LONDON (TIP): London has become the first city in the world to announce an ultra-low emission zone to tackle rising levels of air pollution, under which the drivers of the most polluting cars will have to pay an extra charge.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that the new zone will be launched from April 8, 2019, when most polluting cars, vans and motorbikes will have to pay 12.50 pounds to drive through central London, while buses, coaches and HGVs will pay 100 pounds.
The mayor’s office hopes the move will result in a 50 per cent drop in emissions by 2020.
“The air in London is lethal and I will not stand by and do nothing. Now I urge the Government to step up and match my ambition to transform the appalling air we breathe,” Khan said.
“I want to announce my intention to consult on these proposals in good time so that business and those affected by new charges will have time to make changes they need to adapt to our low emission requirements,” he added.
The new charge in 2019 will replace the “toxicity charge”, which comes into force from October this year, under which pre-2006 diesel and petrol vehicles will face an extra 10-pound charge when they enter central London during peak times.
The so-called T-charge will see owners of such vehicles paying extra on top of the existing 11.50-pound congestion charge.
Consultations on the various aspects of the proposals will take place this year to be ready to be imposed in two years’ time.
The ultra-low emission zone is an area within which all cars, motorcycles, vans, minibuses, buses, coaches and heavy goods vehicles will need to meet exhaust emission standards or pay a daily charge to travel. (PTI)
BRUSSELS (TIP): Europeans will face systematic checks at the external borders of the EU’s Schengen border area from Friday under legislation designed to tackle “foreign fighters” returning from Iraq and Syria.
“Member States will as of tomorrow have an obligation to carry out systematic checks against relevant databases at the external borders, also on EU citizens,” a European Commission spokeswoman said Thursday.
This is “in order to verify that persons crossing the borders do not represent a threat to public order and internal security.” The EU said it was “in response to the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters.” The EU first proposed the measures after the November 2015 Paris attacks and the 28 member states adopted them on March 7. (AFP)
BERLIN (TIP): Germany’s cabinet on April 5 moved to ban child marriages after the recent mass refugee influx brought in many couples where one or both partners were aged under 18.
The new law, set to receive parliamentary approval by July, is seen as a protective move especially for girls by annulling foreign marriages involving minors.
It will allow youth welfare workers to take into care underaged girls even if they were legally married abroad and, if deemed necessary, separate them from their husbands.
“Children do not belong in the marriage registry office or the wedding hall,” said Justice Minister Heiko Maas.
“We must not tolerate any marriages that harm minors in their development.”
“The underaged must be protected as much as possible,” he added, stressing that no minor must suffer restrictions on their asylum or residential status as a result of the change.
The age of consent for all marriages in Germany will be raised from 16 to 18 years. Currently in some cases an 18-year-old is allowed to marry a 16-year-old.
Foreign marriages involving spouses under 16 will be considered invalid, and those involving 16 or 17-year-olds can be annulled by family courts.
Rare exceptions are possible, for example when one of the spouses suffers from a serious illness — but only if the couple are now both adults and both want to stay married.
The draft law would also punish with a fine any attempts to marry minors in traditional or religious rather than state ceremonies.
There were 1,475 married minors registered in Germany last July — 361 of them aged under 14 — according to the latest figures released after a parliamentary request.
Of these 1,152 were girls, said the interior ministry.
The largest group, 664 children, came from Syria followed by 157 from Afghanistan, 100 from Iraq, and 65 from Bulgaria.
The conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung welcomed the bill, saying that “archaic practises that harm women and children have no place” in Germany.
The aim was not to “paternalistically spread one’s values or disrespect foreign cultures”, but to enforce “fundamental and, in principle, globally recognised human rights”. The non-profit German Children’s Aid Foundation said it generally welcomed the new draft law as a sign of “progress” but said courts should have latitude in some tricky cases where one spouse is aged 16 or 17.
These could involve underage couples that have their own children, who could then be considered born out of wedlock and lose certain entitlements and inheritance rights, warned the group’s head, Thomas Krueger.
In such cases, recognising a marriage involving one 16 or 17-year-old “can be acceptable, for example, if the relationship is proven to be emotionally stable and there is no evidence of compulsion,” he said in a statement.
