CLEVELAND (TIP): In a first for the Republican Party, a Sikh-American woman opened the second day of the national convention here with the ‘Ardaas’- a Sikh prayer.
Harmeet Dhillon, vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, delivered the Sikh prayer on the national stage here in Punjabi and then translated it into English.
It was the first such instance for the Republican National Convention but it was not the first time the 47-year-old San Francisco lawyer upended expectations, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Born in Chandigarh, she emigrated with her parents to England and then to the Bronx, New York.
Her father, an orthopedic surgeon, soon moved the family to rural Smithfield in central North Carolina.
“I think this is an inclusive party. I’ve never felt anything but included since Day One,” Dhillon was quoted as saying by The Mercury News.
Diversity was showcased by the party in Cleveland as when California’s Republicans formally proclaimed their support for Trump, the state party turned to Shirley Husar, who is black, to make the announcement.
The BJP has just done a Bihar in Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, its electoral prospects were damaged by no less than the RSS chief. In UP, a middling BJP leader called Mayawati, Dalit icon B R Ambedkar’s self-anointed legatee, words that shouldn’t be used even in drawing room conversation. The BJP has been swift in expelling the leader but it remains to be seen whether this is perception management to control the damage not just in UP but also Punjab, a state with the country’s highest Dalit population simultaneously going to the polls.
But for this intemperate statement, the BJP had learnt from the Waterloo in Bihar. It was luring away Mayawati’s lieutenants, started cobbling a Bihar-type grouping of backward caste leaders, party chief Amit Shah made the mandatory pilgrimage to a UP Dalit’s house and Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted five Dalits in his first Cabinet reshuffle. However, Dalit ferment is underway elsewhere too, beginning with Rohith Vemula’s suicide. Mumbai saw a massive Left-Dalit rally against the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan and large parts of Gujarat shut down against the public flogging of Dalits by vigilantes of a self-styled cow protection unit.
The BJP has scored all these self goals with no provocation from any quarters. Rather the heightened social and religious tensions in several parts of the country are due to the BJP’s upper caste-centric mindset and the low standards in public speaking set by its senior leaders. From Punjab to Maharashtra, the BJP has single-mindedly pushed a vigilante-led cow protection agenda that ignores the reality on the ground. As for using offensive words, wasn’t it junior Minister V K Singh who described journalists as “presstitutes”? And didn’t the Prime Minister term a fellow-politician’s companion as “50 crore ki girlfriend”? As no party can afford to be counted without the Muslim and Dalit votes, the BJP had no choice but to act contrite to keep the latter in good humor. As political temperatures rise in UP and Punjab, time will tell whether the expulsion of the UP BJP leader was a sincere effort to discipline the cadres.
NEW YORK CITY (TIP): New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has announced the release of a Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified food manufacturing, wholesale and/or distribution companies to lease 2.18 acres including a built 27,000 square foot industrial space in the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center (HPFDC) in the Bronx. RFP respondents should submit proposals that will assist in bolstering economic growth within the HPFDC and will generate quality food-related industrial sector jobs that benefit the wider Bronx community. The full RFP is available here.
“We committed $150 million dollars to make Hunts Point Market a more modern and resilient job hub for the people of the South Bronx,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Today we’re make good on that commitment, by investing in the Fish Market so we can bring attract a new business and even more good jobs to Hunts Point.”
“The continued expansion of job-intensive food manufacturing and distribution businesses in Hunts Point exemplifies the de Blasio administration’s commitment to building a sustainable and resilient 21st century economy that expands business opportunities and creates jobs that help New Yorkers thrive,” said NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer.
“We welcome any Request for Proposals (RFP) that will help in the continued growth of Hunts Point and the entire Bronx,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “The Bronx is the home to perhaps the largest food market in the world, employing thousands of Bronxites and residents from all over the region. Finding more tenants for the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center (HPFDC) not only creates and maintain jobs for The Bronx, it will reduce the cost to consumers by bringing food manufacturers and distributors closer to the food source while also providing restaurants with fresher products. This proposal will also ease the economic burden on those existing companies doing business at the market. This could be a victory for both the New York City consumer and for our Bronx business sector in the Hunts Point neighborhood, and my office will continue its efforts to drive new business growth in The Bronx at not only this market, but in every corner of the borough.”
“The opportunity for another business to locate in the New Fulton Fish Market and the jobs and economic growth this creates are welcome additions in the South Bronx,” said Councilmember Rafael Salamanca. “We are very proud that a much of our region’s fresh foods come from right here in Hunts Point, and we know that any new additions to the Hunts Point Market will only add to its success.”
“The new RFP at The New Fulton Fish Market in Hunts Point will provide the opportunity for a tenant from the food distribution industry to create jobs and help grow our local economy. This new tenant will help to create living wage jobs opportunities for low-income and disadvantaged workers, including through contracting for minority and women-owned businesses. I encourage all qualified businesses to apply and help bring more economic opportunity to the Bronx through inclusive initiatives like this one,” said Congressman José Serrano.
“I am delighted to hear that additional city owned space is being made available to food manufacturers and distributors in Hunts Point. The Bronx is quickly becoming a magnet for food related industries due to the proximity of the largest food market in the world as well as easy access to interstate highways. This effort will add to our growing work force. Everybody wins!” said Marlene Cintron, President of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation. “We welcome our new neighbor and look forward to our working together on matters of mutually beneficial growth and development for our businesses” Richie Klein, President The New Fulton Fish Market Cooperative at Hunts Point, Inc.
The HPFDC industrial park is comprised of wholesale food distribution businesses and other food-related enterprises, providing excellent access to regional highway and rail networks that make it one of the City’s best-positioned industrial locations. The available space is a portion of a modern food facility built in 2005; the remainder of the facility is home to the HPFDC’s New Fulton Fish Market (NFFM). The RFP site will be fully separated from the NFFM’s occupied space by an internal demising wall and has a private parking lot with separate egress/ingress enclosed within a chain-linked fence.
