Diversity in the comic and graphic novel industry in the United States has increased with the growing number of artists who have international backgrounds. VOA’s Dhania Iman reports from San Diego, Calif., on two Asian-American authors who are contributing to the industry’s diversity.
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The typical image of ballerinas is of agile dancers in shiny pink slippers. An American company began offering brown-toned slippers last year, and last month, Britain’s oldest ballet apparel supplier began offering shoes made to better match the skin color of nonwhite dancers. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Monday for a new public works spending program to stimulate the economy amid growing concerns about global risks.
The spending, which is expected in the first half of next fiscal year starting in April, will focus on strengthening infrastructure to withstand earthquakes and frequent flooding, according to a presentation made at the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP).
Some of Japan’s top government advisers also called for stimulus to offset a decline in consumption expected after an increase in the nationwide sales tax in October next year.
The rush to approve public works spending and other measures to support consumption highlights growing concern among policymakers about the economy.
“The prime minister asked me to take firm measures to ensure that our economic recovery continues,” Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said at the end of the CEFP meeting. “He also said the public works spending program expected at the end of this year should be compiled with this point in mind.”
Japan’s economy is forecast to contract in July-September, and a recent slump in machinery orders suggests any rebound in the following quarters is likely to be weak if exports and business investment lose momentum.
Government ministers will compile a preliminary public works plan by the end of this month and then submit a final version of the plan by year’s end, according to documents used at the CEFP meeting.
Urgent matter
Members of the CEFP did not say how large the spending program should be or how the government should fund the package. At the meeting, Abe said compiling the package has become an urgent matter, according to a government official.
Japan’s government is considering a 10 trillion-yen ($87.77 billion) stimulus package to offset the impact of a sales tax hike next year, sources told Reuters last week, as concerns about consumer spending and the global economy grow.
Increasing spending on public works started to gain support after a strong earthquake in September caused a blackout in the northern island of Hokkaido and a series of typhoons damaged transport infrastructure in western Japan.
The advisers on the CEFP are academics and business leaders who are considered close to Abe, so their recommendations often influence policy decisions.
The CEFP met earlier Monday to debate consumer prices and fiscal policy, which is where the advisers made their recommendations.
The advisers did not lay out the specific steps the government should take to stimulate consumption, but government officials have previously said they are considering shopping vouchers for low-income earners and more spending on public works.
The nationwide sales tax is scheduled to rise to 10 percent in October 2019 from 8 percent currently. The government already plans to exempt food and some daily goods from the tax hike to soften the blow, but there is still a lot of concern that the tax hike will wreck consumer spending and sentiment. The economy was tipped into a recession the last time the tax was raised in 2014.
Advisers at the CEFP meeting also threw their support behind the government’s plan to encourage mobile phone carriers to lower smartphone fees, saying they hoped the move would increase households’ disposable incomes.
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A majority of OPEC and allied oil exporters support a cut in the global supply of crude, Oman Oil Minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhi said on Sunday.
“Many of us share this view,” the minister said when asked about the need for a cut. Asked if it could amount to 500,000 or one million barrels per day, he replied: “I think it is unfair for me to throw numbers now.”
He was speaking in Abu Dhabi where an oil market monitoring committee was held on Sunday, attended by top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“We need a consensus,” he said, indicating that non-OPEC Russia would need to approve any decision. Oman is also not a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Saudi Arabia is discussing a proposal to cut oil output by up to 1 million barrels per day by OPEC and its allies, two sources close to the discussions told Reuters on Sunday.
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In the heart of India’s financial capital Mumbai, lies one of the largest slums in the world – Dharavi. A group of under privileged children from Dharavi is making their bridge to the world outside their slum. By using one of the most common items in their modest homes, the children create beautiful sounds. VOA’s Ritul Joshi reports from Mumbai.
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Ugandan pop star and opposition politician Bobi Wine performed his first concert since he was charged with treason and jailed, a show of defiance Saturday punctuated by anti-government slogans and barbs aimed at the long-time president he is challenging.
Thousands of Ugandans attended the lakeside event held outside the capital, Kampala, many of them clad in red outfits symbolizing their allegiance to the “People Power” movement led by Wine, a rookie legislator whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
Ssentamu staged the show at his private beach after he was denied permission to hold the concert at the national stadium.
