NAY PYI TAW (TIP): Asserting that there are “no irritants” in the India- ASEAN relationship, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told ASEAN leaders that a new era of economic development, industrialisation and trade has begun in India and they can be “great partners” for each other. As India seeks to deepen its engagement with the 10-nation bloc of small and medium economies, Modi said both India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are keen to enhance their cooperation in advancing balance, peace and stability in the region.
“The ASEAN community is India’s neighbour. We have ancient relations of trade, religion, culture, art and traditions. We have enriched each other through our interaction. This constitutes a strong foundation of a modern relationship,” Modi said in his opening statement in Hindi at the 12th India—ASEAN summit in the Myanmarese capital. “That is why our world view is similar in many respects; our mutual confidence and trust is strong. We have no irritants in our relationship.
We see encouraging opportunities and challenges in the world in similar ways,” he said. Observing that India and the ASEAN have been successful to a considerable extent in pursuing their dreams, Modi said they have laid a foundation for a strong and comprehensive strategic partnership. “My government has been in office for six months and the intensity and momentum with which we have enhanced our engagement in the East, is a reflection of the priority that we give to this region,” the Prime Minister said at the summit held at the sprawling Myanmar International Convention Centre on the second day of his 10—day three—nation tour of Myanmar, Australia and Fiji. “A new era of economic development, industrialisation and trade has begun in India. Externally, India’s ‘Look East Policy’ has become ‘Act East Policy’,” he said. “Rapidly developing India and ASEAN can be great partners for each other. We are both keen to enhance our cooperation in advancing balance, peace and stability in the region,” the Prime Minister said.
Month: November 2014
-
India, ASEAN can be ‘great partners’: Modi
-
Society of Indian American Engineers and Architects goes National
Prof. I.S. Sluaja
By now a must attend gala for all engineers and architects of Indian origin, the SIAEA annual gala dinner is scheduled for November 15 at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Grand Central, New York. And it is an event which draws the attention and energy of each SIAEA member, in particular the ones on the Executive, specially, the President. SIAEA President Mihir Patel has been a man with nerves on tenterhooks for months together, since the annual gala is the most prestigious event of the SIAEA. I have seen this happen to his predecessor and mentor Nayan Parikh and others before him.
Despite being so awfully busy, Mihir was gracious enough to speak with me on the course that SIAEA was on, his plans for the growth of this organization which has over a thousand best of Indian American engineers and architects as its members, and on the coming annual gala. Mihir’s major concern is to have an image of Indian American engineers and architects in the mainstream. For that he said the SIAEA has to ensure that it involves itself with the mainstream. That is why, he said, “We have a number of guests from outside the Indian Diaspora.
We try to get our lawmakers and eminent Americans to the gala to have the kind of relationship and rapport that will stand in good stead.” The honored guest list this year includes Ambassador Dnyaneshwar M Mulay, Consul General of India, Alphonso P David, NYS Deputy Secretary for Human Rights, Dominick M. Servedio , Executive Chairman- STV Group, Inc., Sen. Ruth Hassell Thomson, Thomas F. Prendergast, MTA, Lash Green, PANYNJ, Michael Clay, DASNY, Earl Walker, Regional Alliance,Walter Mosley, Assembly Member, Stacey Cumberbatch, NYCDCAS, Craig Collins, NYCSCA, Michael Garner, MTA, Michael Jones-Bey, CON EDISON, and Cheryl McKissack & McKissack On the advantage of being an SIAEA member, Mihir said the membership of the Society provided exposure to the mainstream American society and the construction business that was worth more than $2 billion.
All the President’s men. Mihir’s team
The gala offered an opportunity for networking which was so essential for the growth of any business. Asked about the awards being presented this year, Mihir said quite a few were being honored. They included Abhay Wadhwa, Ahmed Shakir, Amil Patel, Mita Amin, Nayan Parikh , Nitin Patel, Sharon Lobo, Sneha Patel, and Sunil Bold. George Toma and Suzanne Veira are special honorees while Alok Saksena and Manan Garg are honorees under 40. Mihir also disclosed that SIAEA was continuing with the scholarship program and had increased the amount of scholarship from $1000.00 to $ 2000.00. He said he wanted the younger generation engineers and architects to get involved in the local network. He also said he would like the number of members increase to 10,000 by 2020.
Consul General of India in New York Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay will give a special address at the gala
Mihir was obviously proud that during his presidency SIAEA had become a national organization, with the creation of Philadelphia Chapter on June 22nd, 2014. Mihir said the chapter started with 22 members and in 5 months it has a membership of 72. He also spoke of plans to open a chapter in Washington DC in November, 2014 and a chapter in Chicago in March, 2015. Mihir is doing hard work, no doubt. But how experienced he is ? Asked when he got associated with the SIAEA, he said he joined the Society in 1996. He served on Board of Directors from 2004 to 2013, after which he took over as President.
Mihir says that “the only way our voice can be heard in our adopted country is to get actively involved in politics. It is then that we can fight for issues that impact us. It is good to see that awareness is growing among Indians in this country. It is important for us to become an integral part of the American mainstream society. At the same time we must not forget our rich Indian heritage”. He opines that integration should be encouraged, not assimilation.
He adds “as ambassadors of the rich heritage of India, we should share our culture and heritage with our neighbors. We need to become part of the social fabric”. He maintains “at the work place, hard work, honesty and quality are the golden keys to success. One should not go for short cuts because then the success would also be short-lived”. Mihir’s construction company Monpat was established in 1993 and had a turnover of 1.5 million approximately. It has completed business worth 150 millions in 22 years. The company is registered with City, State and Federal agencies.
Mihir is married to Bhavana and the couple have a son-Priyank. He has done Architecture from Penn State and is now working for the home company. Miten Patel, Mihir’s younger brother, is a great support to Mihir. Miten is married to Rekha and the two have a son- Roshun and a daughter-Trisha. Closing the conversation Mihir renewed me the invitation to the Gala on the 15th and said proudly, “This gala is my Presidency’s last gala. I have tried to make the most memorable one. For one, it is going to be the biggest gala ever. Last year the number of attendees was 700. And I expect between 900 and 1000 guests at this gala. Please do come”. And I readily accepted his invitation because I know SIAEA gala is a real treat. -
Council Members Lancman, Cornegy and Williams announce Bill Criminalizing Chokeholds
NEW YORK CITY (TIP): New York City Council Members Rory I. Lancman, Jumaane D. Williams and Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. announced, November 12, the introduction of legislation making it a misdemeanor to perform a chokehold. In the light of the tragic death of Eric Garner, other documented chokehold incidences and the recognition by the Civilian Complaint Review Board that it has inadequately investigated chokehold complaints, the legislation is a necessary step to eradicate the use of chokeholds once and for all.
In addition, other legislation being introduced will require the New York City Police Department to produce reports on officers’ use of force and limiting that use of force to that which is proportionate in a given situation. “Although chokeholds have been banned as a matter of NYPD internal policy for over 20 years, their use still remains prevalent,” said Council Member Rory I. Lancman, Chair of the Committee on Courts & Legal Services. “With this bill, we make chokeholds not merely a violation of NYPD policy, but a crime, reflecting the inherent danger which chokeholds present to our city’s public safety.”
“The police force of New York City is endowed by the people’s collective power to enforce the law in the public interest,” said Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. “When police power is used to the people’s detriment, we must respond accordingly, in this case, by clarifying the law. This bill is as clear and simple as they come. No chokeholds – period. This tactic is simply too dangerous to be within the NYPD’s arsenal. Passing this bill will ensure that going forward, any police officer or civilian who uses a chokehold can be criminally prosecuted for that act and further prosecuted for any resulting harms.