Release of this RFP is the first phase of Mayor de Blasio’s commitment towards investing $150 million to fortify and modernize the Hunt Point Market infrastructure over the next 12 years.
Respondents should be a food-related industrial use compliant with New York State Agricultural and Markets law and must demonstrate financial capacity to pay market rental rates for the space and their pro-rated share of any related operating expenses and capital expenditures at the premises. Respondents’ proposed use should not directly compete with the NFFM’s on-site comparison shopping of wholesale fish and seafood. Proposals must include provisions to minimize negative environmental impacts on the Hunts Point residential community and industrial area.
As part of the City’s efforts to expand economic and workforce opportunities, responses to this RFP must comply with a comprehensive workforce and procurement program that supports communities and helps create job opportunities, especially those that enable low-income New Yorkers to participate in the City’s economic growth. This includes the utilization of NYCEDC’s HireNYC program for disadvantaged workers, as well as contracting goals for minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), and requirements with respect to living wage and prevailing wage, as applicable. The selected respondent will enter into a direct lease with the City.
Responses to the RFP are due on September 23, 2016. Information about a site visit can be found on the RFP website. NYCEDC will conduct a site visit for potential respondents at 9:00 a.m. August 9, 2016. For information on the latest real estate development and procurement opportunities available throughout all five boroughs, click here.
About NYCEDC:
New York City Economic Development Corporation is the City’s primary vehicle for promoting economic growth in each of the five boroughs. NYCEDC’s mission is to stimulate growth through expansion and redevelopment programs that encourage investment, generate prosperity and strengthen the City’s competitive position. NYCEDC serves as an advocate to the business community by building relationships with companies that allow them to take advantage of New York City’s many opportunities. Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or visit our blog to learn more about NYCEDC projects and initiatives.
MINEOLA, NY (TIP): The Nassau County Department of Health was honored, July 20, with a Model Practice Award at the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) 2016 Annual Conference. A Safe Place to Sleep was one of 19 local health departments’ programs across the nation to receive this prestigious award for implementing a program that demonstrates exemplary qualities in response to a local public health need. Nassau County Department of Health’s Bureau of Environmental Engineering was also honored with a Promising Practice Award for the Environmental Health Toxic Emissions Program.
“I am extremely proud of the Department of Health and I congratulate Commissioner Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein and his team for being national leaders in public health,” said County Executive Mangano. “The Nassau County Department of Health has consistently been recognized as a national leader for developing responsive and innovative programs that promote and protect the health and safety of the residents of Nassau County.”
A Safe Place to Sleep was implemented as an injury prevention strategy to address infant fatalities resulting from unsafe sleep practices. The Nassau County Department of Health partnered with the National Cribs for Kids Program, an organization that combines education to parents and caregivers on safe sleep practices for infants and provides portable cribs to families who, otherwise, cannot afford a safe place for their babies to sleep. Through this partnership, the Department of Health developed the tools and grants necessary to support a local Cribs for Kids Chapter within Nassau County. This award-winning program recognizes that providing a safe place to sleep saves babies lives.
The Nassau County Department of Health continues to be a national leader in public health, and since 2013 has earned nine Model and Promising Practice Awards. To read more about these award-winning programs visit the NACCHO website at www.naccho.org/topics/modelpractices/.
About the National Association of County and City Health Officials – The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s 2,800 local government health departments. These cities, counties, metropolitan, district and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities.
NEW YORK (TIP): Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that his office reached a settlement agreement with a company that targeted Chinese-speaking parents with false advertising for a summer academic enrichment program for children. The company, Global Elites Network Xpeed Learning Academy (“Xpeed”) and its owner Maverick Bian will pay $60,000 in restitution to parents of children in the program. The settlement also requires the company and Mr. Bian to cease its deceptive advertising of the program and to make changes to the company’s refund policy.
“This company took advantage of parents’ natural desire to go the extra mile to help their children achieve academic success,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “These devoted parents spent thousands of dollars to try to help their children succeed. But Xpeed was a company that touted empty promises, squandering parents’ hard-earned money and their children’s limited academic time. I am pleased that we have been able to secure restitution for these affected families, while also sending a message that this type of conduct will not be tolerated.”
“I want to thank Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his team for bringing this company that exploited vulnerable immigrant families to justice. I hope this settlement will send a loud and clear message to all businesses preying on susceptible communities: Don’t make promises you can’t keep! I will continue to work with my Assembly and Senate colleagues on measures to better protect students and parents, including more oversight and proper vetting for these kinds of educational entities,” said Assembly member Ron Kim.
Xpeed advertised in Chinese-language media, promising that its 2015 summer program would boost children’s academic level by three grade levels in just eight weeks; transform poor-performing students into top students; enable children to complete high school by the age of 10; and even turn all children into “child prodigies” using a special new learning methodology and one-on-one tutoring. Xpeed also promised intensive SAT tutoring for high school students.
The Attorney General’s Office investigation revealed that the company was unable to provide substantiation for the miraculous results promised in its advertisements. Moreover, the 2015 summer program failed to provide the promised one-on-one tutoring at the start of the program, and provided virtually no SAT tutoring at the largest Xpeed site, in Flushing, Queens. In addition, the program failed to provide any group instruction. Instead, children at each of the program’s six sites were told to spend hours engaged in “independent-study” using haphazardly-chosen educational computer “apps.” The college students hired as “tutors” were provided with virtually no training in any special “learning methodology.”
Parents typically paid more $3000 for the 2015 summer program, and some parents paid as much as $8000. When parents discovered that the program did not provide the promised services, many parents lodged complaints, withdrew their children from the program, and requested refunds. However, the company refused to provide refunds to any of the dozens of parents who requested refunds. Around 30 parents lodged complaints with New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim’s office and the Attorney General’s Office.