“Blocked three times by the state but on the (fourth) attempt there is a mammoth turnout,” his attorney Nicholas Opiyo said on Twitter.
The opening acts also played music protesting the government before Wine, putting on his trademark red beret, came onstage and electrified the crowd.
With a heavy deployment of security forces near the show venue, Wine thanked the police officers and men wearing military fatigues for their “unusual” services. Then he started singing the songs that made him a celebrity in Uganda long before he became a politician, with a loyal following among young people disenchanted by joblessness and rampant corruption.
“Tell Bosco,” the revelers sang, “that this Uganda belongs to us.”
Bosco is President Yoweri Museveni’s latest nickname, based on a clumsy character in a popular TV ad.
Ssentamu was arrested and charged with treason in August over an incident in which the president’s convoy was pelted with stones in the aftermath of a political rally. After he was released from detention, Ssentamu sought specialist care in the United States for injuries he said he sustained during alleged torture by state agents.
The government vehemently denies Ssentamu was tortured. He has said the criminal charges against him are false and politically motivated. Court proceedings in the case have not started.
Ssentamu won a seat in the national assembly last year as an independent candidate without the backing of a major political party. He now says he is fighting for freedom from oppression and wants Museveni to retire at the end of his fifth term.
He has refused to say if he will run for president in 2021, even as his supporters urge him to do so.
Museveni has accused opposition figures like Ssentamu of trying to lure young people into rioting.
Ssentamu’s arrest sparked riots by demonstrators demanding his release and a violent response by security forces to stop the protests in Kampala. Dozens of musicians from around the world condemned his treatment and the European Union parliament and some U.S. senators have urged Ugandan authorities to respect basic human rights.
Museveni, a key U.S. ally on regional security, took power by force in 1986. Although he has campaigned on his record of establishing peace and stability, some worry those gains are being eroded the longer he remains in office.
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Rich or not, famous or not, there was no reprieve Saturday from the California wildfires sweeping through towns as different as the star-filled oceanside enclave of Malibu and the modest communities nearby and in the state’s north.
Lady Gaga, Martin Sheen and Kim Kardashian West were among the celebrities who joined thousands of others in evacuating from the affluent coastal city that is as well-known as its residents. The stars went online to share their own distress and dismay for others as the fate of many properties remained unknown Saturday.
“I am thinking so deeply for everyone who is suffering today from these abominable fires & grieving the loss of their homes or loved ones,” Lady Gaga tweeted. “I’m sitting here with many of you wondering if my home will burst into flames. All we can do is pray together & for each other. God Bless You.”
There were shout-outs as well to the firefighters struggling to contain the fires in what were described as especially difficult conditions.
“These guys are heroes,” filmmaker Guillermo del Toro posted on Twitter. His so-called “Bleak House,” which contains his collection of items too scary to be kept in the family home, was endangered.
Shannen Doherty, who’d been out of town when the fire broke out, said online that friends staying at her Malibu house evacuated safely with her dogs. It’s likely her house burned, she said, but she expressed gratitude to firefighters “putting their lives on the line for all of us” and sympathy for others affected by the fire.
Sheen (“The West Wing,” “Apocalypse Now”), interviewed by a TV station on the beach Friday night after fleeing his home, said the fire was the worst he’s ever seen. He said he expects his house was destroyed.
The interview occurred after his son, actor Charlie Sheen, tweeted that he’d been unable to contact his father, and the Los Angeles Fox affiliate KTTV tracked him down. Martin Sheen gave a shoutout to his family to let them know he and his wife, Janet, were safe and planned to sleep in their car by the beach.
The status of Martin Sheen’s home was unknown Saturday morning.
“Beverly Hills, 90210” star Doherty said her “heart is ripped apart” by the loss of a Malibu home where she and husband Kurt Iswarienko were married in 2011, posting on Instagram a wedding-day photo of the smiling couple on a tree-lined path at the property apparently owned by a friend.
She’d previously found refuge in the house when her father died in 2010, Doherty wrote.
“It’s the place I felt my dad with me. It’s gone. Fire has taken it away. I’m devastated by all that’s happening,” she said.
