The economies of the United States and India greatly complement each other but more must be done to enhance the relationship, according to the top State Department official in charge of South Asia.

Speaking at the U.S.-India Business Council meeting today, Alice G. Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, noted the “vast complementarity’ in the economies of the two democracies.

Wells was speaking at the ‘Road to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit’ (GES) Conclave’ organized by the U.S. – India Business Council, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. The GES is an annual entrepreneurship gathering that convenes emerging entrepreneurs and investors, linking them to governments and showcasing projects, ideas, and new opportunities for investment.

This year, the United States is co-hosting GES with India.

In her speech, Wells dwelt on the 70-year relationship between India and the U.S., and pointed to the nearly 4 million Indian-Americans in this country, and praised their entrepreneurial spirit. Civil liberties and fundamental values drive that strategic convergence of interests, she said, pointing to President Trump\s first meeting with Prime Minister Modi as setting the “positive tone and an ambitious agenda for strengthening our bilateral ties, particularly in the areas of defense, energy, and trade.”

Noting the balance of trade in favor of India, Wells indicated that the 350 million middle class in that country held ‘extraordinary potential’ for balancing that gap.

“Emerging middle-class consumers will have new demands in areas such as education, health care, and financial and professional services — fields where U.S. companies have much to offer,” as does the food and agricultural industry in this country. She also dwelt on the aviation and energy sectors as areas ripe for expansion, noting the recent purchases by SpiceJet and Jet Airways of Boeing aircraft; and India being the third-largest energy consumer.

“Many have questioned how Make America Great here and Made in India can be compatible, and indeed, we do need to do more to balance the U.S. trade deficit with India, which totaled nearly $30 billion last year,” Wells noted. But powerful examples exist “of the vast complementarity of our economy,” she said, and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit is an opportunity to highlight that complementarity.

“As we launch the “Road to GES: U.S. Series” in communities throughout the nation, we aim to share first-hand the best practices of the U.S. start-up ecosystem and the innovation and new perspectives of Indian entrepreneurs that can generate new approaches to 21^st century problem sets and contribute to job growth and prosperity in both our countries,” said Wells.

Entrepreneurs would be a big part of the solution to creating the one million new jobs India needs every month to employ its rapidly growing labor force, Wells said. She will be attending the GES Nov. 28-30 in Hyderabad.

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MIAMI/SAN JUAN, P.R. – Hurricane Irma has claimed five more lives, patients at a Florida nursing home that lost electricity during the storm that brought widespread flooding and power outages over the weekend, authorities said on Wednesday.

Residents of the hard-hit Florida Keys returned to inspect damaged homes and businesses that were largely without electricity and communications in the wake of the deadly storm.

Categorized as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record when it rampaged through the Caribbean, Irma killed more than 60 people, officials said.

At least 23 people died in Florida and nearby states, and destruction was widespread in the Keys, where Irma made initial U.S. landfall on Sunday and became the second major hurricane to strike the mainland this season.

Two elderly residents were found dead at the Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills and three later died at a hospital, Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told reporters on Wednesday.

Some residents were evacuated from the facility early Sunday morning and some reportedly awoke sick at the center, which had been without air conditioning for a few days.

Authorities barred re-entry to most of the Keys to allow more time to restore electricity and medical service and bring water, food and fuel. Some 10,000 Keys residents stayed put when the storm hit and may ultimately need to be evacuated, according to officials.

“I don’t have a house. I don’t have a job. I have nothing,” said Mercedes Lopez, 50, whose family fled north from the Keys town of Marathon on Friday and rode out the storm at an Orlando hotel, only to learn their home was destroyed, along with the gasoline station where Lopez worked.

“We came here, leaving everything at home, and we go back to nothing,” Lopez said. Four families from Marathon including hers planned to venture back on Wednesday to salvage what they could.

The Keys were largely evacuated by the time Irma barreled ashore as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of up to 130 mph (215 km/hour).

Initial damage assessments found that 25 percent of homes there were destroyed and 65 percent suffered major damage, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long said.

Long warned that life on the Keys would remain tough.

“There are numerous bridges of support that have to be inspected before we can put commodities down the roadway to support citizens,” Brock told CNN. “Communication is lacking in many portions of Monroe County. Citizens are frustrated about not being able to get the support they need right now. That’s exactly why we asked them to leave.”

A resort island chain that stretches from the tip of the state into the Gulf of Mexico, the Keys are connected by a bridges and causeways along a narrow route of nearly 100 miles (160 km).

“EVERYTHING IS GONE”

Irma wreaked total devastation in parts of the Caribbean, where most of the deaths occurred.

The storm destroyed about one-third of the buildings on the Dutch-governed portion of the eastern Caribbean island of St. Martin, the Dutch Red Cross said on Tuesday.

People who fled their homes in hard-hit islands including St. Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were all but cut off from the world for days arrived in San Juan late Tuesday.

Michael Benson, 65, of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, said he lost everything.

“My house, my business, both my vehicles, everything is gone,” said Benson, who was stopping in San Juan before continuing to Boston to seek refuge with his wife’s brother.

“But we have life. We rode out that horrible storm in a shower that I had reinforced after Hurricane Marilyn,” Benson added. “I told the man (who installed the shower), I told him, ‘If the hurricane takes the rest of my house, I want this shower sticking up out of that slab like the last tooth in the mouth of a bum. And sure enough that’s what’s left.”

Across Florida and nearby states, some 5 million homes and businesses were without power on Wednesday, down from a peak of 7.8 million on Monday.

Florida’s largest utility, Florida Power & Light Co, said western parts of Florida might be without electricity until Sept. 22.

Irma hit the United States about two weeks after Hurricane Harvey plowed into Houston, killing about 60 and causing some $180 billion in damage, mostly from flooding.

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Japan’s government and its rail companies lobbied the U.S. for years to sell its bullet-train technology and found little success. Finally, there’s an international buyer: India.

The South Asian country is poised to become the first nation to import the iconic ‘Shinkansen’ bullet trains, which will be a highlight of India’s infrastructure upgrade program. The Japanese government has also agreed to fund most of the $17 billion needed for the project that will become part of Asia’s oldest railway network. Japan had previously given its super-fast train technology only to Taiwan.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Shinzo Abe will formally kick off a plan to build the 316-mile bullet train line — roughly the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Financing by Japan also means business farmed out to companies such as Hitachi and East Japan Railway and an opportunity lost for China’s CRRC Corp and European manufacturers including Alstom.

For Japan, which is locked in a strategic rivalry with China for commercial contracts abroad, the Indian project marks a hard-fought victory as they compete against Siemens, Bombardier, Alstom and, lately, CRRC in a global market projected by BCC Research to be worth about $133 billion by 2019. After building the world’s largest high-speed network since the start of the century, covering 80 percent of its major cities, China has been raising its profile.

