New York– The Supreme Court of Ohio in the US has declined to accept an Indian-origin man’s appeal in a sexual assault case.
Upholding the February 2015 conviction by a Logan County Common Pleas jury in Ohio for kidnapping and gross sexual imposition, the court refused to accept the plea of Gurwinder Singh, 28, who is serving a nine-year sentence for sexual assault on a woman, examiner.org reported on Tuesday.
The assault occurred at the Valero gas station in Stokes Township in Ohio on February 25, 2013 where he worked at the time. He was labelled a Tier-II sex offender requiring him to register with authorities for 25 years.
He had entered a guilty plea to rape in 2013 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Singh took the case to trial in February 2015. He was found guilty of both charges and given a nine-year sentence. He is also facing deportation.
One of the most awaited award events of the year have finally happened! The 88th Academy Awards, or the Oscars as we like to call them, are indeed a fantasy tale for every cinema lover with the who’s who of Hollywood including names like Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kerry Washington, Sylvester Stallon, Priyanka Chopra (the only B-Towner) and many more gathered under one roof.
After a temperature soaring red carpet, we were treated to a really fun and entertaining event hosted by Chris Rock who went out of his way to take several digs at the #OscarsTooWhite controversy.
Here’s the list:
– Best Picture – ‘Spotlight’
– Best Actor in a Leading Role – Leonardo DiCaprio for ‘The Revenant’
– Best Actress in a Leading Role – Brie Larson for ‘Room’
– Best Directing – Alejandro G. Inarritu for ‘The Revenant’
– Best Original Screenplay – Tom MacCarthy and Josh Singer for ‘Spotlight’
– Best Adapted Screenplay – Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for ‘The Big Short’
– Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Alicia Vikander for ‘The Danish Girl’
– Best Costume Design: Jerry Beavan for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
– Best Production Design: Collin Gibson and Lisa Thompson for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
– Best Makeup and Hairstyling – Lesley Vanderwalt, Benicio Del Toro and Jennifer Garner for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
– Best Cinematography – Emmanuel Lubezki for ‘The Revenant’
– Best Film Editing – Margaret Sixel for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
– Best Sound Editing – Mark Mangini and David White for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
– Best Sound Mixing – Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo for ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
– Best Visual Effects – Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett for ‘Ex Machina’
– Best Short Film (Animated) – Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala for ‘Bear Story’
– Best Animated Feature Film – Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera for ‘Inside Out’
– Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Mark Rylance for ‘Bridges of Spies’
– Best Documentary (Short Subject) – Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy for ‘A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness’
– Best Documentary (Feature) – Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees for ‘Amy’
Indo-British filmmaker Asif Kapadia won the best documentary Oscar for “Amy”, a poignant examination of singer Amy Winehouse’s life and her tragic death at the age of 27.
Kapadia, who has already won the Golden Globe and Bafta awards for the documentary, paid tribute to Winehouse, who died in 2011 following a battle with drug and alcohol that was gleefully captured by tabloids.
“Really, this film is all about Amy, this is all about showing the world who she really was: not her tabloid persona, the beautiful girl, the amazing soul, funny, intelligent, witty, someone special, someone who needed looking after. We just wanted to make a film to show the world who she really was,” Kapadia said while accepting his Oscar trophy.
Producer James Gay-Rees said the award was for all the fans and followers of Winehouse, whose support she always wanted.
“…this is for the fans, Amy’s fans who loved her through thick and thin, that’s all she ever really needed,” Gay-Rees said.
Kapadia’s documentary saw off competition from “Cartel Land”, “The Look of Silence”, “What Happened Miss Simone?”, “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom”.
Kapadia, 44, is known for directing “Senna” in 2012 and Irrfan Khan-starrer “The Warrior” in 2003.
Finally, Leonardo DiCaprio wins best actor for his performance in “The Revenant”
Five nominations and 23 years later, Leonardo Di Caprio’s cold streak at the Oscars finally came to an end as he won the best actor trophy for his role of a wounded fur trapper seeking revenge in “The Revenant”.