“The opinion of the minor is also decisive and must absolutely be taken into account.” (AFP)
BEIJING (TIP): Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday that the Dalai Lama visit to Arunachal Pradesh has “fueled tensions” between China and India.
“By inviting and approving the Dalai Lama to visit disputed areas between China and India, India has damaged our interests and the India-China relationship and it has fueled tensions,” ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said. China was “opposed to attempts by the relevant country (referring to India) to arrange a platform for the Dalai Lama to conduct anti-China activities,” she said.
There were also signs that a section of the Communist Party and the official media has stepped up pressure on the government to take action against India for allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh.
A senior Communist official, Zhu Weiqun, said that India is losing its dignity by encouraging the Tibetan leader, whom he accused of trying to split up China. “India is losing its dignity as a big power by playing around with such a figure,” Zhu, who heads the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said.
It is rare for a sitting Communist official to comment on China’s relationship with other countries, which is an area left to the foreign ministry. Beijing based China Daily, which usually refrains from taking aggressive stance against India. (TOI)
MOGADISHU (SOMALIA) (TIP): A roadside bomb exploded and killed at least 10 people in a minibus in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region Thursday evening, a local official said.
Five others were injured and the death toll could rise, Nur Abdullahi told The Associated Press.
The massive bomb buried beside the road struck the vehicle near Gobweyn village, he said.
The Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab claims control over parts of the largely coastal Lower Shabelle region, which has been a focus of efforts to counter the group by a 22,000-strong multinational African Union force.
Civilians often have been casualties in this long-chaotic Horn of Africa country. Now hundreds of thousands of Somalis are on the move as a drought threatens roughly half of the country’s population of 12 million.
New Somali-American President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who was elected in February, has promised to make security a priority as the weak central government tries to assert itself beyond the capital and some other urban areas. (AP)
GAZA CITY (TIP): The Islamic militant Hamas group ruling the Gaza Strip says it has executed three Palestinians accused of `collaborating’ with Israel.
Hamas says they were hanged at a police compound on Thursday morning as dozens of Hamas leaders and officials watched.
Hamas has launched a local media campaign against those it suspects of spying for Israel after a militant, Mazen Faqha, was found dead in Gaza last month.
Israel had sentenced him to nine life sentences for directing suicide bombings. He was freed along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single Israeli soldier in 2011.
Israel had sentenced him to nine life sentences for directing suicide bombings. He was freed along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single Israeli soldier in 2011. (PTI)
BEIRUT (TIP): The grief-stricken father cradled his 9-month-old twins, Aya and Ahmed, each in the crook of an arm. Stroking their hair, he choked back tears, mumbling, “Say goodbye, baby, say goodbye” to their lifeless bodies.
Then Abdel Hameed Alyousef took them to a mass grave where 22 members of his family were being buried. Each branch of the clan got its own trench.
More than 80 people, including at least 30 children and 20 women, were killed in the chemical attack on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun early Tuesday, and the toll could still rise. The Alyousef family, one of the town’s main clans, was hardest hit.
Another member of the family, Aya Fadl, recalled running from her house with her 20-month-old son in her arms, thinking she could find safety from the toxic gas in the street. Instead, the 25-year-old English teacher was confronted face to face with the horror of it: A pick-up truck piled with the bodies of the dead, including many of her own relatives and students.
“Ammar, Aya, Mohammed, Ahmad, I love you my birds. Really they were like birds. Aunt Sana, Uncle Yasser, Abdul-Kareem, please hear me,” Fadl said, choking back tears as she recalled how she said farewell to her relatives in the pile.
“I saw them. They were dead. All are dead now.”
The tragedy has devastated the small town. It also deepened the frustration felt by many Syrians in opposition-held areas that such scenes of mass death, which have become routine in the country’s 6-year-old civil war, bring no retribution or even determination of responsibility.
The US and other Western countries accused President Bashar Assad of being behind the attack, while Syria and its main backer, Russia, denied it. Despite world condemnation, bringing justice is difficult in the absence of independent investigation of Syria’s chemical arsenal, which the government insists it has destroyed. (AP)
Another vigilante action, another Muslim dead. This time in Rajasthan. But the beating of five persons transporting milch cows, leading to the death of a 55-year-old man, Pehlu Khan, was not surprising even if it was shocking. Circumstances of the case make it obvious that it was not part of any attempt to prevent smuggling of cows. It was an assault on a particular religious identity. For one, anyone familiar with cattle – especially those who claim to be passionately devoted to it – should be able to tell condemned cattle from a milch cow, as was the case here. Then, the man who died had documents to show he purchased the cows for milk as he ran a dairy. The more pertinent bit, however, is that one Hindu driver was let off by the gang, even though he was as much a part of the crew transporting the cattle.
