MINEOLA, NY (TIP): On the steps of Mineola Village Hall, former Mineola Mayor and State Senator Jack Martins announced, April 26, his candidacy for Nassau County Executive.
“For the first hundred years of its existence, Nassau County was the nation’s preeminent suburb and a magnet for investment, growth and prosperity,” said Martins. “Unfortunately, Nassau County’s second century has been marred by high taxes, corruption and fiscal instability.”
Surrounded by dozens of supporters including Mayors from across Nassau County, Martins articulated his vision to restore the public’s trust and reimagine county government. Through fiscal responsibility and accountability, Martins stressed the importance of making Nassau County more affordable for middle class families and returning local control of the county’s finances.
“One hundred and eighty-nine days ago, I called for a change in leadership in Nassau County,” Martins said. “Today, that change begins and we turn the page to begin a new chapter in Nassau County’s history.”
As the state senator representing North Hempstead and portions of the towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay for three terms, Jack Martins worked to cap property taxes and state spending, roll back the MTA Payroll tax, end the unfair Gap Elimination Adjustment that redirected Long Island’s state school aid to New York City and passed the constitutional amendment stripping corrupt elected officials of their taxpayer funded pensions. Martins also led the Senate’s Workforce Development Task Force and chaired Senate committees on labor and local government.
“Jack Martins is exactly the person Nassau County needs right now,” said Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss. “Jack has the integrity, and the leadership we need in our elected officials.
Jack’s track record as Mayor of Mineola speaks for itself. He restructured Mineola’s finances and put the village on the right track,” concluded Strauss.
As mayor of the Village of Mineola, Jack Martins inherited many of the same challenges facing Nassau County–budget deficits, soaring debt and challenges to its assessment system. As mayor, Martins developed balanced, fiscally responsible budgets and debt management plans that substantially reduced Mineola’s debt and returned the village to a sound financial footing. He also led the effort to create Mineola’s award-winning master redevelopment plan that expanded the village’s economic base through smart growth principles.
“Jack Martins is a leader whose integrity speaks for itself. He will represent Nassau County well. Jack is honest and has the experience to solve the fiscal challenges that Nassau County faces every day,” said Stewart Manor Mayor Michael Onorato. “I’m proud to stand here with Jack and support him for county executive because he will provide honest leadership in Nassau County.”
“Jack Martins will provide the honest leadership Nassau County needs,” said Massapequa Park Mayor Jeffrey Pravato. “As the Mayor of Mineola, Jack distinguished himself as a bipartisan problem solver and I’m confident that, through Jack’s leadership, Nassau County will have a bright future,” concluded Pravato.
WASHINGTON (TIP): In an apparent reversal of his stated position on NAFTA, U.S. President Donald Trump told the leaders of Canada and Mexico on Wednesday, April 26, that he will not terminate the NAFTA treaty at this stage, but will move quickly to begin renegotiating it with them, the White House said.
President Donald Trump said he has told the leaders of Mexico and Canada that he will not pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement at this time, but could still withdraw if he concludes a renegotiated pact is not “a fair deal for all.”
Trump tweeted early Thursday, April 27, that he has agreed to remain a partner in the much-discussed trade agreement in calls he received from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The White House released a statement late Wednesday saying only that Trump had assured the two leaders in phone conversations that the U.S. would not withdraw from NAFTA at this time.
In his Twitter post, Trump called America’s relationships with the two hemispheric neighbors “very good” and said the prospects of a renegotiated deal are “very possible.” But he also said that his consent to remaining in NAFTA for now is “subject to the fact that if we do not reach a fair deal for all, we will then terminate NAFTA.”
Speaking to reporters Thursday, April 27, before a White House meeting with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, Trump that he’d been planning to “terminate NAFTA as of two or three days from now,” but had been persuaded to reconsider, which he acknowledged “would be a pretty big, you know, shock to the system.”
Trump added, “Now, if I’m unable to make a fair deal, if I’m unable to make a fair deal for the United States, meaning a fair deal for our workers and our companies, I will terminate NAFTA. But we’re going to give renegotiation a good, strong shot.”
He later said renegotiation was “starting today.”
The statement came hours after administration officials said Trump was considering a draft executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the deal – though administration officials cautioned it was just one of a number of options being discussed by the president and his staff.
Some saw the threat as posturing by Trump to gain leverage over Mexico and Canada as he tries to negotiate changes to the deal. Trump railed against the decades-old trade deal during his campaign, describing it as a “disaster.”
Senior White House officials had spent recent days discussing steps that could be taken to start the process of renegotiating or withdrawing from NAFTA before the end of Trump’s first 100 days in office, according to a person familiar with the president’s thinking. But the person, along with an administration official, said a number of options remained on the table, and stressed discussions are ongoing about the best way to proceed.
Trump could withdraw from NAFTA – but he would have to give six months’ notice. And it is unclear what would happen next. The law Congress passed to enact the trade pact might remain in place, forcing Trump to wrangle with lawmakers and raising questions about the president’s authority to raise tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports.
The moves came days after the administration announced it would slap hefty tariffs on softwood lumber being imported from Canada. Trump has also been railing against changes in Canadian milk product pricing that he says are hurting the American dairy industry.
Trump told The Associated Press in an interview last week that he planned to either renegotiate or terminate NAFTA, which he and other critics blame for wiping out U.S. manufacturing jobs because it allowed companies to move factories to Mexico to take advantage of low-wage labor.
“I am very upset with NAFTA. I think NAFTA has been a catastrophic trade deal for the United States, trading agreement for the United States. It hurts us with Canada, and it hurts us with Mexico,” he said.
Staff Reporter NEW YORK (TIP): Donald Trump comes to New York as President on May 4. It will be his first visit to New York since moving into the White House.
The White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer disclosed that the president will visit the U.S.S. Intrepid, the decommissioned aircraft carrier on the West Side of Manhattan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia to commemorate the 75th anniversary of a naval battle the countries fought alongside one another during World War II.
Malcolm Turnbull
Aboard the Intrepid, Mr. Trump will be meeting Mr. Turnbull in person for the first time since a terse phone call in February between the two leaders ended abruptly over Mr. Trump’s unwillingness to abide by an agreement to accept 1,250 refugees being held in an Australian detention center. The event will commemorate the 75th anniversary of Battle of the Coral Sea, in which the United States and Australia fought Japan. Vice President Mike Pence met with Mr. Turnbull in Sydney last week.
Mr. Trump has a long relationship with the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. He has donated to the museum, and landed his helicopter on the flight deck during an episode of his reality television show, “The Apprentice,” said Bill White, a former president of the museum. “I’m very happy to hear he’s visiting and bringing awareness to the Intrepid yet again,” Mr. White, who is a major Democratic Party fund-raiser, said in an email. “There’s no bigger honor than having the president of the United States come to visit.”
Meanwhile,”the city, where protests against Trump policies have erupted in parks, airports, schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, museums, restaurants and streets, to name just a few locations, is girding for what, in the inflamed atmosphere, may be a battle of its own”, said the New York Times.
At 5:56 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25, organizers for the Working Families Party got word of the visit via Twitter. By 6:02 they had agreed to hold a protest the day he returns, said Nelini Stamp, the party’s national membership director. In less than 24 hours since the event was posted on the group’s Facebook page and with protest plans still being figured out, more than 2,000 people had expressed interest in going.
“We want to make it as difficult as possible for him to be able to just walk onto the Intrepid and give this speech,” Ms. Stamp said.