The actor’s role in the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu- directed 1823-set film was gritty and thrilling, a territory DiCaprio has not dabbled too much.
The superstar, in his lengthy speech thanked his co-star Tom Hardy, director Inarritu for his cinematic vision and all the filmmakers, including his frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese, who helped him navigate through his career.
DiCaprio, a keen environmentalist, also took the opportunity to discuss climate change and its impact on planet.
“Last I want to say this, making ‘The Revenant’ was about man’s relationship in the natural world… Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work together and stop procrastinating,” he said.
A self-declared vegetarian, DiCaprio, for his role of 19th-century American frontiersman Hugh Glass, a rugged mountain man fighting for survival, had to guzzle a live fish, and tuck into a bison liver.
The actor shot for six months in the inhospitable Canadian wilderness. Whether it was going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in a horse carcass, DiCaprio’s real-life ordeals were no less challenging than the character he played on screen.
DiCaprio complimented Emmanuel Lubezki’s breathtaking cinematography. The actor might have had Tom Hardy as a co-star, but nothing could steal the spotlight from the 41-year-old star.
The odds were in favor of DiCaprio right from the beginning of the awards season as the actor was the toast of the Golden Globes and SAG Awards.
At the Oscars, he was nominated for best actor along with Bryan Cranston (‘Trumbo’), Michael Fassbender (‘Steve Jobs’), Eddie Redmayne (‘The Danish Girl’) and Matt Damon (‘The Martian’).
Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra’s debut Oscar outing in a white elegant strapless gown has impressed Indian fashion designers and colleagues from the film industry.
Priyanka Chopra at the Oscars Presentation
The former Miss World, 33, who rose to fame internationally with last year’s ABC thriller “Quantico”, opted for Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad’s piece for presenting the best editing Oscar. She chose to keep her look minimal in a neat pony tail and diamond accessories.
National-award winning designer Neeta Lulla tweeted, “Looking lovely and graceful @priyankachopra at the Oscars. Congratulations for your achievements. God bless.”
Chopra has been making mark on red carpet this awards season.
At the People’s Choice Awards in January (where she received the award for best actress in a new television series), the Indian actress sparkled in a sequined take on the color block trend by Vera Wang.
Later at the 22nd annual SAG Awards, the “Bajirao Mastani” star turned heads in a pink Monique Lhuillier strapless gown.
NEW YORK (TIP): The Consulate General of India, New York will present “Coming Alive 2016″, an Exhibition of Sculptures by award winning ceramic sculptor artist Ms. Neelkanti Patekar.
Mrs. Patekar, is a ceramic sculptor from Mumbai, India. A ‘Self Taught’ one, Mrs. Patekar uses the art of sculpting to express emotions like love, war and relationships, things we all feel and experience in our everyday life.
Mrs. Pataker’s sculptures will be exhibited in the ballroom of Consulate General of India. The exhibition will be inaugurated on March 17th, 2016 from 5 to 7 PM and will continue to be displayed till March 28, 2016 from 11 AM to 7 PM.
Congressman Ami Bera, running for reelection in the state of California has come under attacks by his own party men, this time, surprisingly by a group led by an Indian American, “Sacramento Democrats For Truth.” Led by Amar Shergill, a former Bera supporter an Indian-American, the new group has launched an attack on Rep. Ami Bera, D-California, on grounds he has “refused” to provide documentation about his overseas trips and that donors to his campaign had overseas interests.
Bera’s support among local Democrats in his district suffered a blow when local unions refused to endorse him for his vote in favor of President Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact. Bera is now relying on getting enough support at the state party convention Feb. 26-28, to get re-nominated for his third term race. He is unopposed.
California’s District 7 is almost equally divided along party lines and has a significant uncommitted voter base, has proved a tough seat and Bera has won with small margins. Republicans have targeted the district for takeover.
Ami Bera won reelection over a year ago with a razor thin margin. Now with strong opposition from both Democrats, Labor Unions and Republicans, his reelection bid in the November 2016 election has come to be recognized as even harder. The National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) ad has tried to distort Bera’s record of finding bipartisan solutions and protecting and strengthening Medicare and defending against efforts to privatize Social Security.