The blaze started Thursday night and by Friday had pushed toward Malibu and the Pacific Ocean, prompting evacuations in Malibu, Calabasas, Agoura Hills and other nearby areas. Authorities said Saturday that two people were found dead in the fire zone and at least 150 homes burned .
In Northern California, the small inland town of Paradise was virtually wiped out by a fast-moving blaze that destroyed more than 6,700 buildings and claimed nine lives as of Saturday.
Although the fatalities overshadowed the loss of property, Malibu’s fame inevitably called attention to the status of its multimillion-dollar homes, including one made famous in ABC’s reality dating series “The Bachelor.”
The show’s producers said in a statement Saturday that, with the area closed to traffic, they didn’t know the condition of what is primarily a private residence. They said their main concern “is with the family who has been displaced, their neighbors, and all the communities impacted by this tragic fire.”
Alyssa Milano, who on Friday tweeted that her house was “in jeopardy” but she had gotten needed help to evacuate her horses and that her children were safe, posted Saturday that she was waiting to hear of her home’s fate.
“There are no words for this kind of devastation. I’m so sorry and my heart is with each of those who are impacted by this awful disaster,” she tweeted Saturday.
Also left waiting was Caitlyn Jenner, whose hilltop home appeared intact when it was shot by a photographer for The Associated Press on Saturday morning. Jenner’s representative noted that the Olympic gold medalist wouldn’t know the extent of any damage to the home until she was allowed to return to it.
Even outside the evacuation zone, the impact of the fire was being felt by others in the entertainment industry.
“The world is literally on fire right now. And unfortunately it’s becoming more and more common here in California,” actress Natalie Portman said Friday night in Hollywood at an American Film Institute Fest premiere of her film “Vox Lux.”
She said she was hoping for the best for friends and everyone else affected by the blaze. She said she’d spoken to her own two children about the fires because “they need to feel safe” and also understand that there are broad regional effects, like poor air quality.
Kardashian West posted video on Instagram of an area on fire with a message “Pray for Calabasas.” She said she landed back home, spent one hour packing and evacuated shortly afterward.
In addition to dozens of homes destroyed, Paramount Ranch’s “Western Town,” a landmark film location that included a jail, hotel and saloon, had burned to the ground.
The ranch served as a location for productions ranging from 1938’s “The Adventures of Marco Polo” to TV shows “The Mentalist” and “Weeds” and current series “Westworld.” The set in the mountains west of Los Angeles dates to 1927 when Paramount Pictures leased the ranch and began making films there.
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University of Pennsylvania researchers say that for the first time they have linked social media use to increases in depression and loneliness.
The idea that social media is anything but social when it comes to mental health has been talked about for years, but not many studies have managed to actually link the two.
To do that, Penn researchers, led by psychologist Melissa Hunt, designed a study that focused on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.
The results were published in the November issue of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.
How study worked
The study was conducted with 143 participants, who before they began, completed a mood survey and sent along photos of their battery screens, showing how often they were using their phones to access social media.
“We set out to do a much more comprehensive, rigorous study that was also more ecologically valid,” Hunt said. That term, ecologically valid, means that the research attempts to mimic real life.
The study divided the participants into two groups: The first group was allowed to maintain their normal social media habits. The other, the control group, was restricted to 10 minutes per day on each of the three platforms: Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.
The restrictions were put in place for three weeks and then the participants returned and were tested for outcomes such as fear of missing out (FOMO), anxiety, depression and loneliness.
Results of study
The results showed a very clear link between social media use and increased levels of depression and loneliness.
“Using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression and loneliness,” Hunt said. “These effects are particularly pronounced for folks who were more depressed when they came into the study.”
She calls her findings the “grand irony” of social media.
What is it about social media that’s just so depressing?
Hunt says that it’s two major things. The first is that social media invites what Hunt calls “downward social comparison.” When you’re online, it can sometimes seem that “everyone else is cooler and having more fun and included in more things and you’re left out,” she said. And that’s just generally demoralizing.
The second factor is a bit more nuanced.
