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schwit1 writes:
Looking to reshape the U.S. visa system for highly skilled foreign workers and investors, President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that will require a new annual $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications.
The moves face near-certain legal challenges and widespread criticism that Trump is going beyond presidential authority by sidestepping Congress. The actions, if they survive legal muster, will deliver staggering price increases for high-skilled and investor visas created by Congress in 1990.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the H-1B visa fee will be $100,000 per year and added that “all big companies” are on board.
H-1B visas are meant to bring the best and brightest foreigners for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill with qualified U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The program instead has turned into a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually. That is far less than $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to U.S. technology workers.
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nunya_bizns writes:
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the development on X, posting a link to the Bloomberg report, with a caption headlined 'Trump to Add New $100,000 Fee for H-1B Visas in Latest Crackdown.'
https://www.bloomberg.com/news...
179369710
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alternative_right writes:
Plastic particles from everyday items like Styrofoam cups and take-out containers are finding their way into the brain, where they may trigger Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. New research shows that mice carrying the Alzheimer’s-linked APOE4 gene who consumed microplastics exhibited sex-dependent cognitive decline, mirroring the differences seen in human patients.
179369066
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alternative_right writes:
Austria's armed forces have switched from Microsoft's Office programs to the open-source LibreOffice package. The reason for this is not to save on software license fees for around 16,000 workstations. "It was very important for us to show that we are doing this primarily (...) to strengthen our digital sovereignty, to maintain our independence in terms of ICT infrastructure and (...) to ensure that data is only processed in-house," emphasizes Michael Hillebrand from the Austrian Armed Forces' Directorate 6 ICT and Cyber.
This is because processing data in external clouds is out of the question for the Austrian Armed Forces, as Hillebrand explained on ORF radio station Ö1. It was already apparent five years ago that Microsoft Office would move to the cloud. Back then, in 2020, the decision-making process for the switch began and was completed in 2021.
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jdelacueva writes:
The precedent-setting ruling states that public decision-making algorithms require transparency and oversight. The court rejects claims that national security or intellectual property can absolutely limit what it calls a constitutional right to public information.
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theodp writes:
"Alongside its [AI] product announcements," Fast Company reported Thursday, "Zoom also revealed a $10 million, three-year commitment to expand access to AI education and opportunity. That includes $5 million for K through 12 AI literacy, with large anchor grants to global organizations and smaller regional grants to local changemakers. First-round recipients include [tech-backed nonprofit] Code.org and Data.org, which help equip students, workers, and nonprofits with AI skills."
"Code.org is receiving a $1 million grant and Zoom product support to launch and scale a new AI Foundations course in high schools, aiming to reach 500,000 U.S. students annually by 2030," Zoom explained. "The grant will also be used to scale AI units in middle schools and revitalize block-based CS and AI content for elementary learners globally."
Zoom's $5M K-12 AI education pledge was one of 135+ AI education pledges first announced at a meeting of the White House Task Force on AI Education hosted by First Lady Melania Trump earlier this month that preceded a White House AI dinner with the CEOs of AI tech giants Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, and OpenAI.
At the AI Task Force meeting, Code.org President Cameron Wilson informed the First Lady of its tech leader-backed campaign to make CS and AI a graduation requirement, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai's revealed that his company was giving Code.org $3 million to "transform its [K-12] CS curriculum and integrate new AI features." Wilson added that Code.org will engage 25 million learners this year in the new "Hour of AI" for schoolchildren. Pledges to support AI Education — including millions of dollars in AWS credits, prizes, and prize money for the First Lady-led Presidential AI Challenge for K-12 students — were also made by Code.org "Lifetime Supporters" ( $30+ million in donations) Microsoft and Amazon.