“Congressman Ose’s DC Republican backers are just repeating the same tired old lies,” said Bera spokesperson Allison Teixeira. “They are resorting to more misleading attacks to try to distract voters from Ose’s partisan record of voting with his political party nearly 95 percent of the time while helping enrich himself and his Wall Street friends, and voting to privatize Social Security.”
According to Rep. Bera’s website, Bera has a clear record of finding bipartisan solutions to our nation’s challenges as a leader of the Problem Solvers’ No Labels coalition, and is one of the most moderate members of Congress. He is also an ardent defender of Social Security and Medicare, recently announcing the support of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) and the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) because he has been “a leader in the fight to preserve and protect Social Security and Medicare,” and has “a proven record of fighting plans that would end the Medicare guarantee for our seniors.”
In a press release, the Sacramento Democrats For Truth said that despite requests from some party delegates, Bera “has refused to provide documents describing payments for his overseas trips, with whom he meets and his political contributors with more than $1 million in assets overseas.” The group said they had gone through Bera’s campaign finance filings, and remain “troubled by contributions from those that appear to be closely connected to foreign investment funds and foreign nations.”
Bera calls the accusations unfounded and that all regulations relating to foreign trips had been complied with and quarterly filings with the Federal Elections Commission were public. Even Shergill conceded that Bera would get the state party endorsement this coming weekend. “At the state convention, it’s very likely the party establishment will rescue his endorsement and he will get it even though he is rejected by his local Democrats,” Shergill said.
Shergill’s list of 9 contributors to Bera, virtually all of them venture capitalists, showed none of them had given money to SuperPACs with overseas interests. Rather, they had contributed the maximum allowed, $2,700 to Bera and given large amounts to Democratic Party or Democratic candidate SuperPACs.
“All of the Congressman’s contributions are publicly available and disclosed on a quarterly basis, and as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee he complies with all travel disclosure rules,” Congressman Bera’s campaign manager Jerid Kurtz said. “It’s unfortunate that the same detractors that worked against the Congressman since 2014 are continuing to lob baseless accusations,” Kurtz added.
Indian American politician Swati Dandekar, who was nominated as executive director to Asian Development Bank (ADB) with ambassadorial rank by US President Barack Obama in November last year, began her Congressional hearings by Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on February 11. If confirmed by the US Senate, Dandekar will replace Robert M. Orr who held the position since 2010.
Obama announced his intention to nominate Dandekar to the top position in Asian Development Bank (ADB) along with eight other key administration posts. “I am confident that these experienced and hardworking individuals will help us tackle the important challenges facing America, and I am grateful for their service. I look forward to working with them,” Obama said.
Dandekar, a Nagpur and Bombay University alumni, is a former Iowa state legislator and a member of the Iowa Utilities Board, according to her White House biography. She was the first Indian-American citizen to win a state legislature seat in the United States. Dandekar was a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives in the 2014 elections in the 1st Congressional District of Iowa, but lost in the primaries.
Dandekar, the nominee for U.S. Executive Director for the Asian Development Bank with Rank of Ambassador U.S., in a prepared statement before the Senate Committee, stated, “I am honored to have been nominated by President Obama to be the next United States Executive Director with the rank of Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.”
Recalling her immigration to this land of opportunities, Danekar, who came to the United States as an immigrant in 1973 after she I married her husband of 43 years, Arvind Dandekar , who is is President of Fastek International, a software development company, said, “During my nine years in the Iowa House and Senate, from 2003 until 2011, I had the chance to work at the state level. I am excited by the potential opportunity to work internationally as the U.S. Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).”
Stating that as a legislator, she has always worked with both sides of the aisle to develop consensus positions that were acceptable to all interested parties. Over the years, she gained insight in to state finances and budgets, and she also has had extensive experience serving on a variety of boards in Iowa, such as the Linn-Mar School Board, Vision Iowa Board, Iowa Values Fund, Iowa Power Fund, and Iowa Utilities Board. “These experiences have provided me with a firsthand look at the transformative power of appropriate use of development funds. My extensive background in managing projects and cultivating partnerships will help me to carry out the responsibilities of the U.S. Executive Director at the ADB, which is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia Pacific region through sustainable and inclusive economic growth, investments in human capital, and good governance,” she said.
