Mumbai: Actress Vidya Balan during the promotion of her upcoming film “Tumhari Sulu” in Mumbai on Nov 3, 2017.(Photo: IANS)
MUMBAI – Actor Irrfan Khan won the Filmfare Best Actor in Leading Role (Male) award for “Hindi Medium” while Vidya Balan bagged the Filmfare Best Actor in Leading Role (Female) Award for “Tumhari Sulu” at the 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards here.
From giving the awards to iconic actors like Irrfan Khan to Rajkummar Rao, Vidya Balan to Zaira Wasim — the 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018 celebrated the talents of different ages, on Saturday night.
Vidya received her award from legendary actress Rekha.
Rajkumar Rao bagged two awards. He won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) for “Bareilly Ki Barfi”, and also Critics’ Award for Best Actor (Male) for “Trapped”.
The evening was graced by who’s who of Bollywood including Akshay Kumar, who walked the red carpet along with his “Pad Man” co-star Sonam Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Saqib Saleem, Armaan Malik, Amaal Malik, Karan Johar, Preity Zinta, Rekha, Jaya Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Vidya Balan among many others.
Meher Vij won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) for “Secret superstar”. Actress Zaira Wasim won the Critics’ Award for Best Actor (Female) for the same film.
Ayushmann Khurrana made the evening entertaining with some of the evergreen super hit cult classics like “Jab koi baat bigad jaaye”, “Tera mujhse hai pehle ka nata koi”, “Ruk jaana nahi tu kahi haar ke”, “Kehdu tumhe ya chup rahu” and “Janu meri jaan main tere qurbaan” on stage.
Ranveer Singh appeared at the function with an interesting outfit that clubbed poster motifs of various classic Hindi films. When host Shah Rukh Khan asked Ranveer about his costume, he replied: “People eat movies, drink movies, I even wear movies.”
Konkona Sen Sharma won the Best Debut Director Award for “A Death In The Gunj”. Receiving the award from Jaya Bachchan and Sonali Bendre, Konkona said, “Thank you so much… It’s unbelievable. I would like to thank Jio Filmfare. I would like to extend my biggest thank you to my team.”
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari won the Best Director Award for “Bareilly Ki Barfi”.
Amit V. Masurkar bagged the Best Original Story Award for his Oscar-nominated film “Newton”. the film “Newton” also won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Film. “Hindi Medium” won the Best Film (popular) Award.
Like last year, Jio Filmfare award ceremony has created special space for celebrating short films. this year, Jackie Shroff won the Best Actor in Short Film Award for “Khujli”. Neeraj Ghaywan won the Best Short Film Award for “Juice”.
Filmfare Best Playback Singer (Male) Award went to Arijit Singh for “Roke Na Ruke Naina” from “Badrinath Ki Dulhania”. Meghna Mishra won the Best Playback Singer (Female) Award for “Nachdi Phira” from “Secret Superstar”.
Iconic music composer and singer Bappi Lahiri won the Jio Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. Actress Vidya Balan, who handed over the award to the legend, mentioned: “It’s a very special moment for me. Bappi has given the most successful song of my career.”
After receiving the award, the music composer said: “Thank you Jio Filmfare. I am very happy. I would like to dedicate it to my parents, wife and my full family. It’s a hard work of 46 years.”
FILE PHOTO: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering during his visit to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India, June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo
NEW DELHI – Ahead of his visit to Davos in Switzerland on Monday for the World Economic Forum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that he looked forward to sharing his vision for India’s engagement with the international community.
“The existing and emerging challenges to the contemporary international system and global governance architecture deserve serious attention of leaders, governments, policy-makers, corporates and civil societies around the world,” Modi said in a pre-departure statement here.
“In recent years, India’s engagement with the outside world has become truly and effectively multi-dimensional, covering political, economic, people-to-people, security and other spheres,” he said.
“At Davos, I look forward to sharing my vision for India’s future engagement with the international community.”
Modi will be the first Prime Minister from India to participate in a forum meeting in two decades after the then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in 1997.
Explaining the significance of Modi’s visit during a media briefing here on Friday, Vijay Gokhale, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said that in 1997, the Indian economy was well below $1 trillion whereas it is now above $2 trillion.
The main event in Davos will be the keynote speech of Modi at the plenary session on January 23.
In his statement, Modi said that apart from the events for the World Economic Forum, he looked forward to separate bilateral meetings with Swiss President Alain_Berset and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.
“I am confident that these bilateral meetings will be fruitful and give a boost to our relations with these countries and further strengthen economic engagement,” he said.
According to Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, a dinner on Monday will be attended by CEOs of 60 companies.
On January 23, Modi will interact with 120 members of the International Business Council, which is a part of the WEF.
He will also interact with CEOs of Indian companies separately.
A sign announcing the closure of the Statue of Liberty, due to the U.S. government shutdown, sits near the ferry dock to the Statue of Liberty at Battery Park in Manhattan, New York, U.S., January 20, 2018. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
NEW YORK – As the federal government shutdown entered its second day on Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo vowed to use state money to reopen the Statue of Liberty before Washington restores funding to operate the popular tourist destination.
The site was among many federal monuments and parks that closed at midnight Friday after lawmakers in Congress failed to agree on a spending plan to keep the government running, triggering the first shutdown in four years.
In the hours leading up to the shutdown, the Trump administration was working on ways to keep hundreds of parks open without staff in an effort to avoid public anger, though it was unclear which ones would close.
“Not all parks are fully open but we are all working hard to make as many areas as accessible to the public as possible,” U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said on Twitter on Saturday.
In Washington, the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo will remain open through Monday, using prior-year funds. In a tweet, the Smithsonian said it would update its status beyond Monday “as soon as we know.”
But in Philadelphia, visitors were turned away at the Liberty Bell, while tourists in New York on Saturday expressed disappointment that they were unable to take the ferry to the island that houses the Statue of Liberty.
During the last shutdown in 2013, a number of governors used state funds to keep certain parks open, including the Statue of Liberty, which at that time cost $61,600 per day to reopen.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Cuomo called it a “gross injustice” to close down the statue, a symbol of American freedoms. The Democratic governor said he would use state money to pay for operations, both because it is an emblem of New York and the United States and because the cost is justified from a tourism standpoint.
“We’re going to be talking to the federal government as soon as somebody answers the phone,” he said.
In Arizona, Republican Governor Doug Ducey vowed last week to keep the Grand Canyon operating using state funds in the event of a shutdown.
