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Bill Gates donates $20 bn to foundation

With an estimated net worth of around $ 114 billion, Bill Gates is currently the world’s fourth-richest person, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, with most of his wealth tied to Microsoft shares…reports Asian Lite News

Bill Gates is moving $20 billion of his wealth into the endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is ramping up its spending in the face of global challenges, including the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, media reports said.

The foundation, one of the world’s largest philanthropies, plans to increase its payouts by 50 per cent over pre-pandemic levels, from nearly $6 billion to $9 billion each year by 2026. The foundation is primarily focused on charitable giving that’s aimed at improving global health, gender equality and education, among other issues, CNN reported.

The Microsoft co-founder and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have both pledged to donate the vast majority of their wealth to the foundation they established together 20 years ago, as well as to other philanthropic endeavours.

The couple announced their divorce in May 2021, saying they would work together as co-chairs under a two-year trial period. At the end of that trial, French Gates has the option to resign and receive a payout from her former husband, who would remain in charge of the foundation.

With an estimated net worth of around $ 114 billion, Bill Gates is currently the world’s fourth-richest person, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, with most of his wealth tied to Microsoft shares.

But he doesn’t intend to rank that high forever.

“I will move down and eventually off of the list of the world’s richest people,” Gates wrote in a blog.

“I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for improving lives. I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too,” he said, CNN reported.

ALSO READ-Bill Gates slams crypto, NFTs

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-Top News COVID-19

Gates Warns Omicron Threat At Homes

Microsoft co-founder said that he has cancelled most of his holiday plans as his close friends are increasingly being infected with the Covid-19 virus….reports Asian Lite News

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that humanity “could be entering the worst part of the pandemic” as the Omicron variant spreads fast across the globe, stressing that Omicron will “hit home for all of us”.

In a series of tweets, Gates said that he has cancelled most of his holiday plans as his close friends are increasingly being infected with the Covid-19 virus.

“Just when it seemed like life would return to normal, we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic. Omicron will hit home for all of us. Close friends of mine now have it, and I’ve cancelled most of my holiday plans,” Gates tweeted late on Tuesday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already said that “an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,” in the wake of Omicron spread.

In the US, Omicron is now dominant, accounting for 73 per cent of new infections.

“Omicron is spreading faster than any virus in history. It will soon be in every country in the world,” Gates said.

“The big unknown is how sick omicron makes you. We need to take it seriously until we know more about it. Even if it’s only half as severe as Delta, it will be the worst surge we have seen so far because it’s so infectious,” he posted.

Amid mounting cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19, scientists in the UK have called for urgent rules, warning that waiting till New Year to enforce the measures may be “too late”.

Israel bans travel to ten more countries over Omicron scare

The UK has so far recorded over 37,000 confirmed cases of Omicron, with a majority of cases detected in the last two-three days, and 12 deaths.

In India, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday that the new Covid variant Omicron is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Gates said that if there’s good news here, it’s that Omicron moves so quickly that once it becomes dominant in a country, the wave there should last less than 3 months.

“Those few months could be bad, but I still believe if we take the right steps, the pandemic can be over in 2022,” he said in a tweet.

ALSO READ: Global Covid caseload tops 276.2 mn

Categories
-Top News USA

Bill Gates offers $1.5 billion for joint climate projects

A $1.2 trillion infrastructure package passed by the Senate this week would funnel billions of dollars to the Department of Energy for projects battling climate change….reports Asian Lite News

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said his climate fund would pour $1.5 billion into projects with the United States if the government enacts a program to cut carbon emissions currently working its way through Congress.

A $1.2 trillion infrastructure package passed by the Senate this week would funnel billions of dollars to the Department of Energy for projects battling climate change.

If the infrastructure package becomes law, “this collaboration will not only send us on a more durable path to net zero, but will create both immediate and long-term jobs in communities across the country,” Gates said in a statement published by CNBC.

By funding work on roads, bridges and ports, as well as clean water and high-speed internet, President Joe Biden said the bill — which still needs House approval — would create thousands of high-paying jobs for people without college degrees.

“This historic investment in infrastructure is what I believe you, the American people, want,” Biden said in a White House address.

Needing just a simple majority, the package passed by 69 votes to 30 with backing from a third of Republican Senators.

The measure now faces a make-or-break vote in the House of Representatives in coming weeks, where its future is less certain as divisions have sprung up in the Democratic majority.

The ambitious plan provides for $550 billion in new federal spending on transport infrastructure, and also for public transit, broadband internet and clean water, as well as electric charging stations and other measures to fight climate change.

A Gates fund run by his Breakthrough Energy company would spend the $1.5 billion over the course of three years with the goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change, according to US media reports.

Projects could include airplanes that don’t spew pollution and technology for capturing carbon from the air.

“Critical for all these climate technologies is to get the costs down and to be able to scale them up to a pretty gigantic level,” Gates was quoted as telling the Wall Street Journal.

“You’ll never get that scale up unless the government’s coming in with the right policies, and the right policy is exactly what’s in that infrastructure bill.”

ALSO READ: Thousands of Indian youth in big trouble in US

Categories
-Top News Business

Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board

“Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” a Microsoft spokesperson said…reports Asian Lite News.

Gates finally resigned from the Microsoft board in March 2020 before the investigation had been completed, the report said on Sunday. Resignation of Bill Gates in 2020 from Microsoft’s Board of Directors came after the board hired a law firm to investigate a romantic relationship he had with a Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate, people familiar with the matter said.
Quoting Wall Street Journal, CNN reported that some Microsoft Directors began an investigation in 2019 into the woman’s allegations of prior sexual relationship with Bill Gates. During the probe, some board members decided it was no longer suitable for Gates to sit as a Director at the software company he started and led for decades, the people said.

Gates resigned before the Board’s investigation was completed and before the full board could make a formal decision on the matter, another person familiar with the matter said, reported Wall Street Journal.
“Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.
“A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern.”

Bill and Melinda Gates announce to end marriage after 27 years. (ANI)

Meanwhile, Gates’s spokeswoman refuted the allegations and said the decision to leave board in 2020 was not related to the matter.
A spokesperson for Gates said, “There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably.” The spokesperson said his “decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter. In fact, he had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting several years earlier,” reported Wall Street Journal. The spokesperson said the “claim of mistreatment of employees is also false,” and that “the rumours and speculation surrounding Gates’ divorce are becoming increasingly absurd and it’s unfortunate that people who have little to no knowledge of the situation are being characterized as ‘sources’.”

Bill Gates (ANI)

Earlier this month, Melinda Gates — Bill Gates’ wife and co-founder of their foundation — filed for divorce after 27 years of marriage. In a statement announcing their split, the couple said, “after a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage.” (ANI)

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