“We want to make sure he knows he can’t just come back again,” she added. “It’s not a homecoming.”
“The mayor embraces this as an opportunity to remind the president that New York is the greatest city in the world because of, not in spite of, our diversity and inclusiveness,” said Eric Phillips, a mayoral spokesman. The New York City Police Department, he said, “is plenty prepared to handle the president’s security and the expected outpouring of New Yorkers who look forward to greeting him.”
The New York Police Department has estimated that it will cost $308,000 a day to protect the president when he is in town. “We recognize that this will be the president’s first official visit to New York City since taking office,” Stephen P. Davis, the chief spokesman for the police, said in an email, “and the N.Y.P.D. will assign the resources necessary for the security of this event.”
It is unclear if Mr. Trump will stay at his penthouse triplex in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, where his wife, Melania, and son Barron live. He may instead choose to stay at his country house in New Jersey, on the grounds of the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, about an hour’s drive from New York in the middle of horse country. The 1939 red brick Georgian Revival mansion has been referred to as Mr. Trump’s Camp David North. He met there with candidates for his cabinet during his time as president-elect.
NEW YORK (TIP): The Economic Times has reported that the Indian Ministry of Defense’s canteen stores department (CSD) has suspended the sale of Patanjali Ayurved’s Amla juice after receiving an adverse state-laboratory test report on the product.
India Today quoting The Economic Times said that the move came after the product was tested at the central food lab that found it to be ‘unfit for consumption’. Soon after the report was declared, the CSD asked all its depots to make debit notes for their existing stock so that the product can be returned. The Department has 34 depots located across India.
Patanjali Amla Juice
“The batch was tested at the Central Food Lab in Kolkata and was declared unfit for consumption. Patanjali has withdrawn Amla juice from all army canteens,” according to two officials. However, the detailed findings of the report are yet to be known.
Incidentally, this is the same lab that found almost two years ago lead levels above permissible limits, and the presence of MSG in the samples of Nestle Maggi noodles.
The latest development could hurt the Patanjali’s image as its Amla juice was the product that helped it strengthen its foothold in the Indian consumer market. However, Patanjali Ayurved has not reacted yet to the news.
This is the second time when Patanjali is facing such adverse situation. Last year in December, a local court in Haridwar slapped Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved’s five production units with a fine of Rs 11 lakh for “misbranding and putting up misleading advertisements” of their products.
Patanjali Ayurved was found guilty of misbranding as the products being shown by the company as produced at its own units were in fact manufactured somewhere else.
A case had been filed in the court against the company in 2012 by the District Food Safety Department after samples of mustard oil, salt, pineapple jam, besan and honey produced by Patanjali had failed quality tests at Rudrapur laboratory.
But strangely enough these products are being sold in markets abroad, in Canada, USA and UK where Patanjali is touted as promoter of Indian Ayurved and is backed by the image of Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev. These products are available over the counter at grocery stores, besides pharmacies.
It remains to be seen whether countries like USA will take notice of Patanjali products failing laboratory tests in India and being rejected by customers like the government of India Defense Department which is a huge customer given the size of the armed forces, and subject Patanjali products to lab tests to ensure these are fit for human consumption.
FDA need to change its policy and bring Ayurved products under the list of products which need FDA approval, to ensure the products are not harmful. There should be no compromise on the health of US residents.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Encouraging foreign students who graduate with specialized degrees in the United States, the US administration had allowed them, especially STEM F-1 visa students to avail of the extended 24-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) period, apart from the regulation 12 months of the work-training they receive through the program: a lawsuit to revoke the extension has been dismissed in federal court.
OPT is a period during which undergraduate and graduate students with F-1 visa status, who have completed or have been pursuing their degrees for more than 9 months, are permitted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to work for one year on a student visa towards getting practical training to complement their education.
Anti-immigration advocates have been targeting the OPT for several years, terming it as a job killer for American workers, a chance for American employers to avail of cheap labor and exploit foreign students.
Back in August 2015, a D.C. federal judge said the 2008 Department of Homeland Security rule that allows STEM graduates in F-1 status to obtain an additional 17 months of OPT time in the U.S. was deficient. The decision in Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. U.S.
Department of Homeland Security was based on the fact that DHS did not go through the usual notice and comment period required for new regulations. The judge vacated the 2008 rule allowing the 17-month extension, however, a stay was put in place until a new regulation could be put in place. That new regulation took effect on May 10, 2016 and allows a new STEM OPT extension of 24-months. The same group of tech workers that challenged the old STEM OPT rule filed a new lawsuit in June 2016 in federal court again challenging DHS policy allowing student visa holders to work after completion of their studies. The new lawsuit brought by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers argued that the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program denies labor protections to US tech workers, allows increased competition, allows unfair competition, provides foreign students the benefit of mentoring programs (i.e. the I-983 training plan) without requiring schools to give the same benefit to US workers, and violates procedural rights of US workers by failing to include the question of whether OPT should be expanded in the first place in the regulatory process. Washtech asked the court to issue a declaratory judgement (find in their favor without going through an entire trial) that DHS exceeded its authority by allowing F-1 students the ability to work, vacate the new regulations, and award attorney’s fees to Washtech.
The DHS argued in favor of retention of the extended 24-month OPT, and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. Last month, a federal court in its ruling, granted only part of DHS’ motion to dismiss, but also denied part of the motion to dismiss. Now, in its final ruling on the case, the federal court has dismissed the lawsuit brought by the WATW, in favor of DHS. The decision means F-1 visa students in STEM-related studies will continue to get a total of three years of OPT during and after the program they are enrolled in. It also improves the chances of F-1 visa students to gain a good foothold in a job they take up in the US, and to be sponsored by the employer for an H-1B visa. Annually, 20,000 H-1B visas are reserved for F-1 visa higher degree graduates of US educational institutions. If there are more than 20,000 applications, they are pooled to compete for the general quota of 65,000 H-1B visas which are for all foreign workers.
NEW DELHI (TIP): The Missouri State University (MSU) in the US announced $5,000 scholarship for Indian students. The university will grant the scholarship on the basis of GPA scores — the students’ cumulative scores in 10th, 11th and 12th class — and their SAT scores.
“We have always welcomed Indian students and averaged a 120-130 of them till recently… Their current number is 55 and we would want this to grow, ” Stephen Robinette, Associate Vice President, International Program, MSU, told the media. There is no limitation on the number of scholarships and it can be extended to any number of students, he said.
Another university official tried to allay the fears of deportation or denial of visa, which have increased now in the light of President Donald Trump’s ban on immigrants from six countries and strict curbs on the H-1B visa holders.
“There has been no instance till date where applicants to MSU were denied visa… The Trump order is not on Indian students and the H-1B visa policy only applies to those who come to work here in professional capacity and not to those who study here and then continue to work,” Prateek Gujaral, Regional Head, South and Southeast Asia, MSU, said.
New York State Attorney General launches new law enforcement to crack down on violent heroin and Opioid traffickers
Schneiderman’s “S.U.R.G.E” Initiative brings together AG’s Organized Crime Task Force and Local and State Law Enforcement to target violent gangs
ALBANY, NY (TIP): Responding to the heroin epidemic’s rising death toll in New York’s suburban and upstate communities, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced, April 28, the launch of the Suburban and Upstate Response to the Growing Epidemic (“S.U.R.G.E.”) Initiative, a new law enforcement effort spearheaded by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force that aims to disrupt New York’s widening heroin and opioid distribution networks. Specifically, the S.U.R.G.E Initiative will target gangs and individuals who deal heroin and opioids and commit acts of violence in suburban and upstate communities across New York State. To carry out this mission, the OAG’s Organized Crime Task Force, which has partnered with all levels law enforcement to arrest more than 750 individuals in metro areas across the state since 2010, will work closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those criminals who target suburban and upstate areas.