“The competition between China and Japan, especially in the ASEAN region, has been fairly intense and in India, there will be more competition for other phases of the bullet train project,” said Jaideep Ghosh, partner and head of transport at consultancy KPMG. “Japan has a longer history of operating the system without any fatalities. Politics and strategic considerations do play a part, but finally it is a commercial decision.”

India isn’t the only country in Asia that is offering potential in high-speed rail. China outbid Japan to win a $5.5 billion project in Indonesia in 2015, while the two countries are poised for a face-off again over a proposed Singapore-Kuala Lumpur link scheduled for completion by 2026.

President Donald Trump campaigned for improving infrastructure during elections. In February, ahead of a meeting with Abe, Trump even talked about high-speed railway lines. Trump told airline bosses that Japan and China “have fast trains all over the place. We don’t have one,” according to a transcript of a meeting he had with airline chiefs.

In 2010, Japan had offered to build high-speed rail in California as part of a $40 billion project after discussions with then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2014, Abe said his government may provide financing to support Central Japan Railway Co.’s bid to provide maglev trains for a Washington-Baltimore line.

A bullet train on Indian soil is part of Modi’s ambitious plan to modernize rail infrastructure after decades of underinvestment. He is pouring as much as 8.6 trillion rupees ($134 billion) to upgrade the congested and aging lines that daily carry the equivalent of Australia’s population. Asia’s oldest network was started under British colonial rule 164 years ago.

Modi is also counting on the project to spur a manufacturing and employment boom. His government says it will create 20,000 construction jobs, apart from 4,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs for operations. Local companies such as Larsen & Toubro, Gammon India and GMR Infrastructure are also looking to win some of the contracts.

On Thursday, Modi and Abe will unveil a plaque at Sabarmati in Gujarat to mark the inauguration of the project linking the financial capital of Mumbai with the economic hub of Ahmedabad. The Japanese government is financing 81 percent of the cost, with a $13.8 billion soft yen-loan carrying an interest rate of 0.1 percent.

Japan has pitched quality as the primary selling point to India — a network that boasts zero fatal accidents in its more than half-century of history. Japan’s relatively high initial costs can be offset by lower repair expenses over a lifespan of decades, Japanese officials have said.

“We will work closely with the Japanese government and JR East to actively respond to the introduction of the Shinkansen system to India,” Hitachi spokesman Tatsuya Moriki said, adding Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi will attend the function in India. JR East would like to contribute to the success of the project, spokesman Kengo Shikanai said. JR East President Tetsuro Tomita will attend the function, he said.

Representatives for CRRC and Alstom didn’t respond to requests for comments. Alstom spokeswoman Shilpashree M declined to comment.

India is reviewing prospects for at least six more potential bullet-train corridors, including one that would connect Mumbai to New Delhi, although no decision has been taken. India has said it is in talks with Japan and other countries for those projects.

Highlights of the project:

– The official target for completion is 2023. India says it will attempt to have it running a year earlier.

– Total estimated cost is 1.08 trillion rupees.

– While the train is designed to run at 217 mph (350 kmph), it will operate at a maximum speed of 320 kmph, cutting down travel time between the two cities to about two hours from eight hours.

– Most of the corridor will be elevated, but will include a 21-kilometer tunnel with seven kilometers under the Arabian Sea.

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“Kyu Mere Dil Ko” a new song sung by a local talented artist named Jashodhara Chatterjee or Jash, was launched at TV Asia in Edison, New Jersey by H.R. Shah who emphasized the importance of promoting local talent in his opening remarks.

He added that TV Asia has always been a leader in promoting music and entertainment and while the focus in the past had been on established Bollywood stars, he said that the time has come now to promote U.S. based talent.

Chatterjee lives in New Jersey and has been living in the tri state area for the past several years; she has been trained in Hindustani classical music under Guruji Surendra Kathulla and has attended workshops with Kavita Krishnamurthy, considering her as an important influence in her musical journey.

The song, “Kyu Mere Dil Ko” was recorded in Mumbai with lyrics written by Syed Gulrez and music composed and directed by Abhishek Ray who has composed music for several Bollywood films including Paan Singh Tomar, Sahib Bibi Aur Gangster and Welcome Back.

The music video was filmed around the Brooklyn Bridge and other local destinations in the surrounding New York neighborhood.

“‘Kyu Mere Dil Ko’ has been beautifully sung by Jash. The melody and lyrics are very powerful. There is an almost haunting and ethereal quality to the music. Even audiences not exposed to Indian music have been moved by ‘Kyu Mere Dil Ko,’” said Ray.

TV Asia has recognized Chatterjee’s tremendous talent and has launched her music video as well as also having interviewed her for their program titled “Face to Face.”

TV Asia will be airing the music video over the course of the next month and Chatterjee will be releasing several other singles over the course of the next few months as well.

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(One video link -http://wapo.st/2eUFBdH)

A Washington State U.S. congresswoman listened as a man named John from Sebring, Indiana, went on a screed about “illegal aliens” reaping government benefits and stealing American jobs. At first she shook her head slightly in disagreement, but then she sat expressionless as he went on.

For Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the caller’s rant wasn’t about just a policy issue she’s passionate about – though she is, deeply. It’s also personal.

For Jayapal, the immigrant experience is not theoretical. She was 16 when her parents used all of their money, around $5,000, to send her alone from India to the U.S. to attend Georgetown University. Though she was never undocumented herself, she waited 17 years for citizenship, bouncing between visas and later obtained permanent resident status when she married an American man. She’s fought for immigrant rights her whole life as an activist, and last November, despite the anti-immigrant rhetoric that flared up during the presidential campaign, she became the first Indian-American woman to be elected to Congress.

So last week, when John called into C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to complain about “these illegal aliens,” and to call for children of undocumented immigrants to be “deported just like their parents,” Jayapal steeled herself. Even after all this time, after being called names and harassed throughout her life here, it still stings.

But Jayapal didn’t focus on her own pain. She focused on John’s.

“John, it sounds like you are in a lot of economic pain and that is true across the country, and there is no question we as a country need to deal with economic inequality and make sure we have good paying jobs for everyone,” she said, her voice even. “I am committed to that and I’ll tell you that right here looking into . . . I can’t see your face, but looking into your eyes, I’ll tell you to blame immigrants is completely wrong and here’s why.”

C-SPAN’s program is not like other news shows where two sides can go several rounds in a dramatic, heated exchange. So after Jayapal explained to John that most undocumented immigrants are not taking public benefits and urged him to focus his blame on corporations that don’t pay their fair share rather than at immigrants, she has no idea whether what she said resonated.

Jayapal founded a nonprofit called “OneAmerica” in Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that declared Washington State a “hate free zone,” and lobbied on behalf of immigrants. In 2013, President Barack Obama named her a “Champion of Change.” Asked about the chances for immigration reform, she optimistically said, “I really believe that we’re going to make it happen this year.”

