Trump meets Sunder Pichai, says Google committed to US military, not China
Washington: President Donald Trump has said that Google is totally committed to the US military as he met the internet giant's Indian-American CEO Sunder Pichai at the White House, days after he accused the tech company of helping China and its army.
Trump, who has been at loggerheads with several big companies, earlier this month said, "Google is helping China and their military, but not the US".
On Wednesday, after a meeting with Pichai at the White House, the US President said: "Meeting ended very well".
"Just met with @SundarPichai, President of @Google, who is obviously doing quite well," he said.
Pichai "stated strongly that he is totally committed to the US military and not the Chinese military", Trump said.
"Also discussed political fairness and various things that @Google can do for our country. Meeting ended very well!" said the President.
There was no immediate tweet from Pichai.
However, a Google spokesperson said that the company is pleased to have productive conversations with the President.
"We were pleased to have productive conversations with the President about investing in the future of the American workforce, the growth of emerging technologies and our ongoing commitment to working with the US government," said the Google spokesperson.
Trump's tweet criticising Google earlier last month came after Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan and General Joseph Dunford, chairman joint chiefs of staff, said during a Congressional hearing that "Google was partnering with China... but the Internet search engine giant has shown a lack of willingness to work with the US Department of Defence".
During his trip to Washington DC, Pichai also met India's Ambassador to the US Harsh V Shringla.
"A thoroughly enriching experience to meet and interact with" Pichai on Google's positive engagement in India and elsewhere in the world, privacy laws, internet governance and a host of other issues, the ambassador said in a tweet.
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Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