In memory of Brother Eric Garner and for the hundreds of New Yorkers whose complaints of chokeholds have gone uninvestigated and unpunished, this bill represents the hope that they will receive a measure of justice. I hope that this body will move quickly toward passage.” “No New Yorker should be a victim of police brutality, especially when it means being placed in a chokehold,” said Council Member Jumaane D. Williams, Deputy Leader and cochair of the Council’s Task Force to Combat Gun Violence.
“Despite the chokehold being banned from NYPD more than two decades ago, the Civilian Complaint Review Board has received more chokehold complaints in the last 12 months than in any year since 2001. Due to these record numbers of complaints and the tragic death of Eric Garner, my colleagues and I have worked hard legislatively to combat police brutality, especially in communities of more color. I applaud Council Member Lancman for his leadership on this issue, and hope the Council passes this important bill.” -
Farhan Akhtar announced as UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia
Actor calls on men and boys to join the UN Women’s HeForShe initiative, and mobilize for gender equality
NEW YORK (TIP): UN Women, the United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment, announced, Thursday, November 13, the appointment of actor-filmmaker-singer Farhan Akhtar as its South Asia Goodwill Ambassador. Farhan is the first man to be chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador in the organization’s history. An accomplished and well-respected actorfilmmaker- singer, Farhan Akhtar has not only made his presence felt in the Indian film industry with his versatility, but has represented the voice of numerous concerned men on the important issue of gender equality and violence against women and girls in India through his Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD) campaign.
Farhan will dedicate his efforts as UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia towards the empowerment of women and girls, and will serve as an advocate for UN Women’s newly launched HeForShe initiative in advocating for gender equality and women’s empowerment. “We are pleased and honored to have Farhan as our Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia, for we believe his work and values represent the core values of UN Women,” stated UN Women Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. “Farhan started his own campaign, MARD – Men Against Rape and Discrimination – that aims to sensitize men and create awareness about the safety of women. That kind of engagement is essential. We need creative and committed men like Farhan to push the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda.
I am convinced that Farhan’s passion and conviction for the cause will galvanize a multiplier effect and reach the hearts and minds of men and boys in South Asia and beyond,” added Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka. The MARD campaign has successfully encouraged many actors to join this campaign and spread awareness. Corporations like Google have also engaged with the initiative to empower women through Internet literacy. “I am honored to serve UN Women as the Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia,” said Mr. Akhtar. “This gives me and our MARD initiative an added impetus to work together towards a more gender equal India and world.
I am a supporter of UN Women’s HeForShe campaign and the role men and boys can play in stopping crime against women and girls, and working towards gender equality. Through this new partnership I want to call on all men and boys to be a catalyst for change and, through our actions, create a value system to end gender disparity.” Mr. Akhtar’s appointment coincides with the visit of UN Women’s top official to India. Earlier in the week she met with the President of India and senior ministers of the new government, and participated in the 2nd Global MenEngage Symposium, which brought together more than 400 NGOs working on gender justice in New Delhi.
The visit to India comes as UN Women’s global initiative Beijing+20 “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture It” is reigniting a global conversation on gender equality and women’s rights in the lead up to the 20th anniversary of the historic 1995 Beijing Conference, which produced what is considered the most comprehensive women’s rights agenda, the Beijing Platform for Action. UN Women’s other Goodwill Ambassadors include British actor Emma Watson, Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman and HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand.
UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. For more information, visitwww.unwomen.org. UN Women, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, New York. Tel: +1 646 781-4400. Fax: +1 646 781-4496. HeForShe is a solidarity movement which calls upon men and boys to stand up against the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls globally. The campaign strengthens the support for women’s rights as human rights by enlisting the support of men and exhorting them to put themselves forward as advocates for gender equality. For more information, visit http://www.heforshe.org/
-
The Army Is Making Me Choose Between My Faith and My Country
All my life, I’ve dreamed of serving my country.
But when I tried to enlist in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at Hofstra University, I was told I couldn’t because of my religious beliefs. I follow the Sikh faith, which requires that I keep my hair long and wear a turban and beard. The ROTC recruiters said I would not be able to enlist unless I complied with all Army grooming and uniform rules, which would require me to immediately cut my hair, shave off my beard, and remove my turban.
I couldn’t believe the military was asking me to make the impossible decision of choosing between the country I love and my faith. Sikhs have had a long and rich tradition of military service in nations across the globe since World War I. Currently, we are allowed to serve in the armed forces of Canada, Great Britain, and India, among others. How is it possible that most Sikhs like me are prohibited from serving in the United States–a nation whose founding principle is religious freedom?
After learning that the Army had granted religious accommodations to several Sikhs and soldiers of other faiths, I decided to apply for one too, but my request was denied. The decision made little sense to me. In addition to religious accommodations that have been granted, the Army allows men to wear beards for medical reasons and wigs to cover baldness. Women may have long hair provided they keep it neat and out of the way. There is no indication that these existing grooming policies and accommodations have caused problems. That’s why I decided to file a lawsuit with the help of the ACLU and UNITED SIKHS. Religious beliefs and practices shouldn’t prevent military service where, as in my case, they don’t pose any risk to the military and they don’t harm others. In the aftermath of 9/11, many Sikhs were mistaken for Muslims.
The Sikh turban and beard were equated with terrorism. Sikhs became the victims of the unfortunate and sad wave of anti-Muslim sentiment that swept many parts of the country, including a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin two years ago. Barring us from serving in the military because of our religious practices helps reinforce these hurtful stereotypes. It is my hope that, when fellow Americans see Sikhs like me defending this great nation, the misperception of Sikhs being “terrorists” and “foreigners” will fade away.
They will start judging Sikhs for who we are, based on our character, as opposed to how we look. Many of my non-Sikh friends and peers have already joined the ROTC program or enlisted in various branches of the military.We had nurtured our dreams together to join athe armed forces ever since we were little kids. I don’t want to be left behind just because I’m adhering to the tenets of the faith I was born into. Choosing between one’s faith and serving one’s country is a decision that no one should have to make.
(Source: The Blog by Iknoor Singh in Huffington Post) -
New Balance of Power in Asia? India is challenging China’s assertiveness
“India must increase investments in education and infrastructure, achieve more equitable economic development if it is to emerge as a major driver of the global economy. Only then will it be able to make a significant contribution to Asian and international security and contribute to a new peace-promoting balance of power in Asia”, says the author.
By Anita Inder Singh
India’s decision to help Vietnam boost its defense modernization – against China’s wishes – raises yet again the question whether a new balance of power is emerging in Asia. India, Vietnam and Japan will try to coordinate security and economic policies. That suggests India is challenging China’s assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region and staking a claim to explore the energy-rich resources of the South China Sea. Economic and strategic diplomacy were intertwined when Prime Minister Modi visited Japan and the US – and when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in mid-September.
India needs investment to improve its rickety infrastructure and Japan, China and the US have come forward with offers to help India renew it. Companies in all three countries seek new investment destinations and potentially India is one of the biggest. Mutual economic interests are not enough for India to increase its contribution to Asian and global security. The simultaneous interest of Japan and the US in India’s development and its greater role in Asian security only highlight India’s economic weakness and the blunt fact that its ability to enhance its regional role will hinge on its economic performance improving quickly and steadily.