On Thursday, AG Schneiderman and Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler announced the first successful takedown under the SURGE Initiative, arresting and indicting 52 people in Operation Bricktown, a multipronged investigation that dealt a major blow to one of Syracuse’s most violent drug dealing street gangs.
“By the Numbers: The Growing Drug Epidemic in New York,” an April 2017 report published by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, found that New York-like most the country-is experiencing a rise in drug-related deaths. According to the report, 14,173 people died from drugs in New York State between 2010 and 2015. In contrast, 9,754 people suffered drug-related deaths in the preceding six years (2004-2009). In 2015 alone, 3,009 New Yorkers died from drug overdoses or from chronic drug abuse-a 71 percent increase from 2010.
While the steady increase of drug-related deaths has been felt across the state, suburban and upstate communities have been hit particularly hard. In New York City, drug-related deaths increased by 45 percent since 2010. Comparatively, drug-related deaths increased by 84 percent in 17 counties outside of New York City (for which there is complete federal data). For example, in Onondaga County, the drug-related death rate increased by 145 percent from 8.8 per 100,000 people in 2010 to 21.6 in 2015.
“The S.U.R.G.E Initiative will bring our state’s most effective law enforcement resources to bear in the fight against New York’s growing opioid and heroin epidemic,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “I am proud that my Organized Crime Task Force has partnered with state and local enforcement to bring over 750 accused drug and gun dealers to justice since 2010. By directing resources to the communities that need our help the most, we can help curb some the heroin epidemic’s most devastating consequences for New Yorkers. With overdose deaths on the rise and federal funding for drug prevention on the chopping block, the S.U.R.G.E Initiative will be an important part of my office’s multipronged approach to fighting the expansive and violent heroin and opioid distribution networks across New York State.”
Since 2010, Attorney General Schneiderman has launched a multi-pronged strategy to tackle New York’s constantly evolving heroin and opioid epidemic. Some of the Attorney General’s most significant drug addiction and treatment achievements on behalf of New Yorkers include:
Obtaining settlements with major domestic and global health insurers including Cigna, Anthem, and Empire BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS), which insures over 4 million New Yorkers, to remove barriers to life-saving treatment for opioid use disorder. The agreement put an end to the insurers’ policy of requiring prior authorization for medication-assisted treatment (“MAT”), which can lead to significant delays for patients seeking relief from addiction.
Creating the Internet System for Tracking Over- Prescribing Act (“I-STOP), a series of enhancements to New York’s prescription drug monitoring program that provided doctors with patient’s up-to-date controlled substance prescription history and established a safe disposal program providing a place for New Yorkers to get rid of expired and unneeded drugs-thus reducing the likelihood of stolen and forged prescriptions being used to obtain controlled substances from pharmacies. I-STOP also reduced “doctor shopping,” a practice in which an individual attempt to obtain the same or similar prescriptions from multiple physicians, by 90% since 2014.
Launching the Community Overdose Prevention (“COP”) program, a life-saving initiative that enabled state and local law-enforcement officers in the state of New York to carry naloxone, the extremely effective heroin antidote that can instantly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Since the program’s implementation in April 2014, more than 100 overdoses were reversed using kits provided by the COP program, which distributed over 27,000 kits across the state.
Obtaining an agreement with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to cut and cap the price of naloxone for all agencies in New York State, reducing the price of naloxone by nearly 20 percent.
Enforcing Mental Health Parity Laws to reach agreements with five insurance companies, Cigna, MVP Health Care, EmblemHealth, Excellus, and ValueOptions, requiring the companies to provide notice of a new appeal right to members whose requests for inpatient substance use disorder rehabilitation and eating disorder residential treatment were denied from 2011 through 2014. The estimated value of Excellus’s denial of these individuals’ requests alone totaled $9 million.
Successfully prosecuting more than ten licensed prescribers including operators of “pill mills” and other unlawful practices form crimes related to improper opioid prescriptions.
“Combatting the heroin and opioid epidemic remains one of my top priorities and through key partnerships with law enforcement officials and other organizations we can help turn the tide and save lives,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said. “I commend Attorney General Schneiderman on this bold initiative and support his efforts to eradicate those who are exploiting others and tearing families apart.”
AG’s initiative has been widely welcomed by politicians and officials across the State.
French voters have defied predictions time and again. In 1995, Jacques Chirac, a Gaullist conservative who had been trailing in opinion polls, won the presidency. In 2002, they sent Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-right, Holocaust-denying leader of the National Front, to the second round, only to defeat him there.
As they prepare to head to the polls on Sunday, predictions are even more difficult. Of the 11 candidates in the fray, four are seen to be leading contenders for the second round on May 7, when the top two face off against each other.
Historically, French politics has been divided between the conservatives and the socialists. This balance between the establishment parties is being tested this time with three ‘outsiders’ among the four leading candidates – independent Emmanuel Macron, the National Front’s Marine Le Pen and leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Some opinion polls still give a chance to the conservative candidate, François Fillon, but he is mired in a corruption scandal. The Socialists, directionless after five years of François Hollande’s highly unpopular presidency, appear to be out of the race even before polling for the first round begins.
The four-way race offers a picture of the issues that shape the election agenda.
While Mr. Macron promises to launch gradual economic and labor reforms and retain the status quo in foreign policy, Mr. Fillon wants radical reforms, including an overhaul of the labor code and sacking of public servants en masse, and closer ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Ms. Le Pen, a Eurosceptic, is consolidating her base on anti-immigration and anti-globalization rhetoric, much like Donald Trump did in the U.S. elections last year. Mr. Mélenchon, who surged in the polls in the last weeks of the campaign, stays focused on economic issues with promises to raise public spending and taxes on the rich.
The country’s political and business establishment might prefer the victory of Mr. Macron as the other pro-business candidate is facing corruption allegations. But the outcome is anything but certain, given that a substantial chunk of voters remains undecided and that the kind of anti-establishment anger that helped Mr. Trump and Britain’s pro-Brexit camp remains strong in France as well.
The unemployment rate is over 20% among the youth, while economic growth never really revived after the 2008 financial crisis. Besides, security concerns remain paramount after the terror attacks in Paris and Nice over the past 18 months.
Thursday night’s shooting in Paris that killed a policeman, and was claimed by the Islamic State, exposes how volatile the security situation is – something that Ms. Le Pen’s campaign is trying to cash in on during the final stretch.
In many ways this will be the most crucial election in France’s modern history. Its results will have profound implications not just on French politics but also on the future of the European Union.
The American presidency remains undoubtedly the most powerful office in the world. The man who sits in the Oval Office can mug anyone of hishappiness. The relief, if any, of these first hundred days is Trump has notbeen allowed to be reckless. Institutional constraints, liberal pieties and a vigorous media have combined to subject him to the rites of scrutiny and accountability. And, this should be a matter of enormous satisfaction to democratic voices and forces even beyond the United States”, says the author – Harish Khare.