But in South Dakota, home of Mount Rushmore, Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard on Friday said he would not take any action to keep the monument open during a shutdown.
Photograph of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security logo.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained or deported several foreigners across the country who are also prominent immigration activists, prompting accusations from advocates that the Trump administration is improperly targeting political opponents.
Detention Watch Network, a nonprofit that tracks immigration enforcement, said this week that several activists have been targeted recently, including Maru Mora Villalpando in Washington state, Eliseo Jurado in Colorado, and New York immigrant leaders Jean Montrevil and Ravi Ragbir.
“They’re trying to intimidate people,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee. “These are well-known activists who’ve been here for decades, and they’re saying to them: Don’t raise your head.”
A top ICE official denied that the agency is targeting immigrants for deportation because of their activism. The agency says its priorities are immigrants who pose a threat to national and border security and public safety. Most, but not all, of the targeted immigrants have criminal records.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not target unlawfully present aliens for arrest based on advocacy positions they hold or in retaliation for critical comments they make,” said Matthew Albence, ICE’S executive associate director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, which detains and deports immigrants. “Any suggestion to the contrary is irresponsible, speculative and inaccurate.”
The accusations come as a congressional clash on immigration policy, and after months of rising tensions between immigrant-rights activists and the Trump administration. In California, New York and Washington, governing Democrats have discouraged businesses from cooperating with ICE – part of a clash over “sanctuary status” that has been tied up in courts.
Montrevil, who was deported to Haiti on Jan. 16, came to the U.S. legally in 1986 and was ordered deported in 1994. He has multiple felony convictions related to drug possession, according to ICE. But in an interview with the radio show Democracy Now, he questioned the timing of his deportation.
“I have been under supervision for 15 years, and I’ve never violated,” Montrevil said. “I have always made my appointment. And I stay out of trouble. I have volunteered, and I work and take care of my kids. I pay taxes every year. I did everything right. Everything they asked me to do, I have done it. So why target me now?”
Ragbir, a citizen of Trinidad, was convicted in 2000 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and later sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $350,000 restitution. ICE said he will be detained until he can be deported.
Montrevil is a co-founder of the New Sanctuary Coalition, which advocates for immigrants, and Ragbir is the coalition’s current executive director. Ragbir has lived in the United States for more than 20 years.
“We see the last few weeks as an escalating series of actions against New Sanctuary and our leaders aimed at silencing those who speak for immigrants’ rights,” said Kirk Cheyfitz, a spokesman for the New York-based group. “All this comes as racist rhetoric from the White House leaves no doubt about the racial basis of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.”
Jurado, the 30-year-old husband of a Peruvian citizen living in a Boulder, Colorado, church to avoid deportation, was arrested on Jan. 11 for being in the United States illegally. ICE said he has a 2007 driving offense in Adams County, Colorado, and three misdemeanor convictions. He, too, is being detained pending a hearing before an immigration judge.
Jurado’s advocates say ICE detained him in retaliation for his wife’s public fight to avoid deportation to Peru.
Maru Mora Villalpando, a Mexican national in Washington state, said she has no criminal record and is proof that ICE is targeting activists.
“This latest tactic is something we might expect from generals in a tin-pot dictatorship, not federal officers in a 240-year-old democracy,” said Kica Matos, a spokeswoman for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, the largest network of immigrant-rights organizations in the United States. “Arresting immigrant activists who speak up is meant to sow fear in immigrant communities and stop political protest.”
ICE mailed her a letter in December saying she may be deported. She has lived in the United States for 22 years and had met with federal officials during the Obama administration, when she helped publicize detainees’ hunger strikes and other protests in Washington state.
“There’s no way for them to know about me except for the work that I do,” she said. “I think my case makes it clear that actually Ravi and Jean’s case were politically motivated.”
ICE officials would not say how Mora Villalpando came across the agency’s radar, but said they are pursuing her deportation.
“All those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to enforcement proceedings, up to and including removal from the United States,” the agency said in a statement.
Increasingly, Democrats are handling that information as a potential threat. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., an advocate for the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program who has held a number of town halls and hearings to talk to constituents about their immigration status, worried that the reports from New York, Colorado, and Washington were part of a growing trend.
“I have long suspected that very vocal advocates were harshly targeted after they spoke out,” said Gutierrez. “I would go to a hearing, an immigration hearing, and the person who made the biggest impression? I’d find out that they’d been detained. And that started last year.”
U.S. President Donald Trump talks with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley as they attend a session on reforming the United Nations at U.N. Headquarters in New York, U.S., September 18, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
As an upstart candidate aiming for the highest office in the United States, Donald Trump promised an election rally of Indians that they “will have a true friend in the White House” and “we are going to be best friends” with India.
In his first year as President, Trump has stuck to the promise, appointing for the first time an Indian-American, Nikki Haley, to the cabinet and giving India a “leadership role” in Washington’s global strategy across a broad geographic swath.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a man of humble origins, and Trump, a billionaire and a flamboyant reality TV personality, have struck an unlikely friendship.
During a White House visit in June, their hitherto phone friendship was sealed with hugs. “The relationship between India and the US has never been stronger, never been better,” Trump declared. “I am thrilled to salute you, Prime Minister Modi, and the Indian people for all you are accomplishing together.”
The ties have been growing strong under the previous three administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and Trump has moved it to a higher trajectory given its preoccupations with China and Afghanistan.
Global security has emerged as the centrepiece of Trump’s approach to India.
“We welcome India’s emergence as a leading global power and stronger strategic and defence partner,” said his national strategy unveiled last month, with a view to making New Delhi a counter-balance to Beijing in the Indo-Pacific region.
And Modi had said in October that India-US ties were growing with a “great deal of speed”.
While Indian-Americans are overwhelmingly Democrat — a Pew Research Center survey said 65 percent support that party — Trump has given members of the community some top administration jobs.
Trump appointed Haley to the high profile US cabinet rank post as UN Permanent Representative in which she is often the face of Trump’s hardline foreign policy.
Ajit Pai became the Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission, a position with a vast portfolio overseeing of the Internet, mobile phones, airwaves, broadcast and communications. He took the administration’s controversial decision to end net neutrality.
Trump appointed Raj Shah as his deputy adviser and principal deputy press secretary. Uttam Dhillon, another deputy adviser, is also his deputy counsel.