India has much to gain – and learn – from closer ties with Japan, which is Asia’s oldest democracy. Neither history, nor political/territorial disputes divide India and Japan. As Asia’s post-1945 economic wunderkind Japan had surpassed India, China and many west European countries by the early 1960s. India and Japan are already collaborating on maritime security, counter-terrorism, and energy security. At their summit talks, Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to strengthen defense ties and forge a special strategic global partnership, emphasizing that a developed India and a prosperous Japan were important for Asia and for global peace and security.
Economics and strategy mixed again when Modi met Japanese business leaders. The 21st century, Modi asserted, would belong to Asia – exactly how would depend on “how deep and progressive” the Indo-Japanese relationship is. This is the immediate context in which he deplored the “expansionist” tendencies among countries, caught in an 18th-century time-warp, to “engage in encroachment” and “intrude” into the seas of others. Evidently Modi was not letting trading interests blur the real political differences with such countries. These comments, made before President Xi Li Ping visited India, were widely interpreted as anti-China. The state-steered Chinese Global Times has downplayed any idea that China counted less than Japan with India.
“China’s GDP is five times that of India’s. Mutual trust between Beijing and New Delhi, facing strategic pressure from the north, is difficult to build as there is also an unresolved border conflict between the two,” its editorial said. That appeared more of a threat than an olive branch to India. Modi carefully avoided running China down. Before leaving for the US he stated that the world should trust China to observe international law. But Xi’s visit did not enhance trust between New Delhi and Beijing. Even as Xi assured Modi of $20 billion in investment in Gujarat Chinese troops made one of their frequent forays into north-eastern Indian territory, which Beijing claims belongs to China.
Those forays followed a pattern. China unilaterally invokes “history” (its version) when referring to territorial conflicts with India – and other neighbors. China’s attitude to India echoes that with its Asian neighbors, including Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. By claiming a territory in the name of history it creates a dispute, dispatches its ships or aircraft – (or in India’s case, troops) – to back up that claim. That is how it unilaterally outlined last November an “air-defense identification zone” over an area of the East China Sea covering Senkaku islands that are also claimed by Japan (and Taiwan). Strong trading ties have not stopped China from using history to make claims on neighboring territories.
In fact Japan is the largest foreign investor in China. And China is ASEAN’s largest trading partner. In New Delhi Xi’s reference to historical ties between ancient civilizations was marred by the assertion that the Sino-Indian border dispute had historical roots. Such statements imply that the border disputes will remain unsettled; more importantly, that Beijing will continue to lay claim to the Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh regions. In that case India – like Japan and Vietnam – may find itself simultaneously taking up the politicalstrategic gauntlet and engaging in much-needed trade with China.
China does nothing to dispel the fears of its neighbors and insists on bilateral solutions. Its claims to un-demarcated maritime waters, including the East and South China Seas (Beijing defines the latter as a ‘core’ interest) are contested by its neighbors, who want the disputes those claims give rise to be settled through international arbitration. That explains why, without naming China, the Obama-Modi communiqué, called on all parties to avoid the use, or threat of use, of force in advancing their claims. It also urged a resolution of their territorial and maritime disputes through all peaceful means, in accordance with the international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. At another level, China has taken advantage of America’s planned withdrawal from Afghanistan and is increasing investments there. It is also securing its energy supplies in the oil and gas fields of Central Asia. Moreover, it is India’s main competitor for influence in the Indian Ocean area, which is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern (Antartic) Ocean.
There is nothing improper about these activities. But they alarm China’s neighbors and the US, none of whom wants China to gain primacy in Asia. Unsurprisingly, Obama and Modi stressed the need to accelerate infrastructure connectivity and economic development corridors for regional economic integration linking South, Southeast, and Central Asia. The US and India want to promote the India- Pacific Economic Corridor, which will link India to its neighbors and the wider Asia-Pacific region, with a view to facilitating the flow of commerce and energy. That will not be lost on China. Meanwhile uncertainty hovers over the nature of America’s rebalance or pivot to Asia since it has been announced at a time when Washington is cutting defense expenditure. India must increase investments in education and infrastructure, achieve more equitable economic development if it is to emerge as a major driver of the global economy. Only then will it be able to make a significant contribution to Asian and international security and contribute to a new peace-promoting balance of power in Asia.
(The author is a visiting professor at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, New Delhi) -
An Avoidable Tragedy
It is at once sobering and shocking that the sterilization procedures (laparoscopic tubectomy) carried out on 83 women at a camp in Pendari village of Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district on November 8 ended up killing 11 women and leaving 69 others ill, some of them critically. In another such sterilization camp held in Guarella in the same district on November 10, one of the 56 women sterilized has died and 12 remain in critical condition. Even as the precise cause of the tragedies is being investigated, what is abundantly clear is that the standard operating procedures were thrown to the winds.
It is appalling that a single doctor and a health worker carried out the procedures on all the women in both the camps. According to a 2008 document dealing with standard operating procedures for sterilization services in such camps, a surgeon can carry out no more than 30 tubectomies using three laparoscopes on a given day. Even a team with additional surgeons, support staff and instruments can at the most conduct 50 procedures a day. Even if more than one laparoscope was used, the detailed procedure of decontaminating and cleaning the laparoscope prior to disinfecting it for 20 minutes would have made it impossible to conduct 83 procedures in less than five hours at Pendari and 56 procedures at Guarella in such a short time.
It is an irony that though laparoscopic tubectomy is a bloodless procedure, many women in the Pendari camp went into hemorrhagic shock due to excessive blood loss. Along with anesthesia and drugs given to women, the needle of suspicion points to sepsis arising from the use of contaminated laparoscopes. Sadly, rules will continue to be flouted and deaths will be the order of the day as long as the lethal combination of pressure to meet sterilization targets, “compensation” amounts given to women and payment to doctors on the basis of numbers, are in place. Making it worse is the undivided attention the government has been giving to sterilization as a means of achieving by 2020 the Millennium Development Goal on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.
This comes out clearly in a letter sent out on October 20, 2014 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the Chief Ministers of 11 “high focus States.” The “compensation” and payment made to all the parties have been increased for these States. Already, the number of sterilization procedures carried out in India is disproportionately high compared with other family planning measures such as the use of intrauterine devices. If the accredited social health activists (ASHA) are under pressure to mobilize women for sterilization, the increased focus on the 11 States would mean that women in these States are even less likely to be counseled and informed of safer contraceptive methods to choose from.
(The Hindu) -
A first for science and humanity
By James Vincent
The Philae lander has become the firstever spacecraft to land safely on a comet after traveling through space for more than 10 years and covering a distance of some 4 billion miles. “We are there and Philae is talking to us,” confirmed Philae Lander Manager Stephan Ulamec from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission control. “The landing gear has been moved inside so we are sitting on the surface – and there’s more data to come but we are there: it’s done its job, we’re on the comet!” Although details of the landing are still emerging, the ESA
operations
hub say that it was “a fairly gentle touch down based on amount of landing gear damping,” but that the harpoons intended to secure the craft did not fire successfully as had first been thought. This means that there’s a possible danger that the lander will not be stable as the comet moves closer to the Sun and becomes more “active” (this happens as the Sun’s rays heat up the surface), but the ESA still stress that Philae is in “great shape” for the moment and that they will re-fire the harpoons shortly. “We have no reason to think it won’t work,” said Paolo Ferri, Head of Mission Operations at the ESA, “but we have no understanding of why it is doing this.” The comet itself is about as big as a mountain: 2.5 miles wide and around 2.3 miles high. If placed on Earth it would be taller than Mount Fuji, although early images of the 67P lent themselves to more unusual comparisons: apparently fused from two separate icy bodies, the comet was most often compared to a rubber duck. Rosetta and Philae have also sent back their first images to Earth – although none from the surface of the comet. Instead, they took snaps of one another as the lander detached from its parent craft. How big is 67P? Bigger than you think. Philae’s ten onboard sensors and instruments will now begin the important work of analyzing material from the comet’s surface as well as the surrounding atmosphere of gas and dust. Rosetta will stay in orbit around the comet for the next year, peeling off sometime around December 2015. The information Philae gathers from the surface of the comet will provide new insight into the mechanisms of our solar system and could even help us answer questions about the origins of life on Earth. It’s long been theorized that life was “seeded” on Earth after hitching an interstellar ride on a comet and previous fly-bys of similar bodies have detected complex organic molecules. If Philae manages to find any water ice or amino proteins (compounds that are key to life) then it could offer some evidence for the theory.
