Mumbai: Actor Kay Kay Menon during the book launch of When Life Turns Turtle by author Raj Supe, in Mumbai on July 27, 2016. (Photo: IANS)
Actor Kay Kay Menon says contentdriven cinema is good for people’s mental as well as emotional health.
He is currently busy promoting his forthcoming film “Vodka Diaries,” which is set in Manali. In the film, ACP Ashwini Dixit (Kay Kay) is in quest to solve a series of mysterious murders happening over a single night which seem to be connected to a night club, Vodka Diaries.
Talking about the film content, Kay Kay said on Saturday: “When you watch other kind of films and don’t get bored, then I feel that if you see a content-driven film then it will be good for your mental and emotional health.
The most important thing for him while working in a movie is the “maturity of script”. “The film’s script should be such that it should inspire you to work in that film.”
“I don’t analyse much before selecting a movie. I feel if you have an attraction towards a script, then you go with the flow with the script,” he added.
“Vodka Diaries” was shot in Himachal Pradesh. On his shooting experience, he said: “Working in cold conditions was tough because we didn’t have the luxury to wear those kind of clothes (winter wear).”
The Kushal Srivastava directorial, scheduled to release on January 19, also stars Mandira Bedi, Raima Sen and Sharib Hashmi.
Kamala Harris, sworn in as Democratic Senator from California Jan. 3, 2017. (Photo: Facebook)
Almost exactly a year after being elected to the U.S. Congress, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, the first Indian-American elected to the upper house, has been appointed to the important Senate Judiciary Committee.
Harris serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the Committee on the Budget, according to her Congressional website.
@SenKamalaHarris
Thrilled to share that I’ve been appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee. You have my commitment that I will fight for justice on behalf of Californians and all Americans.
Harris, who completed a year in Congress after being sworn-in Jan. 3 last year, tweeted she was “thrilled” with the appointment. In just one year, her already high profile before being elected, was further elevated by her performance during the year in Congress, and in the minds of many top Democrats, the Indian-American is a contender for the presidential race in 2020.
On the anniversary of her first year, Harris reflected on what she had learned in 2017.
“I can’t help but think that it’s time we replace division with a new way of thinking,” Harris said on Facebook.
“I’ve come up with a little equation which is this: diversity, because we are a diverse country, plus commonality, seeing what we all have in common, equals unity. Let’s agree that our diversity is our strength, and our strength is out (sic) unity,” Harris said. Unity in diversity would build “the muscle that will power our movement,” Harris concluded.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was also appointed to the Judiciary Committee the same day as Harris. Only one African-American has served on the Judiciary Committee in the last 200 years, before Booker and Harris, who is part African-American, a press release from Booker’s office pointed out.
The Judiciary Committee oversees the U.S. Department of Justice, including the FBI, as well as the Department of Homeland Security. Both Harris and Booker have been persistent critics of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Congress. Harris gained notoriety and national attention for her prosecutorial style of grilling Sessions during intelligence hearings in June.
Cricket – India v New Zealand – Third Test cricket match – Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, India – 11/10/2016. India’s Virat Kohli takes the catch of New Zealand’s James Neesham. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Cricket was last played at the Olympics in the 1900 Paris Games and the governing International Cricket Council (ICC) has said most of its members backed the inclusion of the 20-overs format in Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is open to cricket’s future inclusion provided all top teams compete but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the game’s richest and most influential board, has been rather reluctant.
After the MCC Committee meetings this week, the panel of former players requested the BCCI to reconsider its stance.
“It’s one of those things that has frustrated me,” committee chairman Mike Gatting told a news conference.
”We would like to urge the BCCI to have a look at it again and support the main body of boards that would like to get into the Olympics…
“It seems strange that everyone else seems happy to get in there because it’s just going to be so good for the game,” said the former England captain.
“Free-to-air TV all over the world. It’s only once every four years. It’s not going to be a scheduling matter. It just seems they seem reticent to try and get involved.”
The Indian board has not been keen on cricket’s Olympic inclusion partly because of apprehensions that BCCI might lose its autonomy and be answerable to the country’s Olympic committee.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who is part of the 14-person independent committee along with Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara, Indian Sourav Ganguly and Rod Marsh of Australia, said the sport must be represented by its best players at the Olympics.
“We’re very conscious of not lessening the product we’re putting out,” Ponting said.
”If cricket makes it into the Olympics it has to be the best players and showcasing the sport for what it is.
“The players would want it because of how beneficial they would see that being for the game going forward.”
The independent committee also discussed the wage gap in the international game, making helmets compulsory and DRS technology among a variety of other topics.
Mr.S M Abdul Jaleel, Founder CEO, MES Group inaugurates Joyalukkas 2nd Showroom in Singapore in the presence of local dignitaries, customers & Joyalukkas management staffs.
SINGAPORE
Little India in Singapore gets a fresh new feel of home with the arrival of Joyalukkas at 134 Serangoon Road. The world’s favourite jeweller’s newest showroom is just opposite the Veeramakaliamman Temple, and a welcome addition to one of the city’s most popular tourist sites.
The shop was inaugurated by Mr.S M Abdul Jaleel, Founder,CEO MES Group and was a glittering affair attended by area residents and graced by the presence of local dignitaries, VIPs and chief executives of the Joyalukkas Group.
Joyalukkas at Serangoon Road is one of several showroom launches planned for early 2018, continuing the brand’s aggressive expansion efforts begun in 2015. The showroom features the brand’s signature jewellery collections, including an expanded selection of Veda Temple Jewellery, in keeping with the traditional, South Indian flavour of its location.
