OCTOBER 2018 www.Asia Times.US PAGE 1 www.AsiaTimes.US Globally Recognized Editor-in-Chief: Azeem A. Quadeer, M.S., P.E. OCTOBER 2018 Vol 9, Issue 10 Amazon raises minimum wage to $15, urges rivals to follow Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said it would raise its wanted to do, and decided we want to lead,” founder and minimum wage to $15 per hour for U.S. employees from Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in a statement. next month, giving in to critics of poor pay and working conditions at the world’s second most valuable company. The pay increase, effective from next month, will benefit more than 250,000 Amazon employees in the United The increase pushes Amazon’s lowest wage above that at States as well as over 100,000 seasonal employees who Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and Target Corp (TGT.N). It is al- will be hired across the country this holiday season, the most $3 shy of the average for a non-management worker company said. in warehousing in the United States. Christine Owens, executive director at advocacy group The online retailer also said it would now lobby in National Employment Law Project, said Amazon’s call for Washington D.C. for an increase in the federal minimum changes at the federal level was a “significant” move. wage and urged its competitors to follow its lead as the union-led “Fight for Fifteen” movement pushes for higher “At $7.25, the federal minimum wage is a poverty wage. of logistics consultancy MWPVL International, which remuneration. Having major, profitable employers like Amazon join the closely tracks Amazon’s fulfilment operation. fight could help finally unstick it,” she said. Amazon’s move comes when U.S. unemployment is at a “This is Amazon waking up and smelling the coffee.” near two-decade low as retailers and shippers compete for Amazon, which became the second company after Apple hundreds of thousands of workers for the all-important to cross $1 trillion in market value last month, currently Amazon also said it was ending some restricted stock holiday shopping season. pays around $11 per hour. Analysts said the raise would unit grants as it raised wages for hourly warehouse and cost it $1 billion or less annually but would be offset by a customer service employees. Several companies, including United Parcel Service recent $20 increase in the cost of its Prime memberships. (UPS.N) and Macy’s (M.N), have announced hiring to The company’s shares closed down 1.6 percent at staff stores and handle holiday sales and delivery. “You’ve got a company that can’t attract and keep labour $1,971.31 because their wage rates are at the bottom of the pay “We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we scale, generally speaking,” said Marc Wulfraat, president This freaky robot works out and sweats like us People expect robots to perform complex tasks, but they don’t realize that making You can a machine stronger at hands and rigid see its elsewhere couldn’t be the way to bring bone-to- efficiency. bone and muscle- A bot has to be and act like a human, like strut which is exactly what we’ve seen in Ken- arrange- goro - a robot that works out and, guess ments (in- what, sweats too. cluding five-fingered hands and a rib-cage) connected with actuators and wires. Here’s everything to know about it. When the machine is powered, the Kengoro’s capabilities: Can this robot re- actuators or motors pull these wires and ally do exercises like push-ups? trigger human-like muscle expansion and contraction, leading to the action associ- Yes, Kengoro, which has been built by ated with it. University of Tokyo researchers, mimics human body movements to do push-ups. Sweating explained: And, what about the sweating part? And, not just that. It can even play bad- minton and do crunches, calf raises, chin- While no technology in the world, as ups, back extensions, and do many more of now, can really make robots perspire exercises. (they’re not that alive), Kengoro ‘sweats’ by It definitely looks a little jittery, but it’s the way of heat expulsion via pores. much more flexible than any humanoid on There’s water running in its body that the block. cools down the actuators and maintains its workout efficiency for several minutes. Mechanism: Here’s how it achieves these movements After cooling the motors, the water gets heated and is expelled via pores in Ken- As Kengoro’s aluminium structure has goro’s body. been modeled after a 5.5ft-tall teenager, it Shubham Sharma boasts pretty similar human body propor- NewsBytes tions. www.Asia Times.US DALLAS-HOUSTON PAGES DALLAS-HOUSTON PAGES PAGE 2 PAGE OCTOBER OCTOBER 2018 OCTOBER 2018 www.Asia Times.US PAGE 3 BOARD OF ADVISORS - CHICAGO REGION www.Asia Times US Iftekhar Shareef Sunil Shah Sher M. Rajput Waliuddin Nasir Jahangir Syed Hussaini Talat Rashid www.Asia Times US Saudi Arabia to finance three CPEC projects The government of Saudi Arabia has signed