Markers of the mission
Cost: The total cost of the mission is 1.4 billion Euro, of which the total Philae costs are 220 million Euro. This includes the launch, the spacecraft, the science payload (instruments and lander) and mission and science operations. Launch: Rosetta was launched on March 2, 2004 by an Ariane-5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Planned mission lifetime: Rosetta’s mission will last for almost 12 years – until December 2015. Spacecraft design: Rosetta resembles a large black box.
The scientific instruments are mounted on the top of the box (the payload support module), while the subsystems are on the “base” (bus support module). On one side of the orbiter is the steerable 2.2 m-diameter communications dish, while the lander is attached to the opposite face. Two enormous solar wings extend from the other sides. Both panels can be rotated through ±180° to catch the maximum amount of sunlight. Mass & dimensions: Approximately 3,000 kg (fully fuelled), including 1,670 kg propellant, 165 kg scientific payload for the orbiter, and the lander weighs about 100 kg. The main spacecraft is 2.8 x 2.1 x 2.0 m, on which all subsystems and payload equipment are mounted. Two 14 m-long solar panels with a total area of 64 m2 provide electrical power.
Facts about Philae lander
Design: The lander’s structure consists of a baseplate, an instrument platform and a polygonal sandwich construction, all made of carbon fibre. Some of the instruments and subsystems are beneath a hood covered by solar cells. An antenna transmits data from the surface to Earth via the orbiter. The lander carries nine experiments, with a total mass of about 21 kg. A drill will sample the subsurface material. Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer – APXS: Lowered to within 4 cm of the ground, APXS will detect alpha particles and X-rays to gather information on the elemental composition of the comet’s surface. Rosetta Lander Imaging SystemÇIVA/ ROLIS: It is a CCD camera that will obtain high-resolution images during descent and stereo panoramic images of areas sampled by other instruments. Six identical micro-cameras will take panoramic pictures of the surface. A spectrometer will study the composition, texture and albedo (reflectivity) of samples collected from the surface.
Comet Nucleus Sounding –
CONSERT: It will probe the internal structure of the nucleus. Radio waves from CONSERT will travel through the nucleus and will be returned by a transponder on the lander. Cometary Sampling and Composition experiment – COSAC: It is one of two ‘evolved gas analysers’. It will detect and identify complex organic molecules from their elemental and molecular composition. Evolved Gas Analyser – MODULUS PTOLEMY is another evolved gas analyser that will obtain accurate measurements of isotopic ratios of light elements. Multi-Purpose Sensor for Surface and Subsurface Science – Mupus: This will use sensors on the lander’s anchor, probe and exterior to measure the density, thermal and mechanical properties of the surface.
Rosetta Lander Magnetometer and Plasma Monitor – Romap: This is a magnetometer and plasma monitor that will study the local magnetic field and the interaction between the comet and the solar wind. Sample and Distribution Device – SD2: This device will drill more than 20 cm into the surface, collect samples and deliver them to different ovens or for microscope inspection. Surface Electrical, Seismic and Acoustic Monitoring Experiments – SESAME’s: These three instruments will measure properties of the comet’s outer layers. The Cometary Acoustic Sounding Surface Experiment will measure the way sound travels through the surface.
The Permittivity Probe will investigate its electrical characteristics, and the Dust Impact Monitor will measure dust falling back to the surface. Operations Mission Operations Centre: European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany. Prime Ground Station: ESA Deep Space Antenna in New Norcia, near Perth, Australia. Rosetta Science Operations Centre: European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), in Villafranca, Spain. The European Space Agency has released the following information regarding the mission, its parameters and
objectives:
Rosetta is the first mission designed to orbit and land on a comet. It consists of an orbiter, carrying 11 science experiments, and a lander, called “Philae”, carrying 10 additional instruments, for the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted. Rosetta’s launch was originally scheduled for January 2003 on an Ariane-5 rocket. Rosetta’s target at that time was Comet 46P/Wirtanen, with the encounter planned for 2011. However, following the failure of the first Ariane ECA rocket, in December 2002, ESA and Arianespace took the joint decision not to launch Rosetta during its January 2003 launch window.
Objectives ESA’s comet-chaser will be the first to undertake a lengthy exploration of a comet at close quarters. After entering orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014, Rosetta will release its Philae small lander onto the icy nucleus as it did two days ago. Rosetta will orbit the comet for about a year as they head towards the Sun. Once they have passed perihelion (closest distance to the Sun), Rosetta will keep orbiting the comet for another half year, while the comet moves back out towards the orbit of Jupiter. As the most primitive objects in the solar system, comets carry essential information about our origins. Their chemical compositions have not changed much since their formation, therefore reflecting that of the solar system when it was very young and still “unfinished”, more than 4,600 million years ago.
Rosetta will also help to discover whether comets contributed to the beginnings of life on Earth. Comets are carriers of complex organic molecules, delivered to Earth through impacts, and perhaps played a role in the origin of life. Moreover, volatile light elements carried by comets may also have played an important role in forming Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. During its long journey, Rosetta was scheduled to have two close encounters with asteroids of the main asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The first was with (2867) Steins, a rare E-type asteroid. The flyby started on August 4, 2008 with optical navigation of the asteroid itself – a technique never before used in ESA spacecraft operations.
Rosetta orbiter
The orbiter’s scientific payload includes 11 experiments, in addition to the lander. Scientific consortia from institutes across Europe and the United States provided these state-of-the-art instruments. The Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer – ALICE will analyse gases in the coma and tail and measure the comet’s production rates of water and carbon monoxide and dioxide. It will provide information on the surface composition of the nucleus. Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment – CONSERT will probe the comet’s interior by studying radio waves reflected and scattered by the nucleus. Cometary Secondary Ion Mass Analyser – COSIMA will analyse the characteristics of dust grains emitted by the comet, such as their composition and whether they are organic or inorganic. Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator – GIADA will measure the number, mass, momentum and velocity distribution of dust grains coming from the cometary nucleus and other directions (deflected by solar radiation pressure). The Micro-Imaging Dust Analysis System, MIDAS, will study the dust around the comet.
It will provide information on particle population, size, volume and shape. Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter – MIRO will determine the abundances of major gases, the surface outgassing rate and the nucleus subsurface temperature. Optical, Spectrocopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System – OSIRIS has a wide-angle camera and narrow-angle camera that can obtain high-resolution images of the comet’s nucleus. Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis – ROSINA will determine the composition of the comet’s atmosphere and ionosphere, the velocities of electrified gas particles and reactions in which they take part.