April 29 is Donald Trump’s 100th day in the White House. When on November 8 last year he got himself elected to the office of President of the United States, the rest of the world wondered how could have the Americans opted for this man; how could America – the land of Harvard and Yale, Princeton and MIT, the New York Times, Washington Post, the New Yorker – elect a man who is gratuitously boorish, determinedly anti-intellectual, and just a greedy businessman, with no record whatsoever of any public service? Well, democracies do sometimes produce false and flawed results. Donald Trump assumed charge on January 20th this year. Has he dismantled and destroyed the United States as his detractors feared; or, has he created the kind of global chaos that the world capitals had apprehended?Perhaps the first hundred days may be too short a period to allow any definitive conclusions, but it is feasible to believe that the fears of an American meltdown were vastly exaggerated. The curative power of democracy has had its impact.
Though Donald Trump won the Presidency in November 2016 he did not win the popular vote. Those who did not vote for him thought they had a right to deny him the kind of honeymoon the Presidents are normally granted. The first hundred days have been full of confrontation and cock-ups. Washington’s in-crowd resents him, as it resents anyone who is seen as an outsider, just as it had scorned the Jimmy Carters and the Bill Clintons. On his part, the cantankerous and quarrelsome Trump is not the one to turn the other cheek. He has, in fact, not passed up any chance to throw a brick through his rivals’ glass window.
Trump is an aberration. The Americans’ sense of disappointment can be traced to the simple fact that these last eight years the United States and the world had got used to a substantive, and at times searing, presidential rhetoric. Nobody has yet accused Trump of eloquence. A distinct sense of shoddiness emanates from the fact that unlike his predecessor, who was often suspected of being too professorial, Donald Trump has positioned himself as a street brawler. And, he has lived up the part, using Twitter as a knuckle-duster, throwing 140-letter punches at rivals at home and abroad.
Authority in Washington, as per the American constitutional arrangements, is a divided proposition. Presidential effectiveness invariably depends on the White House’s ability to work with different groups, build up consensus, lead a coalition almost on every issue; despite his self-belief as a wonderful deal-maker, Trump has yet to demonstrate the skills and the attitudes needed to work with other institutional players in Washington. Consequently, the others keep snipping at his heels; and, he is happy to bark back. The last hundred days have seen unhappy departures from good presidential manners. This constant brawling and an itch for confrontation have necessarily deprived the President of an aura of respectability.
Democracies look for a sense of moral authenticity and gravitas in their leaders; there is an implicit need to have confidence in their leaders and to believe that they are being led by an exemplary personality of virtuosity and moral luster. Citizens need to respect their leaders. But Donald Trump refuses to climb on to the pedestal.
Because he came to office tapping the resentments and frustrations of the American voters with the so-called elites and at the foreigners who had taken away jobs out of the United States, Trump feels he needs to keep his legions’ anger simmering. Unsurprisingly, his very first executive decisions were directed against the immigrants, at least the undocumented ones, but he found himself having to deal with judicial challenges. As if the sense of confrontation with the judicial branch was not enough, the President has thoughtlessly engaged the media in a hit-and-run campaign. All this has not helped the President garner any kind of respectability at home.
The Americans remain unsure whether the President has satisfactorily insulated his office from his complicated and not-so-honorable business interests; they are definitely not amused that the Trump Family seems to be acquiring so much say in the day-to-day functioning of the presidency. The President remains unconcerned; perhaps his obduracy stems from the fact that he never had a political office before and therefore remains uneducated in the leader’s obligation to appreciate and respect public sensibilities.
Because Trump has put in place a new culture of disruptive disagreement in the domestic discourse, it is bound to have implications in the United States’ relationship with the world. A President who is not respected at home finds it difficult to earn applause abroad. The domestic combativeness means that President Trump cannot be relied upon to provide and articulate any kind of ideological or political global leadership, an obligation that the American Presidents since Franklin D Roosevelt have invariably discharged.
Trump came to the Oval Office after accusing the external forces – the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Europeans -of being unfair to the United States and being a cause, direct or indirect, of American economic decline. He promised protectionism and isolationism. He promised to stay at home, refusing to play the global sheriff; he declared himself unimmured of the so-called global architecture; his preference, he declared, would be for bilateral deals and duels.
Much to the relief of the globalists on the east coast, he, as President, seems inclined to hew the conventional line. He has not stayed home. He has gone and dropped the mother of all bombs in Afghanistan; fired missiles at Syria because the Assad regime was being bad boys; and, this week sent his Vice-President to do a bit of macho-posturing against North Korea.
The Chinese seem to have sorted Trump out. Demonstrating diplomatic dexterity, they have refused to be provoked but have expressed themselves strongly when it was felt necessary to do so; they have baffled him, practicing simultaneously confrontation, cooperation and cooption.
The Europeans are no longer alarmed by Trump’s isolationism; he has found some merit in NATO. They realize that they have to put their own house in order and they are relieved that they do not have to deal with Trump’s disruption of the European project. The Russians, on the other hand, are happy to take him for a ride, too.
The American presidency remains undoubtedly the most powerful office in the world. The man who sits in the Oval Office can mug anyone of his happiness. The relief, if any, of these first hundred days is Trump has not been allowed to be reckless. Institutional constraints, liberal pieties and a vigorous media have combined to subject him to the rites of scrutiny and accountability. And, this should be a matter of enormous satisfaction to democratic voices and forces even beyond the United States.
(The author is editor-in – chief of Tribune group of publications)
Author – Faizan Mustafa (The author is Vice Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad).
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has, in a recent meeting, decided on a code of conduct for divorce. In a major climbdown, it has conceded ground and resolved in favor of “one divorce.” Therefore, instant triple divorce will no more be an option with a Muslim male. by the discussions on television channels it seems all Muslim women are getting instant triple divorce. But then facts are just opposite and speak for themselves. As per the 2011 Census, only 0.49 per cent Muslim women were divorcees and all of them have not been given triple divorce. Though fatwas are nothing more than opinions and do not have any legal sanctity yet they do give us some indication about the legal problems on which Muslims seek opinion of the clergy.
Anybody and everybody has been commenting on triple talaq. There has been an utter confusion about what it really means. We bring to readers of The Indian Panorama informed view of a scholar in the hope that misinterpretations will get removed. Readers’ comments are welcome. – EDITOR
To find out prevalence of triple divorce, this author collected data from Darul iftaa (institutions which issue fatwas). The data from ten states revealed that that in last one year 340,206 fatwas were sought. Of which only 6.50 per cent fatwas were asked about triple divorce. The Supreme Court had refused to ban Darul Qaza (Sharia courts) rejecting the plea of them being parallel judicial forum. The apex court had rightly termed them as mere arbitration councils. Data from 33 such councils collected by this author too reveals that these councils never grant triple divorce and divorce is permitted only through one pronouncement preceded by efforts of reconciliation through arbitration. Such institutions are mostly used by the Muslim women for either getting divorce or annulment or cancellation of marriage as getting settlements from such forums is speedier and cost-effective.
Wrong impression
Similarly, a wrong impression has been created that most Muslim women are getting triple divorces through phone, email and via sms. Even according to Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan’s (BMAA) case study on triple divorce only one divorce out of 117 was given in this manner. As per BMMA’s own findings, only 0.2 per cent got divorces on phone, just 0.6 per cent received divorce through email. Similarly, in another survey by BMMA, out of 521divorces, only one woman got triple divorce via SMS that is, only 0.19 per cent. Thus, the problem is not as serious as is made out by the Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath governments.
The current case in the apex court was originally about the denial of inheritance right to Hindu women under the 2005 amendment. This lady had won the case against her brothers in the high court but she lost in the Supreme Court. At the end of judgment, strangely the bench of Justice Dave and Justice Goel ordered that Muslim law is discriminatory and ordered on its own the filing of Public Interest Litigation. Thus, the current PIL by Shayra Bano to get triple divorce declared as unconstitutional.