Others include Seema Verma, administrator of the health insurance programmes for seniors and the poor; Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; Vishal J. Amin, White House’s intellectual property enforcement official, and Neil Chatterjee, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They all shape and implement Trump’s controversial policies.
But there have also been areas of friction with India, with immigration as the most contentious. The Trump administration — and his campaign — have signalled plans to fundamentally change the H-1B visa programme for professionals that overwhelmingly benefits Indians. But so far it hasn’t, although it has tightened the scrutiny of the visas.
It also backed off a threat to make H1-B visa holders in line for Green Cards return home while they wait out the years for their permanent residencies.
He has also announced that he wants to end the immigration of relatives beyond the immediate family, categories that mean a lot to Indians. But his proposed reforms also include a points system to rank applicants on the basis of their qualifications, which could benefit Indians.
On the economic front, Trump’s “America First” and Modi’s “Make in India” are likely to come into conflict as each seek manufacturing, jobs and investments in their own economies, and Trump threatening nations with which the US has a trade deficit.
The five Indian Americans in the Congress opposed Trump on most issues. The first Senator of Indian-American ancestry, Democrat Kamala Harris, has emerged as one of the fiercest critics of Trump. She is pushing the Senator Judiciary Committee enquiry into Trump campaign’s alleged links to Russia and has called for his resignation over charges of sexual harassment.
But Trump’s India policy “transcends partisanship” and the party supports his initiatives to strengthen it further, according to Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi.
An important area of convergence for the two countries is the fight against terrorism. “Both our nations have been struck by the evils of terrorism and we are both determined to destroy terrorist organisations and the radical ideology that drives them,” Trump said during Modi’s visit to the White House in June.
After several warnings to Pakistan that it “has much to lose” by supporting terrorists, the Trump administration tightened the screws on Islamabad by suspending security assistance this month.
The administration has added Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, which carries out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, and its leader Mohammad Yusuf Shah to the lists of global terrorist organisations and individuals to choke off financial and other support.
In the South Asia region, where Trump’s main focus is on stabilizing Afghanistan and ending terrorism there, Trump said in his August strategy speech, a “critical part of the South Asia strategy for America is to further develop its strategic partnership with India – the world’s largest democracy and a key security and economic partner of the US”.
He asked India “to help us more with Afghanistan”.
But the truly transformational prospects are in the Indo-Pacific region where the US and its allies see a growing threat from China – and for Washington a challenge to its global status.
In his National Strategy document Trump declared: “We will deepen our strategic partnership with India and support its leadership role in Indian Ocean security and throughout the broader region.
“We will seek to increase quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India.”
Washington (IANS) Indian American Manisha Singh, a lawyer and Congressional staffer, has been sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of State for economic and business affairs in the Trump administration. She is the first woman appointed to the post.
Singh was sworn in by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday. She will be responsible for advancing American prosperity, entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide.
“We are excited to promote America’s growth and secure our future under her leadership!” the US State Department’s Economic & Business Affairs Bureau tweeted after her swearing-in ceremony.
Born in India, Singh was the chief lawyer and policy adviser to Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.
She had earlier done a stint as an Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the economic bureau in President George W. Bush’s administration.
During that stint she handled intellectual property issues, relations with the World Trade Organization, and trade.
Her political career began as an staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Before that she was a lawyer, she was in the international law practice of a law firm.
Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, stands for a photograph after a Bloomberg Television interview at his campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015. According to Trump, Janet Yellen’s decision to delay hiking interest rates is motivated by politics. Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg via Getty Images *** Local Capton *** Donald Trump
BERLIN – From the opening moments of his presidency, Donald Trump set forth a radically altered vision for the United States and its dealings with the rest of the world – one he dubbed “America first.”
Supporters say he has delivered: a military defeat of the Islamic State, greater spending by U.S. allies on defense and a commitment to transform or abandon international agreements such as NAFTA, the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord.
But the “America first” approach has also left the United States far more isolated. The overall impact of the policy, say diplomats, politicians and analysts interviewed around the world, has been a clear retrenchment of U.S. power – and an opportunity for U.S. adversaries such as China and Russia.
The American role in the world has been diminishing for years as other countries have expanded their economies, militaries and ambitions.
Foreign-policy players, however, say they see something different now: a disorderly U.S. transformation from a global leader working with partners to try to shape the world to an inwardly focused superpower that defines its international role more narrowly. The Trump administration has emphasized counterterrorism and American economic advantage in its foreign policy, while downgrading such traditional U.S. priorities as promoting human rights, democracy and international development.
Trump’s approach has won praise from countries including Israel and Saudi Arabia but is strikingly unpopular in many nations: A Gallup survey of attitudes in 134 countries that was released Thursday showed a dramatic drop in support for U.S. leadership in the world, from a median of nearly half of people approving under President Barack Obama to fewer than a third doing so under Trump.
“What he has achieved is a remarkable weakening of America’s moral standing,” said Norbert Röttgen, chair of the German Parliament’s foreign relations committee and an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s. ” ‘America first’ has made America weaker in the world.”
The White House did not respond to a detailed request for comment.
Across the globe, U.S. adversaries are rushing to fill the America-size void left as Washington breaks from its closest allies on trade and other international pacts. They also seek to take advantage of the confusion caused by what allies and foes alike have called an ill-defined and sometimes chaotic U.S. foreign policy, broadcast by Trump’s tweets.
“There’s a vacuum now,” said a U.S. official who works on Middle East issues, and who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment freely. “And you’re going to have some try to step in.”
At a World Trade Organization meeting last month in Buenos Aires, that someone was China.
The meeting, a biennial affair, usually delivers bromides about the advantages of global commerce along with some tweaks to the system.
This time, though, U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer delivered a combative speech, accusing members of unfairly taking advantage of the group’s rules – an echo of the president’s oft-repeated denunciation of “dumb trade deals.”
Allies said they got the message: The United States was not there to find common ground.
“The whole U.S. delegation, not only Lighthizer, at all meetings and bilaterals, made clear in a very explicit way no joint declaration or a common work program could be agreed from the U.S. side,” said an official involved in the negotiations.
Attendees watched as Chinese officials advocated more forcefully for free trade – and then worked the sidelines to seek deals with other nations, according to a senior European official who was at the meeting.
“You see them active everywhere,” the official said, adding that the buzz of Chinese activity was clear from the scores of meeting rooms the Chinese delegation booked.