The disturbing aspect is that this is not an action of “fringe elements”, if there is still any distinction to be made within the communal monolith called the “Sangh”. The police were as quick as the “gau rakshaks” to accuse the cattle buyers of being smuggles, and booked them too without even preliminary inquiries. The Rajasthan Home Minister defended the police action, and even the need for “gau rakshaks” to prevent cattle smuggling. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in the Rajya Sabha that the incident had been misreported. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the BJP to deny that it supports such vigilante action, given the systematic persecution of meat traders in certain states. UP has also seen “anti-Romeo squads” and instructions for teachers on how to dress “decently”.
The fast evolving cultural tyranny needs to be recognised for what it is – a devious ploy at sustaining animosity on communal lines. The motives for this are as much political as a sincere faith in a medieval ideology, not very different from the extreme Islamic intrusion seen in all public institutions in Pakistan. Unless this is understood, and no less than the top leadership of the BJP moves to put a stop to the moral policing, the consequences also may be very similar to as in Pakistan.
NEW YORK (TIP): The South Asia Business Association at Columbia Business School will host their 13th Annual India Business Conference on April 8 at Lerner Hall, Columbia University.
The annual India Business Conference is the premier India-focused conference in the City of New York and is a powerful forum that inspires thought-leadership and generates discussions around the business, social, political, and creative undercurrents that permeate Indian life. The goal of the conference is to bring together decision makers and opinion shapers from across the business, social, political, and creative spectrums of India.
The India Business Conference has enabled discourse around varied topics including driving growth on the foundation of structural reforms, maintaining the momentum provided by the sustained success of the Information Technology sector, and having an honest conversation about the challenges inherent in the Indian political and democratic system. The ideas exchanged during past conferences have permeated academic, political, and social circles, and have earned both acclaim and extensive media coverage.
The theme for this year’s conference is “Route to Resurgence: Shaping India’s New Destiny.” After 25 years of economic liberalization, India as a nation has finally realized that the ingenuity of its entrepreneurs and the market potential of its billion plus people are the keys to its prosperity. With one of the largest number of start-ups in the world, today’s India is thriving with opportunities and its lure is hard to ignore. The India of today is more confident and knows that it holds the key to its destiny. We believe this shift in thinking, despite India’s many problems, is perhaps one of the most interesting ideas to explore and has implications not just for India but also for those who wish to do business in the country.
NEW YORK (TIP): “National Sikh Campaign” is a project with 1.3 million dollars led by Dr. Rajwant Singh Based in Washington D.C to raise awareness among fellow Americans about Sikhism.
“As we all know if change in political scenario the hate crimes have increased by 20%on Sikhs and other communities”, said Mr. Singh.
National Sikh campaigns is started with the aim to have TV advertisement on CNN and Fox TV networks about Sikhism in which they focus on basic Sikh values and how Sikh values are the same as American values.
This is help fellow Americans to understand the fact that Sikhs are important part of American Fabric.
Swaranjit Singh Khalsa who is also serving in “Commission of City Plan of Norwich” said “This Campaign is a need of the time and this is first time community is coming together and doing this project in a professional manner”.
On the occasion, famous singer “DavinderPal Singh ” was also present and performed with his band.
Pritpal Singh From Salt Lake City , Uttampal Singh, Swaranjit Singh Khalsa, Kulwant Singh Samra,Malkit Singh Sekhon, Manmohan Singh Bharara,Harpal Singh Chawla,Hargurpreet Singh, Guruninder Singh Dhaliwal, Kanwalpreet Singh, Avtar Singh, Veer Singh, Kulbir Singh,Purshotam Singh, Amarjit Singh, Maninder Singh Arora and Satnam Singh donated very generously.
Presidents of various Gurudwara sahib and members of community also took pledge that raise the money in their congregations to support the campaign and reach their fundraising goal.
Overall program was success and it provided platform for Sikh community of Connecticut to come together and do project based on common goals.