“The historic relationship between Singapore and India spans decades and grows stronger with every generation of Indian expats who come to love and call this delightful country home,”said Mr. Joy Alukkas, Chairman and MD of Joyalukkas Group. “It brings us much happiness to open this second showroom in Singapore and be located on the prestigious Serangoon Road to offer the pure joy of jewellery shopping only Joyalukkas can offer residents and tourists alike.”
Joyalukkas Serangoon Road will feature over a million jewellery designs showcasing a mix of traditional, ethno contemporary and international influences. It will carry the exclusive line of Joyalukkas brands, such as Veda Temple Jewellery, Pride Diamonds, Eleganza Polki Diamonds, Masaaki Pearls, Zenina Turkish Jewellery, Li’l Joy Kids Jewellery, the Apurva Antique collection & Ratna Precious Stone Jewellery, along with renowned names in gold, diamond, precious stones, platinum and pearl jewellery.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents blitzed dozens of 7-Eleven stores before dawn Wednesday to interview employees and deliver audit notifications, carrying out what the agency said was the largest operation targeting an employer since President Donald Trump took office.
ICE said its agents showed up at 98 stores and made 21 arrests, describing the operation as a warning to other companies who may have unauthorized workers on their payroll.
“Today’s actions send a strong message to U.S. businesses that hire and employ an illegal workforce: ICE will enforce the law, and if you are found to be breaking the law, you will be held accountable,” said Thomas Homan, the agency’s top official, in a statement.
Homan characterized the operation as a new front in the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown and its effort to increase deportations. ICE agents have made 40 percent more arrests in the past year.
“Businesses that hire illegal workers are a pull factor for illegal immigration and we are working hard to remove this magnet,” Homan’s statement said. “ICE will continue its efforts to protect jobs for American workers by eliminating unfair competitive advantages for companies that exploit illegal immigration.”
ICE said it sent agents Wednesday to deliver audit notifications and conduct interviews at 6 a.m., temporarily shutting down 7-Eleven stores in Washington, D.C., and 17 states: California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven has more than 60,000 stores worldwide, according to its website. In a statement, the company said it was not responsible for the hiring decisions of individual franchise owners.
“7-Eleven Franchisees are independent business owners and are solely responsible for their employees including deciding who to hire and verifying their eligibility to work in the United States,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“As part of the 7-Eleven franchise agreement, 7-Eleven requires all franchise business owners to comply with all federal, state and local employment laws,” the statement continued. “7-Eleven takes compliance with immigration laws seriously and has terminated the franchise agreements of franchisees convicted of violating these laws.”
ICE described Wednesday’s sweep as a follow-up enforcement operation that built on a 2013 raid resulting in the arrests of nine 7-Eleven franchise owners and managers. They were charged with “conspiring to commit wire fraud, stealing identities and concealing and harboring illegal aliens employed at their stores,” according to the agency.
ICE said all but one pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay more than $2.6 million in back wages to workers.
Last year, ICE said it conducted 1,360 employee audits, making more than 300 arrests on criminal and administrative violations. Businesses were ordered to pay $97.6 million in judicial forfeiture, fines and restitution, the agency said, and $7.8 million in civil fines.
“We are going to be doing more of this work and dedicating more resources to make sure businesses are complying with the law,” said Dani Bennett, an ICE spokeswoman. “This is a demonstration of our commitment to enforcing the law.”
Store owners and managers will have three days to provide the agency with information about the immigration status of its employees, Bennett said.
Prosecuting business owners who hire illegal workers is often difficult for the government, because company owners typically insist they were deceived by employees using fake social security numbers.
Supporters of tougher immigration enforcement want to require all employers to use the government’s E-Verify system, which checks employees’ I-9 employment eligibity forms, social security numbers and other identifying information with federal databases. Critics say E-Verify is error-prone and a needless expansion of government power.
LAHORE, Pakistan – Two civilians were killed when officers fired live rounds to disburse crowds that attacked a police station in Pakistan on Wednesday in a protest over the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl.
Police recovered the body of Zainab Ansari on Tuesday from a garbage dumpster in the town of Kasur in eastern Pakistan, four days after she was reported missing.
It was the twelfth incident of a girl being abducted, raped, and killed in the past year in Kasur district, police say. Residents have been furious at the authorities for what they see as a failure to investigate such cases.
The spokesman for Pakistan’s Punjab province, Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, told Reuters that protesters turned violent and attacked a local police office.
“They started throwing stones at the office and some of armed protesters shot bullets at police. In order to stop them, police resorted to aerial firing,” Khan said, adding that two people were killed and one wounded as a result.
Locals said police responded with undue force.
“A peaceful protest was taking place, some students threw stones and police responded by firing at the crowd,” Saleem ur Rehman, a resident who was at the protest, told Reuters. “The law and order situation here is really bad and there have been many such incidents. That is what the protest was about.”
Ansari’s parents, who were not in the country when their daughter was kidnapped, returned on Wednesday.
“I want justice! I want justice!” Zainab’s mother cried, surrounded by reporters at the international airport in the capital Islamabad.
Ansari’s case has attracted the attention of the country’s civilian and military leadership, with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif calling for immediate action.
Police in Kasur deny they have been lax in investigating child abductions in the town. Regional police officer Zulfiqar Hameed told Reuters that four kidnappers had been arrested and another killed during an arrest attempt.
“Investigations reveal that in each case a paedophile kidnaps little girls, rapes them and kills them,” he said.