In a statement, Lighthizer said that he was ready to make worthwhile deals but that poor agreements weaken the global trading system.
“It is fatuous for the Europeans to blame the United States for the failure of the WTO to arrive at negotiated outcomes in Buenos Aires,” Lighthizer said. “The E.U. approach – which is to agree to a deal simply for the sake of doing so – is antithetical to the global trading system. And to be clear, China got nothing from the ministerial.”
Trade is not the only area in which China has seen opportunity. The emerging superpower also has benefited from a storm of acrimony in recent weeks between Washington and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation that has long had a tense partnership with the United States.
As Trump has tweeted about the “lies and deceit” of the Pakistani government and his administration suspended nearly $2 billion in military aid, China has gleefully stepped in to offer support. Among their actions, the Chinese have committed in recent years to a $62 billion infrastructure plan in the region. Pakistan has taken pains to differentiate between the two powers.
“China is a strategic partner, while the ties with Washington are tactical,” said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the defense committee in the Pakistani Senate.
Many diplomats and policymakers say they think Washington will remain the pre-eminent global power but with greatly dimmed ambitions – even after Trump’s tenure in the White House.
“The U.S. is not the reinsurance company for the global order. It’s no longer the guarantor of last resort,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, a German member of the European Parliament who works on transatlantic issues. “If the beacon on the hill doesn’t shine anymore, that has an impact.”
The impact can be seen in the fact that even longtime U.S. allies such as India, Turkey and Latin American nations are casting about elsewhere for dependable friends. Indian leaders have worked to deepen strategic relationships with Japan, Australia, Israel and other countries. Mexico, meanwhile, has accelerated free-trade talks with Argentina, Brazil and Europe.
Trump’s victory threw Mexico into a near state of emergency. Several key Trump goals – building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, deporting more illegal immigrants and radically altering the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA – could pose acute threats to Mexico’s economy.
The country’s worst fears have not been realized, but avoiding a crisis takes constant effort.
“A bloody roller coaster,” in the words of a Mexican official, “trying to read between the lines, between the tweets, between the different messages coming from whomever you spoke to last, including the president himself, then trying to decide what to make out of it.”
Röttgen said that Trump was so unpredictable that some European leaders had become more cautious about seeking to meet with him.
“It’s open to accidents. It’s unpredictable. It’s always seen from a transactional viewpoint,” he said.
A top adviser to one European leader said they no longer try to schedule time with Trump on the sidelines of summits. “Always, you’re looking for a chance to meet up with the U.S. president,” the adviser said. But now, that leader communicates via lower-level, less-volatile U.S. officials, the adviser said.
Still, most of Washington’s closest European allies continue to seek discussions with the president. Norway’s prime minister visited the White House this month. French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking a meeting with Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos in the coming week. And leaders who once fretted that Trump would abandon some of Washington’s core international commitments are now reassured by robust U.S. troop deployments across Europe.
But even those who enthusiastically embraced the Trump administration have been nonplused by the president’s style and decisions.
Early in Trump’s tenure, for example, Egyptian officials sensed they finally had a U.S. president who understood them. The Obama administration had been reviled by the government of President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi for its focus on human rights and democracy.
But confusing U.S. policy moves and Trump’s tweets have proved frustrating – and alienating. By August, Egyptians were fuming after the U.S. government, citing human rights concerns, cut or delayed nearly $300 million in assistance. Then came the decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv.
“Now we have a situation where the words are not enough,” said the U.S. official who works on Middle East issues. “In the early days of the administration, the words meant something. President Trump’s praise of Sissi meant something. Now, between the August decision and the Jerusalem decision, they have lost faith.”
Trump’s policies still win praise in some quarters. Saudi officials enthusiastically greeted him in a May visit, delighted that Trump had rejected Obama-era policies that were less hawkish toward Iran. And in Israel, views of the United States have markedly improved under Trump, who has been far more supportive of the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than Obama was.
“(Trump) has brought fresh thinking to the White House,” said Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely. “He understands the region better than those experts who warned that if he recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or moves the embassy to Jerusalem, the Middle East will explode. It did not explode.”
But prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, already dim, have evaporated.
“There won’t be peace – no negotiations, no normalization, and the Middle East will be sitting on a volcano” until the decision is reversed, said Nabil Abu Rudeinah, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Trump administration has escalated the U.S. offensive against Islamist insurgents in places including Somalia and Afghanistan, and gave American military commanders more latitude in decision-making as they fought the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq.
In Somalia, the U.S. military carried out at least 34 airstrikes in 2017 compared with roughly 14 in 2016. But some officials at the State Department have raised questions about the amplified Pentagon role. There has not been a proportionate increase in diplomatic activity in Somalia. Instead, the size of the U.S. diplomatic mission has shrunk, and the U.S. ambassadorship there has not been filled.
Airstrikes and other military action can have knock-on effects that politically savvy experts could help avert, but “because the department’s footprint is so limited compared to the military engagement, diplomats lack the bandwidth,” said a former State Department official.
A similar dynamic is at play in Afghanistan.
At a ceremony in Kandahar in November to showcase refurbished Black Hawk helicopters being provided to the Afghan government, the top U.S. military commander, Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., gave an upbeat speech about defeating Taliban insurgents.
But off to one side, a group of invited local elders, clad in turbans and robes, conferred in worried whispers over an entirely different issue.
“We must speak to him about the elections. Everyone is very worried,” one elder said.
As soon as Nicholson and his interpreter had sat down, the group bombarded him with concerns, saying that the plans for national elections in July were being undermined by political pressures, ethnic bias and other problems. If the Americans did not intervene, they warned him, the elections could turn into a disaster.
Nicholson smiled and promised to pass on their concerns. But the general’s mandate does not include politics, and there has been far less diplomatic focus on Afghanistan than was the case under Obama. The country was without a U.S. ambassador until last month, and a special U.S. envoy post has been scrubbed.
Over the past year, some U.S. allies have said they worried about being kept in the dark as the U.S. government developed its plans for military action. A delegation of senior E.U. ambassadors responsible for security policy for the 28-nation group traveled to Washington in late June and sought details from U.S. officials about the new administration’s foreign policy. One said he returned to Europe “in despair.”
The diplomat said he received no useful guidance about the administration’s strategy in Iran, Syria or Afghanistan – or, crucially, about how to interpret the president’s increasingly belligerent tweets aimed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The war of words between Washington and Pyongyang dominates a long list of apprehensions for U.S. allies for 2018 but is seen as an opportunity for others.