The case has taken an interesting twist because her husband who had given her triple divorce has filed a case for the restitution of conjugal rights. It was she who had left the matrimonial home.
As per the current law laid down by the apex court in 2002, Muslim divorce has to be for a reasonable cause and must be preceded by efforts of reconciliation through arbitration. The Supreme Court has also held that three pronouncements will be counted as only one revocable divorce. Thus, instant triple divorce no more dissolves marriage, except in cases of divorce by mutual consent and divorce at the initiative of the wife or exercise of right to divorce by her where such a right has been delegated to her by the husband at the time of marriage.
The position of All India Muslim Personal Board (AIMPB) on this issue has been quite regressive, rigid and unyielding. It has been consistently asserting that though instant triple divorce is undesirable and sinful yet nevertheless valid. It had the audacity to assert in the Supreme Court that if triple divorce is not permitted, husbands may kill their wives and therefore triple divorce is in the interests of wives. What is the reason of this inflexible stand? Law making is indeed a private enterprise in Islam. Jurists intervene between God and State. Muslim Personal Law is based on the interpretations given by various jurists. Since earlier jurists with the exceptions of few did opine that instant triple divorce does dissolve marriage, due to doctrine of taqleed (imitation of earlier juristic view), ulema of Hanafi school (followers of Abu Hanifa) of the Sunni sect who dominate board feel constrained by the views of early leaders of this school.
In this context, on 15-16 April, 2017, the unanimous decision of the AIMPLB therefore is a huge climbdown. The Board has softened its rigid stand and has issued detailed eight-step instructions on how divorce will henceforth take place among Indian Muslims. (See box)
Thus, the Board has fully incorporated the elaborate process of divorce given in the Quran and has also complied with the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the Shamimara case. The result of this historic decision is that instant triple divorce will no more be an option with a Muslim male. The Indian media which has very low level of trustworthiness did not report this decision in the right perspective. It criticized the board for not punishing the person who will still give instant triple divorce. Television anchors at the top of their voice criticized that mere social boycott will not suffice.
The AIMPLB is, of course, an NGO with a huge following among Muslims. As many as 4.8 crore Muslims have given signed petitions endorsing the Board’s position on Muslim Personal Law. These petitions have now been submitted to the Law Commission. Thus, the Board’s social boycott may work as deterrent on ground. Though this author is not in favor of the power of social boycott or ex-communication being given to either clergy or khap panchayats and opposes the apex court verdict on this issue.
As law stands today, the Supreme Court did uphold such a power about Bohra Muslims in the Syedna Tahir Saifuddin case. Tankhiya or ex-communication among Sikhs too is widely practiced. Even President Zail Singh was ex-communicated on the issue of Operation Blue Star. Only Parliament has the power to create new crimes and provide punishments for such crimes. Thus, even the Supreme Court cannot punish people for giving triple divorce but Parliament can certainly do so.
Slow process of reform
Personal law being religious law cannot be reformed in one go. We started the process of Hindu Law Reform in 1941, with the appointment of Hindu Law Reform Committee. After several compromises with the Hindu right, the Hindu Code Bill could be passed in 1955 with bifurcation into three separate Bills. A Hindu daughter could be made a coparcener with a right to inherit ancestral property only in 2005. The reform process is not yet over even after 76 years. Thus, we must appreciate the AIMPLB in taking the first positive step in the direction of reforms. I see some light at the end of tunnel.
The reform process will indeed be painfully slow. When reforms come from within, there will be greater acceptability of reforms. We must realize that if the people in the family and neighbors consider that divorce has taken place, mere declaration by the Supreme Court that it has not taken place would not drastically change the ground situation.
Law is not a great agent of social control and we must accept its limitations in bringing about social change. Things which society considers illegal, law on its own cannot easily make them legal. Similarly, what society considers legal, law cannot make illegal. Poor implementation of dowry laws is a case in point.
Moreover, at times the wife herself may believe that triple divorce has irrevocably dissolved her marriage. In the Masroor Ahmad case, the wife had filed the case of rape against the husband who continued to have sexual relations with her even after giving her triple divorce. Of course, the Delhi High Court held that since three pronouncements are to be counted as one, she continued to be his wife and thus there was no rape. It is disgusting to note that India still does not recognize marital rape as rape.
AIMPLB has a major role to play in internal law reforms. If religious leaders, ulema and imams under the control of the Board proactively preach in their Friday sermons the correct way of divorce as per the latest resolution, triple divorce will die a natural death. Divorce should neither be too difficult nor too easy. In fact, if married life has become hell, there is no point in forcing incompatible partners to bear everyday torture. In number of cases of Hindu law, the Supreme Court had to use its extraordinary power of doing complete justice under Article 142 to permit divorce even prior to the end of the statutorily mandated period of separation.
The eight-step code of conduct for talaq as given by AIMPLB
Firstly, if there are difference between spouses, they will try to resolve them amicably by talking to each other in the spirit of forgiveness and accommodation. The resolution said that if there are shortcomings in one person, the other person should overlook them as there must be several good or plus points as well.
Secondly, if above conversation does not give desired results, there may be temporary withdrawal of the company of the spouse while continuing to live in the same house.
Thirdly, in case of failure of first two steps if differences continue to persist, parties should try sincere reconciliation within family or by appointing one arbitrator from each side. No stone should be left unturned in making parties agree to reconciliation.
Fourthly, if arbitration does not yield positive results and there is no possibility of patch up and “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” has really taken place, only one divorce is to be pronounced by the husband.
Fifthly, this single pronouncement is to be compulsorily followed by the waiting period of three months or if the wife is pregnant till the delivery of the child.
Sixthly, if during this waiting period, parties change their mind and see value in living together, they need not do anything more and the divorce would automatically stand revoked.
Seventhly, if no express or implied revocation of divorce takes place within the waiting period, divorce would become complete at the end of three months or extended period due to pregnancy.
Finally, if after some time, parties again realize out of their free will that they want to yet again reunite, they need not do any intervening marriage (halala), just a fresh nikah with new terms and conditions and fresh meher (dower payment to wife) would suffice to revive their relationship.
Data on divorce
Darul Iftaa data from 10 states revealed that that in last one year 340,206 fatwas were sought. Of which only 6.50 per cent fatwas were asked about triple divorce. According to Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan’s (BMAA) case study on triple divorce, only one divorce out of 117 was given in this manner.
As per BMMA’s findings, only 0.2 per cent got divorces on phone, just 0.6 per cent received divorce through email. In another survey, out of 521 divorces only one woman got triple divorce via SMS, that is only 0.19 per cent.
UNITED NATIONS (TIP): India has strongly objected to Pakistan raising the Kashmir issue at a UN General Assembly session here, asserting that it is a bilateral matter which should not be brought up in the UN forum.
Minister in Pakistan’s permanent mission to the UN Masood Anwar raised the Kashmir issue in his statement to the UN General Assembly session of the committee on information on April 25.
He said Pakistan appreciates the efforts by the UN’s department of public information in arranging coverage of events related to the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“We would urge you to do the same for the people of Kashmir who continue to suffer under foreign occupation,” Anwar said. As soon as these remarks were made, minister in India’s Permanent mission to the UN S Srinivas Prasad interrupted Anwar’s speech and strongly raised objections to the mention of Kashmir by the Pakistani delegate. “It is a bilateral issue which should not be brought here,” Prasad told the chair of the session.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, also present during the session, was heard prodding Anwar to “carry on” speaking even as Prasad raised his objections with the session’s chair.