The case of Ansari would soon be solved, he said: “We have got CCTV footage that shows a young man taking her along. We will catch him very soon,” he said, adding that 95 DNA samples had been taken from suspects.
A number of police officials have been transferred out of the region for failing to investigate complaints of missing children since 2015, when authorities uncovered what they called a paedophile ring linked to a prominent local family. At least two people have been convicted in the case, in which authorities say hundreds of children in the district were abused.
Employees walk along a corridor in the Infosys campus in the southern Indian city of Bangalore September 23, 2014. REUTERS/Abhishek Chinnappa
BENGALURU – Global software major’s Infosys Science Foundation on Wednesday conferred its Prizes to five eminent academicians, selected by a jury of renowned scientists on November 15 last year.
The Infosys Prize 2017 was given in fields including engineering and computer science, humanities, life sciences, mathematical sciences, physical sciences and social sciences, and comprised a purse of Rs 65 lakh, a 22-carat gold medallion and a citation certificate.
Nobel laureate Kip S. Thorne, Professor Emeritus at California Institute of Technology, gave away the prizes at an event here in the presence of the IT major’s four co-founders N.R. Naryana Murthy, Executive Chairman Nandan Nilekani, former Chief Executive S. Gopalakrishnan and K. Dinesh.
The winners are Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, in Engineering and Computer Science; Upinder Singh Bhalla, Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, in Life Sciences; and Ritabrata Munshi, Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, in Mathematical Sciences.
In Physical Sciences, the winner is Yamuna Krishnan, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago. Lawrence Liang, Professor, School of Law, Ambedkar University, New Delhi, won it in Social Sciences, and Ananya Jahanara Kabir, Professor of English Literature, King’s College London, in Humanities.
Bandyopadhyay was selected for her record in algorithmic optimisation and its impact on biological data analysis.
“Her discoveries include a genetic marker for breast cancer, determination of co-occurrence of HIV and cancers and the role of white cells in Alzheimer’s disease,” said the Foundation in a statement.
Bhalla was chosen for pioneering contribution to the understanding of the brain’s computational machinery.
“Bhalla’s investigations has revealed essential neuronal computations that underlie the ability to acquire, integrate and store complex sensory information and to utilise that information for decision and action,” the statement said.
Munshi won the Prize for his outstanding contributions to analytic aspects of number theory.
“Besides ingenious contributions to the Diophantine problem, Munshi has established important estimates known as sub-convexity bounds for a large class of L-functions with methods that are powerful and original,” it said.
Krishnan was awarded for her ground-breaking work in the emerging field of DNA architecture.
“By manipulating DNA, the building blocks of life, to create biocompatible nanomachines, Krishnan created novel ways of interrogating living systems, increasing our knowledge of cell function and getting one step closer to answering unresolved biomedical questions,” the statement said.
Liang was selected for creative scholarship on law and society.
“His prodigious output in copyright law, digital technologies and media and popular culture raises probing questions about the nature of freedom, rights and social development. His provocative answers link historical context and ethical practice in unexpected and illuminating ways,” added the statement.
Kabir won for her original explorations of the historical elements – conceptual, social and cultural – in colonial modernity and her subtle and insightful ethnography of cultural and political life in Kashmir.
On January 09, the Consulate General of India in Chicago, celebrated Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in downtown Chicago. About 100 members of the community as well as friends of India attended the event, according to a press release from the Consulate.
Consul and Head of Chancery D.B.Bhati, welcomed the guests and participants.
A documentary titled “Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas -2017” was screened at the event. It depicted the direct engagement of Government of India leaders at the highest level with the Indian community all across the world.
India’s Consul General in Chicago Neeta Bhushan, delivered the keynote address. She highlighted the efforts being made by New Delhi to reach out to the Indian community settled abroad. She also highlighted some of the ongoing flagship programs of the government aimed at strengthening engagement with the diaspora and the ways in which the Consulate in Chicago is implementing them.
She also congratulated two Chicago-based Indian-Americans who received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award, Dr. Bharat Barai and Dr. Niranjan Shah, and Barai also addressed the gathering.
Others presenta at the event included Mohammed Yusuf, father of Mohammed Akbar who became the victim of gun violence in Chicago on Dec. 6, Ishak Vohra, father of Arshad Vohra, a 19 year old Indian student who was shot dead in a robbery attempt on Dec. 28, and Muzaffer Hussain, Son of Bakar Sayyed who was also shot in the same incident Dec. 28. They spoke highly of the speedy response from the Indian Consulate in reaching out to the victims of the violence and their family members and extending them help during the critical time.
The Consulate also celebrated the Vishava Hindi Diwas immediately after the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas. Some prominent Hindi poets of Chicagoland such as Gurbachan Kaur “Neelam” and Sudaksha recited their poems on this occasion. Their poetry highlighted the sentiments of migrant Indians.
Photograph of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security logo.
NEW YORK – A bill introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives will seek to increase the allotment of green cards by 45 percent, rising from 120,000 to 175,000 per year as part of the ‘Securing America’s Futures Act.’
If the bill passes, then this would be the end to the Diversity Visa Lottery program which will reduce the overall immigration levels from 1.05 million to 260,000 each year and many Indians on H1-B visa are expected to be a major beneficiary of this act.
According to a PTI report, there are at least 500,000 Indians waiting in line for their green cards while they seek annual extensions for their H-1B visas. Many have been waiting for decades and an increase in the number of green cards per year is likely to reduce that wait period drastically.
Indian comes in third on the list of green card holder countries with 64,116, Mexico and China come in after that with 158,619 and 74,558, respectively. Pakistan has 18,057 green card holders in the pipeline.