It’s with that same optimism that she tries to approach conversations with people like John, she said.

“I think it’s important instead of just calling people out, I think it’s important to call people in,” Jayapal said in a brief phone interview. “Of course I heard the rants and it always feels personal, and it never stops feeling personal because they are talking about people like me, but I also heard pain in his voice. I find if you start there and acknowledge something the other person said that rings true to you, I can get people to open up to what I want to say next.”

She recalled a time she was chatting with a man who was furious about undocumented immigrants not paying taxes, but reaping the benefits of living in America. She explained to him that actually, because those people often use fake Social Security numbers to find work, they do pay into the system. But when the government can’t match the number to a person, the money goes into a so-called earnings suspense fund, which collects billions each year from unauthorized immigrants. Which actually means, she told him, that they are paying money into a benefits program and will never see the benefit.

She said he was stunned, and afterward they were able to have a thoughtful conversation. They didn’t come to a shared view on immigration issues, but the exchange of ideas was civil, which in today’s heated political climate is a win.

After John hung up, Jayapal told the C-SPAN host that throughout her years working on these issues, she’s been threatened with lynching and other threats, but it’s never deterred her from believing the best about Americans, she said.

But even now, as an elected federal official, Jayapal is still fighting for respect. On the same day she appeared on C-SPAN, she voiced her opposition to an amendment offered by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, during a floor debate. He retorted firmly, “the good lady . . . doesn’t know a damn thing what she’s talking about.” Then he said, “You may not know me, young lady, but I’m deeply disturbed.”

But Jayapal didn’t cower. She calmly asked that he take down his words. Minutes later, Young apologized (though still addressed her as lady).

Later, she offered these words of encouragement to her followers on Twitter.

“A message to women of color out there: stand strong. Refuse to be patronized or minimized. Let the small guys out there be intimated by you.”

—VIDEO- Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., responds to a Florida resident who called into C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” to share his views on immigration. (C-SPAN)—http://wapo.st/2eUFBdH

The post Indian-American congresswoman calmly responds to rant about ‘illegal aliens’ appeared first on News India Times.

Japan’s government and its rail companies lobbied the U.S. for years to sell its bullet-train technology and found little success. Finally, there’s an international buyer: India.

The South Asian country is poised to become the first nation to import the iconic ‘Shinkansen’ bullet trains, which will be a highlight of India’s infrastructure upgrade program. The Japanese government has also agreed to fund most of the $17 billion needed for the project that will become part of Asia’s oldest railway network. Japan had previously given its super-fast train technology only to Taiwan.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Shinzo Abe will formally kick off a plan to build the 316-mile bullet train line — roughly the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Financing by Japan also means business farmed out to companies such as Hitachi and East Japan Railway and an opportunity lost for China’s CRRC Corp and European manufacturers including Alstom.

For Japan, which is locked in a strategic rivalry with China for commercial contracts abroad, the Indian project marks a hard-fought victory as they compete against Siemens, Bombardier, Alstom and, lately, CRRC in a global market projected by BCC Research to be worth about $133 billion by 2019. After building the world’s largest high-speed network since the start of the century, covering 80 percent of its major cities, China has been raising its profile.

“The competition between China and Japan, especially in the ASEAN region, has been fairly intense and in India, there will be more competition for other phases of the bullet train project,” said Jaideep Ghosh, partner and head of transport at consultancy KPMG. “Japan has a longer history of operating the system without any fatalities. Politics and strategic considerations do play a part, but finally it is a commercial decision.”

India isn’t the only country in Asia that is offering potential in high-speed rail. China outbid Japan to win a $5.5 billion project in Indonesia in 2015, while the two countries are poised for a face-off again over a proposed Singapore-Kuala Lumpur link scheduled for completion by 2026.

President Donald Trump campaigned for improving infrastructure during elections. In February, ahead of a meeting with Abe, Trump even talked about high-speed railway lines. Trump told airline bosses that Japan and China “have fast trains all over the place. We don’t have one,” according to a transcript of a meeting he had with airline chiefs.

In 2010, Japan had offered to build high-speed rail in California as part of a $40 billion project after discussions with then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2014, Abe said his government may provide financing to support Central Japan Railway Co.’s bid to provide maglev trains for a Washington-Baltimore line.

A bullet train on Indian soil is part of Modi’s ambitious plan to modernize rail infrastructure after decades of underinvestment. He is pouring as much as 8.6 trillion rupees ($134 billion) to upgrade the congested and aging lines that daily carry the equivalent of Australia’s population. Asia’s oldest network was started under British colonial rule 164 years ago.

Modi is also counting on the project to spur a manufacturing and employment boom. His government says it will create 20,000 construction jobs, apart from 4,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs for operations. Local companies such as Larsen & Toubro, Gammon India and GMR Infrastructure are also looking to win some of the contracts.

On Thursday, Modi and Abe will unveil a plaque at Sabarmati in Gujarat to mark the inauguration of the project linking the financial capital of Mumbai with the economic hub of Ahmedabad. The Japanese government is financing 81 percent of the cost, with a $13.8 billion soft yen-loan carrying an interest rate of 0.1 percent.

Japan has pitched quality as the primary selling point to India — a network that boasts zero fatal accidents in its more than half-century of history. Japan’s relatively high initial costs can be offset by lower repair expenses over a lifespan of decades, Japanese officials have said.

“We will work closely with the Japanese government and JR East to actively respond to the introduction of the Shinkansen system to India,” Hitachi spokesman Tatsuya Moriki said, adding Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi will attend the function in India. JR East would like to contribute to the success of the project, spokesman Kengo Shikanai said. JR East President Tetsuro Tomita will attend the function, he said.

Representatives for CRRC and Alstom didn’t respond to requests for comments. Alstom spokeswoman Shilpashree M declined to comment.

India is reviewing prospects for at least six more potential bullet-train corridors, including one that would connect Mumbai to New Delhi, although no decision has been taken. India has said it is in talks with Japan and other countries for those projects.

Highlights of the project:

– The official target for completion is 2023. India says it will attempt to have it running a year earlier.

– Total estimated cost is 1.08 trillion rupees.

– While the train is designed to run at 217 mph (350 kmph), it will operate at a maximum speed of 320 kmph, cutting down travel time between the two cities to about two hours from eight hours.

– Most of the corridor will be elevated, but will include a 21-kilometer tunnel with seven kilometers under the Arabian Sea.

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MUMBAI (Reuters) – Matrimony.com, the first pure-play Indian matchmaking website to launch a stock market listing, drew heavy demand for its offering, benefiting from the country’s booming IPO market.

Market participants say the enthusiastic investor response could encourage other players in India’s $50 billion wedding services market to consider going public. India’s broader NSE stock index has surged nearly 25 percent this year and investor interest in IPOs has soared.