“If confirmed, my first priority will be to advance U.S. policy interests at the ADB. Additionally, I will work to ensure that the U.S. Commerce Department and other entities that publicize opportunities for U.S. businesses to compete for business overseas include information on how to compete for contracts from the ADB,” Dandekar said.
She also credited her upbringing in India to provide her with an excellent understanding of the Asian culture, pointing to her ability to speak in English and Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, as well as having working knowledge in Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali languages. “My language skills and cultural awareness will position me well to address challenges facing the ADB and communicate how ADB is fueling positive economic development and stability throughout the region,” she said. Dandekar said, “I look forward to representing the United States at ADB and ensuring that our country’s priority initiatives are advanced.”
A man charged with hate crime in the US for brutally assaulting a Sikh bus driver and calling him a “terrorist” and “suicide bomber” has pleaded not guilty.
KC Tard, 34, who could face up to six years in prison if convicted, entered the plea yesterday in California to a felony battery count with a hate crime allegation, local media reported.
The Inglewood District Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles on Tuesday filed the hate crime charges against Tard for brutally assaulting bus driver Balwinder Jit Singh and calling him a “terrorist” and “suicide bomber” during the attack last November.
Singh, who was in beard and traditional Sikh turban, had sustained serious injuries during the November 6 assault and was taken to a hospital with a disfigured face and infection in his eye that required weeks of recovery.
Tard also accused Singh of hijacking the bus while he was viciously assaulting him.
In January, advocacy group the Sikh Coalition’s legal team intervened and asked the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to investigate the case as a hate crime.
“I was attacked because of my Sikh religious appearance and I’m grateful that authorities re-examined my case and finally brought hate crime charges against the assailant,” Singh had said, adding that “acknowledging hatred when it occurs is the necessary first step for combating the problem.”
The rights group has said in recent months, as hateful political rhetoric has ramped up, it has witnessed a dramatic increase in hate crimes and backlash directed towards the Sikh community.
“The Sikh turban stands for justice and equality. It should be celebrated, not feared and we will continue to educate law enforcement agencies and Americans alike on the necessary steps required to combat the problem of hate in our country,” said the coalition’s Senior Staff Attorney, Gurjot Kaur.
Many admire Trump for his audacity to say things that ordinarily a person, especially a career politician, would never say. I jump in support of Trump in our daily conversation if I find someone not supporting his views.
United States faces a number of issues that have not been heavily debated before. Trump is right to speak out. He has started debate on issues such as illegal immigration, bringing jobs back from other nations, and foreign nations taking advantage of the US in trade.
When Trump decided to run, very few people thought that he would be a serious long-term candidate. It began to change when he found himself dragged in the Mexican “offensive” speech controversy. Within a few weeks the San Bernardino, California shooting happened and provided justification for his concerns about border control and immigration.
Trump’s tough stance on jobs, immigration, veteran welfare, and foreign policy keep his numbers going up. Real unemployment is indeed very high; illegal immigrants have indeed violated US laws and should not be rewarded for this; there is evidence of healthcare and public welfare fraud while there are war veterans on the streets.
In the beginning, it was surprising to see how well Trump connected with Main Street. He is perhaps more connected to both Queens and Manhattan than any other candidate. He understood the two different worlds of Queens and Manhattan and how they reflect the issues facing America.
I believe that Trump’s positions are easy to support because of the evidence around his positions. His positions on immigration, veterans, healthcare and jobs resonate with me.