The bill was introduced by House Homeland Security Committee Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Martha McSally, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Judiciary Committee Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Raul Labrador.
“This bill offers common-sense solutions that will finally secure our borders, better support our frontline defenders, strengthen interior enforcement, and get tough on those who break our immigration laws. With this the president at the helm, we have the opportunity to provide the security and rule of law our founding fathers intended,” McCaul said, the PTI report said.
But if Indian Americans want to bring other family members to the U.S. then they may not be able to do that as the Securing America’s Future Act eliminates the green card program for relatives, other than spouses and minor children.
However, the act does create a renewable temporary visa for parents of citizens to unite families as well as a workable agricultural guest worker program to grow the U.S. economy.
Labrador said “the bill will modernize America’s immigration system for the next generation, enacting conservative reforms that will make the nation strong.”
“This carefully crafted legislation, which is aligned with the White Houses’ immigration priorities, combines enforcement measures and increased border security to enhance public safety, ensure the door remains open to law-abiding immigrants, and restore the rule of law,” Goodlatte added.
“The legislation would accomplish the President’s core priorities for the American people,” the White House said in a statement.
Huma Abedin, aide to U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, arrives to meet with the House Select Committee on Benghazi in the U.S. Capitol in Washington October 16, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Barria – RTS4RQS
NEW YORK – Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s top aide, has withdrawn her pending divorce proceedings to her husband Anthony Weiner, who is serving a 21-month sentence for sending sexually explicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl.
According to a Page Six report, the reason seems to be mutual as both of their lawyers have stated that Abedin and Weiner desire to protect their 6-year-old son and have a settlement outside of court.
“In order to reduce any impact of these proceedings on their child, the parties have decided to reach a settlement swiftly and privately,” Abedin’s lawyer, Charles Miller, and Weiner’s attorney, Margaret Donohoe, said in separate statements.
Though a judge announced in Manhattan Supreme Court that the case was “discontinued,” Michael Stutman, a family law expert, wondered if Weiner and Abedin might be wanting to stay married to invoke spousal immunity and told Page Six that they would still have to file a divorce settlement in court for it to be legally binding.
The withdrawal of the divorce comes just a week after President Donald Trump urged the Justice Department to investigate Abedin for keeping any classified emails on Weiner’s laptop after he tweeted “Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid [sic], Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors [sic] pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act?”
According to the Page six report, New York law states that a husband or wife can’t be “required to disclose a confidential communication made by one or the other during the marriage.”
“He easily could be called in by a grand jury to testify against her, so by dropping the lawsuit, he can exercise the marital privilege. When you’re married to someone, you cannot be compelled to testify against them,” matrimonial lawyer Suzanne Bracker told The Post.
NEW YORK – Indian American Vetri Velan, along with fellow University of California Berkeley student Kathy Shield, have built an online calculator that will let their fellow grad students figure out what the new Republican tax plan might cost them.
According to a Berkeley press release, Velan used the calculator to estimate that the House version of the bill would raise his taxes by about 30 percent, or about $1,100.
“The calculator aims to give graduate students a sense of how their taxes will change under the new law. It’s designed for students who file singly, and therefore have (relatively) simple taxes, although we’ve also used it to look at the situations of married students, those with dependents and those who own homes,” said Shield, who is a graduate student in nuclear engineering.
“In each case, our calculator indicates that their taxes will increase if the changes in the House version of the tax bill go through,” she added.
Velan is a graduate student in physics who participated in the protest which took place a UC Berkeley when the tax plan passed the House.
“I felt the calculator would raise awareness by showing students the effects on their own personal finances,” he said.
In addition to helping build the calculator and taking part in the protest, Velan is contacting legislators and encouraging colleagues and friends to spread the word about their calculator.
“Some grad students in ESPM organized a phone blitz for students to come and call their legislators! So the entire community has been coming together on this issue,” he said.
NEW YORK – Indian American Raghunandan Yandamuri, who was sentenced to death in 2014 for killing a baby and her grandmother back in 2012, will be executed in Pennsylvania on Friday, Feb. 23.
According to the Times Heralds, the “Notice of Execution” was signed by Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel on Monday.
“The law provides that when the governor does not sign a warrant of execution within the specified time period, the secretary of corrections has 30 days within which to issue a notice of execution,” officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections wrote in a news release announcing Yandamuri’s execution date.
According to the Times Heralds, Yandamuri, now 32, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by a jury in 2014 in connection with the Oct. 22, 2012, deaths of 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna and her 10-month-old granddaughter, Saanvi, at The Marquis apartment complex in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania.
At trial, then First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Deputy District Attorney Samantha Cauffman characterized the case as a kidnapping for ransom that went the wrong way as prosecutors alleged Yandamuri, a neighbor to the Venna family, needed money to repay his gambling debts and targeted the Venna family for his kidnapping scheme because he believed they had the money.
Yandamuri initially denied killing both the infant and the grandmother but later allegedly told police that when he entered the victims’ apartment, “he grabbed Saanvi, but dropped her during a deadly scuffle with the grandmother. When he could not quell the child’s cries, he stuffed a handkerchief in her mouth and secured it with a bath towel. Yandamuri then placed Saanvi in a blue suitcase.”
Saanvi was found dead in the basement of the apartment complex on Oct. 26.
New Jersey State Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, representing District 33, is slated to become the House Majority Leader, only the second Indian-American ever in the nation’s history to be holding that post. (Photo: NJ Legislature)
The only Indian-American lawmaker in the New Jersey State House is being appointed as the House Majority Whip News India Times has learnt from reliable sources.