Matrimony.com’s initial public offering of up to 5 billion rupees ($78 million) was subscribed 4.4 times over as of 7.45 p.m. India time (1415 GMT) on Wednesday, the last day of sale, with applications for over 12.5 million shares received, against the 2.8 million shares on offer, according to data from the National Stock Exchange.

India has seen around 20 IPOs this year and all have been oversubscribed several times over, with a couple of them subscribed more than 100 times over, according to data from Prime Database.

Matrimony.com, backed by U.S. venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, runs bharatmatrimony.com, elitematrimony.com and a host of other marriage services portals.

In socially conservative India parents are often involved in finding partners for their children and parental consent remains largely a norm.

Dating services such as Tinder have also tried to portray themselves as ‘parent approved’ in the country of 1.3 billion where live-in relationships are still taboo. Rising internet penetration, spurred by cheap data costs, has also helped more and more Indians go online to hunt for prospective spouses.

Matrimony says it had 3.08 million active customer profiles as of June 30, 2017. Its rivals include websites like Shaadi.com and Info Edge- owned Jeevansathi.com, among others.

The portal also offers websites and apps in multiple Indian languages and it helps customers to look for venues, outfits and photographers among other wedding-related services.

Indian online matchmaking sites will generate bigger business as they become more widely accepted and increasingly attract more users, global consulting firm KPMG and Google said in a report last year.

($1 = 63.9950 Indian rupees)

Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Susan Fenton

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NEW DELHI – Joining the digital payment bandwagon in India and eclipsing WhatsApp’s plans, Google is launching a Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based digital payment service called “Tez” on September 18.

According to The-Ken.com, on September 18, “Google, Alphabet Inc’s subsidiary, will make an entry into India’s fast growing and super-competitive digital payment ecosystem”.

After the story appeared in the media, Google India sent out an invite for an event in New Delhi on a September 18.

“As we continue to make strides in ensuring that our products continue to serve the needs of everyone, we invite you to a press conference to share details on the launch of a new product developed grounds up for India,” the invite read.

This confirms that a Make in India product will be unveiled at the event addressed by Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Next Billion Users, Google.

“Tez” (meaning fast in Hindi) may work like Android Pay.

UPI is a payment system launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India which facilitates the instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on the mobile platform.

The other big player to join India’s growing digital payment market is Facebook-owned WhatsApp.

WhatsApp has been in the news for working towards a UPI-based interface on its platform.

According to media reports, the leading messaging platform is already in talks with the NPCI and a few banks to facilitate financial transactions via UPI.

According to the blog website “WABetaInfo”, WhatsApp is giving shape to its plans towards bank-to-bank transfer using the UPI system.

Some mobile messaging platforms like WeChat and Hike Messenger already support UPI-based payment services.

The infrastructure of digital payments in India is expected to increase three-fold by the end of 2017 with almost five million electronic point of sale (PoS) machines, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has said.

“We expect that by December, the number will actually go up to five million PoS, which means that the infrastructure for digital payments is going to grow three times in the short span of one year,” MeitY Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said.

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WASHINGTON – Democratic leaders announced late Wednesday that they agreed with President Donald Trump to pursue a legislative deal that would protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation and enact border security measures that don’t include building a physical wall.

The president discussed options during a dinner at the White House with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that also included talks on tax reform, infrastructure and trade. Trump has showed signs of shifting strategy to cross the aisle and work with Democrats in the wake of the high-profile failures by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Trump, however, appeared to send shifting signals Thursday on how far he would go with Democrats over signature issues such as the border wall and the fate of so-called undocumented “dreamers.”

In a series of tweets, Trump wrote that “no deal” was made on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an Obama-era program that has allowed 690,000 dreamers to work and go to school without fear of deportation. He further wrote that agreements on “massive border security” would have to accompany any new DACA provisions, and insisted that “the WALL … will continue to be built.”

But he again put lawmakers on notice that he favors some protections for the young dreamers.

“Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military?” Trump wrote in back-to-back tweets. Really! … They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own – brought in by parents at young age. Plus BIG border security.”

Trump tweeted, “The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.”

A possible alliance between Trump and the Democrats on immigration would represent a major political gamble for a president who made promises of tougher border control policies the centerpiece of his campaign and pledged to build a “big, beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border. A majority of Republicans, especially in the House, have long opposed offering legal status, and a path to citizenship, to the nation’s more than 11 million undocumented immigrants.

In a sign of the potential trouble for the president, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, an immigration hard-liner and early Trump supporter, wrote that if reports of a potential immigration deal are accurate, the president’s “base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible.”

Trump has vacillated over the fate of the dreamers, who have lived in the country illegally since they were children. Under mounting pressure from the right, Trump moved two weeks ago to begin dismantling the program.

In announcing the decision, the president made clear that he expected Congress to pursue a plan to protect the DACA recipients, offering a six-month delay until their two-year work permits begin to expire in March.

In a statement, the White House described the meeting as “constructive” and said the administration “looks forward to continuing these conversations with leadership on both sides of the aisle.”

Congressional aides familiar with the exchange said that Trump and the party leaders agreed to move quickly on legislation to protect dreamers, though aides did not disclose whether they agreed that the goal should be for dreamers to eventually be offered a path to citizenship.

In a statement, Schumer and Pelosi said they had “a very productive meeting at the White House with the President. The discussion focused on DACA. We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides.”

In a letter to her Democratic colleagues in the House, Pelosi said she hoped the deal could be done “in a matter of weeks.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that DACA and border security were discussed, but she said excluding border wall funding from a package deal was “certainly not agreed to.”

Earlier in the day, Trump held a bipartisan meeting with a group of House members. Afterward, several Democrats involved in those talks said the president also had made clear that he did not expect border wall funding to be included in a legislative deal on the dreamers. They said Trump was not giving up on the wall but that he emphasized the money could be added to another bill, though he was not specific.

“He said, the wall doesn’t have to be necessary,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told reporters at the White House. “He said we’re going to add [wall funding] somewhere else. … We’ve told him we don’t want to tie this [together]. He said, ‘DACA, we’re going to do it early. We’re going to do some kind of border security.’ He brought up the wall. He said that doesn’t have to be on this DACA bill.”

Democrats, and some Republicans, have resisted funding for a wall, saying such a structure is not worth the billions of dollars it would cost.

Breitbart, the conservative news outlet headed by former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon, called reports of an immigration deal a “full-fledged cave” by Trump on “amnesty” for the dreamers.

Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., have introduced legislation, called the Dream Act, that would offer dreamers a path to citizenship. The number of undocumented immigrants that would potentially be covered by that bill, however, is expected to be far larger than the number of those who have DACA protections, a prospect that would probably engender more Republican opposition.