Afghan refugees ISSN 2159-9645 three grant agreements with Pakistan to finance have been given an three road infrastructure and energy projects extension for their Editor-in-Chief under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor stay in Pakistan till & (CPEC). June for the renewal Publisher of their accredita- “These agreements have been inked in line with tion cards and the the understanding reached during Prime Min- prime minister ister Imran Khan’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia,” wants to see a com- Information Minis ter Fawad Chaudhry told a prehensive policy press conference. drafted before the next extension,” the The agreements were signed by the Saudi envoy minister said. and the officials of Pakistan’s finance ministry. Giving a briefing about the federal cabinet’s 100 big defaulters meeting held earlier in the day, he said that Azeem A. Quadeer, P.E. a high-level Saudi delegation would arrive in He said that the systems outside the jurisdiction of Pakistani Licensed Professional Pakistan on Sunday for mate rialising the deal cabinet had decided to take action against 100 laws, would continue to enjoy tax amnesty for Engineer in the States between Islamabad and Riyadh. big tax defaulters. “The government will be five years. of Texas, Indiana and launching a major operation soon against 100 Illinois More agreements would be inked next week major FBR (Federal Board of Revenue) default- “This means that these regions will continue between a high-level Saudi delegation and Paki- e r s”. to enjoy the use of non-custom paid cars up to [email protected] stani officials, Mr Chaudhry said. The accords June 30, 2023. Similarly, residents (of the tribal *********** will be related to Reko Diq’s gold and copper “The first stage of reforms in the FBR has been areas) will be exempted from paying sales and Finance and Marketing mines and the oil refinery at Gwadar Port, and completed and details in this regard will be withholding tax,” he added. Chief the delegation would comprise the Saudi invest- provided by Finance Minister Asad Umer next Madam Sheela ment team, minister for petroleum and minister week,” Mr Chaudhry said. Mr Chaudhry said that all ministries had been MadamSheela1@gmail. for energy. instructed to not only stop making selective com To overcome the prevailing financial crisis in appointments, but also to desist from forward- “During the prime minister’s recent visit, Saudi the country, he said, the government had set up ing their ‘recommendations’ for candidates for Advertisements Arabian leaders including Crown Prince Mu- the Fina ncial Action Task Force and appointed other ministries. MadamSheela1@gmail. hammad bin Salman were eager to fanalise the Mansoor Hussain Siddiqui the director com deal within days despite the fact that such deals He said that the prime minister had urged require months for materialising,” the minister general of the financial monitoring unit at the members of his cabinet to move towards more Asia Times US is said. State Bank. Earlier the post was non-existing in technologically-savvy practices and adopt published monthly the department. e-communication practices, instead of wasting Copyright 2018 It may be mentioned that since the prime paper for printing agendas and budgets. “All All rights reserved as to minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the opposition He said former Justice Abdul Rauf had been ministries have been instructed to go paperless the entire content has been asking the government to unveil the appointed the new chairman of the Wage Board in our effort to become an e-government,” he pledges made by Riyadh regarding mega invest- to decide within 120 days the matter of low and said. Asia Times US does not ment and monetary assistance to Pakistan. untimely-paid wages of journalists. necessarily He said that the IT ministry had been tasked endorse views Afghan refugees Mr Fawad said that the government believed with implementing the government’s initiative expressed by the authors that the right to information was part of its and it would give a presentation in two weeks in their articles The information minister said that Prime policy as only with the right to information and on this. Minister Imran Khan had issued directives that transparency journalists would have easy access a comprehensive policy be designed for Afghan to information. Later, Minister for Power Umar Ayub accused refugees living in Pakistan till June 2019. the previous government of the Pakistan Mus- The cabinet, he said, also declared that an lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of leaving an acute He said 2.5 million Afghan refugees were resid- anti-encroachment drive would be launched in financial and electricity crisis to the Pakistan ing in Pakistan of whom 2m were registered Karachi to reclaim large swathes of land belong- Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.