Rumors that the Speaker of the N.J. Assembly was going to appoint Assemblyman Raj Mukherji as the House Majority Whip carried in insidernj.com Jan. 9, are confirmed with the announcement to be made today.
Mukherji, 33, who represents the 33rd District in N.J. , will become the first Indian-American in the history of N.J Lower House in a state legislature to be given the position of Majority Whip. He may also be the youngest but that is yet to be confirmed. The New Jersey State Legislature also has an Indian-American in the Senate, Vin Gopal, elected this November.
The former sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve (2001-2009), was elected to the state assembly in 2014, becoming the second Indian-American after Upendra Chivukula of Franklin, N.J., who served several terms before taking on and losing the challenge of running for the U.S. Congress.
A graduate of Thomas Edison State University, with a master of arts from University of Pennsylvania, and a law degree cum laude from Seton Hall, Mukherji is a partner in the law firm of Mukherji Wolf in Jersey City, where he lives. Mukherji was the deputy mayor of Jersey City in 2012-2013. He also serves as the chairman of the Jersey City Housing Authority since 2008.
In September last year, Mukherji married New Yorker Natasha Alagarasan, 32, a contracted Google project manager and former news producer of “The Call” on NY1, the New York Times reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump grew frustrated with lawmakers Thursday in the Oval Office when they discussed protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, according to several people briefed on the meeting.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to these people, referring to countries mentioned by the lawmakers.
Trump then suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries such as Norway, whose prime minister he met with Wednesday. The president, according to a White House official, also suggested he would be open to more immigrants from Asian countries because he felt that they help the United States economically.
In addition, the president singled out Haiti, telling lawmakers that immigrants from that country must be left out of any deal, these people said.
“Why do we need more Haitians?” Trump said, according to people familiar with the meeting. “Take them out.”
Lawmakers were taken aback by the comments, according to people familiar with their reactions. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., had proposed cutting the visa lottery program by 50 percent and then prioritizing countries already in the system, a White House official said.
A White House spokesman defended Trump’s position on immigration without directly addressing his remarks. White House officials did not dispute the account.
“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement issued after The Washington Post first reported Trump’s remarks. “. . . Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation.”
Trump built his candidacy and presidency around hard stances on immigration, vowing to build a wall along the Mexican border and cut legal immigration by half, among other positions. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security have increased immigration raids, including dozens this week at convenience stores across the country.
Trump’s comments Thursday also put further scrutiny on his long-standing tendency to make racially charged remarks – including attacks on protesting black athletes and his claim that there were fine people “on both sides” after neo-Nazis rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump falsely claimed for years that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and took out advertisements calling for the death penalty for members of the Central Park Five – four black youths and a Hispanic youth who were accused of a brutal rape in New York and later exonerated.
The president’s remarks were quickly met with scorn from Democrats and some Republicans and could throw another wrench into bipartisan discussions on immigration, which had shown promise in recent days, according to legislators.
Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., said the comments “will shake the confidence that people have” in the ongoing immigration policy talks.
“Democrats and Republicans in the Senate made a proposal. The answer is this racist outburst of the president. How can you take him seriously?” Gutiérrez said. “They [Republicans] don’t believe in immigration – it’s always been about people of color and keeping them out of this country.”
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said on Twitter that Trump’s remarks “are further proof that his Make America Great Again Agenda is really a Make America White Again agenda.”
Some Republicans also raised objections. Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, whose family is from Haiti, said in a statement that Trump’s remarks were “unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values. This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation.”
“My grandmother used to say, ‘Digame con quién caminas, y te diré quién eres.’ ‘Tell me who you walk with, and I’ll tell you who you are,’ ” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., who represents most of Harlem and is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. “If he’s walking around with white supremacists and supporting them, this kind of talk doesn’t surprise me.”
The New York Times also reported last year that Trump said immigrants from Haiti have AIDS. The White House denied that report.
In a statement condemning Thursday’s remarks by Trump, Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Paul G. Altidor, said that “the president was either misinformed or miseducated about Haiti and its people.” He said the Haitian Embassy was inundated with emails from Americans apologizing for what the president said.
Democrats were quick to note that Trump employs Haitians at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and that he praised Haitian Americans during a roundtable in Miami in September.
“Whether you vote for me or don’t vote for me, I really want to be your greatest champion, and I will be your champion,” Trump said at the roundtable.
Alix Desulme, a city council member in North Miami, home to thousands of Haitian Americans, said the president’s latest remarks were “disgusting.”
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God Jesus,” Desulme said. “I don’t know how much worse it can get.”
“This is very alarming. We know he’s not presidential, but this is a low,” he said. “It’s disheartening that someone who is the leader of the free world would use such demeaning language to talk about other folks, referring to folks of color.”
Trump’s critics also said racially incendiary language could damage relationships with foreign allies.
For many of Trump’s supporters, however, the comments may not prove to be particularly damaging. Trump came under fire from conservatives this week for seeming to suggest that he would be open to a comprehensive immigration reform deal without money for a border wall, before he quickly backtracked.
“He’s trying to win me back,” conservative author Ann Coulter, who has called for harsh limits on immigration, wrote on Twitter.
Outlining a potential bipartisan deal, the lawmakers discussed restoring protections for countries that have been removed from the temporary protected status (TPS) program while committing $1.5 billion for a border wall and making changes to the visa lottery system. Lawmakers mentioned that members of the Congressional Black Caucus had requested that some African countries be included in a deal, according to a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
The exchange was “salty” on all sides, this person said, with the president growing profane and animated while discussing immigrants from other countries. “It did not go well,” this person said.