Cuellar said that he told Trump the Dream Act has sufficient bipartisan support to pass and that the White House should be pushing for a vote. Trump, Cuellar said, told the group: “Oh, it will be on the floor.”

But Trump also instructed Democrats to consider tougher restrictions on legal immigration, including provisions of a bill called the Raise Act, introduced by Republican Sens. Tom Cotton, Ark., and David Perdue, Ga., which would slash legal immigration levels by half over the coming decade. Immigrant rights groups are strongly opposed to such measures, but Trump endorsed that legislation during an appearance with the GOP senators at the White House last month.

And Republican leaders are already wary of the spending agreement Trump brokered with Democrats last week on a three-month spending plan to raise the debt ceiling and keep the government funded.

Pelosi and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., met earlier Wednesday to begin discussing the broad parameters of the forthcoming immigration debate. Ryan’s team signaled that despite the administration’s eagerness to quickly seal the deal, it will take awhile.

AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokeswoman, said that regarding the plight of the dreamers, the speaker “reiterated that any solution needs to address border security and enforcement, which are the root causes of the problem. Discussions among the Republican conference will continue in the coming weeks.”

Ryan is already facing growing pressure from House conservatives who have begun to question his leadership and have even floated names of possible replacement as speaker. An agreement between Trump and Democrats on a bill to protect dreamers could potentially put Ryan in the position of having to decide whether to bring it for a vote with the prospects that it might pass with more Democratic support than among the GOP.

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GANDHINAGAR, India – The leaders of India and Japan agreed on Thursday to deepen defense ties and push for more cooperation with Australia and the United States, as they seek to counter growing Chinese influence across Asia.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived this week in his counterpart Narendra Modi’s home state, skipping the tradition of visiting the capital of New Delhi, for the tenth meeting between two leaders since Modi came to power in 2014.

Relations have deepened between Asia’s second and third largest economies as Abe and Modi, who enjoy a close personal relationship, increasingly see eye-to-eye to balance China as the dominant Asian power.

“Almost everything that takes place during the visit, including economic deals, will in part be done with China in mind,” Eurasia analysts said in a note.

Abe’s visit comes days after New Delhi and Beijing agreed to end the longest and most serious military confrontation along their shared and contested border in decades, a dispute that had raised worries of a broader conflict between the Asian giants.

In a lengthy joint statement, India and Japan said deepening security links was paramount. This included collaboration on research into unmanned ground vehicles and robotics and the possibility of joint field exercises between their armies.

There was also “renewed momentum” for cooperation with the United States and Australia. Earlier this year, India rejected an Australian request to be included in four-country naval drills for fear of angering Beijing.

“Relations between India and Japan are not only a bilateral relationship but have developed into a strategic global partnership,” Abe told reporters in Gandhinagar, the capital of western Gujarat state.

“We (India and Japan) will strengthen our collaboration with those countries with whom we share universal values.”

Abe flew to Gujarat to lay the foundation stone of a $17 billion bullet train project, India’s first, that was made possible by a huge Japanese loan.

Tokyo wants to win other high-speed rail lines India plans to build, to edge out Chinese ambitions to do the same and provide a boost for its high-end manufacturers.

The visit was light on specific announcements, but India said it welcomed proposals for increased Japanese investment into infrastructure projects in its remote northeast, a region New Delhi sees as its gateway to Southeast Asia.

China claims part of India’s northeast as its own territory.

Japanese investment into the northeast “would give legs to our Act East policy,” Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar told reporters.

Modi and Abe also said they would push for more progress on the development of industrial corridors for the growth of Asia and Africa.

Analysts say the planned $40 billion Asia-Africa Growth Corridor takes direct aim at China’s Belt and Road project, envisaged as a modern-day “Silk Road” connecting China by land and sea across Asia and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

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Calling it a “win-win-win” situation, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach officially awarded the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games to Paris and Los Angeles, respectively, at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday.

The announcement was far from a surprise. In July, the L.A. Olympic bid committee had agreed to wait to host the games until 2028, which made Paris the only option for 2024. With fewer cities vying to host the games as costs connected to the biannual event surge, the IOC said at the time it would award the 2028 games simultaneously.

“Today is an incredibly special day for two great cities here on the stage,” United States Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said Wednesday, congratulating his French counterparts on their “great work on behalf of Paris 2024.”

“We all look forward to a spectacular Games in your beautiful city,” Blackmun added, before crediting L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. 2028 Chairman Casey Wasserman for making the California city’s bid an attractive one to the IOC.

“These two gentlemen never gave up on LA’s Olympic dreams – and thank goodness, they didn’t,” he said.

Los Angeles began its quest to host the Games in 2014, but was originally beat out by Boston. However, when Boston dropped out due to cost concerns, the USOC decided to put forth Los Angeles as the United States’ prime option in 2015. While several L.A. residents objected to hosting the games, which the city previously hosted in 1932 and 1984, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously backed the bid. An IOC promise to advance at least $1.8 billion to the city with the goal of increasing participation and access to youth sports programs appeared to sweeten the deal for city officials.

Garcetti, one of the leading negotiators in the process, called the offer “too good to pass up” at the time.

On Wednesday, Garcetti appeared to still hold that position while speaking to the crowd in Lima.

“L.A. is a city where the Games are not a barrier to making progress; we know that they are an accelerating force to re-envisioning a better city and a better world in the days ahead as we welcome you back to the City of Angels,” he said, mentioning his 5-year-old daughter Maya, who will be 16 when the Olympics kick off in the city in 2028.

“I will see her and my city grow up,” he said, “with new rail lines and a reborn airport and the Olympics will help spur our bold vision to build a city of opportunity, no matter what neighborhood you live in.”

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If Week 1 taught us anything, it’s that, after all the months of analyzing player statistics, trends and Twitter accounts, we really didn’t know anything at all. Except, of course, for those of us who saw it coming that the top 20 fantasy scorers would include the likes of Alex Smith, Tarik Cohen, Adam Thielen, Kenny Golladay, Trevor Siemian and Jesse James. Really, Jesse James?

As we wait for the fantasy landscape to return to normal (yeah, right), one thing we can do is look ahead to the upcoming games, with an eye toward how they could affect plans. With that in mind, here are four players and/or situations that bear monitoring:

Tarik Cohen

Matchup: at Buccaneers, Sunday, 1 p.m. (all times Eastern)

What better place to start than with this week’s waiver-wire darling? Everyone who gleefully used a No. 1 waiver priority or oodles of FAAB cash to acquire the Bears RB will want to see him prove that last week’s breakout performance (113 total yards, eight receptions, 1 touchdown) was no fluke.

If the undersized rookie romps again, that could be bad news for Jordan Howard, whose owners didn’t take him near the first round only to have a timeshare back with low upside in PPR formats. Nevertheless, if that appears to be the case, those owners would be well-advised to see if they could turn their guy into a solid RB2 and another asset before others realize that Howard himself is no more than a solid RB2.