In addition to requiring the company to pay$60,000 for restitution to parents of children enrolled in the summer 2015 Xpeed program, the settlement requires the company to end its false advertising of the program and reform its refund policies to ensure that parents who withdraw children from the program in the future will be able to obtain refunds.
If you were a parent of a child enrolled in the 2015 Xpeed summer program and you have not already filed a complaint with our office, you can file a complaint online at: https://forms.ag.ny.gov/CIS/consumer-complaints.jsp. Please submit your complaint by September 1, 2016.
Attorney General Schneiderman would like to thank New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim for his assistance in this matter.
This investigation was handled by Special Counsel Carolyn Fast and Deputy Bureau Chief Laura Levine, under the supervision of Jane Azia, Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Manisha Sheth.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian Americans Dipal Doshi, Sachin Jain and Rupal Patel were among 21 healthcare leaders named to the second annual Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellowship.The institute announced the Fellows in a July 12 statement.
The Fellows will participate in a two-year Fellowship designed to strengthen the leadership of innovators across the U.S. healthcare ecosystem and challenge them to create new approaches that will improve the health and well-being of all Americans, Aspen Institute said in a news release.
The Fellows come from various industries and sectors throughout the country, including medicine, pharmaceuticals, public health, biotechnology, insurance, mental health, government, venture capital and genomics, among others.
“I am delighted to welcome this talented and inspiring group of healthcare leaders with a track record of accomplishments and the potential for even greater contributions in the future,” said fellowship managing director Rima Cohen in a statement. “The Fellows bring a diverse set of life experiences and skills to their work; we’re thrilled to be able to give them a platform from which they can harness their energy and expertise to tackle our nation’s most pressing health care challenges.”
Dipal Doshi
Doshi is the chief business officer at Princeton, N.J.-based Amicus Therapeutics Inc. He also serves as the general manager of Scioderm, Inc., a rare disease company Amicus acquired in 2015.
Prior to joining Amicus, Doshi founded RStreet Advisors, a healthcare consulting firm through which he advised pharmaceutical, biotech and diagnostics companies on business development, corporate strategy and market and commercial planning.
From 2008 to 2013, Dipal was the senior vice president and member of the management team Auvenat Therapeutics, a global private equity and bio-pharmaceutical development company. He received a B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jain is the chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based CareMore Health System, an innovative health plan and care delivery system with $1.2 billion in revenue and over 100,000 members in eight states.
He is also a consulting professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a contributor at Forbes.
Jain was previously CareMore’s chief medical officer and chief operating officer. Prior to joining CareMore, Jain was chief medical information and innovation officer at Merck & Co. He also served as an attending physician at the Boston VA-Boston Medical Center and was on faculty at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School.
Additionally, from 2009 to 2011, Jain worked in the Obama administration, where he was senior adviser to Donald Berwick when he led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
He was the first deputy director for policy and programs at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and he was special assistant to David Blumenthal when he was the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
Sachin Jain
Jain graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor’s degree in government and earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Patel is the founder and president of Boston, Mass.-based VocaliD Inc., a speech technology company that creates custom voices for text-to-speech applications, leveraging its crowdsourced Human Voicebank (See India-West’s profile here: http://bit.ly/2agVQhR.) VocaliD’s award-winning technology has been featured on TED and NPR and in leading news and technology outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Bloomberg and BuzzFeed.
She is currently on leave from Northeastern University where she is a tenured professor in the College of Computer and Information Science and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her research focuses on speech motor control in healthy talkers and those with neuromotor speech impairment.
Patel also holds appointments in the Harvard/MIT Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology program, the Department of Psychiatry at University of Massachusetts, and Haskins Laboratory at Yale University.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Calgary, her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Toronto and she completed her post-doctoral training at MIT.
The Health Innovator Fellows will spend four weeks over the course of two years exploring their leadership, core values, desired legacies and their vision for the healthcare system.
Each Fellow commits to launching a leadership venture that will stretch and challenge them and have a positive impact on health care in the U.S. The Health Innovator Fellows join more than 2,200 other entrepreneurial leaders from 49 countries to become members of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
WASHINGTON, DC (TIP): Usually it’s the parents advising their kids to steer clear of junk food and stick to healthy stuff. But what happens when the kids are great cooks and stir up healthy recipes? They get invited to the White House.
Eight-year-old Shakthi Ramachandran from Indiana, 11-year-old Abhijith Jenkins from Missouri and 10-year-old Priya Patel from Texas were the only Indian Americans among 56 kids representing each U.S. state, five territories, and the District of Columbia, who were invited for the annual ‘State Dinner’ hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama July 14.
These young chefs were winners of a nationwide recipe challenge for U.S. students that promoted cooking and healthy eating. The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, part of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, selected the winners for their original recipes that included fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy. Ramachandran made ‘Chicken Tikka Pita’ with cucumber raita, Jenkins prepared ‘Tropical Vacation with Catfish and Quinoa’ and Patel cooked ‘Tex-Mex Veg-Head Lasagna.’ The kids, who got a tour of the White House kitchen garden, were also entertained with a performance by the cast of Walt Disney World Resort’s “The Jungle Book.”
Over 1,200 entries were submitted to this year’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge. The winning recipes were selected based on their healthfulness, taste, originality, affordability, and following USDA’s MyPlate nutrition guidance. In addition, the challenge encouraged entries to include local ingredients grown in the entrant’s state, territory, or community.
PTI adds: “Since 2012, as part of Let’s Move!, we’ve hosted five of these Kids’ State Dinners here at the White House. And altogether, we’ve reviewed over 6,000 recipe submissions. We’ve welcomed more than 270 young people and their families. And, of course, we ate a whole lot of good food,” the First Lady said in her address to the kids. The event is not just about eating well today, she said.