“Time is a zero-sum game,” Hunt told VOA. “Every minute you spend online is a minute you are not doing your work or not meeting a friend for dinner or having a deep conversation with your roommate.”
And these real life activities are the ones that can bolster self-esteem and self worth, Hunt said.
What to learn
So what’s the takeaway?
People are on their devices, and that’s not going to change, she said. But as in life, a bit of moderation goes a long way.
“In general, I would say, put your phone down and be with the people in your life,” she added.
Hunt pointed out a few caveats to the study. First, it was done exclusively with 18- to 22-year-olds, and it is unclear if the depressing effects of social media will cross generational lines to older or younger people, Hunt said. But she expects her results should generalize at least for people through the age of 30.
Hunt says she is now beginning a study to gauge the emotional impact of dating apps.
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It is almost mid-November, and the fall leaves are finally showing off their beautiful colors in the Washington area and elsewhere on the U.S. East Coast. With higher than average temperatures in September and October in Washington, it took longer for the brilliant shades of red, yellow and orange to come out. This year the trees are putting on quite a display, as VOA’s Deborah Block shows us.
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Robots have been put to work assembling cars in factories, answering questions at conventions and hotel lobbies, moving packages in warehouses, and more. Now, a team at the University of Southern California is studying how well robots work with autistic children, to offer personalized support and learning. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Conversion therapy and social exile for being gay is the subject of two award-winning independent films this season. “The Happy Prince” by Rupert Everett and “Boy Erased” by Joel Edgerton are based on real life stories of gay men treated as pariahs by their communities. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with the filmmakers and authors of the stories about the challenges gays and lesbians continue to face.
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Conversion therapy and social exile for being gay are the subjects of two award-winning independent films this season. The Happy Prince by Rupert Everett and Boy Erased by Joel Edgerton are based on real life stories of gay men treated as pariahs by their communities.
‘The Happy Prince’
In 1897, literary giant Oscar Wilde has fallen from grace for his openly romantic homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. After a two-year prison sentence, Wilde emerges, a human wreck, impoverished and ostracized from society.
Rupert Everett, an openly gay director, script writer and actor, directed and scripted the film and interprets Wilde. He says he wanted to show that in 19th century England, no man, not even a recognized figure such as Wilde, was impervious to social rejection for being homosexual.
WATCH: ‘The Happy Prince,’ ‘Boy Erased,’ Two films on Gay Exclusion
Everett told VOA that although the film harkens to a different era, it serves as a reminder that despite progress in the West, gays around the world still face discrimination and persecution. He points to the fact that even forward thinking England decriminalized homosexuality as late as 1975 and notes in the epilogue of his film that as late as last year, under what is known as Turing’s Law, England pardoned Wilde for “homosexual crimes.”
“Yes, it’s very shocking and also the fact that they decided to pardon as opposed to apologize because pardon obviously infers to a crime to start with and we agree that homosexuality is not a crime,” Everett said. “It’s a good reminder what can happen even in our countries with the waves of populism that are kind of rolling over us. So, I feel it really is a film for Trump’s America in a way, I hope.”
‘Boy Erased’
American gay author Garrard Conley, who wrote the memoir-turned-movie Boy Erased about being forced to undergo gay conversion therapy after coming out to his conservative Baptist family in Arkansas, echoes Everett’s warning. He tells VOA that many American communities have a very conservative view of the LGBTQ community.
“This rather insidious idea that was implanted in us from basically birth, which was that to be openly LGBTQ meant that you were either a predator or you were going to be beaten or you were going to end up dying of AIDS. And those were the stories that we were told,” he said.
The only child of a Baptist pastor father and a hairdresser mother, at the age of 19, Conley was sent to a sexual conversion facility in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2004. There, he had to surrender his personal belongings and cut off any communication with friends and family until he abandoned his gay identity. Conley describes the emotional harm he and others endured while attending the program.
Actor and filmmaker Joel Edgerton tells VOA he was captivated by Conley’s memoir and was deeply disturbed by Conley’s loss of freedom because of his sexual identity. He decided to direct the story for the large screen. Actors Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe interpret Conley’s parents, and Lucas Hedges interprets Conley’s character. Edgerton plays Victor Sykes, a conversion therapist, who uses pseudo science, shaming and torture to “treat” his patients.