The administration announced this week that it was removing TPS status for citizens of El Salvador. Haitians were added to the TPS program because of a strong earthquake that devastated Haiti eight years ago.
Trump had seemed amenable to a deal earlier in the day during phone calls with lawmakers, aides said, but shifted his position in the meeting and did not seem interested in the bipartisan compromise.
The scene played out hurriedly in the morning. Graham and Durbin thought they would be meeting with Trump alone and were surprised to find immigration hard-liners such as Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., at the meeting. White House and Capitol Hill aides say Stephen Miller, the president’s top immigration official, was concerned there could be a deal proposed that was too liberal and made sure conservative lawmakers were present.
After the meeting, Marc Short, Trump’s director of legislative affairs, said the White House was nowhere near a bipartisan agreement on immigration.
“We still think we can get there,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the daily White House news briefing.
Logo of the Twitter and Facebook are seen through magnifier on display in this illustration taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
A group of shareholders on Thursday demanded that Facebook and Twitter disclose more information about sexual harassment, fake news, hate speech and other forms of abuse that take place on the companies’ platforms.
The shareholder resolution by the New York State Comptroller’s office, which operates the state’s pension fund, and Arjuna Capital, a Boston-based boutique investment firm, puts pressure on tech giants to publish detailed reports on the scope of the problems and how they plan to address them.
In the last two years, Silicon Valley companies have come under fire as never before for widespread abuse of their services, from profiteers spreading false news stories in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election to a series of violent acts that were committed in real-time on Facebook’s video-streaming service, Facebook Live. Advocates, politicians and many former executives have begun to question the value of the products they built and ask whether those products have had a negative impact on the world.
Both Twitter and Facebook occasionally post information about their progress and goals in fighting abuse, but the disclosures are highly selective. For example, Facebook has said that the vast majority of reports of violence are reviewed within 24 hours but has not disclosed how many violent acts get posted on the platform or how widely they spread before being taken down. Twitter recently updated its policies on hate speech to clarify that groups that promote violence – either on or off the platform – would be kicked off but has never revealed the extent of hate speech.
In September, the Daily Beast published a story showing how Twitter’s ad systems identified 26.3 million users who may respond to the term “wetback,” 18.6 million to “Nazi” and 14.5 million to the n-word, if those words were used to target ads. Women boycotted Twitter in October after the service temporarily suspended the account of actress Rose McGowan when she was tweeting about sexual harassment issues.
Facebook and Twitter declined to comment.
Together the shareholders hold roughly $35 million worth of Twitter stock and roughly $1.1 billion of Facebook.
U.S. President Donald Trump pauses as he announces his decision that the United States will withdraw from the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files
U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled a visit to the United Kingdom, what would have been his first trip there since assuming the Oval Office.
And it comes after months of delays fueled by speculation that a visit would be contentious, with mass protests expected.
The president said on Twitter he cancelled because he disapproved the recent moving of the U.S. embassy there into a new building – what he called an “Obama administration” decision that was sold for “peanuts,” and he didn’t want to participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The embassy move was announced before Obama was elected, during the last months of the Bush White House.
At the time officials said it was partially to upgrade its security.
The new building is in a less central location, but implements several features the old 1960’s office lacked, such as being set back from the street 100 feet with a moat to protect against bombings and an internal barracks for the marine guards.
The $1 billion construction was entirely funded by the sale of other U.S. properties in the city.
Almost every modern president since at least World War Two has visited Britain in their first year in office, and many in just the first couple months.
The president’s trip to the UK would have been what’s called a “working” visit. A separate, “state visit” with more pomp and an audience with the queen may still be on the table.
No date or firm plans have been made public, though, and mass demonstrations expected against Trump in the country considered America’s closest ally would likely complicate his security.
In November Trump retweeted unverified anti-Muslim videos from a British far-right group, which drew condemnation from Prime Minister Theresa May.
He also has a long-standing feud with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who Trump has accused of being weak on combating recent militant attacks in the city.
A YouGov poll last year suggested over a third of Britons wants Trump to cancel any visit outright.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) welcomes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an official welcoming ceremony upon his arrival in Israel at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
NEW DELHI – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a six-day visit to India on Sunday hoping to boost trade ties and iron out differences arising from New Delhi’s decision to scrap a defense deal, officials from both countries said.
Israel’s state-owned defense contractor Rafael announced on Jan. 3 that India had cancelled a $500 million order to buy its Spike anti-tank guided missiles. Indian media said Delhi would instead opt for home-made anti-tank missiles.
“If there is a problem, it can, it should and it will be solved,” said Daniel Carmon, Israel’s ambassador to India referring to the cancellation of the defense deal.
India is Israel’s biggest arms market, buying around $1 billion worth of weapons every year. Despite the cancellation of the missile deal, India’s Defense Ministry said this month it had cleared a plan worth $72 million to buy 131 Barak surface-to-air missiles built by Rafael.
The two countries have grown closer since Narendra Modi became Indian prime minister in 2014, widening commercial cooperation beyond their longstanding defense ties.
Netanyahu will be accompanied by a 130-member delegation drawn from the cyber and agriculture sectors as well as from defense. As well as New Delhi, they will also visit India’s financial capital Mumbai and Modi’s home-state of Gujarat.
“The intention of the prime minister and the whole delegation is to boost trade, investment and tourism between both countries,” said Gilad Cohen, deputy director-general for Asia and the Pacific in Israel’s foreign ministry.