“It’s setting kids like all of you up for a lifetime of healthy choices. Because here’s what we know: Eating healthy foods can affect how well you do in school. That’s right,” she said.
According to Ramachandran, one day she asked her father how she could make her favorite food, chicken tikka masala, into a sandwich. “I love chicken and I also like to eat a lot of vegetables,” she said. “This recipe combines all these things and is very tasty and delicious. In the summer most of the vegetables we eat are from our garden. The cucumber raita dressing makes it delicious.” Patel said she was inspired by her mom to make this recipe.
“She always tells us to add vegetables to everything we make and to experiment,” she said. “I love Tex-Mex food and also lasagna, so we thought this was a good way to combine both. My mom also tells us to be flexible so we use canned or frozen vegetables if we’re out of fresh,” she said. “You can substitute any veggies and fruits you like. The possibilities are endless. My mom says not having or liking one ingredient is not an excuse to not try a recipe or to buy fast food!”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Two Indian American professors -University of Maryland Professor Sumant Nigam and Wright State University Professor Sharmila Mukhopadhyay – have been named 2016-2017 Jefferson Science Fellows by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The innovative fellows program engages the nation’s academic scientists, engineers and physicians in U.S. foreign policy. Nigam is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland, and Mukhopadhyay is a Wright State University professor of materials science and engineering.
Fellows spend one year at the State Department or USAID for an on-site assignment in Washington, D.C., that could involve extended stays at U.S. foreign embassies and missions. They will remain available to the U.S. Department of State/USAID for short-term projects over the subsequent five years.\ Nigam studies atmospheric general circulation and teleconnections, climate dynamics, tropical ocean-atmosphere interaction, aerosols and Asian monsoon, and Great Plains hydroclimate variability and droughts.
He chairs the Climate Variability and Change Committee of the American Meteorological Society, chairs the Advisory Panel for the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, and serves on the International Commission on Dynamical Meteorology. Nigam is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the Royal Meteorological Society. He earned his master’s degree in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1978 and his Ph.D. in geophysical fluid dynamics from Princeton University in 1984; he held a postdoctoral position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1984 to 1987.
Mukhopadhyay, a nanotechnology researcher, has focused her research on the intersection of nanotechnology and nano-biosciences. It includes the design of safe and sustainable nanomaterials for energy, environment and biomedical applications that has resulted in the generation of new catalysts, energy storage materials, antibacterial surfaces, biosensors and bone and muscle tissue scaffolds.
Sharmila Mukhopadhyay
For example, Mukhopadhyay and her research team are developing near molecular-sized “nano-brushes.” These fuzzy structures have bristles made up of thousands of tiny, jellyfish-like strands. The increased surface area of the bristles, with proper coatings, enables them to behave like powerful cleaners that kill bacteria and destroy contaminants that pollute water. Mukhopadhyay obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. from Cornell University.
Dr. Mani Srinivasan, Medical Officer at the US State Department and a New York Physician, has been made a Fellow of Royal College of Physicians in London for his contribution to medical science. He is a Consultant in Infectious Disease at the Voluntary Medical Services in Chennai.
Dr. Srinivasan is serving as a Medical Officer since 2003. He has received many awards for exemplary medical care from the State Department. Recently, Dr. Srinivasan was honored by The White House Medical Unit for his continued support to its mission in keeping with the highest tradition of medical care.
Dr.Srinivasan was senior House Officer of the Madras General Hospital, Madras, India in 1973 and studied Medicine at Stanley Medical College Hospital, Madras in 1972. He followed it up with an MD in New York State University and was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He had his Post-Doctoral training in Columbia University in Infectious Diseases. and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has published in peer review journals and his clinical interests are geared to newer antibiotics and Emerging Infectious Diseases
DC Winners:(Left to Right): Rahul Walia, founder of The MassMutual South Asian Spelling Bee, Rohan Sachdev, first runner-up, Tejas Muthusamy, regional champion, and Aditya Chezhiyan, second runner-up.
New Jersey Winners (Left to Right): Rahul Walia, founder of The MassMutual South Asian Spelling Bee, Christy Jestin, first runner-up, Shruthika Padhy, regional champ, and Roshni Kainthan, second runner-up.
New Jersey Winners (Left to Right): Rahul Walia, founder of The MassMutual South Asian Spelling Bee, Christy Jestin, first runner-up, Shruthika Padhy, regional champ, and Roshni Kainthan, second runner-up.DC Winners:(Left to Right): Rahul Walia, founder of The MassMutual South Asian Spelling Bee, Rohan Sachdev, first runner-up, Tejas Muthusamy, regional champion, and Aditya Chezhiyan, second runner-up.
Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Member, Rajya Sabha is scheduled to visit the United States in the second week of September. According to information provided by Arish Sahani, Dr. Swamy will be meeting the Indian American community representatives on Saturday, September 10. For more information, Arish Sahani can be contacted at 646-644-2139.
Violin maestro and Padma Bhushan awardee Dr L Subramaniam called on India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin at the Indian Mission in Manhattan New York on Tuesday, July 12 and discussed matters of common interest.
BERLIN (TIP): Prime Minister Theresa May made her first overseas trip as Britain’s leader on July 20 to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will be a key figure in negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union.
May was greeted by a military band as she arrived at the Chancellery in Berlin for getting-to-know-you talks with the German leader.
A week ago May replaced David Cameron, who resigned in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the 28-nation bloc.
May’s office says the trip, which also includes a visit to French President Francois Hollande, will help forge “the personal relations that will pave the way for open and frank discussions in the months ahead.”
May is likely to be asked when she will invoke Article 50 of the EU’s constitution, which triggers a two-year process of quitting the bloc. She has said she does not plan to do that before the end of the year, but EU leaders say there can’t be any substantive talks about future relations until Britain does that.
Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said talks with Britain over leaving the EU can only begin once Article 50 is activated, and there will be no “pre-negotiations” between Merkel and May.
May said Wednesday that while she doesn’t underestimate the challenge of negotiating the British exit, she firmly believes “that being able to talk frankly and openly about the issues we face will be an important part of a successful negotiation.”
The thorniest issue is likely to be the trade-off between access to Europe’s single market _ which the British economy relies on _ and control of immigration. EU leaders are unlikely to give Britain full access to the market unless it accepts the EU principle of free movement of people among member states.
Facing her first weekly prime minister’s question session in the House of Commons Wednesday, May did not answer directly when asked if Britain would be willing to leave the single market in order to guarantee migration controls.
She said the referendum result made clear that “people want control of free movement from the European Union.” But, she said, “we must also negotiate the right deal and the best deal on trade in goods and services for the British people.”
May has also announced that Britain is relinquishing its turn at holding the EU presidency in the second half of 2017.
May’s office said the prime minister spoke to European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday evening and told him Britain would give up the rotating six-month presidency _ held by EU member states in turn _ so it could prioritize exit negotiations.
After a working dinner with Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, May will travel to Paris on Thursday to meet Hollande in Paris. As well as talking about the EU, they will discuss counterterrorism cooperation in the wake of last week’s deadly truck attack in Nice.
May said she wanted to send a message to Britain’s European allies that “these relationships have been vital in the past and they will be vital in the future.”
BEIJING (TIP): A youth named by China as the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, but reviled as a fake by many Tibetans, began an important Buddhist rite on July 21, the first time in 50 years it has happened in Tibet, state media said.
Although officially atheist, China selected Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995 in a drive to win the hearts and minds of Tibetans.
Tibet’s current spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a dangerous separatist, had announced his own choice of a six-year-old boy, but he was taken away by authorities and has since vanished from public view.
The Kalachakra ritual is an esoteric but for Buddhists very important rite for activating dormant enlightenment, and has not been carried out in what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region for half a century.
The Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and lives in exile in India, has carried out the rite overseas.
Activists say China has violently tried to stamp out religious freedom and culture in Tibet, which remains under heavy security. China rejects the criticism, saying its rule has ended serfdom and brought development to a backward region.
The official Xinhua news agency said China’s Panchen Lama had begun the ritual at the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, the Panchen Lama’s traditional seat.
Monks from the monastery would join those from Labrang, another important seat of Tibetan Buddhist in Gansu province, for the four-day event, the report said.
About 50,000 Buddhists were expected to attend, it said.
China has gradually exposed its Panchen Lama in public roles in the hope he will achieve the respect commanded by the Dalai Lama among Tibetans and globally, and in 2012 he made his first trip outside mainland China when he visited Hong Kong.
KUALA LUMPUR (TIP): Families of those lost on flight MH370 pleaded on Jult 21 for authorities to continue hunting for the Malaysia Airlines jet on the eve of a meeting that could decide how much longer the frustrating deep-sea search continues.
The appeal by an international group of MH370 next-of-kin, Voice 370, called on “Malaysia, Australia and China not to abandon the search” if the current zone being trawled for the wreckage is found to be empty, a statement by the group said.
“If for any reason an immediate extension of search activities cannot be carried out, then the search should merely be suspended, not abandoned in totality,” Voice 370 said. The statement was released at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur in which a dozen grim-faced next-of-kin held up placards pleading with authorities not to give up the search. The Boeing 777 vanished March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard, mostly Chinese nationals, in what remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. The Australian-led operation is scouring the seafloor within a 120,000-square-kilometre (46,000-square-mile) belt of remote Indian Ocean where authorities believe the passenger jet went down. The Voice 370 statement was issued as as transport ministers from Australia, China and Malaysia prepared for a meeting Friday that may dictate how much longer the search continues.
That area currently being surveyed is expected to be fully searched possibly in the next few weeks. The three countries have said the hugely expensive high-tech sonar operation far off western Australia will not be further expanded without “credible” new evidence pointing to a crash site. Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said this week that Friday’s meeting in Malaysia would be an opportunity to “discuss next steps” as the search nears completion. Many families are skeptical the search is in the right place, and Voice 370 has previously called for a full public double-checking of data used to determine the suspected crash region.
Its statement on Thursday also repeated calls for a concerted international effort to find and study more debris in the western Indian Ocean. Several pieces of debris that apparently drifted thousands of kilometres toward the African coast have been identified as definitely or probably from the Boeing 777. Those finds have confirmed the plane went down but have so far shed no light on the cause of the crash.
PARIS (TIP): The truck driver who killed 84 people on a Nice beachfront had accomplices and appears to have been plotting his attack for months, the Paris prosecutor said on July 21.
Prosecutor Francois Molins said five suspects currently in custody are facing preliminary terrorism charges for their alleged roles in helping 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel in the July 14 attack in the southern French city. Molins’ office, which oversees terrorism investigations, opened a judicial inquiry Thursday into a battery of charges for the suspects, including complicity to murder and possessing weapons tied to a terrorist enterprise.
The suspects are four men — two Franco-Tunisians, a Tunisian and an Albanian — and one woman of dual French-Albanian nationality, Molins said. The driver was a Tunisian man who had been living in Nice for several years.
People close to Bouhlel said he had shown no signs of radicalization until very recently. But Molins said information from Bouhlel’s phone showed searches and photos that suggested he could have been preparing an attack as far back as 2015.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though authorities have said they had not found signs that the extremist group directed it.
Earlier Thursday, French officials defended the government’s security measures in Nice on the night of the Bastille Day attack, even as the interior minister acknowledged that national police were not, as he had claimed before, stationed at the entrance to closed-off boulevard during the attack.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve’s clarification comes after a newspaper accused French authorities of lacking transparency in their handling of the massacre.