Radio science investigation signals
Rosetta Plasma Consortium – RPC will measure the physical properties of the nucleus, examine the structure of the inner coma, monitor cometary activity, and study the comet’s interaction with the solar wind. Radio Science Investigation – RSI will, by using shifts in the spacecraft’s radio signals, measure the mass, density and gravity of the nucleus, define the comet’s orbit, and study the inner coma. Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer – VIRTIS will map and study the nature of the solids and the temperature on the surface. It will also identify comet gases, characterise the physical conditions of the coma and help to identify the best landing sites. -
PRESIDENT PRANAB MUKHERJEE ARRIVES IN BHUTAN
THIMPHU (TIP): President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday arrived here on a two-day visit to Bhutan and was received by the King and his wife in a special gesture. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck along with his wife turned up unexpectedly at the airport as a special gesture to receive Mukherjee, the first Indian head of state to visit to the country in 26 years. Hundreds of school children were lined up along the way, holding Indian and Bhutanese flag. During the visit, Mukherjee will hold meetings with Wangchuck and Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay besides other leaders to take bilateral ties to a new level. Some agreements in education sector are likely to be signed during the trip.
The President is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, Members of Parliament Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Anil Shirole, Mahendra Nath Pandey (all BJP) and Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), besides officials and representatives of a few educational and academic institutions. Sources said as India is keen to revive the ancient Nalanda University, an agreement will be signed for seeking cooperation from Bhutan in this regard. Mukherjee’s visit to Bhutan comes nearly five months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the country. It was Modi’s first foreign visit as Prime Minister. The meetings of the President with the King of Bhutan and the Bhutanese Prime Minister, who will call on him, will provide an opportunity to discuss all issues of mutual interest and ways of further strengthening close bilateral relations. India shares a unique and special relationship with Bhutan nurtured by successive Kings of Bhutan and Indian leaders. -
Russia to sell Mi-35 helicopters to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD (TIP): Russia will sell Mi-35 helicopters to Pakistan to strengthen its counter-terrorism efforts, media reported November 14. Russia’s Ambassador Alexey Dedov said the deal between Pakistan and Russia would help combat terrorism, The Nation reported. He said politically the deal has been approved, however, further negotiations on details of political-commercial contract are in progress.
Dedov also said that Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu would soon visit Islamabad and his agenda of talks with his counterparts includes the sale of defence equipments to Pakistan. He said that Russia was also interested in various energy-related projects, including the development of Gwadar Liquefying Facility and construction of a pipeline between Gwadar and Nawabshah. The Russian ambassador said that the Pakistan-Russia Intergovernmental Commission’s meeting would take place in Moscow Nov 26, which would give new impetus to the bilateral economic cooperation. He said bilateral trade volume of the two countries did not coincide with the actual potential and plenty of room existed which needed to be tapped. -
Bangladesh arrests hardline cleric over TV host’s death
DHAKA (TIP): Bangladesh police said on Monday they have arrested a hardline Muslim preacher for allegedly inciting the murder of a popular television host. Sheikh Nurul Islam Faruqi, the 60-year-old chief cleric of a Dhaka mosque and host of television shows on Islamic issues, was found tied to a chair with his throat slit at his home in the capital in August.
Police suspect he was murdered by Ansarullah Bangla, a little-known group of hardline Islamists whose members were accused of killing an atheist blogger last year. On Monday police said they had arrested 35-year-old preacher Mozaffor bin Mohosin after video footage of him calling Faruqi an “apostate” emerged. “We’ve arrested him for inciting the murder. He has been remanded for two days for questioning,” police spokesman Monirul Islam told AFP. “We have seen the video in which he (Mohosin) could be seen seeking Faruqi’s punishment because he promoted (Sufi) shrines in his programmes.” Mohosin has denied the charge, he said.
The gruesome murder highlighted the growing faultline between hardline Saudi-style Salafi Islamists in Muslim-majority Bangladesh and the country’s centuries-old tradition of Sufi-inspired moderate Islam. Salafists say that worshipping at Sufi shrines is anti-Islamic. The police spokesman said Mohosin regularly preached at a Dhaka mosque attended by militants from the Ansarullah group. Faruqi’s murder triggered protests by moderate Islamic groups, who called a nationwide strike to demand the culprits’ swift arrest. In the last decade, Islamic militants in Bangladesh have killed around 100 people seen as critical of Islam, including secular and cultural activists and bloggers. They have also bombed Sufi shrines which were deemed un-Islamic. -
Lankan minister accuses IPKF of rape during LTTE war
COLOMBO (TIP): A Sri Lankan minister on November 12 accused the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) of raping Tamil women during the LTTE war. The 48-year-old Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna, who was a former LTTE leader and now a deputy minister in the Mahinda Rajpaksa government, told the parliament that the IPKF who conducted peacekeeping operations in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990, had raped several Tamil women while also killing Tamil’s. “There is evidence for that,” Muralitharan, who was then the LTTE’s feared eastern leader said.
The IPKF was invited into north and eastern Sri Lanka in terms of the Indo- Lanka Accord of 1987. Karuna brokeaway from the LTTE in 2004 to form his own movement and later his own political party. He was later allied with Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition to become a deputy minister. He was also appointed a Vice President of the dominant party in the ruling coalition, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Meanwhile, the opposition United National Party (UNP) said that Karuna, a terrorist leader has become a senior member of the SLFP.
Karuna warned the UNP saying he will not hesitate to reveal a lot of information which will cause the main opposition party much embarrassment if they continued to raise allegations against him. In his speech in the parliament he praised the Sri Lankan Navy of preventing poaching in Lankan waters by Indian fishermen. He accused former President Ranasinghe Premadasa of strengthening the LTTE by giving the rebels more weapons.
Muralitharan said that around 1989 only 350 LTTE cadres remained in the outfit but it eventually grew in numbers as a result of the actions of Premadasa. “He gave 5000 weapons to the LTTE. That 300 changed into 6000 in 3 months,” he said. The Deputy Minister also accused the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) of attempting to scuttle the peace by promoting the UN led investigation on Sri Lanka
-
Pakistani Taliban splinter group releases Wagah bomber’s pictures
ISLAMABAD (TIP): A splinter group of Pakistani Taliban on November 13 released pictures of a suicide bomber, who had killed nearly 60 people at Wagah border. Jamaat ul Ahrar has claimed responsibility for the attack on a crowd, who gathered to witness the traditional flag-lowering ceremoney. Around 100 people had also been injured in the attack, Xinhua reported. The Jamaat ul Ahrar’s spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan emailed the photos of Hanifullah alias Hamza to the media in Pakistan and also posted it online. There was no independent confirmation of the photo. The bomber is shown in the picture sitting with two automatic guns and the group’s white and black flags. Ehsan said he will also issue a video of the deadly attack which had killed mostly civilians.
-
OBAMA MEETS MYANMAR LEADER AMID FEARS OF BACKSLIDE
NAYPYITAW, MYANMAR (TIP): President Barack Obama received a hero’s welcome two years ago during his historic visit to Myanmar, whose rapid rebirth after decades of repression was a source of hope for the region and beyond. Yet when he meets on Thursday with President Thein Sein in the nation’s sparking new capital, Obama will carry a far grimmer message as he warns of a worrisome backslide in the country’s march toward a freer and fairer society.
A nationwide cease-fire with armed ethnic groups has yet to materialize. Myanmar’s prodemocracy opposition figure, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is banned from next year’s pivotal elections. Scores of Rohingya Muslims are fleeing for fear of violence at the hands of Buddhist mobs, while roughly 1,40,000 more remain trapped in camps under dismal conditions. This was not the Myanmar that Obama had hoped for when he made US engagement with the nation, also known as Burma, a centerpiece of his efforts to promote human rights and expand US influence in Asia. “The work is not yet done,” Obama said after meeting with members of Myanmar’s parliament. To be sure, the country has made great strides.