Dr.Rajwant Singh Thanked all the Community Members and also told them that ads will be running on CNN from April 14th 2017.
USCIS released a policy memorandum on March 31, 2017, Recession of the December 22, 2000 “Guidance Memo on H-1B computer related positions” to clarify its approach on computer programmer position and whether it qualifies as a specialty occupation, with an immediate effect.
The memo brings the position of computer programmers on the spot and cruises on the eligibility criteria. It specifies that a person may be employed as a computer programmer and may use information technology skills and knowledge to help an enterprise achieve its goal in the course of his/her job but it is not sufficient to establish the position as a specialty occupation. Hence, the petitioner now has an additional burden to establish that a particular position is one of the specialty occupation as defined by 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(ii).
Entry or senior level position: The 2000-01 edition described all programmers as sharing a fundamental job duty, i.e. writing and testing computer code and any individual with only an associate degree may enter these occupations. But the Memo now settles that it is improper to conclude on the above information that an individual will qualify for a specialty occupation.
Hence the memo concludes that a person may be employed as a computer programmer and may use information technology skills and knowledge to help an enterprise achieve its goals in the course of his/her job, but an additional evidence is required to establish the position of computer programmer is a specialty occupation.
Impact of the memo: The memo came out with an immediate effect and hence will have a substantial impact on petitioners filing as computer programmer for the H-1B CAP FY2018. There will be more scrutiny and request for evidence for this category.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also announced multiple measures to further deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse on April 03, 2017.
Beginning April 3rd, USCIS will take a more targeted approach when making site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the worksites of H-1B employees. USCIS will focus on:
· Cases where USCIS cannot validate the employer’s basic business information through commercially available data;
· H-1B-dependent employers (those who have a high ratio of H-1B workers as compared to U.S. workers, as defined by statute); and
· Employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organization’s location.
Targeted site visits will allow USCIS to focus resources where fraud and abuse of the H-1B program may be more likely to occur, and determine whether H-1B dependent employers are evading their obligation to make a good faith effort to recruit U.S. workers.
USCIS will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide. These site visits are not meant to target nonimmigrant employees for any kind of criminal or administrative action but rather to identify employers who are abusing the system.
Employers who abuse the H-1B visa program negatively affect U.S. workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers. To further deter and detect abuse, USCIS has established an email address which will allow individuals (including both American workers and H-1B workers who suspect they or others may be the victim of H-1B fraud or abuse) to submit tips, alleged violations and other relevant information about potential H-1B fraud or abuse. Information submitted to the email address will be used for investigations and referrals to law enforcement agencies for potential prosecution.
The U.S. administration began to deliver on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on a work visa program that channels thousands of skilled overseas workers to companies across the technology industry.
Fed up with a program it says favors foreign workers at the expense of Americans, the Trump administration rolled out a trio of policy shifts. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency on Friday made it harder for companies to bring overseas tech workers to the U.S. using the H-1B work visa.
Lottery Opens For High Skilled H-1B Visas
On Monday, April 3, as the H1-B lottery program for “high-skilled” worker visas opened with the 85,000 slots, the USCIS agency issued a memo laying out new measures to combat what it called “fraud and abuse” in the Program. The Justice Department further warned employers applying for the visas not to discriminate against U.S. workers.
Nearly three-quarters of the visas are expected to go to Indian workers, as they have in recent years.
“The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against U.S. workers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler in a prepared statement. “U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims.”
The department’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will make unannounced site visits to companies that have a high ratio of workers on H-1B visas, and those whose foreign workers are outsourced to another company.
Seventy one percent of H-1B visa recipients came from India in 2015, according to a 2016 report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. China comes in second, accounting for nearly 10 percent of H-1B visa recipients.
India’s dominance of the H-1B visa system is cemented by the country’s giant outsourcing firms that submit tens of thousands of applications, increasing their chances of winning the coveted temporary work visas.
Among the top H-1B visa sponsors are Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra Americas — Indian multinational corporations providing information technology and outsourcing services, according to Myvisajobs.com.
The outsourcing firms are controversial because they are exempt from the federal requirement that they not displace American workers if they pay H-1B visa holders at least $60,000 a year. That threshold still falls below the market rate for American tech workers.