Deals for gas and oil cooperation, cyber security and agricultural projects are on the agenda.
PALESTINIANS
The trip comes about half a year after Modi became the first sitting Indian prime minister to visit Israel. On that trip Modi did not travel to the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian leaders, as visiting leaders usually do..
However, India was among more than 120 countries last month to vote in favor of a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
Carmon said India’s vote against Israel at the U.N. General Assembly on the Jerusalem issue would not affect bilateral ties.
“The vote at the UN is important, but it will not mar the big picture of the India-Israel relationship,” he said.
Foreign policy experts in New Delhi said Modi had made significant changes in diplomatic and strategic ties with Israel while at the same time retaining links with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Before Modi visited Israel in July 2017 he hosted Abbas in India and offered help in health and information technology, but the trip was low-key.
(L-R) Justices Kurian Joseph, Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur address the media at a news conference in New Delhi, India January 12, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
NEW DELHI – Four justices of India’s Supreme Court on Friday criticized its distribution of cases to judges and raised concerns about judicial appointments, in an unprecedented public airing of problems at one of the country’s most respected institutions.
The move points to far-reaching implications for jurists and politicians in the chaotic South Asian democracy where the Supreme Court often sets the agenda on matters of policy and orders measures taken in the public interest.
Exposing a rift with Chief Justice Dipak Misra, the court’s four next highest-ranking judges said the issues involving its administration were serious enough to prompt them to go public.
“The four of us are convinced that unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country,” Justice Jasti Chelameswar told a news conference on the lawns of his home in the Indian capital.
The justices released a letter they had written to Misra.
In it they mentioned instances of cases with “far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution” that were selectively assigned by the chief justice without rational “basis for such assignment”.
All Supreme Court judges should be involved in setting the procedures used to hire and promote judges in all the country’s courts, they added.
The chief justice did not immediately respond to telephone calls from Reuters seeking comment.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad declined to comment.
Two close aides of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was looking into the matter and had summoned top law ministry officials for consultations.
The judges did not give specific details of their concerns during the press conference, but said “it is an issue of assignment of a case”. When reporters asked whether it was related to the case of a lower court judge B. Loya, who died in December 2014 while hearing a high-profile trial, one of the four judges said “yes”.
At the time of his death, Loya was hearing a case that accused Amit Shah, the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, of ordering extrajudicial killings when he served as home minister under Modi in the state of Gujarat. Shah has since been acquitted of those charges. (http://reut.rs/13GzEsm)
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a plea to investigate Loya’s death, local media said.
The BJP and Shah’s office declined to comment.
Separately, last November, the chief justice overturned an order by Chelameswar that referred a case to a bench of the five most senior judges. At the time, Misra said he was the “master of the roster”.
SPEAKING UP
Some Supreme Court lawyers praised the justices’ action.
“Looking at its own flaws is the first step to correcting an institution, to deepening true constitutional democracy,” said Karuna Nundy, a Supreme Court lawyer.
But there was also criticism over the public nature of the rift. The spat was distressing, a former attorney-general of India, Soli Sorabjee, told the India Today news channel.
“The public shouldn’t see that the judiciary is a divided house,” he said.
The Supreme Court has 25 judges appointed by India’s president, including the chief justice, who retire at the age of 65, according to its website.
The four justices at Friday’s news conference – Chelameswar plus Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph – are the most senior after Misra.
Three are scheduled to retire this year, while Gogoi is in line to be the next chief justice, based on seniority.
Efforts to alert the chief justice that certain things were not in order and that remedial measures were needed had failed, prompting the news conference, Chelameswar said.
Asked if the chief justice should be impeached, Chelameswar said, “That’s for the nation to decide.”
“I think this is the first of many things to come,” said Alok Kumar Prasanna, a lawyer and legal researcher. “It seems clear to me that there’s a war going on.”
In his latest film, director Anurag Kashyap focuses on sports and politics in small-town India, with the story of a young boxer’s struggle to make it big.
Kashyap, 45, spoke to Reuters about “Mukkabaaz”, why he doesn’t like Bollywood biopics, and whether his Phantom Films production house has strayed from what it set out to achieve.
Q: Would you call “Mukkabaaz” a sports film?
A: It’s a film about sports, but it’s an honest sports film.
Q: What do you mean by that?
A: I mean that we turn everything into formula. Even our biopics are not honest. See the films that have come out … it has become a formula now. People with one singular achievement have a biopic being told about them. Or people whose life is not over yet … and all biopics are super nationalist and patriotic and end with the national anthem. And that pisses me off. They are born heroes, from the first frame to the last. I find them extremely manipulative and don’t like most of them.
Q: Why is nationalism and patriotism in the movies working now?
A: People have always bought patriotism. Most people across the world live very meaningless lives. When they feel patriotic, they think they have a purpose and that’s why patriotism is sold to them, because their other issues they cannot redress.
Cinema in India is less of an art form and more of a business. So producers always say, put in a bit of this and that. You should hear when they say ‘we should put in the national anthem in the end’. It’s like putting in a bit of jeera (cumin) to a dish. That is what they reduce patriotism to. It pisses me off and that is what I have addressed in my film.
Q: Your film has politics mixed with the sports theme…
A: Which sport doesn’t have politics? Why do you think politicians head every sports organisation? It is soft power.
Q: Why did you want to work with Anand L. Rai on this film?