Edgerton says he made Boy Erased to bring to light the mistreatment and dehumanization young people encounter in these conversion programs.
“I challenge people who are running these programs — and there are a large percentage of people who work as staff in these programs, who identify as ex-gay and knowing that the reason they are there is because they are trying to help repress their own sexuality — is to really tune in to the fact that, is it really working for themselves, and why if it is not inherently working for themselves, are they then trying to push these ideas onto kids?”
Despite the film showing Conley’s family as unaccepting and responsible for subjecting him to conversion therapy, it does not vilify the parents but rather presents them as victims of the mindset of a fundamentalist community and the trappings of charlatans.
“The film is about dismantling misconceptions and helping young gay people find their voice,” Conley tells VOA. “And this is why we play the long game, with not making easy villains because it’s a longer battle. These kids that are currently either in conversion therapy or going through it or some way about to go through it, are surrounded by family members, pastors, people in the community, who are deciding their faith for them.
“So, our jobs in many ways is to educate those people and maybe, they are not on the right side yet, but they can at least agree on one thing, which is: this is torture. So, if we get them to agree on that, we can save lives,” Conley said.
“At the day’s end,” the author added, “we got to choose how we love, when we love, what we do with our lives and no one gets to tell you how to do that.”
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A wheelchair used by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking has sold at auction for almost $400,000, with the money going to charity.
The motorized wheelchair, which was used by Hawking after he was paralyzed with motor neuron disease, had been expected to sell for around $20,000 in the online auction organized by Christie’s.
A copy of Hawking’s doctoral thesis, called “Properties of expanding universes” from 1965 sold for $767,000, much more than the estimate of $200,000.
Proceeds from the auction will go to two charities, the Stephen Hawking Foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease at age 22 and given just a few years to live. However, he lived to the age of 76, dying in March.
Hawking explored the origins of the universe, expanding scientific thinking about black holes and became a well-known figure in pop culture.
A script from one of his appearances on the television series “The Simpsons” was one of the 22 items in the auction, selling for more than $8,000.
Hawking’s daughter, Lucy, said the sale gave “admirers of his work the chance to acquire a memento of our father’s extraordinary life in the shape of a small selection of evocative and fascinating items.”
Other items sold at the auction included an early edition of Hawking’s best-selling book, “A Brief History of Time,” marked with a thumbprint, a collection of his medals and awards, and essays.
In total, the auction raised $1.8 million for charity. Hawking’s family is donating other items from Hawking’s archive to the British government in lieu of paying inheritance tax.
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The Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging service will be disconnecting some Iranian banks this weekend, said SWIFT chief executive Gottfried Leibbrandt at an event in Paris on Friday.
Earlier this week, SWIFT had already stated that it would be suspending some unspecified Iranian banks’ access to its messaging system in the interest of the stability and integrity of the global financial system.
In a brief statement issued earlier this week, SWIFT had made no mention of U.S. sanctions coming back into effect on some Iranian financial institutions on Monday, as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to force Iran to curtail its nuclear, missile and regional activities.
SWIFT’s statement on Nov. 5 said that suspending the Iranian banks access to the messaging system was a “regrettable” step but was “taken in the interest of the stability and integrity of the wider global financial system.”
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India-based motorcycle brand Royal Enfield expects sales in its new North American business to almost triple this year and is aiming to dominate the market for middleweight bikes into which Harley-Davidson Inc has just shifted in a bid to revive sales.
Enfield, originally a classic UK brand but manufactured by India’s Eicher Motors Ltd in southern India since the early 1970s, has thwarted Harley’s efforts to make inroads in India, the world’s biggest two-wheeler market with some 17 million in sales annually.
Both companies are dwarfed in the lightweight categories by India’s Hero Motor Corp, Japan’s Honda and Bajaj Auto , and so far Enfield’s presence outside India in the more specialized market in medium-sized and large cruisers has been minimal.
Its arrival in North America three years ago signaled another headache for Harley, although sales of its iconic “Bullet” and “Classic” motorcycles have been stuck in the hundreds.