In response to Trump’s volatile brand of dealmaking and brinkmanship, Moscow has sought to present itself as a trustworthy interlocutor.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in September that Moscow was ready to mediate the dispute between Trump and Kim, which he likened to a “kindergarten fight.”
Some officials have noted the irony of Russia and China presenting themselves as guarantors of stability and global free trade.
When the Trump administration last January pulled out of negotiations over a 12-nation trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, 11 would-be members of the pact were left to work out the details without U.S. input. The deal had long been seen as an alternative to a Chinese regional economic order.
The U.S. exit gave Chinese President Xi Jinping, the authoritarian leader of one of the world’s most tightly controlled economies, the chance to present himself as a champion of globalization.
The Chinese “haven’t had to spend any energy to emerge much more clearly as the global leader that they aspire to be,” said David Rank, who resigned as acting U.S. ambassador to China over the administration’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord.
Meanwhile, Rank said, U.S. influence is ebbing.
“For my entire career except for the last four days of it, the question in foreign capitals, was ‘What does Washington think about this?’ ” Rank said. “I suspect that is not the case anymore.”
A man holds a placard from a window of Finsbury Park Mosque during a vigil near to where a van was driven at Muslims in Finsbury Park, North London, Britain, June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
LONDON – A man who drove a van into Muslim worshippers outside a mosque last June was motivated by deadly Islamist attacks in Britain and an obsession with a television account of Muslim men who targeted white girls, a London court heard on Monday.
Darren Osborne, 48, also lambasted politicians, calling London Mayor Sadiq Khan a disgrace and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn a “terrorist sympathiser”, prosecutor Jonathan Rees said, quoting from a note he said Osborne left in the van.
The note described Muslim men as rapists, “feral” and “in-bred” and when he was detained after the attack, Osborne said: “At least I had a go”, Rees told Woolwich Crown Court.
Osborne is accused of murdering Makram Ali, 51, a father of six who came to Britain from Bangladesh aged 10, and the attempted murder of other worshippers as they left a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London after late-night Ramadan prayers.
Osborne has denied the accusations.
“The evidence establishes that the defendant was trying to kill as many of the group as possible,” Rees told jurors. “The prosecution say that the note and the comments he made after his detention establish that this act of extreme violence was, indeed, an act of terrorism, designed to influence government and intimidate the Muslim community.”
The incident occurred just weeks after three Islamists drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before going on a knife rampage, killing eight.
That attack came the month after a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester killed 22 people. In March another Islamic State-inspired attacker killed five people by driving a car into passers-by on London’s Westminster Bridge and then stabbing to death a police officer in the grounds of parliament.
Rees said Osborne hired a van and drove to London from his home in Cardiff. After a plan to attack an anti-Israel march failed, Osborne drove around seeking alternative targets.
He is accused of ramming the crowd at Finsbury Park as worshippers helped Ali who he had earlier become unwell.
The court was told Osborne, who had never previously openly expressed racist opinions, had become obsessed with Muslims in the weeks before the attack after watching a BBC television drama “Three Girls”, based on true stories of victims of child sex gangs comprised mainly of British Pakistani men.
Rees said Osborne searched online for material related to the show, some of which was connected to far-right groups and Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of Britain First.
One of Fransen’s messages was re-tweeted by U.S. President Donald Trump in November.
Two days before the attack, Osborne told a serving soldier in a pub in Cardiff: “I’m going to kill all the Muslims”, the jurors were told.
Rees said Osborne’s former partner Sarah Andrews described the father of four as a loner and a functioning alcoholic with an unpredictable temperament who took medication for depression.
“With the benefit of hindsight, she describes him as a ticking time-bomb,” the prosecutor said.
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attend a press conference in London, January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
LONDON – The United States needs to pay attention to its treasured relationship with Britain, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday just days after Donald Trump cancelled a trip to London citing anger at the sale of an embassy.
Trump’s cancellation of his trip has raised questions in Britain over the links between Washington and its closest traditional ally in Europe — widely called the “special relationship”.
More than a year into his presidency, Trump has yet to visit London and many British voters have promised to protest against a man they see as crude, volatile and opposed to their values on a range of issues.
Tillerson, a former Exxon Mobil CEO, met British Prime Minister Theresa May in her Downing Street residence and then held talks with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
“We treasure this relationship, and I treasure Boris’s relationship with me personally and the work that we do together on these many issues,” Tillerson told reporters.
“Sometimes we forget about the importance of our own relationship,” he said. “We need to pay attention to that relationship and the importance of this relationship on a bilateral basis as well.”
A pillar of Britain’s foreign policy for a century, the special relationship with Washington has taken on added importance as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in 2019.
May and Tillerson discussed “continuing depth and breadth” of the special relationship, May’s office said.
They also touched on one of their most pressing diplomatic challenges: disagreement over the future of a landmark international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The deal has been cast into doubt by Trump, but Britain, along with France and Germany, wants to keep it.
TREASURED RELATIONSHIP?
May was the first foreign leader to visit Trump after his inauguration in January last year, and they were filmed emerging from the White House holding hands. She later said Trump took her hand in a gentlemanly gesture as they walked down a ramp.
But British officials have been dismayed by some of Trump’s pronouncements, particularly a proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States and most recently when Trump rebuked May on Twitter after she criticised him for retweeting British far-right anti-Islam videos.
During May’s U.S. trip a year ago, she extended an invitation to Trump to make a formal state visit – which includes pomp, pageantry and a banquet with Queen Elizabeth. The invitation was accepted, but no date for the visit has been set.
While in London, Tillerson visited the new $1 billion U.S. embassy. Trump earlier this month criticised the move to new diplomatic premises as part of a bad deal agreed by the administration of Barack Obama.
Trump cancelled a trip to London to open the new embassy, saying he did not want to endorse a bad deal agreed by the Obama administration to sell the old one for “peanuts”.
Tillerson was greeted by U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson as workers finished planting shrubs in the grounds of the new embassy. America’s top diplomat then met some of the marines who are stationed at the embassy.
“The embassy actually, is gonna really work,” Johnson said.
Asked when there would be a ribbon cutting ceremony, Ambassador Johnson said: “At some point we’re going to do it, but there’s no urgency to that. We’ll do it when the time is right.”