We’ll be seeing Tampa Bay for the first time this season, so Sunday will also provide a chance to see if 2016’s 11th-most generous fantasy defense for RBs has gotten any tougher. Those in possession of various NFC South ball-carriers should be especially interested.

Jay Cutler and the Dolphins offense

Matchup: at Chargers, Sunday 4:05 p.m.

Speaking of teams making their 2017 debuts, the Dolphins will do the same, and with major apologies to Tupac, all eyez will be on Cutler. His strategy of not trying very hard to learn his new job as a TV analyst paid off handsomely when Ryan Tannehill went down, causing Miami to pick up the veteran QB, reunite him with Adam Gase and install him as a relatively last-minute starter.

At age 34, Cutler should have something left in the tank, but can he effectively lead the Fins’ offense right out of the starting gates? (Wait, is a he a car or a jockey? Oh, who cares – Smokin’ Jay certainly doesn’t.) DeVante Parker owners will be hoping that the WR’s budding bromance with his new, rifle-armed QB results in some big plays downfield, while Jarvis Landry owners can only hope their dude returns to being the target monster he was before Miami refocused its offense last year around Jay Ajayi and the running game.

Ajayi will want to show that he’s more the guy who rampaged for three 200-yard games than the one who posted a disconcerting number of duds down the stretch last year. Then there’s Julius Thomas, also reunited with a former coach in Gase, one who previously coaxed a brief flowering of fantasy relevance.

Cardinals offenseMatchup: at Colts, Sunday, 1 p.m.

Slow starts can spiral into full-blown crises with terrifying immediacy in the NFL, but that dynamic is only magnified in 13-week fantasy seasons. And so it is that we come to something of a crossroads for the Cardinals, and QB Carson Palmer in particular.

Bereft of the team’s offensive linchpin (I most definitely feel your pain, David Johnson owners), the 37-year-old Palmer suddenly has to prove he can be the glue that holds together Arizona’s attack. You know, as opposed to the guy who looked ready for the glue factory last week (hmmm, maybe that was a poor choice of metaphor for a game involving a team with horseshoes on its helmets).

If there’s a silver lining here, well, there is none for those who watched their top-two pick hit the shelf with Johnson’s wrist injury. However, owners of Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown and . . . okay that’s probably the list, but anyway, they can hope to see the Cards return to the sort of aggressive passing scheme that worked wonders in 2015. If Palmer can’t make that happen against Indy, which just made Jared Goff look good, then it’s probably time to bid an early farewell to the QB.

Seahawks running backs

Matchup: vs. 49ers, Sunday 4:25 p.m.

Yes, this was highlighted last week, as well. Hey, as long as there continues to be a mushroom cloud of uncertainty over this situation, it will continue to be a Thing, especially when Week 2 brings the season debut of the Seattle RB with the actual best shot at attaining major fantasy value.

That would be Thomas Rawls, of course, who nursed an ankle injury while watching Eddie Lacy waddle into complete irrelevance last week. The Seahawks appear intent on forcing C.J. Prosise to prove he can stay upright for, say, a month before giving him a major role, which leaves seventh-round rookie Chris Carson as Rawls’s primary competition, at least in the near term.

Rawls is reportedly practicing in full this week, and he has a delightful matchup with San Francisco, which was far and away the most pliant defense for RBs last season (although it allowed just 3.1 yards per carry to Carolina in Week 1). A healthy dose, in every way, of Rawls could provide some unexpectedly quick clarity to a backfield that looked like it would remain maddeningly murky for weeks to come.

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Apple has a brand-new Watch – and it more or less looks the same as the last one. Although its appearance hasn’t changed much, this is one instance in which under-the-hood changes make a huge difference. The Watch can now connect to a cellular network, which fixes the most annoying thing about the older versions: that they relied so heavily on your phone.

The new Apple Watch is slightly thicker than the last version, but the difference is so minimal that you’d hardly notice. Apple executives on stage said the difference was about the same as two sheets of paper. Practically speaking, there was no noticeable change. That’s admittedly impressive, given how much more Apple has stuffed into this Watch.

What will get noticed? Speed upgrades. The new chip in the Apple Watch Series 3 makes it downright snappy. If you are an early adopter looking to upgrade, you’ll want to skip the Series 2 and jump to the Series 3 – the speed improvement is noticeable. Things are also snappier when talking to Siri, which suffered from some considerable lag on older Watches.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a way to test phone calls at the demo, though you could see how one could place them and there were watch faces that made it easy to tell you how much signal you had.

However, phone calls on your Watch probably won’t be the thing you want to use your cellular data for the most. Calls on the wrist are, quite frankly, awkward. (No one tell Dick Tracy.) They might be better with the addition of wireless headphones, but your phone is still probably going to be your primary tool for that.

While calls are useful proof of cell connection, they aren’t really what connecting a watch to an LTE network is all about. The point is to be able to do things without needing to carry your phone along – and that’s useful in plenty of other ways, especially for Apple’s core watch audience of fitness buffs.

And using apps such as Maps and Music on the go without having to take your phone along is a game-changer. Those are the kinds of functions that made you feel tethered to the Watch. Knowing you also had to strap your phone on to go for a run with Watch probably made it much harder to justify the price of such a gadget. After all, you had your phone for music, for directions and for recording your steps. Without your phone, the Watch was more or less a really expensive dumbwatch.

Now, with the Watch free of the phone but with the same access to Apple’s App Store, there’s at least a more compelling reason to spend $399 for it if you’ve been eyeing it.

Here’s the thing to remember before you rush out to buy it, though: The Apple Watch Series 3 will require its own data plan. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have all said that the Watch Series 3 will cost an additional $10 per month for as long as you have the Watch. Sprint has said it will support the Watch, but it hasn’t said for how much.

Those aren’t wallet-breaking prices, but that steady expense is worth remembering as you factor in the cost of the Watch. Still, for those who’ve been waiting for Apple to catch up to other competitors such as the Samsung Gear line and add cellular connectivity, it’s a welcome addition.

Apple is also releasing a non-cellular version, which will run you $329. You’ll still get the speed improvements, but not as much freedom, which may be just fine for people who aren’t looking to off-road with their phones.

The price of the Series 1 Apple Watch, the original version, is now $249 – a move that Apple may hope will lure in those who were sitting on the fence. That still feels a little high for people who’ve been waiting for the price to drop, given how much slower and more limited it is in comparison with the new version, but it is a good entry-level option for those who want it.

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ZURICH – The Indian football team have dropped 10 places to 107 in the FIFA rankings released on Thursday. Germany tops the list after displacing Brazil to the second spot.

The Sunil Chhetri-led side registered two victories and a draw in three matches after they were placed at the 97th spot in August. But this did not help India.