A: It just happened. I was looking for money, and we had a great script. Vineet Kumar Singh (the lead actor in “Mukkabaaz”) had gone in and put in so many years, but he had been a character actor. People loved the script so much, but they said take Vineet out of the equation. Let’s take the film to a big star and you take whatever money you want. They didn’t have a problem with Zoya because ‘heroine koi bhi ho’ (the female lead could be anyone). I didn’t want to take Vineet out of the equation, so we walked out of one place. Aanand Rai called me because he wanted me to do “Manmarziyan”, but I said I wanted to do this one first. So he said let’s do both together.
Q: How do you assess Phantom Films right now?
A: Phantom is doing bigger things now, and I want to do smaller things, so we have figured out a way for us to work together, all of us. The last year, Phantom has been very busy … because of Netflix. Both Vikram (co-founder Vikramaditya Motwane) and I have been consumed by only that. And then we have two big films going on floor in 2018. One is “Super 30” and one is “1983”, so they are both massive films.
Q: Phantom was supposed to be a production house that gave voice to idle voices, to smaller film-makers, but your films are now with big stars like Hrithik Roshan and Ranveer Singh. How has that happened?
A: Exactly. That is my question.
Q: Shouldn’t you have an answer to this question?
A: I don’t have an answer. That is my question to all of us. When we become a company and it has its own set of pressures and its own employees … My constant question is, how large do we become? Do we become so large that we start doing a certain kind of a thing and stop doing another kind of a thing. That’s something that we deal with on a daily basis. For me, our whole philosophy is that it’s a directordriven company. So if I want to do a certain thing, the onus is on me, within the company. Four people have different takes on what kind of film they want to make, and we each are doing that.
Q: So how is it a cohesive company?
A: It is a cohesive company because I know how to budget the film, how to put it together, but I don’t understand finances. I depend on them for that. I am making this film with Aanand L Rai, but I don’t sit together on the contracts or the budgets. They sit in on that – I deal with neither Phantom nor Aanand – I go out and make my film, the way I want to make it.
Q: Does Phantom’s change of focus indicate that there is no way beyond the movie star system?
A: No, I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe in that at all.
Q: You spoke about having employees on board and the pressure that comes with it. I the answer to go big and get stars on board?
A: That’s an easy answer.
Q: So you all are taking the easy way out?
A: We are doing both things.
Q: How? Where are the smaller films?
A: Imagine four people in a room … if they are always in sync, 24 hours, isn’t it boring? We will always have our conflicts and we have different ways of looking at things. But we are always together. We will be fighting, but we will always be together. My point of view is exactly your question – is going big the easy way out? Yes, it is. Are we taking the easy way out? Yes, we are. So I believe contrary and I am doing the contrary thing. They are supporting me in that. They are doing what they believe in and I am there for them.
Q: Do you believe that Phantom has moved away from its original philosophy?
A: No, it has not. Phantom is still involved with “Mukkabaaz”.
NEW YORK – The Tamil Chair Inc. board, who is trying to institute a chair at Harvard University, said that it will be taking legal action against Indian American and U.S. Senate candidate Shiva Ayyadurai after he wrote a blog post on January 8 claiming that ‘Harvard was exploiting Tamilians by making them pay for their own historic artifacts.’
According to The News Minute, in the blog post titled ‘Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai Stops Harvard’s Tamil Professorship Scam,’ Ayyadurai says that the co-founder of the Tamil Chair Inc. decided to stop the effort of instituting a chair at Harvard after Ayyadurai called and discussed about it.
In the blog post Ayyadurai writes, “Harvard is asking Tamilians to pay $6 million for a professorship that will be used to rob their own historic artifacts worth trillions of dollars representing the ‘Holy Grail’ of the world’s most highly-prized indigenous knowledge. Harvard will then proceed to use access to those artifacts to rewrite and hegemonize Tamil history, an unfortunate and recurrent process that Harvard has done for far too long to many indigenous cultures.”
Ayyadurai alleges that there is evidence that “Hebrews in academia” were colluding in an effort to “reduce Tamil to a ‘goo goo ga ga’ language.
The blog post continues to claim that “a comparison of the Hebrew script with the Tamil Brahmi script will confirm that Hebrew script is based on the older Brahmi script, an uncomfortable fact for the Hebrew chauvinists who suppress this fact.”
Ayyadurai went on to proposing his own solution and promised to “galvanize” the Tamil diaspora all over the world as well as donate to TamilNadu.com, a website owned by him to “build the first online Tamil University.”
However, the founders of the Tamil Chair Inc. board have now issued a statement against Ayyadurai’s claims in his blog post.
“It is true he (Shiv Ayyadurai) called me and stated that it is a waste and there are many ways to spread Tamil. I told him to give his ideas and if appropriate will work with him. I never said that we will stop the initiative and said that it not me alone any longer and worldwide Tamils are behind,” Vijay Janakiraman said in a statement.
“Harvard had, has and will withstand trials and tribulations!” Sundaresan Sambandam said in a letter adding that they will continue the effort to institute a Tamil chair at Harvard.
The Harvard Tamil Chair Facebook page also confirms that the board will take legal action against anyone who comes in their way.
“Harvard University is working on legal actions against the individuals who are slandering its name with respect to Tamil Chair. This has been communicated by Harvard officials in a conversation with Tamil Chair Inc,” it said.
According to The News Minute, last October, the Tamil Nadu government sanctioned Rs. 10 crore for the Chair in an effort to fulfill late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s 2016 poll promise.
Once the chair is established, it is expected to pave way for research focused on Tamil language, history of Tamil rulers across the world, literature and digitization of palm manuscripts.