Later, before delivering India’s statement at the session, Prasad said the Kashmir issue was totally unrelated to the forum.
“Before I begin my statement, I would like to thank the chair for its deft handling and not allowing the elaboration of a subject which is totally unrelated to this forum as was tried by a member state,” Prasad said.
The committee on information is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly established to deal with questions relating to public information. It is responsible for overseeing the work of the department of public information and for providing it with guidance on policies, programmes and activities of the department. (PTI)
ISLAMABAD (TIP): India on Tuesday demanded consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged spying.
This was conveyed by Indian high commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale to Pakistan foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua during a meeting sought by him.
On April 19, a meeting between Bambawale and Janjua was rescheduled.
Pakistan has denied India’s request for consular access to 46-year-old Jadhav over a dozen times in the last one year.
Pakistan army has already rejected any chance of granting consular access to Jadhav who was sentenced to death for espionage and subversive activities.
On April 14, Bambawale had met with the Pakistani foreign secretary, showing increasing concern of India about the fate of Jadhav.
He told media after his meeting that he had asked for list of charges and authentic copy of verdict of military tribunal against Jadhav to launch appeal against his conviction.
He also said that India was seeking consular access on the basis on international law humanitarian grounds.
Pakistan Foreign Office has said that during the period of trial of Jadhav, due judicial process was followed and he was provided a lawyer in accordance with relevant laws and the Constitution of Pakistan.
Jadhav was awarded death sentence by the Field General Court Martial earlier this month, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the “pre-meditated murder” was carried out.
Pakistan claims its security forces had arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. It also claimed that he was “a serving officer in the Indian Navy.”
The Pakistan army had also released a “confessional video” of Jadhav after his arrest.
However, India denied Pakistan’s contention and maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped by the Pakistan authorities.
India had acknowledged that Jadhav had served with the navy but denied that he has any connection with the government. (PTI)
DHAKA (TIP): Bangladesh is hopeful of forging regional cooperation through BIMSTEC after the failure of SAARC, a top aide of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Saturday.
“In this context coming together in BIMSTEC is truly important. We already saw earlier SAARC with all our high hopes has not done much, and for the moment it is doubtful whether or not the next summit meeting will happen,” International Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi said at the opening of the BIMSTEC Network of Policy Think Tanks (BNPTT) meeting here at the Bay of Bengal grouping’s headquarters.
He said Bangladesh hopes to make up through sub-regional cooperation including #BIMSTEC after the failure of SAARC, bdnews24.com reported. “We have seen NAFTA may or may not survive. We see European Union under challenge. In Bangladesh we see much of the future in the sub-region. It is the sub-region we are focused on. We have BBIN, BCIM and BIMSTEC… this is where we see our future,” Rizvi said, giving examples of the state of the regional groupings in the world. (PTI)
HOUSTON (TIP): An unidentified man shot dead his woman boss before killing himself, leading to chaos in a multi-storey building in the northern part of US city of Dallas, police said.
The Dallas police responded to a report of an active shooter in an office building in the 8300 block of the LBJ Freeway at around 10.45am (local time) yesterday.
When officers arrived on the scene, they suspected the shooter was in a meeting room. They breached the door by firing a shotgun, authorities said.
Officers found a man and a woman dead in the room. It appears the man shot and killed the woman and then turned the gun on himself, police said.
The woman was the supervisor of the gunman, they said. As the incident unfolded, television footage showed a heavy police response including a SWAT team at the office building along an interstate.
A broken window could be seen on one of the upper floors of the building.
“(Officers) went inside the office where the shooting was taking place, and they discovered that the possible shooter was inside a particular office in a meeting room,” Asst Chief Randy Blankenbaker said.
“The officers were forced to utilise a shotgun to breach the front office door,” he said.
Blankenbaker said the victim and suspect will not be identified until the next of kin are notified.
Investigators said there were multiple witnesses in the building at the time of the shooting and were taken to police headquarters for questioning.
The building was declared to be safe around 12.49pm (local time).
Pictures of the crime scene show dozens of people outside the building being evacuated. Another photo shows a busted out window on the far edge of the property.
One officer was injured due to broken glass during the search and was taken to the hospital, the police department’s Twitter account said. (PTI)
WASHINGTON (TIP): The US government put 271 Syrian chemists and other officials on its financial blacklist Monday, punishing them for their presumed role in the deadly chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in early April.
In one of its largest-ever sanctions announcements, the Treasury Department took aim at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), which it said was responsible for developing the alleged sarin gas weapon used in the April 4 attack.
The attack left 87 dead, including many children, in the town of Khan Sheikhun, provoking outrage in the West, which accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of being responsible.
The sanctions will freeze all assets in the United States belonging to the 271 individuals on the blacklist, and block any American person or business from dealing with them.
According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based think tank, the SSRC is Syria’s leading scientific reasearch center, with close links to the country’s military.
The center was the subject of two earlier sanctions declarations, in 2005 and 2007, due to its alleged role in developing weapons of mass destruction.
The Treasury asserted in a statement Monday that the SSRC is behind the Syrian government’s efforts to develop chemical weapons and the means to deliver them.
The 271 either have scientific expertise for the program or have been involved in it since 2012, the statement said.
“These sweeping sanctions target the scientific support center for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s horrific chemical weapons attack on innocent civilian men, women and children,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
“These sanctions are intended to hold the Assad regime and those who support it — directly or indirectly –accountable for the regime’s blatant violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 2118,” he said. Assad has said the attack was a “fabrication” by the West. But the US military quickly responded on April 7, firing 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield to punish the government and send a warning against any further chemical weapons attacks. (AFP)
WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Donald Trump said on April 27 a major conflict with North Korea is possible in the standoff over its nuclear and missile programs, but he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute.
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely,” Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview ahead of his 100th day in office on Saturday.
Nonetheless, Trump said he wanted to peacefully resolve a crisis that has bedeviled multiple US presidents, a path that he and his administration are emphasizing by preparing a variety of new economic sanctions while not taking the military option off the table.
“We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult,” he said.
In other highlights of the 42-minute interview, Trump was cool to speaking again with Taiwan’s president after an earlier telephone call with her angered China. He also said he wanted South Korea to pay the cost of the US THAAD anti-missile defense system, which he estimated at $1 billion. He said he intended to renegotiate or terminate a US free trade pact with South Korea because of a deep trade deficit with Seoul.Trump said he was considering adding stops to Israel and Saudi Arabia to a Europe trip next month, emphasizing he wanted to see an Israeli-Palestinian peace. Trump said North Korea was his biggest global challenge. He lavished praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for Chinese assistance in trying to rein in Pyongyang. The two leaders met in Florida earlier this month. “I believe he is trying very hard. He certainly doesn’t want to see turmoil and death. He doesn’t want to see it. He is a good man. He is a very good man and I got to know him very well.
“With that being said, he loves China and he loves the people of China. I know he would like to be able to do something, perhaps it’s possible that he can’t,” Trump said.
‘I hope he’s rational’ : Trump spoke just a day after he and his top national security advisers briefed US lawmakers on the North Korean threat and one day before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will press the United Nations Security Council on sanctions to further isolate Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs.
The Trump administration on Wednesday declared North Korea “an urgent national security threat and top foreign policy priority.” It said it was focusing on economic and diplomatic pressure, including Chinese cooperation in containing its defiant neighbor and ally, and remained open to negotiations.