Cazeneuve said Thursday that only local police, who are more lightly armed, were guarding the entrance to the Promenade des Anglais when Bouhlel drove a 19-metric ton (20-ton) truck onto the sidewalk in Nice before mowing down pedestrians who had gathered to watch a holiday fireworks show.
Cazeneuve then launched an internal police investigation Thursday into the handling of the Nice attack.
President Francois Hollande said the conclusions of that investigation will be known next week. He said any police “shortcomings” will be carefully addressed but defended French authorities’ actions.
“There’s no room for polemics, there’s only room for transparency,” he said. “The necessary, serious preparations had been made for the July 14 festivities.”
Earlier, the French newspaper Liberation said Cazeneuve lied about the whereabouts of the national police officers and cars in Nice that day and accused authorities of lacking transparency. Using witness statements and photos, Liberation showed Thursday that only one local police car was stationed at the entrance to the Nice boulevard on July 14.
The paper quoted Nice police officer Yves Bergerat, who said local police forces’ guns and bullets aren’t even equipped “to puncture the tires” let alone shatter the windshield of a truck that size.
Cazeneuve accused the paper of conspiracy theories and said several “heroic” national police — who killed the attacker after an exchange of fire —were stationed further down the promenade.
The criticism comes as the National Assembly extended France’s state of emergency for six month. The security measure had been in place since the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 victims and were claimed by the Islamic State group.
MEXICO (TIP): A Mexican taxi driver has jumped on the Pokemon GO craze sweeping the world by driving smartphone-armed customers around in search of the augmented reality game’s target creatures.
The mobile phone game has become an instant hit with more users in the United States than Twitter a week after launch. Players are spending longer on the application than they do with some of the most popular social platforms such as Instagram or WhatsApp.
The Nintendo Co game is not yet available in Mexico, but some users have worked out how to access the game.
To play the augmented reality mobile phone game players must physically walk or drive around in the real world to capture Pokemon creatures.
Emilio Cacho, a 29-year-old cab driver from the city of Minatitlan in the eastern state of Veracruz, said he began offering services as a “Pokemon hunter” on Monday and has received more than 20 calls since the start of the week.
“I didn’t know about the game, but I heard a lot of talk about people going out to look for Pokemons, so I thought it was a good way to make money, now that the economic situation in Veracruz is so difficult,” he said by telephone.
He charges 130 pesos ($7.04) for the first hour to pursue Pokemons, then 100 pesos for each subsequent hour, he said.
TEHRAN (TIP): Iran has arrested 40 members of a “terrorist group” who plotted to attack military targets in the southeast of the country, the interior minister said on July 21.
Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been the scene of armed clashes in recent weeks between Iranian forces and Sunni militants.
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli, in statements carried by the official IRNA news agency, did not identify those detained.
He said the suspects had built a tunnel 40 metres (132 feet) long and 20 metres deep which they had planned to use to carry out attacks.
The governor of the city of Khash in Sistan-Baluchistan said those arrested had “intended to carry out terrorist and sabotage acts” against important military and security centres.
Mohammad Akbar Sharekzehi said the suspects had “advanced military equipment” and were arrested by security forces in a nearby house before they could carry out “their evil plan”. The governor gave no further details.
On July 6, Iranian media reported that four Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with armed rebels in Sistan-Baluchistan province without elaborating.
In June, Iranian state television said that a police officer and five “terrorists” said to be members of the Jaish al-Adl jihadist group were also killed in the Khash region.
The same month, Iran’s intelligence ministry said it had thwarted a major jihadist plot to carry out bomb attacks in the capital Tehran and other provinces and arrested suspects, without elaborating.
Jaish al-Adl is thought to be behind a number of attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan in recent years, and Tehran accuses it of ties to Pakistan-based Al-Qaeda cells.
Ninety percent of Iran’s population is Shiite, but the country has significant Sunni populations in its restive border regions, notably Kurdistan in the northeast, Sistan-Baluchistan and Khuzestan in the southwest.
In Sistan-Baluchistan, security forces also clash frequently with drug traffickers.
The province lies on a major transit route for opium and heroin being smuggled from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
NEW DELHI (TIP): An acquisition worth a mere Rs 4,700 is rarely expected to give rich dividends, especially if it means venturing into a market as big as Rs 30,000 crore. However, home-grown fast-moving consumer goods firm Dabur is trying something similar.
The company recently acquired a newly incorporated company in South Africa and is planning to set up a manufacturing unit in that country. The move would help it expand its presence in the southern parts of the African continent, sources said.
Dabur India on Monday informed the BSE that it acquired Discaria Trading, registered in South Africa, for Rs 4,679 (1,000 South African Rand). Dabur’s wholly-owned subsidiary Dabur International acquired 100 per cent of Discaria, it informed the BSE.
“Discaria Trading (Pvt.) Ltd. has been acquired to do the business of manufacturing and trading of cosmetics products in South Africa,” it said.
Currently, Dabur has two manufacturing plants in the continent— one each in Nigeria and Egypt. The acquisition cost of the company, incorporated on March 30, 2015 to trade and manufacture cosmetic products, is lower than any such recent acquisition by Dabur. The real value of the company lays in its potential to become a gateway for Dabur in the crucial southern African markets.
Earlier, Dabur made its first foreign acquisition by buying Hobi Kozmetik Group, a leading personal care products company in Turkey, for $69 Million (Rs 462 crore). In 2010, it also acquired Namaste Laboratories in the US for
$100 million (Rs 670 crore).
However, Dabur’s recent acquisition was aimed at setting up production units in South Africa, sources said. Dabur is also considering expanding its presence with its international personal care brand Namaste.
The cosmetics markets in the southern parts of Africa – South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Mozambique – is estimated in excess of Rs 30,000 crore and is growing in double digits. Dabur currently gets a third of its Rs 8,454-crore revenue from foreign markets.