American tech companies who use workers hired by these firms benefit from the cheaper labor, as well as the automatic loyalty engendered among workers who would otherwise lose their legal status.
The H-1B visas last for three years, and can be renewed once. But workers applying for green cards can renew their visas indefinitely. There is currently a decade-long backlog of Indian green card applicants. Given the tremendous delay, companies have an incentive to hire workers from India, who critics say end up in a system of de facto “indentured servitude.”
New Delhi: Attacks against Indians in the US were taken up by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with senior American officials during his visit to Washington last month, the government said today.
The government has taken up the issue of incidents of attack on Indian nationals and persons of Indian origin with the US government at very high levels, including during the visits of the foreign secretary and national security advisor, Minister of State V K Singh said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
“We have conveyed our deep concern, and called for necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of Indian diaspora as well as expeditious investigation into these incidents,” the minister said.
Mr Doval, who visited the US from March 23 to 24, held a series of meetings with the top Trump administration officials, including US Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster.
This year has seen many incidents of hate crimes against Indian nationals including killing of an engineer in Kansas by a US navy veteran.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there’s no question Russia was involved in the U.S. presidential election and insists President Donald Trump would fully support strong action against the Kremlin once investigations are complete.
Speaking in television interviews broadcast April 2, Nikki Haley contended there is no contradiction between her tough stance and Trump’s repeated public statements seeking to minimize Russia’s role. She said Trump “has not once” told her to stop “beating up on Russia.”
“Certainly, I think Russia was involved in the election. There’s no question about that,” Haley told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz in an interview on ‘This Week’. “And I think when they finish with all of this process, yes, they need to address Russia. They need to act.”
The Indian American envoy joins Defense Secretary James Mattis as Trump administration officials who have forcefully called out Russia for its actions during the 2016 U.S. campaign.
“We don’t want any country involved in our elections, ever,” Haley said. “We need to be very strong on that.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country meddled in the 2016 contest between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Trump himself has said he believes Russian operatives hacked Democratic Party emails during the election, he has repeatedly lambasted as “fake news” any suggestion that he or his staff had connections to Russia.
Trump continued his attacks over the weekend, tweeting: “It is the same Fake News Media that said there is ‘no path to victory for Trump’ that is now pushing the phony Russia story. A total scam!”
He added on April 2: “The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers.”
U.S. intelligence agencies report that Russia tried to help Trump’s campaign effort. The FBI as well as congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign. The White House is also trying to quell a firestorm over its behind-the-scenes role in helping the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, view secret intelligence reports that he says pointed to inappropriate leaking.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel, went to the White House March 31 to view materials that he said were “precisely the same.” He declined on April 2 to describe the contents, but criticized the unorthodox disclosure to Nunes, suggesting that the material was more likely an “effort to deflect attention” and “create a cloud through which the public cannot see.”
“Whenever they see the president use the word ‘fake,’ it should set off alarm bells,” Schiff said. “I think that’s really what going on here.”
Trump as president persuaded Haley to leave the governorship of South Carolina to represent the U.S. at the United Nations. She said she was “beating up on Russia” over issues such as its actions in Crimea and its dispute with Ukraine.
When asked if she believes Trump should publicly take a harder Russia stance, she said: “Of course, he’s got a lot of things he’s doing.”
“There’s no love or anything going on with Russia right now,” Haley said. “They get that we’re getting our strength back, that we’re getting our voice back and that we’re starting to lead again, and, honestly, at the United Nations, that’s the No. 1 comment I get is that they’re just so happy to see the United States lead again.”
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said it was indisputable that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. election, reiterating his call for a special select committee.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he didn’t think another review was necessary, citing the bipartisan work from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“I think they clearly laid out that they’re going wherever the facts take them,” McConnell said, referring to Republican chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel. “We don’t need yet another investigation. We know the FBI is looking at it from their perspective.”
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, said Russia was not worried about what any U.S. investigation might reveal. “We insist that any blaming that Russia could have been interfering in domestic affairs of the United States is slander,” he said.
Haley, Peskov and McCain appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” Haley also was on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Schiff spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and McConnell appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
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London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that the new zone will be launched from April 8, 2019, when most polluting cars, vans and motorbikes will have to pay 12.50 pounds to drive through central London, while buses, coaches and HGVs will pay 100 pounds.