Darkness sets in over the U.S. Capitol building hours before U.S. President Barack Obama is set to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington January 24, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Commodities markets should trade normally on Monday even though key regulators, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will be operating with skeleton crews due to the U.S. government shutdown.
During shutdowns, non-essential government employees are furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave. Workers deemed essential, including those dealing with public safety and national security, keep working.
Private exchange operators are generally not affected, but weekly economic reports from the U.S. Energy Department and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), key for traders, have in the past been delayed until the government re-opens.
FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT: The CFTC said it would have to furlough 95 percent of employees immediately. An agency spokeswoman said the derivatives regulator could, however, call in additional staff in the event of a financial market emergency.
The 2013 shutdown caused weekly figures on positions in options and futures to be delayed until after the government reopened.
ENERGY: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday that normal data collection and publications will continue “until further notice,” as it can operate for a short period of time despite the shutdown.
In 2013, the EIA did not send out weekly reports on U.S. inventories, as well as other reports, during the furloughs. Respondents to the department’s surveys were told they could continue to submit data but no one would be able to answer technical questions.
A notice on the Energy Department’s website says the only functions that will continue are those related to public safety or the protection of property.
The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in a statement on Friday that it will continue operations until further notice as it still has funds available, though it will only retain 4.6 percent of its total employees and contractors during the shutdown.
Monitoring of energy markets will be at a minimal level, according to its contingency plan. The same goes for monitoring of the bulk power system and “threats to energy infrastructures” under FERC’s jurisdiction.
AGRICULTURE: The USDA said that the shutdown may cause a lapse in the preparation and release of the monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates report, though the next release is not until Feb. 8.
Updates to the USDA website will cease, the department said in a notice on its website, so USDA reports will not be provided.
NEW YORK – SAMAR (South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters), a legacy recruitment group of the Be The Match national registry which helps donate blood marrow samples, recently honored donors at their Silver Jubilee celebration held on the auspicious day of Lohri, Makar Sankrant, Bihu and Pongal.
Those who attended the event included long-time supporter Anil Bansal, Freeholder Shanti Narra who chairs the Middlesex County’s Public Safety, some prominent members of the community, patients, donors and board members including the founders Rafiya and Moazzam Khan.
In its 25 years, SAMAR (www.samarinfo.org) has registered over 100,000 volunteer marrow donors, served 400 patients and facilitated 250 transplants all over the world including India.
“An oasis of hope is how the patients and their families refer to SAMAR. It is not just an empty acronym but also a reservoir of dedicated activity to bring solace and comfort to patients diagnosed with leukemia and other fatal blood disorders,” said Khan.
Attendees were invited to participate in an interactive session and brainstorm ideas for the year, where the key topic was awareness.
Gayathri Rao marrow donor with Freeholder Ms Shanti Narra
While many suggested spreading awareness through social media to develop strong partnerships with educational, cultural and business institutions, increasing registration of volunteers, others suggested having lunch and learning programs at universities and corporations.
The celebration concluded with all of the attendees agreeing to take measures that would enhance patient survival through awareness and keeping these meetings periodically for the betterment and progress of SAMAR, according to a press release.
SAMAR was started by Rafiya Peerbhoy Khan in 1992 and was initially meant to reach out to and register the severely underrepresented South Asian ethnic group.
SAMAR’s mission is to facilitate a process of education, tissue typing and donor registry enrollment as a means to ensure that no global citizen is ever denied a lifesaving blood stem cell/marrow transplant solely due to the lack of a genetically specific donor, according to their website.
“We serve patients who need a blood stem cell/marrow transplant for leukemia, lymphoma, fatal blood disorders, and other conditions requiring a cellular transplant for a cure. Our focus is all patients requiring blood stem cell/marrow transplants from all races and ethnicities,” it states on the website.
NEW YORK – The Malayalee Association of Southern Connecticut (MASCONN) held their annual New Year and Christmas celebrations, at Madison Middle School, Trumbull, CT, on January 13.
The event saw a three-hour long cultural extravaganza, mostly by children and youth – along with Christmas carols, and a buffet dinner, according to a press release.
“MASCONN is an offshoot of the natural growth of the Indian-American, especially Malayalee community in the southern Connecticut region,” said Wilson Pottackal, President of MASCONN, in his welcome address.
“In a very short period of 10 years, we have grown by leaps and bounds and we strive to meet the growing needs of our community,” Wilson added.
Talking about the recently launched MASCONN Kids Club, Wilson urged members to enroll their children in it. He also thanked Kids Club members who initiated a fundraiser to collect money for victim of Cyclone Ockhi, in Kerala.
MASCONN is a non-political, non-religious forum to strengthen Malayalee culture and tradition and to give special emphasis to the development of the new generation of expatriate Malayalees.
Indian American Natasha Mulla will be joining MoviePass, the nation’s premier movie-theater subscription service as their Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
According to a press release, Mulla is a savvy media industry veteran who previously worked as the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Mashable.
As CMO, Mulla will oversee MoviePass’ brand identity across all platforms and will develop long-term marketing strategies in order to grow MoviePass’ subscriber base in key markets.
She will also work closely with the product team to continue to improve and enhance the overall customer experience.
In her previous role at Mashable, Mulla oversaw the development of the company’s brand and image while she assisted with public relations and global events.
Prior to Mashable, Mulla was Director of Events for Haymarket Media, an international publishing company where she produced both online and in-person award shows and conferences across multiple brands and industries.
She now brings her valuable experience to MoviePass, where her knowledge of the current media landscape will serve to maintain and increase awareness for MoviePass as it continues to grow.
“We’re thrilled to have Natasha join the team as we continue to grow. The type of rapid subscriber increase we’ve experienced can make it challenging to remain focused on delivering a great customer experience, and we believe that Natasha will be invaluable in helping us stay on track, while strategically orienting around the MoviePass brand,” said CEO Mitch Lowe.
“Her experience, dedication, and passion for the service are going to be hugely important as we move forward in our mission to fundamentally improve the movie-going experience,” he added.
“MoviePass has already proven to be one of the fastest growing subscription services, generating over 1.5 million new subscribers in under five months. The company has seen great success throughout media and entertainment. I look forward to helping the team strategize and execute on programs to expand our already incredible customer base and continue to build a trusted and sustainable brand,” said Mulla.