But the optimism that once radiated here has faded, tempered by the realization that, to transition successfully away from five decades under a military junta, Myanmar needs more than just the right words from its leaders and high-profile visits from an American president. So when Thein Sein hosts Obama for a sitdown at his new marbled, moat-enclosed palace, all eyes will be on how hard a line Obama will toe. After all, Obama has staked part of his legacy overseas on Myanmar’s success, and Obama is facing tough questions about why he’s rewarding Myanmar with a second presidential visit when the progress Thein Sein promised has, in many cases, been slow to emerge.
“It’s a very fluid situation right now inside of Burma,” Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said Thursday before the meeting. “We have significant concerns that there has to be further follow-through.” Obama’s meeting with Thein Sein, himself a former member of the junta, offers Obama his first major opportunity to address Myanmar’s state of affairs since he set off Sunday on a weeklong tour of Asia and Australia. But in China, on the first leg of the trip, Obama treaded lightly on human rights issues and other areas where pushing a firm stance could have upset his hosts. On his first full day in Myanmar, Obama announced the US would start sending Peace Corps volunteers there in late 2015.
The White House said the volunteers would train for three months to learn Myanmar’s language, culture and technical needs, then serve at sites in Myanmar for two years. Obama’s first encounter with Suu Kyi during his visit came on Thursday at a sparsely equipped building in Naypyitaw, a city whose very existence is an ode both to Myanmar’s aspirations for democracy and its challenges in making it work. Carved from scratch out of scrubland in the early 2000s, Naypyitaw has the lush hotels and grandiose public buildings of a modern capital, but its vast empty spaces and eerily empty multilane highways have led to its reputation as a ghost town.
At the parliamentary resource center, a hub for aid organizations, Obama told Suu Kyi and her fellow parliamentarians he was heartened by their determination to move ahead with the transition. He said in some ways, the questions facing Myanmar echo those that Americans have faced, like how to include minorities or prevent institutional discrimination. “There are times when we’ll offer constructive criticism about a lack of progress,” Obama said. “But our consistent aim and goal will be to see that this transition is completed so that it delivers concrete benefits for the people” Soe Thane, and former high-ranking junta leader now in Thein Sein’s government, said in an op-ed on Thursday that Myanmar was determined to confront its challenges, including ending armed conflict with a groups, holding fair elections and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state, home to the Rohingya people.
“All people in Myanmar, regardless of ethnicity or religion, deserve the same fundamental rights and freedoms,” he wrote in The New York Times. White House officials said Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya would be high on Obama’s agenda when he meets with Thein Sein. Another key US concern is the need for constitutional reforms, such as the elimination of a rule that is keeping Suu Kyi off the ballot because her sons hold British citizenship. In a sign of Obama’s high regard for the opposition leader, when Obama called Thein Sein late last month to lay the groundwork for the visit, he placed a call the same day to Suu Kyi.
And when Obama flies on Friday to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, he’ll not only meet with Suu Kyi but hold a joint news conference with her and visit the secretariat, the infamous building where her father, Gen. Aung San, was assassinated.
-
Andy Warhol’s Elvis, Brando paintings fetch record $151m
NEW YORK (TIP): Two iconic Andy Warhol paintings of Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando sold for more than $151 million at auction in New York on Thursday, shattering pre-sale estimates by several million dollars. Pop-art legend Warhol’s ‘Triple Elvis’ — a 1963 silkscreen depicting three images of the King of Rock and Roll posing as a gunslinging cowboy —sold for $81.9 million at the Christie’s sale. The striking seven-foot tall work, derived from a publicity still for the 1960 Don Siegel-directed Western ‘Flaming Star,’ had been estimated to fetch $60 million. The final sale price topped out at more than$ 20 million above the estimate after six minutes of frenzied bidding. It was a similar story for the other Warhol classic sold on Nov 13, ‘Four Marlons,’ a giant set of four images of the legendary actor taken from his 1953 motorcycle gang classic ‘The Wild One’. Both of Wednesday’s auction prices however were well short of the all-time record for a Warhol work set by ‘Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)’ which fetched $105.4 million in November last year at Sotheby’s. A flurry of bids also greeted the sale of Cy Twombly’s ‘Untitled’ from his blackboard series, which went under the hammer for the first time. The painting — a series of energetic looping spirals resembling chalk scribblings on a school blackboard — sold for $69.6 million, the highest amount ever paid for a work by the American, who died three years ago in Italy.
-
US internal review cites secret service failures in White House intrusion
WASHINGTON (TIP): An intruder was able to scale the White House fence and enter the executive mansion in September because of major secret service failures including an agent who was distracted by a personal cellphone call, according to an internal review released on Thursday. Iraq war veteran Omar Gonzalez, 42, is accused of breaking into the heavily guarded complex on Sept 19 armed with a knife in one of the most significant security breaches since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
The suspect was not stopped until he entered the main floor of the White House. In addition to the knife he was carrying, officers found more weapons in his car. The incident helped spur the resignation of Secret Service Director Julia Pierson. According to the review by the US department of homeland security, the suspect climbed over the 7-foot (2- metre) fence where a “trident,” or ornamental spike was missing. Several uniformed secret service agents were stationed in the area but were unable to see the intruder because of a construction project along the fence line, the report said, which also cited breakdowns in radio communications.
A canine officer stationed on the White House driveway with a guard dog was on his personal cellphone at the time of the intrusion and was not wearing his earpiece, the review said. After spotting the intruder, the officer moved toward him and gave the dog the command to apprehend the suspect. But the canine “did not have enough time to lock onto” the intruder and “may not have seen him at all,” according to the report’s executive summary.
“This report indicates that the Secret Service’s response at the White House was significantly hampered on September 19th because of critical and major failures in communications, confusion about operational protocols and gaps in staffing and training,” the review said. “While some of these problems can be attributed to a lack of resources, others are systemic and indicative of secret service culture.” Michael McCaul, who chairs the US House of Representatives homeland security committee, introduced legislation on Thursday to form a panel “to conduct a top-to-bottom review” of the Secret Service. House judiciary committee chairman Bob Goodlatte said the review “reads as a comedy of errors by the U.S. Secret Service and confirms that fundamental reform is needed to improve both the security of the White House grounds and staff training.”
-
FBI’s ‘suicide letter’ to Martin Luther King found
WASHINGTON (TIP): The uncensored contents of a letter sent from the FBI to Martin Luther King in which he is called an “evil, abnormal beast” and apparently encouraged to kill himself have been made public for the first time. In what appears to be a heavy-handed attempt to unsettle the civil rights leader, the anonymous letter was written by a deputy of the bureau’s director J Edgar Hoover, posing as a disappointed activist, and sent to King in the weeks before he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
While the existence of the document, dubbed the “suicide letter”, has been known for some time, only heavily redacted versions had previously been available. It has now been published in full in The New York Times Magazine after an unredacted version was discovered in the National Archive by Yale University historian Beverly Gage, as she researched a book on Hoover. It shows the FBI director was apparently willing to use King’s extramarital affairs in an attempt to disconcert the pastor.
Writing in The New York Times, Gage describes how, “The largest unredacted section focuses on King’s sex life, recounting in graphic language what the bureau believed it knew.” Littered with apparently deliberate typos and mistakes, the letter warns King: “There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudalant [sic] self is bared to the nation.” At the time King and his associates suspected the letter had come from the FBI, a belief that was confirmed a decade later by the Senate’s Church Committee on intelligence overreach.