India defeated Mauritius and held St Kitts and Nevis to a draw to clinch the Tri-nation football series before defeating Macau in an away fixture in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualification third round.

The Tri-nation football series didn’t fall on the designated FIFA match days, and so they were not counted for the rankings.

India have dropped below the 100th spot for the first time since May.

Meanwhile, Germany displaced Brazil to take the top spot. The reigning World Cup champions rose one spot from last month’s rankings while Brazil are currently placed second.

Current European champions Portugal climbed three rungs to the third spot while Argentina dropped one spot to the fourth position. Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, France, Chile and Colombia round off the top 10.

Iran continued to be the top ranked nation in Asia although it dropped one spot to 25th. Japan are the second highest in the continent at 40 followed by Australia (50), South Korea (51) and Saudi Arabia (53).

Egypt was the highest ranked among African nations at 30 followed by Tunisia (31), Senegal (33) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (42).

Zambia made some dramatic gains, jumping 18 places to make their strongest ever rise in the FIFA rankings. The former African champions rose from 96th to 78th following back-to-back victories over formidable Algeria in the World Cup qualifiers.

The defeats cost Algeria dearly as they dropped 14 places to 62.

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NEW YORK – This year, Event Guru Inc. will be team up with Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF), an organization committed to eradicating curable blindness in India, for Diwali at Times Square.

SEF (https://www.giftofvision.org/) aims to reach out to the underprivileged communities in India and provides them with quality eye care free of cost by building operationally self-sufficient super specialty eye care hospitals across the country.

“Diwali is the harbinger of hope and all things good, which is why charitable works are encouraged during this time of the year. To fulfill the most important tenets of Diwali, we are pledging to support Sankara Eye Foundation and I urge everyone to donate and spread the light of sight,” said Neeta Bhasin, the founder of Event Guru Inc.

The objective for Diwali at Times Square this year is to stand up with Sankara Eye Foundation’s work by raising awareness and formulating fundraising opportunities on visual impairment, which affects about 55 million people.

SEF has, to this date performed over 1.6 million, free eye surgeries for the needy and is urging everyone to donate and gift the light of sight this year during Diwali at Times Square, which is on October 7.

“Sankara Eye Foundation, is very happy to partner with Event Guru Inc., for ‘Diwali at Times Square.’ This partnership will help SEF bring light into the lives of many more visually handicapped people. On the occasion of this grand ‘Festival of Lights’ let us light many many lamps and spread love – Jyot se jyot jalate chalo, Prem ki Ganga bahate chalo,” said Murali Krishnamurthy, the founder and CEO of Sankara Eye Foundation.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Three former Google employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against the tech giant accusing it of discriminating against women when it came to pay and promotions.

According to a report in Fortune late Thursday, the three former employees who served as software engineer, communications specialist and manager, filed the lawsuit that said: “Google pays women in California less than men who perform similar work and assigns female workers jobs that are less likely to lead to promotions”.

“While Google has been an industry-leading tech innovator, its treatment of female employees has not entered the 21st century,” Kelly Dermody, a lawyer for the women, said in a statement.

Google, which was yet to comment on the development, is also facing a probe by the US Department of Labour into its pay practices.

Meanwhile, in a fresh onslaught on Google, James Damore — the engineer who was fired by the company over a memo criticising its’s diversity efforts — said that the tech giant was discriminating in hiring practices.

Damore told CNBC that Google was “treating people differently based on race or gender”.

“The company is pressing individual managers to increase diversity and is using race or gender to decide which workers are promoted and which teams job candidates are placed on.”

He also said that he was “pursuing legal remedies” against the company over his firing.

Last month, Google’s Indian-born CEO Sundar Pichai addressed a coding event for women on the sprawling campus at Mountain View, California, after Damore’s manifesto claimed that “the representation gap between men and women in software engineering persists because of biological differences between the two sexes”.

“There’s a place for you at Google. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You belong here, and we need you,” Pichai told woman innovators at the company.

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LONDON – A home-made bomb on a packed rush-hour commuter train in London engulfed a carriage in flames and injured 22 people on Friday in what police said was Britain’s fifth terrorism incident this year, but apparently failed to fully explode.

Passengers on board a train heading into the capital fled in panic as the fire erupted at Parsons Green underground station in West London at 8.20 a.m. (0720 GMT).

Some suffered burns while others were injured in a stampede to escape. The National Health Service said 22 people had been taken to London hospitals, most believed to be suffering flash burns. None were thought to be in a serious condition, the ambulance service said.

“We now assess that this was a detonation of an improvised explosive device,” Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley told reporters.

Police said officers were making urgent inquiries involving hundreds of detectives backed by the intelligence services to find out who was responsible.

Rowley declined to say if the suspected bomber had been on the train, saying it was a live investigation.

Pictures taken at the scene showed a slightly-charred white bucket with a supermarket freezer bag on the floor of one train carriage. The bucket, still intact, was in flames and there appeared to be wires coming out of the top.

“I was on second carriage from the back. I just heard a kind of whoosh. I looked up and saw the whole carriage engulfed in flames making its way towards me,” Ola Fayankinnu, who was on the train, told Reuters.

“There were phones, hats, bags all over the place and when I looked back I saw a bag with flames.”

Charlie Craven said he had just got on the train when the device exploded.

“Literally within three seconds of putting your bag down, the doors just closing, we hear a loud explosion,” he told Reuters. “I looked around and saw this massive fireball … coming down the carriage.”

He said terrified passengers fled, fearing a second explosion or a gunman, with people being knocked to the ground and crushed in the stampede to escape.

Outside the station, a woman was carried off on a stretcher with her legs covered in a foil blanket while others were led away swathed in bandages.

“KEEP CALM”

In 2005, 52 people were killed when four British Islamists carried out suicide bomb attacks on three London underground trains and a bus and this year Britain has suffered four attacks which killed a total of 36 people.

Prime Minister Theresa May returned to London to chair a meeting of Britain’s emergency response committee later on Friday.

“My thoughts are with those injured at Parsons Green and the emergency services who, once again, are responding swiftly and bravely to a suspected terrorist incident,” May said.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said people should “keep calm” and continue their lives as normal.

“Another attack in London by a loser terrorist,” U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter. “These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!”

British police have not said anything about who could be behind the attack.

However, a U.S. law enforcement official and a U.S. intelligence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack might well have been carried out in response to recent Islamic State video messages urging would-be militants to attack trains and other public transport.

The officials said the device “doesn’t look very professionally built” and said its rudimentary design suggested the attack was carried out by someone inspired by Islamic State propaganda rather than by a well-trained cell.

UK security services believe those behind some of the militant incidents in Britain this year had probably been acting alone and likely radicalised by online material.

In March this year, a man drove a car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge killing four, before he stabbed a policeman to death outside parliament.

A further 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester in May and the following month three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight.