Venice, September 3, 2017: ‘Victoria & Abdul – PREMIERE and Award. Photos: Franco Origlia for Universal
LOS ANGELES – Indian actor Ali Fazal-starrer “Victoria & Abdul” has two nominations and Anupam Kher starrer “The Big Sick” stands a chance to win in one category at the 90th Academy Awards, where fantasy drama “The Shape of Water” has a maximum of 13 nods.
“Victoria & Abdul”, a movie about a unique bond between Queen Victoria and her Indian Muslim servant Abdul Karim, stands a chance to win in the Best Costume Design and Make-up and Hairstyling categories. In the film, Ali plays Abdul, with Hollywood veteran Judi Dench as Queen Victoria.
As for Anupam’s “The Big Sick”, it is nominated for the Writing (Original Screenplay) honour for Pakistan-origin Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon.
“The Shape of Water” – a love story between a mute woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore and a misunderstood aquatic monster — is in the race to win an award in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay categories along with Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins in contention for the statuette in Lead Actress, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor categories respectively.
It is also contending in technical categories like Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Music – Original Score, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Writing (Original Screenplay).
“The Shape of Water” is the tenth film in Oscar history to earn thirteen nominations, with the current record of fourteen nominations held by “All about Eve” (1950), “Titanic” (1997) and “La La Land” (2016).
Actress-comedian Tiffany Haddish and actor-director Andy Serkis, joined by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President John Bailey, announced the nominations on Tuesday via a global live stream. Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra was one of the celebrities who participated in pre-taped category introductions.
“Newton”, India’s official entry for the Foreign Language Film category, had failed to make the cut to the shortlist early in the selection process. Films from Sweden, Chile, Lebanon, Russia and Hungary have made it to the final list.
This year, “Dunkirk” has eight nominations, followed by “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri” with seven nods, “Darkest Hour” and “Phantom Thread” tying at six, “Blade Runner 2049” and “Lady Bird” registering five nods, and “Call Me by Your Name”, “Get Out”, “Mudbound” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” contending in four categories.
“Baby Driver” and “I, Tonya” stand a chance to win in three categories, while films with nominations each include “Beauty and the Beast”, “Coco” and “The Post” apart from “Victoria & Abdul”.
Veteran actress Meryl Streep has registered her 21st nomination with a spot in the Actress in a Leading Role for “The Post”, distributed in India by Anil Ambani-backed Reliance Entertainment. She will be competing with Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”), Margot Robbie (“I, Tonya”), Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”) and Hawkins.
In the Actor in a Leading Role, the nominees are: Timothee Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name”), Daniel Day-Lewis (“Phantom Thread”), Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”), Gary Oldman (“Darkest Hour”) and Denzel Washington (“Roman J. Israel, Esq.”).
At 88 years old, Christopher Plummer has become the oldest acting nominee to date. He is nominated for the Actor in a Supporting Role honour for “All the Money in the World”, in which he replaced Kevin Spacey who was ousted over sexual misconduct claims.
Christopher Nolan has scored his first-ever Oscar nomination for Best Director for his war film “Dunkirk”. Competing with him are; Jordan Peele for “Get Out”, Greta Gerwig for “Lady Bird”, Paul Thomas Anderson for “Phantom Thread” and Guillermo del Toro for “The Shape of Water”.
The 90th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be held on March 4 at the Dolby Theatre here. It will be aired in India live on Star Movies and Star Movies Select on March 5.
NEW YORK – Indian American actor Aziz Ansari decided to skip the 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday amid recent sexual allegations, according to CNN.
Ansari, who was nominated for outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy for his Netflix series “Master of None,” was accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old photographer on a date, just days after his Golden Globe win.
According to a report on babe.net written by the 23-year-old woman, both of them were on a date when Ansari forcefully kissed her in his apartment and tried to have sex with her repeatedly, adding that “it was ‘painful’ watching Ansari accept his Golden Globe last week while wearing a Time’s Up pin in support of combating sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.”
“I believe that I was taken advantage of by Aziz. I was not listened to and ignored. It was by far the worst experience with a man I’ve ever had,” the woman told babe.net.
Ansari has since denied such allegations and released a statement saying that he and the woman “ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual. It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said.”
Logo of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (Courtesy: LinkedIn)
NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Justice has imposed a $5 million civil penalty and entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against the U.S. branch of the Indian company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories for failing to obey the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), according to The Pharmaletter.
According to The Pharmaletter, the Justice Department filed a complaint in the District of New Jersey on Dec. 18, 2017 on behalf of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which alleged that Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories continued to distribute household oral prescription drugs, until 2012, in blister packs that were not child resistant and were expected to fail the PPPA’s child test protocol, even when they were warned by their own employees.
The complaint further states that “Dr. Reddy’s failed to notify the CPSC ‘immediately,’ as required by law, that its products were not compliant with the PPPA, that the products contained a defect presenting a substantial product hazard, and that the products created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death.”
In addition to the $5 million civil penalty, the consent decree prohibits Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories from distributing household oral prescription drugs that are in violation of the PPPA and CPSA and requires Dr. Reddy’s to implement a compliance program, according to The Pharmaletter.
The injunction further requires Dr. Reddy’s to maintain internal controls and procedures designed to ensure timely, truthful, complete, and accurate reporting to the CPSC as required by law.
Though agreeing to the settlement, Dr. Reddy’s has not admitted that it violated the law.
NEW YORK – Samir Paul, an Indian American teacher from Montgomery County in Maryland, who is running for the state House of Delegates in Bethesda-based District 16, has raised a total of $19,000 with $14,700 in direct financial donations and $4,300 in the form of in-kind contributions, according to the Bethesda Magazine.
Paul is running to replace Del. Bill Frick, who is running for county executive, while Ariana Kelly and Marc Korman are seeking re-election, according to the Bethesda Magazine.
Paul, 28, who teaches in the countywide math “magnet” program based at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, grew up in Potomac and was once a student himself in Blair’s math magnet program.
He received his Bachelor’s in computer science from Harvard University as well as Master’s in teaching from American University and started working at IBM, but later returned to the Silver Spring school to teach computer science classes in both the math magnet program and among the broader student population, according to the Bethesda Magazine.
He was also one of two educators to be recognized as a “rising star teacher of the year” by Montgomery County Public Schools in 2016 and was identified as one of its “30 Under 30” educators by the National Education Association (NEA) in 2017.
“I feel education is the most powerful tool we have to slingshot people into the middle class, but I see public schools as just one important part of an ecosystem communities can use to expand economic opportunity more and more broadly. There have been studies that say that, even more than public education, transit is one of the strongest predictors of economic mobility,” Paul told the Bethesda Magazine, last year.