NEW YORK (TIP): Large US banks got a lift from the June “Brexit” vote in the second quarter, but could face long-term pain from a British retreat from the European Union.
Earnings released by JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and others over the last week showed a pickup in some key trading businesses in the days after the surprise June 23 vote by Britain to leave the EU.
Banks attributed the bounce to a rise in market volatility after the British vote, resulting in double-digit revenue gains in some trading operations.
“There was increased volatility around Brexit that I think we were probably positioned for, and importantly with that volatility, customers came to us with their issues,” said Citigroup chief financial officer John Gerspach.
Morgan Stanley chief financial officer Jonathan Pruzan pointed to a “high level of activity at the very end of June, primarily due to Brexit as we supported our clients.”
The higher trading revenues were a factor in earnings reports that generally bested market expectations.
Some analysts say the US banks are also relatively well positioned compared with their European counterparts, which suffer from weaker economic growth in the EU and the prospect of low and negative interest rates.
Yet bank executives also pointed to a host of unknowns after the British vote.
US banks have their European headquarters in London, and the five largest US banks currently employ more than 40,000 people in the city.
But that structure that will make less sense if London loses direct access to the 27 other members of the EU single market.
If Britain withdraws from the European Union, banks based in London could no longer be allowed to freely market services to EU countries without a presence there.
Relocating staff from London woold cost banks an average of £50,000
($66,000) per employee, said consultancy Synechron. Moving 1,000 jobs to hubs like Dublin, Frankfurt or Paris would then cost some £50 million.
Banks have already begun informal discussions with regulators in other European countries on procedures for obtaining bank licenses and establishing compliance with local capital requirements, said one banking source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Of the preferred cities, Frankfurt offers close access to the European Central Bank, as well as the custom of employing English in addition to German in business affairs.
NEW DELHI (TIP): This may offer a contrarian view to a compelling ‘India Shining’ narrative. A substantially higher number of Indian employees, if given an opportunity, will take the next flight to NYC than land a posting in NCR. And the lure of an overseas job has grown over the last five years despite the global slowdown and India growing in stature as an emerging market.
According to a Randstad survey, 85%of the respondents are keen on working abroad, of which 88% are women. In a similar survey conducted by Randstad in 2011, 74% of the respondents had expressed their willingness to move abroad for a job.
So, why still the foreign fascination? Bhaskar Chakravorti, senior associate dean, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, offers an explanation. One, there is an evident slowdown in economies across the world, including emerging markets. “Even economies such as India that are experiencing a rare burst of growth do not hold a promise that this growth is going to last and lead to exciting new jobs. The alternative is to look elsewhere beyond one’s home market with the hope that somehow the grass is going to be greener on the other side,” said Chakravorti.
Second, business is increasingly becoming internationalized and some dynamic opportunities are opening up in new markets outside India. Information technology, too, is making people more aware of life beyond the boundaries of one’s home country. “Naturally, it creates a desire to visit and work in these places,” said Chakravorti.
Siddharth Shekhar Singh, associate professor of marketing, Indian School of Business (ISB), said: “Earlier, going abroad for higher earnings and better lifestyle was desired because India offered few opportunities. Although India is a different place now, the old perception continues by and large, and perceptions take time to change. It is noteworthy that not everyone wants to go abroad for more income. Better lifestyle, equal opportunity for all, and lower crime are other reasons. And these remain issues of concern in India.”
Moreover, in a globalised world, many believe that some work experience abroad combined with the experience in India might open better opportunities, according to Singh. So companies, too, are being advised to create a global work environment if they wish to retain top professionals. An old hierarchy-driven structure does not appeal to a global manager.
NEW DELHI (TIP): NITI Aayog is organizing an Expert Consultative Group Meeting on Creating a Framework for Operationalizing 500 Atal Tinkering Labs, ATL at Faculty Development Centre, Shankar Vihar in New Delhi tomorrow on July 19, 2016. The consultations during 9:30 am till 12:30 pm will provide a platform for exchange of ideas and knowledge among the experts to help create and put in place a framework for the 500 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) that will be established in schools all across the country. The technical support for the consultations is being provided by the Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd. This meeting will be followed by NITI Aayog signing a Statement of Interest (SoI) with Intel to further innovation among school children during 3.30-5 pm at Niti Aayog . Atal Tinkering Labs’ initiative is a part of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), which is an umbrella platform to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in India. ATLs are workspaces where young minds can work with equipment and kits to understand the concepts of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The objective of setting up these labs is to foster curiosity, creativity in young minds; and inculcate skills such as design mind set, computational thinking and adaptive learning.
Makers, practitioners, schools and civil society are invited to discuss, deliberate and help create a Tinkering Lab Framework (TLF) which would act as the guideline for all the selected schools to establish Atal Tinkering lab. The discussion topics would range from what needs to be there in a lab; do-it-yourself activities; content; engagement with the community; a hands-on workshop to series of educational lectures. Through the open forum, NITI Aayog will look forward to attempt to understand how the maker’s community can assist the ATL to accomplish the mission of fostering an innovation ecosystem at the school level.
NEW DELHI (TIP): To give e-tourism a boost, the commerce ministry is pushing for developing a database of certified guest houses, paying guest and bed-and-breakfast accommodation across the country that online market aggregators like Airbnb and Stayzilla can use, after doing their own due diligence.
The ministry has asked the NITI Aayog to anchor the plan and develop a rating system after discussions with state governments.
A commerce ministry official said that for back-end certification of properties on their platforms, online aggregators have to work with state governments. “If the state governments have not done the survey and certification, then it is far more difficult for the market aggregators. They can do it for select cities, but if you want to do it pan-India, then we need to develop a rating mechanism,” he added.
Currently, a homestay requires a licence from the state government, which is valid for two years and needs renewal thereafter. It also mandates the hosts to reside at the property being rented out.