US officials said military strikes remained an option but played down the prospect, though the administration has sent an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine to the region in a show of force. Any direct US military action would run the risk of massive North Korean retaliation and huge casualties in Japan and South Korea and among US forces in both countries.
Trump, asked if he considered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be rational, said he was operating from the assumption that he is rational. He noted that Kim had taken over his country at an early age.
WASHINGTON (TIP): The day before he upended the 2016 election, James B. Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, summoned agents and lawyers to his conference room. They had been debating all day, and it was time for a decision.
Comey’s plan was to tell Congress that the FBI had received new evidence and was reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton, the presidential front-runner. The move would violate the policies of an agency that does not reveal its investigations or do anything that may influence an election. But Comey had declared the case closed, and he believed he was obligated to tell Congress that had changed.
“Should you consider what you’re about to do may help elect Donald Trump president?” an adviser asked him, Comey recalled recently at a closed meeting with FBI agents.
He could not let politics affect his decision, he replied. “If we ever start considering who might be affected, and in what way, by what we do, we’re done,” he told the agents.
But with polls showing Clinton holding a comfortable lead, Comey ended up plunging the FBI into the molten center of a bitter election. Fearing the backlash that would come if it were revealed after the election that the FBI had been investigating the next president and had kept it a secret, Comey sent a letter informing Congress that the case was reopened.
What he did not say was that the FBI was also investigating the campaign of Donald Trump. Just weeks before, Comey had declined to answer a question from Congress about whether there was such an investigation. Only in March, long after the election, did Comey confirm that there was one. (PTI)
NEW YORK (TIP): The French consulate in New York, where thousands of expatriates were registered to cast ballots in their presidential election, was briefly evacuated following a bomb threat, officials said.
A suspicious vehicle prompted police to clear the building on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park, Consul General Anne-Claire Legendre said yesterday.
“After the Champs Elysees attack, the New York police department was told to be especially vigilant,” she said.
Dozens of people who were inside the building at about 5 pm (2100 GMT) waited on the sidewalk while authorities checked the vehicle.
The situation returned to normal after about 50 minutes, consulate press officer Amelie Geoffroy said.
Voting activities, which were scheduled to take place until 7 pm, also resumed, she added.
Some 28,500 French citizens living in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are registered to vote at the consulate. Security measures were strengthened at French polling stations across the United States following a jihadist’s killing of a policeman on Paris’ famed Champs Elysees avenue this week. (AFP)
CAPE CANAVERAL (TIP): Astronaut Peggy Whitson broke the US record on April 24 for most time in space and talked up Mars during a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump.
The International Space Station’s commander surpassed the record of 534 days, two hours and 48 minutes for most accumulated time in space by an American.
“This is a very special day in the glorious history of American spaceflight,” Trump said.
His daughter Ivanka also offered congratulations to Whitson from the Oval Office. Whitson said it’s “a huge honor” to break such a record.
“It’s an exciting time” as NASA prepares for human expeditions to Mars in the 2030s, included in new legislation signed by Trump last month. She called the space station “a key bridge” between living on Earth and traveling into deep space, and she singled out the station’s recycling system that transforms astronauts’ urine into drinking water.
“It’s really not as bad as it sounds,” she assured the president.
“Well, that’s good, I’m glad to hear that,” he replied. “Better you than me.”
Whitson already was the world’s most experienced spacewoman and female spacewalker and, at 57, the oldest woman in space. By the time she returns to Earth in September, she’ll have logged 666 days in orbit over three flights.
The world record, 879 days, is held by Russian Gennady Padalka. Whitson broke the NASA cumulative record set last year by astronaut Jeffrey Williams; Scott Kelly holds the U.S. record for consecutive days in space , 340. Whitson is also the first woman to command the space station twice and the only woman to have led NASA’s astronaut corps. Behind her was a banner that read: “Congrats Peggy!! (TNN)
SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): A US judge on April 23 blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities, dealing another legal blow to the administration’s efforts to toughen immigration enforcement.
The ruling from US District Judge William Orrick III in San Francisco said Trump’s Jan. 25 order targeted broad categories of federal funding for sanctuary governments and that plaintiffs challenging the order were likely to succeed in proving it unconstitutional.
The Republican president’s moves on immigration have galvanized legal advocacy groups, along with Democratic city and state governments, to oppose them in court. The administration suffered an earlier defeat when two federal judges suspended executive orders restricting travel from several Muslim-majority countries. The government has appealed those decisions.
Reince Priebus, Trump’s White House chief of staff, told reporters the administration was taking action to appeal the ruling, adding: “The idea that an agency can’t put in some reasonable restrictions on how some of these monies are spent is something that will be overturned eventually.”
“It’s the 9th Circuit going bananas,” Priebus said, referring to the West Coast judicial district where the judge ruled. “We’ll win at the Supreme Court level at some point.”
The US Justice Department said in a statement it would follow existing federal law with respect to sanctuary jurisdictions, as well as enforce conditions tied to federal grants.
Sanctuary cities generally offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants and often do not use municipal funds or resources to advance the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Dozens of local governments and cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have joined the growing “sanctuary” movement.
Supporters of the sanctuary policy argue that enlisting police cooperation in rounding up immigrants for removal undermines communities’ trust in local police, particularly among Latinos.
The Trump administration contends that local authorities endanger public safety when they decline to hand over for deportation illegal immigrants arrested for crimes.
The executive order by Trump, who made cracking down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his 2016 presidential campaign, directed such funding to be restricted once the Homeland Security Department determines what constitutes a sanctuary city.
Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and several smaller Silicon Valley communities, sued in February, saying Trump’s order was unconstitutional. San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit.
‘Crumbling under the weight’
The Justice Department threatened last week to cut some funding to California as well as eight cities and counties across the United States.
The department singled out Chicago and New York as two cities “crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime,” even though New York City is experiencing its lowest crime levels in decades and experts say Chicago’s recent spike in violent crime has little to do with illegal immigration. Santa Clara County receives about$1.7 billion in federal and federally dependent funds annually, about 35 percent of its total revenues. The county argued it was owed millions of dollars of federal funding every day and that its budgetary planning process had been thrown into disarray by the order.
The Justice Department said the counties had taken an overly broad interpretation of the president’s order, which it said would affect only Justice Department and Homeland Security funds, a fraction of the grant money received by the counties.
In his ruling, Orrick said the language of the order made it clear it sought to withhold funds beyond law enforcement.
“And if there was doubt about the scope of the Order, the President and Attorney General have erased it with their public comments,” Orrick wrote.
The judge cited comments from Trump calling the order “a weapon” to use against jurisdictions that disagree with his immigration policies.
“Federal funding that bears no meaningful relationship to immigration enforcement cannot be threatened merely because a jurisdiction chooses an immigration enforcement strategy of which the President disapproves,” Orrick wrote.
Dave Cortese, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement: “The politics of fear emanating from the Trump White House has just suffered a major setback.” (Reuters)
NEW DELHI (TIP): India on April 27 asked Pakistan for a certificate on the health condition of Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been awarded death sentence by a military court in Islamabad after it found him guilty of espionage.
Expressing concern over the wellbeing of Jadhav, the Ministry of External Affairs said since Jadhav had been in Pakistan’s custody for over a year now, India was anxious to know his wellbeing.