According to the Bethesda Magazine, Paul’s parents came to the United States as students in the early 1980s; his father was an engineer and his mother, who had worked as a physician in India, owned and operated two coffee shops in the Washington area before she earned a master’s degree in public health and eventually worked for the federal government.
“In one generation, my parents immigrated to the United States, earned advanced degrees, built a business, served their country, and sent their two children to Harvard and Yale. Montgomery County’s excellent public schools and public institutions made my story possible, and we have to fight to ensure the next generation can share that experience,” Paul said in a press release.
As a teacher, Paul started the STEM Talent Pipeline program which identifies 40 girls, low-income and underrepresented minority 3rd graders who love math and gives them three years of accelerated coursework outside of school, setting them on a path to elite math/technology careers, according to his website.
He was also a teacher representative at the 2016 White House summit on expanding computer science education and led his students to the highest average AP Computer Science Exam scores in five years.
In the political arena, Paul was a field staffer for former President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and was responsible for five crucial swing counties in rural Wisconsin.
Since returning home to Montgomery County in 2010, Paul has served on a variety of boards, including the University of Maryland Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, the Harvard Club of Washington, the Montgomery Blair High School PTSA, the Blair Magnet Foundation, and the Montgomery County Young Democrats.
Paul had a goal of raising $100,000 by mid-January.
NEW YORK – Pakistani-American stand-up comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani’s “The Big Sick” has been nominated in the “original screenplay” category for the 90th Academy Awards, a first for an Asian.
Nanjiani co-wrote the film with his then girlfriend and now wife Emily Gordon and is based on their own story, according to geo.tv.
“The Big Sick” explores Nanjiani’s cultural conflict as a Pakistani Muslim comedian in a post-9/11 America and goes onto show how complicated his life becomes when he falls in love with Gordon, going against his family’s wish to marry a Pakistani woman.
Nanjiani’s family also struggles with his decision to pursue comedy as a career while they try to arrange a suitable marriage for him but are unaware that he is secretly dating Gordon, who unexpectedly falls into a coma with an undiagnosed illness.
The film stars Nanjiani himself along with Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Zenobia Shroff and Anupam Kher.
“The film was released in the US “at a time when there’s a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment, there’s a lot of Islamophobia. By depicting a Muslim family as like normal people, that’s its big political statement. It’s important for kids to see themselves in the stuff they watch. But more than that, I think it’s important that people from different points of view are behind the camera telling the stories, writing them, directing them,” Nanjiani told Reuters.
Nanjiani, 39, was born in Karachi, Pakistan and moved to the U.S. at the age of 18 to attend Grinnell College in Iowa, from which he graduated in 2001, he was earlier known for playing the snarky programmer named Dinesh in HBO’s comedy “Silicon Valley.”
New Delhi: Actors Kay Kay Menon and Mandira Bedi with filmmaker Kushal Srivastava during a programme organised to promote “Vodka Diaries” in New Delhi, on Jan 11, 2018. (Photo: Amlan Paliwal/IANS)
Film: “Vodka Diaries” Director: Kushal Srivastava Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Mandira Bedi, Raima Sen and Rishi Bhutani Rating: *1/2
“Vodka Diaries” conjures a visual of some intoxicating secrets. But alas, the title is a forced misnomer. In fact, it is a corny psychological drama that’s mounted on an equally convoluted plot.
Crime and poetry are married in the form of ACP Ashwini Dixit (Kay Kay Menon) and an amateur poet Shikha (Mandira Bedi). They are holidaying together in picturesque Manali.
The setting makes for a perfect romantic break, except that the couple’s holiday is punctuated with mysterious murders that need to be solved. While that’s the impressionone gets in the first act, the second act totally topples the first with the resurrection of the dead. And the third act turns out to be a redemption tale.
With writing credits given to four writers, the writing and execution of the film is its Waterloo. The dialogues are cheesy and the screenplay weak. The first 15 minutes of the narrative meanders with poetry and random conversation, except for an insert that informs us about a recurring nightmare that Ashwini gets.
What follows is, the murder of five people. Every death is linked to the shady hotel in a town called Vodka Diaries. And after the disappearance of Shikha, when Ashiwini visits the hotel, he finds the other victims present and you realise this film is more than a murder mystery.
The performances of every actor seems staged and tedious to watch. Talent is definitely wasted here.
Ace actors like Kay Kay Menon and Sharib Hashmi who plays Ashiwini’s faithful lackey Ankit, are relegated to doing the mundane act, which they do with aplomb. But unfortunately it simply seems likethey are sleepwalking through their roles. So are Mandira Bedi as Shikha and Raima Sen as the mysterious woman Roshni Banerjee, who later has a meaningful justification for her character.
Mounted with moderate production values, the production designs are appropriate and realistic. The visuals through Maneesh Chandra Bhatt’s lens are clear and sharp but Aalaap Majgavkar’s editing is a bit slack. The transitions in certain scenes are clumsily handled.
Harry Anand and Sandesh Shandilya’s music and background score are exceedingly blaring and jarring.
Overall, “Vodka Diaries”, which is supposed to be a layered tale, is a miserable downer.
Samir Soni’s “My Birthday Song” is supposed to be many things – including a psychological thriller and a midlife crisis drama – but it is mostly a repository of bad acting, the kind that makes you cringe every time someone on screen even tries to attempt an emotional scene.
From leading man Sanjay Suri, playing a 40 year-old ad filmmaker whose birthday party goes awry after an encounter with a woman, to Nora Fatehi, who plays that woman, everyone seems to be putting in their worst. And the mediocre script (by Soni and Vrushali Telang) doesn’t help.
Protagonist Rajeev goes through the film running like a headless chicken, unsure if the events in his life are real or imaginary. He will suddenly wake up and realise that events he thought he saw with his own eyes didn’t happen, that time has been reversed, and that nothing is as it seems.
Rajeev has strange encounters with his wife, car mechanics and women who he thought were dead. While all these are meant to project the film as a psychological thriller, neither Suri nor Soni have the acting and directing chops to pull it off.
Suri is in almost every scene and woefully inadequate – his movements are jerky and his dialogue staccato. Add to that a wafer-thin plot, excessive use of slow motion to indicate drama and a vague conclusion, and you have a film that pretty much has no redeeming qualities.
