unicorns.

Lets look at six reasons to invest in tech startups that hail from Ukraine.

The Ukrainian IT sector has shown unprecedented resilience, flexibility and ability to withstand any conditions during these months of war. Having prepared emergency plans in advance, many tech companies quickly relocated their teams to safety during the first days of the war or even before the fighting broke out.

Currently, many companies have spread their teams between offices in the west of Ukraine and abroad to ensure operations continue uninterrupted. They have minimized risk while maintaining discipline and access to the talent pool.

Nearly 90% of IT specialists havent seen any changes to their job or workload since the war began, according to a survey by DOU. This indicates that Ukrainian IT companies have reliable cushions.

More importantly, they continue to hire talent both to support their business and help the economy. The IT sector is the third-largest attractorof foreign currency into the economy in the country, which makes the sector vital for economic stability.

As the development of the IT sector is integral to the maintenance of the countrys GDP, the government fully supports it. For example, during the war, safe regions in the west of Ukraine turned into new hubs for IT companies.

Ukraine is one of the most popular centers for the development of IT. Its where EPAM, Luxoft and other outsourcing giants have gathered a significant number of software engineers, business analysts and other technical specialists.

The number of IT specialists has also increased steadily in the last 10 years. For example, in the first half of 2021, the 50 largest Ukrainian IT companies grew their headcounts by 10,000 professionals. Its also home to tech startups that are leading in their respective sectors Jiji, Taimi, Reface, MacPaw and Headway, to name a few.

Ukrainians want to go back home, and some have already done so. Of the nearly 7 million Ukrainians who had crossed the border since the start of the war, 2 million have returned, and more are on the way back. These people are showing they are ready to work hard to rebuild the country.

Another thing to consider is that the world is supporting Ukraine economically, providing a necessary resource base for an economic rebound. Combine that with Ukrainians willing to do their best to live better in their country, and you get very promising prospects for post-war development.

Todays startups will become a foundation for a new layer of technology companies that will add significant value to the Ukrainian economy.

Ukraine is one of the best countries for running a tech business due to its cost-efficient tax regime for IT companies and cost of living, per research byDoing Business.

The country also has a strong educational infrastructure for the study of tech, mathematics, finance and economics. And due to the increased demand for IT specialists, many large companies are opening their own educational centers and organizing internships. These trends are only gaining momentum.

Ukraine has been an underdog in Europe for a long time, and it lacked access to the capital it needed to get on par with its more developed neighbors. As a result, an array of bootstrapped tech companies have been growing rapidly without external capital.

This has helped founders become disciplined when allocating funds or scaling operations for their customers in other countries.The combination of such discipline and export-oriented product development is a fail-proof mix for sustainable growth. It also offers a strong opportunity that can be accelerated with investment.

At the same time, Ukraines international partners are providing necessary resources for the countrys economic rebound, so companies will have even more potential for global growth. The EU is standing in full solidarity with Ukraine not only by providing its people with humanitarian, political and financial support, but also by setting up a Ukraine Solidarity Trust Fund for rebuilding Ukraine after the war.

The current inflow of international investments, a favorable tax regime and a strong talent foundation combined with the Ukrainian peoples desire to come back to their home makes Ukrainian companies desirable investment targets.

See the rest here:

6 reasons to invest in startups from Ukraine - TechCrunch

Comments Off

Monthly Archives: June 2022

‘Everything is gone’: Eastern Ukraine residents say Russia is wiping their towns off the map – POLITICO

Ukraine agonizes over Russian culture and language in its social fabric – NPR

‘In this war, the ordinary infantryman is nothing’: Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas feel abandoned and outgunned – CBC News

No Longer Sure Bets: Tech Giants Are Dropping Bad News Daily

Meta, other tech giants flock to Raleigh and Durham – Axios

Tech giants IBM and Microsoft lay off hundreds of employees in Russia – Business Insider

Online safety and social media regulation gains momentum on both sides of the Atlantic are tech giants ready? – JD Supra

Teal Is Revolutionizing The Career Journey With Tech, AI And Machine Learning – Forbes

Apple’s watchOS 9 emphasises the tech giant’s focus on cutting-edge health features – Moneycontrol

6 reasons to invest in startups from Ukraine – TechCrunch

The Prometheus League

Breaking News and Updates

Prometheism

Forbidden Fruit

The Evolutionary Perspective

Transtopia Menu

Library Updates

Library Books

Future Euvolution

Lucid Dreams from Childhood

Genetic Revolution

Speciation + Self-Directed Evolution