The official said the idea emanated from consultations with stakeholders as part of the commerce ministry’s global exhibition on services. “For hotels, the rating system is quite well known, but for accommodations other than hotels, such as bed-and-breakfasts, guest houses, paying guest accommodation, there has to be some mechanism that needs to be developed. So, all this is meant to make India ready for e-tourism,” he said.
After consultations with state governments carried out by NITI Aayog, the ministry of tourism will work out the parameters so that state governments take a uniform approach, the official said.
“If we develop a rating system in sync with international practices, then when somebody claims I am providing a three-star accommodation, then the traveller broadly understands what to expect,” he added.
The official said the exercise is similar to what the government has done for medical tourism. “The Services Export Promotion Council now has a mechanism by which various hospitals have got their accreditation done, so anybody who is a medical value traveller to India for some particular treatment knows the ratings of the hospitals and has some quality assurance,” he said.
CLEVELAND, OH (TIP): “I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the Presidency of the United States “were the opening words of the acceptance speech of Donald Trump on the fourth and the concluding day of the Republication convention here, July 22.
Trump let it be known that he was the force behind galvanizing the somnolent Republicans. We got “14 million votes, the most in the history of the Republican Party”, he said. He was also quick to point out that Republicans were far ahead of the Democrats.
“Democrats got 20% fewer votes than they got 4 years ago. Not so good. Not so good”, said Trump to a cheering crowd of his admirers.
Donald Trump accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of a legacy of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness” as U.S. secretary of state and vowed to be tough on crime and illegal immigrants in a speech on Thursday accepting the Republican presidential nomination. Trump’s 75-minute speech was designed to set the tone for the general election campaign against Clinton, an answer to Republicans who say the best way he can unify the divided party is to detail why the Democrat should not be elected on Nov. 8. As the crowd chanted: “Lock her up” for her handling of U.S. foreign policy, Trump waved them off and said: “Let’s defeat her in November.” Thousands of supporters who were gathered in the convention hall roared their approval.
When it was over, Trump was joined on stage by family members as balloons cascaded from above and confetti blew around the arena. A CNN snap poll of viewers of the speech said 57 percent had a “very positive reaction” to the address and 18 percent a somewhat positive reaction, while 24 percent said it had a negative effect.
Social media sentiment toward Trump based on tweets that mentioned his name was slightly more negative than positive shortly after his speech. The acceptance speech by Trump, 70, closed out a four-day convention that underscored his struggle to heal fissures in the Republican Party over his anti-illegal-immigrant rhetoric and concerns about his temperament. The event was boycotted by many big-name establishment Republicans, such as 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and members of the Bush family that gave the party its last two presidents.
Trump presented a bleak view of America under siege from illegal immigrants, threatened by Islamic State militants, hindered by crumbling infrastructure and weakened by unfair trade deals and race-related violence. Accusing illegal immigrants of taking jobs from American citizens and committing crimes, Trump vowed to build a “great border wall” against the border-crossers.
“We will stop it,” Trump said. Trump took positions in conflict with traditional Republican policies. He said he would avoid multinational trade deals but instead pursue agreements with individual countries. He would renegotiate the NAFTA trade accord linking the United States, Canada and Mexico. He would penalize companies that outsource jobs and then export their foreign-made products back into the United States.
“We will never sign bad trade deals,” Trump thundered. “America first!” The New York businessman, who has never held elected office, filled his speech with some of the bravado he used to win the Republican nomination over 16 rivals, punctuating his rhetorical points by waving an index finger.
LOS ANGELES (TIP): President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, announced they are backing state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, a longtime political ally of the president, in California’s historic Democrat-on-Democrat U.S. Senate race. Barack Obama praised 51-year-old Kamala Harris as a “lifelong courtroom prosecutor” who has fought international gangs, oil companies and the big banks responsible for the mortgage crisis.
“Kamala Harris fights for us. That’s why I’m so proud to endorse her for United States Senator,” the president said in a statement released by the Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Harris faces fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez, a 10-term congresswoman in the November polls.
“And if you send her to the Senate, she’ll be a fearless fighter for the people of California – all the people of California – every single day,” Barack Obama said. Vice President Joe Biden said the Senate “needs people like her – leaders who will always fight to make a difference and who never forget where they come from.”
For Sanchez, the Orange County congresswoman, the endorsements are a stinging rebuke and another political obstacle to the many she must overcome by the November election, the Los Angeles Times reported. Kamala Harris, who was born in Oakland, California, is the daughter of an Indian mother who emigrated from Chennai in 1960 and a Jamaican American father.
The president’s nod caps a string of major endorsements for Harris, the candidate of choice among the Democratic Party’s power barons and some of the left’s most influential interest groups. It also sends a clear signal to Democratic donors, many of whom have stayed on the sidelines this election, the paper said. Kamala Harris already has won the support of California Governor Jerry Brown and the California Democratic Party, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democract from Massachusetts), a favorite of the left.
Kamala Harris said she was honored to receive the support of the president and vice president, calling them “incredible leaders for our nation.” She has more than a 3-to-1 edge over Sanchez in fund-raising and easily topped a crowded field of Senate candidates in the June primary. The attorney general also held a 15-percentage-point lead over Sanchez in the latest Field poll, the paper said.
The two Democrats will face off in the November election, setting the stage for the highest-profile contest between two members of the same party since California adopted a top-two primary election system. Kamala Harris’ ties to Obama and his administration stretch back more than a decade, even before he burst onto the national political scene. While she was still the San Francisco district attorney, Harris supported and raised money for Obama when he ran for the US Senate in Illinois. She later served as the California co-chair of his upstart 2008 presidential campaign.
Barack Obama reciprocated by helping to launch Kamala Harris into the national spotlight when he gave her a speaking role at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in North Carolina.
Signup to our Newsletter!
Don’t miss out on all the happenings around the world