It is very easy for me to proudly argue and support Trump’s positions with my peers in social gatherings. For example, I do not believe that amnesty is necessary since the US does not depend on illegal immigrants to make this country great. Just because someone has come here illegally does not entitle them to a green card. There are millions of very qualified individuals who pay a heavy tuition to attend and graduate from top US universities but are forced to leave the US. As a result, these talented men and women create competitive businesses in their home countries and in turn we have to compete with them. Essentially, we educated and create our own competitors and then kick them out. There is no reason why illegal immigrants should be preferred over them.
There are many homeless with cards reading “Gulf War Vet” or “Vietnam War Vet” in their hands on the streets. You would rarely find a veteran on the streets in any other country. For all the service they did for United States, it is important to find out what leads them to end up on the street and resolve that problem.
Obamacare has made healthcare more complex. It has benefitted insurance companies to sell more policies, healthcare practitioners to see more patients and hurts those who are poor but not entitled to subsidies. Under Obamacare, people in poverty and “on-paper poor” don’t pay anything, middle-income earners pay the most while the higher income earners are not affected much. In addition, it’s likely that most of the emergency room visitors or the people who would benefit the most under Obamacare are the same millions of people who would benefit under amnesty that Obama administration wants to grant.
Trump is also familiar with the loopholes that people use to avoid government taxation and regulation. People take payment in cash so that they don’t have to pay for taxes; take a mix of cash and check so that they qualify for Obamacare. There are incentives for those who make very little to simply stop working and rely upon welfare. Illegal immigrants have put downward pressure on wages. This increased competition for low-paying jobs, along with outsourcing by companies, has increased unemployment numbers and reduced median incomes.
However, his views on security and privacy make it harder to defend him as a conservative candidate.
In all the things that Donald Trump stands for, the troubling part is his commitment towards privacy and security issues thereby raising a question mark on his commitment towards the US constitution.
While I tend to agree with most of Donald Trump’s positions, I find myself in a difficult spot when he discusses security and privacy. It’s puzzling that Trump is in line with John McCain for denying US citizens their rights granted under the constitution. It’s puzzling that he wants Apple to create software to break into its own iPhone
There is not an easy answer to the Apple versus the FBI issue. Trump has operated business and he knows the challenges of a business very well. He called for a boycott of Apple products and very conveniently said that Apple must comply with the government request. It sounded like a good political speech. However, this is not a political issue. This is a real challenge that the US government and Apple face. His “one liner” boycott Apple would not solve this issue. It would have been a good practical example of his problem-solving skill if he had offered a solution for this issue rather than taking a political stance like Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.
There are several challenges if Apple honors the request. For example, how will Trump react to China or Mexico’s request to Apple for Trump’s iPhone access? Should Apple create an arm to serve the government requests? Should people’s data remain private? Should businesses regularly be forced to provide a solution for the government? Should a business be forced to create distrust with its customers? Should a business be punished for being more innovative than the government? Wouldn’t it infer that Trump supports government overreach? Would Trump’s administration fund companies to create a separate department to serve government requests? If so, wouldn’t he be expanding the size of the government (which I believe is contrary to conservative beliefs)?
It is very likely that Trump did not understand that Apple lacks a “secret code” to break into the later versions of iPhone. Perhaps he does not understand the technology. A “typical Trump” thing to do would have been to realize that he did say something that he did not know well but has to support whatever he said.
Trump has always been a major brand but it would be wrong to say that he is a bigger brand than Apple. It is wrong to assume that anyone would stop using Apple devices simply because Donald Trump said so. Trump himself is a good example of it. He was tweeting with iOS device right after he called for Apple’s boycott.
Rather than a wild card, he should perhaps throw a card that makes sense. Trump has put his conservative supporters in a difficult spot.
About the Author : Riti Patel is the founder of Salereporter, an App that sends instant notification of deals around you. She also operates a digital strategy & web development firm in Washington, DC. She could be contacted at www.ritipatel.com
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Many admire Trump for his audacity to say things that ordinarily a person, especially a career politician, would never say. I jump in support of Trump in our daily conversation if I find someone not supporting his views.
About the Author : Riti Patel is the founder of Salereporter, an App that sends instant notification of deals around you. She also operates a digital strategy & web development firm in Washington, DC. She could be contacted at www.ritipatel.com