The FBI’s attempt to keep tabs and discredit King, who was assassinated in 1968, has been reported to have come under the umbrella of the Cointelpro programme. Launched in the 1950s, the programme was initially intended to trail and, if possible, discredit members of the Communist Party. Through the 1960s however it shifted its focus to civil rights activists.
In September last year, historical archives released to researchers at George Washington University showed the NSA under a programme dubbed ‘Minaret’, was monitoring the overseas phone calls and cables of a number of figures of note including King and boxing champion Muhammad Ali. The documents relate to a period from 1967 to 1973, a time when it appears paranoia about foreign governments stoking the anti-Vietnam War movement was rife. -
Gay marriage advocates get victories in Kansas, South Carolina
CHARLESTON (TIP): Gay marriage advocates won another two victories on November 12 as the US Supreme Court allowed Kansas to become the 33rd US state where same-sex couples can wed and a federal judge struck down South Carolina’s ban. The high court declined a request from Kansas officials to block US District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree’s on November 4 ruling that struck down the state’s gay marriage ban as a violation of the US Constitution.
Two of the nine justices, conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, said in the brief court order they would have granted the stay. In Charleston, US District Judge Richard Gergel ruled that South Carolina is bound by an earlier federal appeals court decision striking down Virginia’s similar law. Gergel’s decision will not take effect for one week, allowing South Carolina time to appeal. That could allow gay couples to file for marriage licenses or begin receiving them starting November 20 if the state cannot obtain a further delay through the courts. “We’re ecstatic,” said Colleen Condon, 44, who filed the lawsuit heard by Gergel after she and her fiancee were denied a marriage license in Charleston last month.
South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson, a Republican, said he would appeal Wednesday’s ruling. Wednesday’s court actions follow decisions last week rejecting bans in Missouri and West Virginia, the latest in a series of such federal district court rulings across the nation. Although gay marriage advocates have had the advantage in the courts over the past year, the landscape changed last week when a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court became the first to uphold gay marriage bans. That decision by the 6th Circuit US Court of Appeals backing four states’ bans created a split within the courts, increasing the chances the Supreme Court will rule once and for all on whether states can ban gay marriage. -
US nurses hold strikes, protests over Ebola measures
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (TIP): Tens of thousands of nurses across the United States staged protest rallies and strikes on Wednesday over what they say is insufficient protection for health workers dealing with patients possibly stricken with the deadly Ebola virus. California-based National Nurses United had expected about 100,000 nurses nationwide to participate in the protest, and a spokesman for the union said he expected about that many people to take part before the end of the day.
The union is embroiled in contract talks with the operators of nearly 90 California hospitals and clinics, and one hospital in Washington, DC. About 19,000 nurses who on Tuesday began a two-day strike against those California facilities were part of the Ebola measures protest, which in other parts of the country did not involve nurses walking off the job. Healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente, which operates most of the California facilities where the nurses were striking, has accused the union of using Ebola as a pretext for labor action.
The nurses are pressing hospitals to buy hazardous materials suits which leave no skin exposed, as well as powered air-purifying respirators, to properly protect them from exposure, and they are seeking more training to handle patients suspected of having Ebola. “The best way to protect our community is to protect our nurses,” said Evan Brost, a nurse who joined more than 30 people in a protest outside the White House over Ebola measures. Elsewhere, protests took place in Chicago, Oakland, and outside the offices of some state governors, said National Nurses United Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has ordered $2.7 million worth of personal protective equipment to help hospitals care for Ebola patients, but union officials contend that is insufficient. -
Republicans elect Mitch McConnell as US Senate leader
WASHINGTON (TIP): Republican lawmakers re-elected Mitch McConnell as their leader in the US Senate on November 12, ensuring him the powerful role of majority leader in the new Congress that begins in January. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s Democrats, who lost control of the Senate with their crushing defeat in this month’s mid-term elections, re-elected their own leader in the chamber.
McConnell, the 72-year-old senior senator from Kentucky, will take over from current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the start of the new congressional session on January 3. “We are eager to work towards bipartisan agreements and to implement real legislative accomplishments,” McConnell said. But shortly afterwards he blasted Obama for several unilateral steps the president has taken since the midterms. “I had maybe naively hoped the president would look at the results of the election and decide to come to the political center and do some business with us,” McConnell told reporters.
“I still hope he does at some point, but the early signs are not good.” McConnell has coveted the majority leader role for decades. The position will put him in control of the legislative agenda of the 100-member Senate and require close coordination with the top Republican in Congress’s lower chamber, House Speaker John Boehner, who was also re-elected Thursday to lead his caucus. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, re-elected Reid as their leader, although not without some opposition. At least two Democrats, Senators Claire McCaskill and Joe Manchin, voted against Reid, saying they wanted to chart a new course of bipartisan cooperation.
“There’s a lot of us who feel that it’s time for us to not mimic what the Republicans did, but rise above that and try to work together,” McCaskill told reporters. , 74, has been majority leader since his party won the Senate eight years ago, but must now trade places with McConnell. He insisted he was not going to stall Republican legislative action, following a particularly partisan and bitter two years. “This is not get-even time. I do not intend to run the Democratic caucus like the Republican caucus has been running the minority,” he said, referring to the heightened number of blocking procedures known as filibusters used while McConnell has been minority leader.
Reid signalled a potential shift by announcing he was creating a special leadership post in the Democratic caucus for first-term Senator Elizabeth Warren. The former Harvard professor, a populist progressive, will be a strategic Democratic policy adviser, helping to shape the party’s policy positions and priorities. Warren will also serve as a liaison to progressive groups to ensure they have a voice in leadership meetings and discussions, according to a source familiar with the role. “Wall Street is doing very well, CEOs are bringing in millions more, and families all across this country are struggling. We have to make this government work for the American people,” she said.
Progressives see Warren as posing a credible challenge from the left against Hillary Clinton should the former secretary of state choose to seek the White House in 2016. Republicans re-elected John Cornyn as Senate Republican whip and John Thune as Senate Republican Conference chairman. In a secret ballot, they also chose Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi to helm the National Republican Senatorial Committee. As head of the party’s campaign arm, Wicker will oversee campaigns in the run up to the 2016 polls, when Republicans will be defending 24 of the 34 Senate seats up for election. -
PM Modi arrives in Australia
BRISBANE (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 14 arrived in Australia on the second leg of his three-nation tour during which he will attend the annual G20 summit and hold bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott. Modi reached Brisbane after attending the ASEAN-India summit and the East Asia Summit on November 12-13 in the Myanmarese capital Nay Pyi Taw.
The Prime Minister is on a 10-day visit of Myanmar, Australia and Fiji to attend key multilateral summits and undertake bilateral meetings. Before his departure from India, Modi had said the importance of global cooperation against black money will be a “key issue” he will highlight at the G20 summit. “A key issue for me would be to highlight the importance of international cooperation against black money,” Modi had said in a predeparture statement.
As India attempts to unearth black money stashed abroad, Modi is expected to renew the country’s commitment to a global response to deal with cross border tax avoidance and evasion. At the annual summit of the Group of 20 of the world’s biggest developed and emerging economies, Modi had said he intends to discuss how it can accelerate creation of next generation infrastructure, which also includes digital infrastructure, and ensure access to clean and affordable energy. The two-day summit will be held from November 15. G20 accounts for 85 per cent of the world’s economic output. During his visit, Modi will also hold talks with Prime Minister Abbott in Canberra after the G20 summit.
Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Australia in 28 years since Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. “While we have much in common with Australia, our political, strategic and economic relations have been below potential. “A closer strategic partnership with Australia will support India’s economic goals; promote our security interests, including maritime security; and, reinforce our efforts to foster a climate of peace and stability in our extended continental and maritime neighbourhood,” he said referring to his four-city Australia visit that covers Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney besides Canberra. -
INDIA, ASEAN CAN BE ‘GREAT PARTNERS’: MODI
NAY PYI TAW (TIP): Asserting that there are “no irritants” in the India- ASEAN relationship, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told ASEAN leaders that a new era of economic development, industrialisation and trade has begun in India and they can be “great partners” for each other. As India seeks to deepen its engagement with the 10-nation bloc of small and medium economies, Modi said both India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are keen to enhance their cooperation in advancing balance, peace and stability in the region. “The ASEAN community is India’s neighbour.
We have ancient relations of trade, religion, culture, art and traditions. We have enriched each other through our interaction. This constitutes a strong foundation of a modern relationship,” Modi said in his opening statement in Hindi at the 12th India—ASEAN summit in the Myanmarese capital. “That is why our world view is similar in many respects; our mutual confidence and trust is strong.
We have no irritants in our relationship. We see encouraging opportunities and challenges in the world in similar ways,” he said. Observing that India and the ASEAN have been successful to a considerable extent in pursuing their dreams, Modi said they have laid a foundation for a strong and comprehensive strategic partnership. “My government has been in office for six months and the intensity and momentum with which we have enhanced our engagement in the East, is a reflection of the priority that we give to this region,” the Prime Minister said at the summit held at the sprawling Myanmar International Convention Centre on the second day of his 10—day three—nation tour of Myanmar, Australia and Fiji.
“A new era of economic development, industrialisation and trade has begun in India. Externally, India’s ‘Look East Policy’ has become ‘Act East Policy’,” he said. “Rapidly developing India and ASEAN can be great partners for each other. We are both keen to enhance our cooperation in advancing balance, peace and stability in the region,” the Prime Minister said.
Obama calls Modi ‘man of action’
At a brief interaction at NAY PYI TAW on Nov 12 night, US President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “man of action.” Modi and Obama met for the second time in six weeks at a gala dinner in the Myanmar capital after the President played host to the Prime Minister at the White House in Washington in September last week. “Prez Obama greets PM @narendramodi at Gala dinner — ‘You are a man of action!,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted after the dinner. The dinner was hosted by Myanmar President Thein Sein for world leaders attending the ASEAN and the East Asian summits. -
‘LOOK EAST’ POLICY NOW TURNED INTO ‘ACT EAST’ POLICY: MODI
NAY PYI TAW (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 13 told world leaders that his government accorded high priority to turn India’s erstwhile “Look East” policy into an “Act East” policy. “Since entering office six months ago, my government has moved with a great sense of priority and speed to turn our ’Look East Policy’ into ‘Act East Policy’,” Modi said in his address to the East Asia Summit in the Myanmarese capital Nay Pyi Taw. “The East Asia Summit is an important pillar of this policy,” he said. “Look East” was introduced in the early 1990s when the Congress party’s PV Narasimha Rao was prime minister.
It was endorsed by former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. Modi said the initiatives taken by the East Asia Summit in disaster preparedness and response are truly commendable. “No other forum brings together such a large collective weight of global population, youth, economy and military strength. Nor is any other forum so critical for peace, stability and prosperity in Asia-Pacific and the world,” he said. The one-day summit was attended by a galaxy of world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Modi was in Myanmar for the India-ASEAN and the East Asia summits on the third day of his 10-day threenation tour, the next leg of which includes a visit to Australia and Fiji. ASEAN comprises 10 countries Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. -
PM meets Suu Kyi
NAY PYI TAW (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 12 met Nobel laureate and Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who described India as her “second home”, recalling the years she spent in the country. It was Modi’s first interaction with the 69–year–old pro–democracy icon. The Prime Minister referred to Suu Kyi as a “symbol of democracy”, referring to the enormous efforts made by her for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar, long ruled by military junta. After the meeting, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin tweeted: “India is my second home — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to @PMOIndia.” He told reporters that Ms. Suu Kyi was effusive in her praise of India. She told Mr. Modi that India was the first country to which she travelled from Burma, which was the old name of Myanmar. The opposition leader also underscored the importance of stability going hand in hand with democracy. The Prime Minister presented Ms. Suu Kyi with a special copy of Mahatma Gandhi’s commentary on Bhagwad Gita. Asked by a journalist whether the Prime Minister had extended an invitation to the Myanmar leader to visit India, the spokesperson said, “The invitation to Aung San Suu Kyi to visit India is always available as no one invites one to her second home.”
-
Cops probe Pakistan, Dubai angle in Sunanda Pushkar’s case
NEW DELHI (TIP): The Sunanda Pushkar probe has taken a new twist with Delhi Police reportedly seeking the list of passengers who travelled from Dubai and Pakistan to Delhi, and vice versa, on January 17 — the day the wife of former UPA minister Shashi Tharoor was found dead in a five star hotel in New Delhi. The exercise indicates that the cops are indeed probing an outsider’s hand in Sunanda’s death.
While senior officers refused to speculate on where the probe was heading, sources confirmed that the foreign regional registration office (FRRO), which comes under the intelligence bureau, had been asked for these details. Police are also considering getting Sunanda’s viscera tested abroad to zero in on the poison in her body. An officer in the investigating team said on Thursday that the viscera could be sent to a laboratory in Scotland. Another option is the FBI’s lab in the US where CBI sends samples in special cases.
A decision could be taken on Friday. A section of investigators, however, say suicide remains a possible cause of Sunanda’s death. The possible move to send Sunanda’s viscera for testing abroad follows the failure of the forensic team from CFSL and doctors to shed light on what caused Sunanda’s death. In their medical report, the doctors of AIIMS had said that the cause of death was poisoning and mysteriously listed out a list of poisons (radioactive isotopes) and drugs which could not be tested in Indian labs.
Earlier in February, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had raised a furor by claiming Sunanda’s nostrils had been squeezed for her mouth to open, after which she was administered a Russian poison. Sunanda’s husband Shashi Tharoor had hit back saying he had stopped taking Swamy seriously long ago. About the passenger list being obtained, sources said that the Delhi Police was basically trying to ascertain if any person from Pakistan or Dubai visited Delhi or returned on the day Sunanda was found dead. They are also trying to find out if a person flew in and out of Delhi on the day — or within a day or two — of Sunanda’s death. Sources said that once the list is received, cops will shortlist the “suspicious” travellers and try to question them.
There will be more than a thousand travelers whose antecedents will need to be verified, the source added. When contacted, a top officer said, “These things are a part of investigations and can’t be discussed or written about. We cannot talk about this.” On Nov 13 afternoon, some officials from Hotel Leela — the hotel where the death took place — were spotted at the Sarojini Nagar police station but the cops did not disclose what they were doing there.
A source said their statements had been recorded and that they had also submitted “a few things” to the police. Police are going through the CCTV footage of the hotel again. A team of senior officers also visited the hotel on Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, the cops await analysis reports of Sunanda’s laptop and iPad from CFSL in Hyderabad. They want to know if anything was deleted from the gadgets after her death. Earlier on Thursday, police commissioner B S Bassi said he would talk about the probe at the “right time”.