Based in Milwaukee, also the home town of Harley, Enfield sold between 700 and 800 motorcycles in the year ended March, and expects to sell nearly 2,000 in the current fiscal year, according to its North America president, Rod Copes.
“Our goal, over the next three to five and 10 years, is to be the largest middleweight motorcycle player, not just globally but also in North America. We want to get up to, where we are selling more than 10,000 to 15,000 motorcycles a year,” Copes told Reuters.
The bikemaker has been able to capitalize on demand by helping younger riders own a cruiser bike, along the lines of Harley’s but at a more affordable price point.
Enfield bikes come with a starting price tag of $4,000, which will rise to the $8,000 range following its new launches early next year. Harley’s entry level bike prices start at $6,899 and go up to $43,889.
“The U.S. motorcycle market is flipped upside down and the only segment that is growing is the middle-weight. I think we are beginning to see a little bit of a trend and a change in the industry itself, away from maybe the bigger, the better to smaller is funner,” Copes added.
Harley has been the historical market leader in the heavyweight motorcycle space in the United States and has been expanding into the middleweight motorcycle market with the launch of Street 500, Street 750 and the Street Rod range.
While Harley’s shipments have been dropping in the United States as its mainstay customer base is aging, it still managed to ship 144,893 motorcycles in the United States in fiscal 2017, according to its annual SEC filing.
The company does not break down those numbers into bike categories but analysts say almost all of those were heavyweight cruisers.
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A Japanese broadcaster canceled a live TV appearance of the Korean band BTS after a photo went viral of a band member wearing a T-shirt showing an atomic bombing juxtaposed with the celebration of Korea’s liberation from Japan after World War II.
Japanese social media was filled with chatter over the photo of Jimin wearing the shirt with an image of a mushroom cloud with the English words “patriotism” and “Korea.”
TV Asahi said it had talked with the band’s recording company to try to learn why he wore the T-shirt. The broadcaster’s statement also apologized to viewers who had looked forward to the band’s appearance, which had been scheduled for Friday.
Company spokesman Shinya Matsuki declined further comment.
Universal Music said it will continue to support BTS but confirmed their appearance on the live music show “Music Station” was canceled.
are extremely popular in Japan, sometimes in stark contrast to the controversy and hostility that can mark other aspects of the two nation’s ties because of Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century until the end of World War II.
Some Japanese fans of the band expressed disgust on Twitter that their show was canceled over a T-shirt.
The seven-member BTS has collaborated with Japanese American DJ and musical artist Steve Aoki and has reached No. 1 on the Billboard
South Korean K-pop and movie stars chart.
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Vietnam’s new carrier Bamboo Airways expects to finally get an aviation license next week and start flying within weeks, the chairman of its parent firm said on Thursday.
The airline had to delay its maiden flight on Oct. 10 because it didn’t receive a license in time.
“Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved the proposal from the Ministry of Transport to issue the license to the airline,” Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of FLC Group, told Reuters by phone.
“We will launch our first flight within 45 days after receiving the license,” Quyet said. “Receiving the license would allow Bamboo to start services.”
Bamboo Airways would be Vietnam’s fifth airline after Vietnam Airlines, budget operator Jetstar Pacific Airlines, budget carrier Vietjet Aviation and Vietnam Air Services Co.
Bamboo Airways signed a provisional deal to buy 20 Boeing 787-9 wide-body jets worth $5.6 billion at list prices in July, as well as a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for up to 24 A320neo narrow-bodies in March.
Last week, Vietjet signed a $6.5 billion agreement to buy 50 Airbus A321neo jets, part of aggressive investment in the airline’s fleet, which has provided lucrative business for both European aerospace group Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing.
Google is promising to be more forceful and open about its handling of sexual misconduct cases, a week after high-paid engineers and others walked out in protest over its male-dominated culture.
CEO Sundar Pichai spelled out the concessions in an email sent Thursday to Google employees. The note of contrition came a week after the tech giant’s workers left their cubicles in dozens of offices around the world to protest management’s treatment of top executives and other male workers accused of sexual harassment and other misconduct involving men. The protest’s organizers estimated about 17,000 workers participated in the walkout .