Only yesterday, India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale met the Pakistan foreign secretary for the 16th time and sought consular access to Jadhav. “We have asked Pakistani government earlier also, and yesterday our High Commissioner (to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale) made a request on providing a report on his medical condition. So we await Pakistan’s response,” MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said today. Baglay also said the government was yet to receive a copy of the charge sheet against Jadhav, and did not even know who had defended him in the military court that sentenced him the death sentence. Denying consular access to Jadhav, Pakistan has consistently stuck to the line that the Indian national is a spy arrested by the Pakistan military from the restive Baluchistan area. India, while accepting the fact that Jadhav is indeed a former Indian Naval officer, has denied the charges of him being a spy.
Islamabad says no to 26/11 reinvestigation
Pakistan has told India that a reinvestigation of the Mumbai attack case was “not possible” as the trial was at an advanced stage and demanded “concrete” evidence against Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of 26/11 assault, for putting him on trial
“All proceedings (in the case) have been finalised except recording of 24 Indian witnesses’ statements… if India wants conclusion of the case, it should send witnesses to Pakistan to record their statements, a senior official of the Pakistan interior ministry said. Source: The Tribune
NEW DELHI (TIP): Embattled Sahara Chief Subrata Roy today appeared before the Supreme Court which extended his parole till June 19 with a warning that failure to pay Rs 1,500 crore, as promised, may again land him in jail.
The apex court took note of the affidavit and a personal undertaking of Roy, who stood right behind his lawyer Kapil Sibal, that he will pay Rs 1,500 crore on or before June 15 and Rs 552.22 crore exactly a month thereafter and said, “if the cheque is not encashed, the contemnor will straightaway go to jail”.
A Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra also asked Roy “do you intend to pay the money?”
The Sahara chief stood up and said “I am trying my best”. On his short reply, the Bench, also comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and AK Sikri, once again said, “We are warning you, if the cheques are not cleared and amount is not coming frequently, we will be compelled to send you to Tihar Jail straightaway from here”.
NEW DELHI (TIP): Meghna Pant, the award-winning author of ‘One & A Half Wife’, was felicitated with the prestigious ‘Bharat Nirman Award’ for her contribution to the field of literature. The award was given to her by the Bharat Nirman Foundation during the 3rd edition of the Asiad Literature Festival 2017, which aims to reward and empower women and promote the beauty of Indian literature.
The Asiad Literature Festival seeks to felicitate individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in their field of expertise. The noted author was bestowed with the award for her work and contribution as a pioneer amongst women writers.
Meghna Pant is an award-winning Indian author, columnist, feminist and TEDx Speaker. Her books have been published to critical and commercial acclaim. Meghna’s debut collection of short stories HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Random House, 2013) was long-listed for the prestigious Frank O’Connor International Award 2014, the world’s biggest short story prize. ONE AND A HALF WIFE (Westland, 2012) – her bestselling debut novel – won the national Muse India Young Writer Award and was shortlisted for several other awards, including the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Her latest book THE TROUBLE WITH WOMEN (Juggernaut, 2016) is considered a landmark in feminist writing and was described as ‘the best book from Juggernaut’ by The Hindu Business Line. Pant is also the winner of the coveted 2016 FON South Asia Short Story Award.
Meghna is known for having abridged the world’s longest epic, THE MAHABHARATA, into one hundred tweets that The Guardian (UK) quoted as ‘wonderfully descriptive and paced’. Meghna curates a monthly panel discussion on feminism called FEMINIST RANI, and interviews India’s top female leaders and opinion makers on two online shows–FIRST LADY With Meghna Pant (Firstpost/ Network 18) and GET REAL With Meghna Pant (SheThePeople). She is invited as a speaker for many of the nation’s biggest literary festivals and conferences. Meghna has previously worked as a business news anchor with Times Now, NDTV and Bloomberg-UTV in Mumbai and New York.
ABOUT BHARAT NIRMAN
Bharat Nirman is an organization launched by the Government of India in 2005 that promotes rural development across the country. The 3rd Asiad Literature Festival was launched in New Delhi with the purpose to promote Indian literature and reading.
CHANDIGARH (TIP): It’s been more than six weeks since the Aam Aadmi Party’s disappointing loss in the Punjab assembly elections, but finally a humiliation in the Delhi civic polls became the trigger for Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak to resign as the party’s bosses for the state on April 27 (Thursday).
The signs were there immediately after the party lost face in the elections to the municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday. Punjab AAP legislative party leader HS Phoolka, chief whip Sukhpal Singh Khaira and star campaigner MP Bhagwant Mann had upped the ante and again blamed the central leadership, or “the outsiders”, for the party’s Punjab loss.
Uttar Pradesh natives Sanjay (Sultanpur) and Durgesh (Gorakhpur) had effectively taken over the Punjab unit in early 2015 — as in-charge and co-incharge — almost 18 months before the state polls. The idea was to reap dividends in Punjab — the state that had given the party all its four MPs in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls — particularly after the party’s historic mandate in the Delhi assembly polls in the February of that year.
By then, Sucha Singh Chhotepur, who had been picked by party national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, had built a structure for the party as the state unit convener. The Sanjay-Durgesh team brought along a 52-member team of observers from Delhi that spread out as an umbrella body over that structure.
Inside story a mystery
A dormant fight for dominance blew up when Chhotepur was removed in August 2016 over a “sting operation”, allegedly showing him taking bribe for a ticket. The “sting” was never made public, and thus the real reasons behind Chhotepur’s removal remain a mystery. After Chhotepur floated his own party —significant in the politics of perception— the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal raised the decibel level on labelling AAP as a party of outsiders.
Some local faces were given posts, but the duo continued to enjoy primary roles— Durgesh as final authority on tickets and funds to candidates, and Sanjay as the overseeing troubleshooter. Their dominance was even disliked by a number of candidates, but they said little or nothing, hoping for a bigger role in an AAP government.
Another section in the party kept raking up allegations of Sanjay-Durgesh taking money for tickets, but the party overlooked it all, not realising that opposition parties were cashing in.
All their doing?
But can the two be blamed for all the mistakes? A section of AAP leaders in Punjab is asking this question too.
For instance, the party faced serious flak from within for not announcing a chief ministerial candidate. But who could have been projected when prominent local leaders were competing with each other in being on the right side of the duo?
On seeing all others getting miffed with one given prominence, the party went into the polls on the back of Brand Kejriwal, but the bubble burst on March 11, the result day, when the party managed to win just 20 seats, plus two of coalition partner Lok Insaaf Party, as against its own claims of 100 out of 117. The Congress won a decisive victory with 77, though the AAP managed to become the prime opposition ahead of the SAD-BJP combined tally of 18.
Insiders and observers both have also pointed out Kejriwal’s flirtations with Sikh radicals, and theories of his own ambitions to become Punjab CM, as reasons behind the loss; and not just mismanagement by the duo.
Even party leaders in Punjab are not satisfied by the duo’s ouster alone. Khaira and NRI wing convener Jagtar Sanghera want more heads to role, and Khaira in particular has called for a “free hand” to state leaders. A roadmap for introspection and action is still not clear, and party leaders and volunteers remain confused. The resignations by Sanjay and Durgesh are the culmination of resentment within the AAP, but not the final solution to its troubles in Punjab.
‘Victory has many fathers, defeat has none’
While Durgesh did not dwell, Sanjay again denied that he took money in exchange of poll tickets. “There’s no proof,” he told HT over phone. On being blamed for the Punjab fiasco, he commented, “Victory has many fathers; defeat has none.” Advocating introspection now, Sanjay said he had worked “very hard” to build the party “but the results turned out to be a reversal”. Source: HT
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