In June, a van was driven into worshippers near a mosque in north London which left one man dead.

On Thursday, figures showed there had been a record number of terrorism-related arrests in the last year and earlier this week Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said there had been a shift-change in the threat.

In the three years until March this year, police foiled 13 potential attacks but in the next 17 weeks, there were the four attacks while the authorities thwarted six others, Rowley said.

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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump weighed in Friday on an attack in London by a “loser terrorist” and used the episode to call for an expansion of his travel ban that has temporarily blocked entry into the United States by citizens of six Muslim-majority countries.

“The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” the president wrote on Twitter.

Trump’s assessment followed news of an explosion going off in a London subway car during the morning rush hour that injured at least 18 commuters and was labeled a terrorist attack by police.

“Another attack in London by a loser terrorist,” Trump said in a series of early morning tweets.

“These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!” Trump added, referring to the police force in London.

It was unclear whether Trump had been brief by his security advisers, who told him something of the identity of the assailants. Neither the Metropolitan Police nor the British government have said anything publicly describing the detonation as a suspected terrorist attack.

In a subsequent tweet, Trump said: “Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner. The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!”

Trump’s travel ban blocked the entry of citizens from six Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days. Officials have said the 90-day period will expire in less than two weeks, and Trump will face a critical decision on what to do about the ban’s future.

The Department of Homeland Security has been working on a report about countries that U.S. authorities say do not provide adequate information to vet their travelers. That report could inform a more expansive measure that bars people from coming to the United States.

Trump’s tweet seemed to envision such a “larger, tougher” ban, though he also said the measure needed to be “more specific” – which might indicate the White House is not inclined to bar people merely because of their nationality. The Homeland Security report is expected to be presented to the White House in the coming weeks.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on whether the travel ban is legal on Oct. 10. But by that time, a critical portion of the directive will have expired and a new measure might be in place. A person familiar with the ongoing discussions said a new ban might moot the Supreme Court case, but could spark new legal challenges. A permanent ban, in particular, might be harder to defend in court, the person said. It is also possible, though unlikely, that Trump could merely let the ban expire.

In a later tweet on Friday morning, Trump took credit for progress during his administration in combating the Islamic State terrorist group, asserting that more had been done in the past nine months than under Obama’s eight years in office.

“Must be proactive & nasty!” Trump wrote.

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Indian Americans Nisarg Patel, 26, of Flemington, New Jersey; Dilipkumar R. Patel, 30, of Ocala, Florida and Rajesh Kumar, 39, of Mesa, Arizona, pleaded guilty to individual counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering offenses, and Dipakkumar S. Patel, 38, of Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in a related case in Georgia to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas in Houston.

According to Naperville police Cmdr. Lou Cammiso, the four men participated in “a complex scheme” involving call centers in Ahmedabad, India, which cost 16 residents about $88,000.

Cammiso confirmed that the men and others involved impersonated officials of the IRS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, claiming their victims owed back taxes and threatened them with fines, imprisonment or deportation if they failed to pay.

A detective assigned to investigate the local crimes soon realized “they were all related to this huge, ongoing federal case involving the same suspects and worked on this case with (federal investigators) for about three years,” Cammiso said.

According to the release, the scam operators used information they obtained from “data brokers” and other sources and would then “turn to a network of ‘runners’ based in the United States, to liquidate and launder” the stolen funds,

Those who agreed to pay “were instructed how to provide payment, including by purchasing stored value cards or wiring money.”

For example, Nisarg Patel was a runner between June 2013 and December 2015, during which he communicated with scam participants in India by telephone, email and WhatsApp text messaging, and earned commissions for the funds he laundered, putting some of the money into personal bank accounts.

Dipakkumar Patel served as a runner for in the Chicago area and elsewhere and he “purchased money orders (with the stolen funds) and deposited them into various bank accounts as directed.”

Authorities said the scheme involved a total of 56 people and five India-based call centers.

Hoffman Estates police and investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern Illinois District participated in the probe, as did authorities in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey and Texas, according to the release.

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TORONTO

Indian actress Ekavali Khanna, who has impressed audiences as a conservative Pakistani housewife in the Norwegian film “What People Will Say” — premiered at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — says working with acclaimed actor Adil Hussain in the movie was an enriching masterclass.

Directed by Pakistani-Norwegian Iram Haq, the film deals with the culture of female oppression in the south Asian diaspora in the West.

Ekavali, who has delivered some powerful lines in the film, landed the role after the casting team of the film got in touch with her in December 2016.

“They sent me three scenes and said I should record and send the audition immediately. I got my 12-year-old son to give the cues, recorded the audition and sent it to them. I received a call from them within 24 hours, saying the director loved the audition and I will be doing the film,” she recounted.

How was it to play Adil’s wife in the film?

“Adil and I have acted in Chandra Prakash Dwivedi’s ‘Zed Plus’ earlier. So when I was going to Norway for the shoot, I knew this is going to be another enriching masterclass. Adil is extremely dedicated to his craft and very humble.

“Though he’s far more experienced and seasoned, he treats his co-actors with a lot of respect and often exchanges ideas and likes to work on the scenes together. It’s a privilege to work with him,” Ekavali said.

Playing an ultra conservative Pakistani wife Najma didn’t come without her share of preparations for the actress.

“My character Najma constantly seeks validation from society. She can easily sacrifice her child’s life and happiness because of ‘what people will say’. Slipping into her character was not smooth because understanding and empathizing with Najma seemed impossible in the beginning.

“Being an independent single mother myself, I could barely identify with the character I was to play.”

So, she had extensive discussions with the director.

“Iram told me about her own equation with her mother and true life instances that happened with her which helped me understand my character deeply. In my own head, I created a graph of Najma’s life and tried to understand what it could mean for a young girl from Pakistan to get married and move to a country like Norway and start living there.

“It enabled me to understand why Najma was so unreasonable and why she behaved the way she did,” said Ekavali, who also met some Pakistani families in Oslo for reference.

She describes Iram Haq as “a beautiful, pure and honest” soul.

“That reflects in her passion for her work. She prepares her actors well and then gives them the freedom to perform organically,” she said, reflecting on the warmth she experienced when her birthday was celebrated by the production.

“We were all sitting around during lunch when suddenly the entire crew broke into the Norwegian birthday song, and a surprise cake popped up. I was really touched by the warmth,” she said.

What’s next?

“I have also acted this year in Hollywood film ‘The Field’, directed by Rohit Karn Batra. It is set in India. Another Hindi film, ‘Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain’, is set for release later this year.

“It is a romantic story of a mismatched couple played by Sanjay Mishra and me. I’m very excited about a very special film called ‘Bioscopewallah’ by Deb Medhekar in which I have a cameo. I will start shooting for two fabulous feature films from next month.

“I’m aspiring for roles that challenge me and help me step out of my comfort zone.”

IANS

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