“Google’s leaders and I have heard your feedback and have been moved by the stories you’ve shared,” Pichai wrote in his email. “We recognize that we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that. It’s clear we need to make some changes.” Pichai’s email was obtained by The Associated Press.
Google bowed to one of the protesters’ main demands by dropping mandatory arbitration of all sexual misconduct cases. That will now be optional under the new policies. It mirrors a change made by ride-hailing service Uber after the complaints of its women employees prompted an internal investigation concluding its rank had been poisoned by rampant sexual harassment
Google will also provide more details about sexual misconduct cases in internal reports available to all employees. The breakdowns will include the number of cases that were substantiated within various company departments and list the types of punishment imposed, including firings, pay cuts and mandated counseling.
The company is also stepping up its training aimed at preventing misconduct, requiring all employees to go through the process annually instead of every other year. Those who fall behind in their training, including top executives, will be dinged in their annual performance reviews, leaving a blemish that could lower their pay and make it more difficult to get promoted.
The reforms are the latest fallout from a broader societal backlash against men’s exploitation of their women subordinates in business, entertainment and politics — a movement that has spawned the “MeToo” hashtag as a sign of unity and a call for change.
Google got caught in the crosshairs two weeks ago after The New York Times detailed allegations of sexual misconduct about the creator of Google’s Android software, Andy Rubin. The newspaper said Rubin received a $90 million severance package in 2014 after Google concluded the accusations were credible. Rubin has denied the allegations.
Like its Silicon Valley peers, Google has already openly acknowledged that its workforce is too heavily concentrated with white and Asian men, especially in the highest paying executive and computer programming jobs. Women account for 31 percent of Google’s employees worldwide, and it’s lower for leadership roles.
Critics believe that gender imbalance as created a “brogammer” culture akin to a college fraternity house that treats women as sex objects. As part of its ongoing efforts, Google will now require at least one woman or a non-Asian ethnic minority to be included on the list of candidates for executive jobs.
Google isn’t addressing another one of the protesters’ grievance because it believes it doesn’t have merit. The protesters demanded that women be paid the same as men for doing similar work, something that Google has steadfastly maintained that it has been doing for years.
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Netflix Inc plans to make 17 more original productions in Asia as it seeks to boost international subscriber numbers, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said on Thursday.
The plan, announced at Netflix’s content showcase event in Singapore, comes after the U.S. firm reported bumper quarterly earnings last month, driven by gains in international subscribers.
Netflix exceeded forecasts in both the U.S. and international markets, with the bulk of new subscribers coming from outside the United States where the company has been investing aggressively.
The firm has earmarked $8 billion for content this year, and has spent $6.9 billion as at the end of its third quarter.
In Asia, led by India, Netflix has won fans among a young, tech-savvy middle class, helped by a roster that includes top-grossing movie franchise Baahubali.
Chief Executive Reed Hastings has said India could deliver the service’s next 100 million subscribers.
Netflix scored a hit in India with Mumbai-based crime thriller Sacred Games. However, the Bollywood studio that produced the show disbanded last month after sexual harassment allegations against one of its partners, Vikas Bahl, and the show’s lead writer, Varun Grover. Both men have denied the allegations.
Netflix later backed the series for a second season.
At the end of September, Netflix had 137 million subscribers to its movie and TV streaming service worldwide. It began stocking its library with original films just three years ago.
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Tesla said Thursday that its new board chair replacing Elon Musk will be Robyn Denholm of Australia’s Telstra.
The appointment to the full-time position takes effect immediately though Denholm will leave Telstra, Australia’s biggest telecoms company, after a six-month notice period. Denholm already is on Tesla’s board.
Musk agreed to vacate his post as board chairman as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators of a lawsuit alleging he duped investors with misleading statements about a proposed buyout of the company.
The settlement in late September with the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed Musk to remain CEO of Tesla but required him to relinquish his role as chairman for at least three years.
Apart from appointing a new chairman, Tesla was required to appoint two new independent members to its board. The aim is to provide stronger oversight to match Tesla’s growing stature and market value.
The charismatic, visionary Musk has strived to turn Tesla into a profitable, mass-market producer of environmentally-friendly electric cars. But his impulsive streak caused him trouble when he tweeted in August that he had “funding secured” for taking Tesla private.
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