Internet giant Google has said it finds 'troubling' Microsoft's multi-billion-dollar bid to acquire rival Yahoo and urged US and international regulators to strenuously vet the proposed deal

"Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions," read a statement by David Drummond, Google's senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer.

"This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation," he said in a written statement on Sunday.

He accused Microsoft of using its competitive advantage in the personal computer market to gain 'inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet' and said it was likely to try to do the same if it acquires Yahoo.

"Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies - and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent Markets," he said, adding that the Redmond, California-based company has a ‘legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses’ which it could not extend to the Internet.

Microsoft announced on Friday it is courting California-based Yahoo with a USD 44.6-billion offer.

Members of Congress's House of Representatives Judiciary Committee have scheduled a hearing later this week to probe the antitrust implications of such a merger.

The committee's Antitrust and Competitive Policy task force will hold the hearing to give the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo merger ‘careful examination,’ the panel said in a statement.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

India's ability to manage diversity in the age of globalisation has resulted in a rise of its soft power internationally, especially among the neighbouring countries, former UN under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor has said.

"India's soft power is on the rise. For example Bollywood films are enjoying a great international audience. A diplomat friend of mine said that in Syria, the only portraits that you get as large as former president Hafiz Assad are those of Amitabh Bachchan," he said.

The television mega-serial Kyun ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi has become India's biggest asset in Afghanistan where it is watched by 94 per cent of Afghans, he said.

"The serial has been able to trigger discussions in a society where women traditionally are kept under the veil," Tharoor said after a felicitation by the alumni association of his alma mater St Xavier's School here.

India's achievements in the field of education is also being acclaimed internationally. "These days, the US puts the IITs on par with, say the MIT," Tharoor said.

Citing statistics, he said although India still remained a country of contradictions, its diversity was its biggest asset and could propel it towards becoming a great power among nations if this diversity was not undermined by religious intolerance and political opportunism.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com