Mutare (Zimbabwe) (TIP): Dressed in a miniskirt and blouse, Esther Kamupunga stood in semi-darkness waiting for men looking for sex — the latest Zimbabwean to lose her job in a deepening economic crisis, worsened by the new coronavirus. When the first COVID-19 case was detected in March, Zimbabwe rapidly went into lockdown, and the 24-year-old single mother and waitress was laid off in the eastern city of Mutare.
“Life was better until the advent of this coronavirus. Our business came to a standstill due to lockdown … unfortunately I was one of the people who were retrenched,” she said, shielding her face from passing car headlights. “I have two children. I could not watch them going to bed without eating anything. I had no option but to follow some friends to this shopping centre,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, declining to publish her real name.
The southern African nation is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a decade, with crippling hyperinflation, unemployment, strikes by public workers and shortages of food, medicine and foreign currency.
Sex workers and charities providing them with health care services said the number of women selling sex has increased, particularly young girls facing hunger at home.
“We have a lot of cases coming to us of girls who were now engaged in transactional sex because of the increase in the household poverty,” said Beatrice Savadye, director of Roots Africa, a local charity supporting young people.
Savadye said she received 350 reports of children having sex in exchange for money or gifts from March to June — double the previous year — in Mazowe, a mining town 40 km north of Harare. Her charity has been giving food parcels to hungry families. Ordinary Zimbabweans say life is difficult, with inflation above 700%, rocketing prices for basic goods, electricity and petrol, and lagging salaries – prompting teachers to refuse to return to work without a pay rise last month. “Hunger drives us into sex trade,” said Hazel Zemura, who has sold sex for a decade and works for Women Against All Forms of Discrimination, which runs health programmes for sex workers.
(Thomson Reuters Foundation)
Month: October 2020
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Zimbabweans turn to sex work amid economic crisis and COVID-19
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Chinese Communist Party’s key conclave approves Xi’s Vision 2035
Beijing (TIP): China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday concluded its key annual conclave during which it approved the 14th Five-Year Plan and Vision 2035, a long-term development plan which observers say hints at the continuation of President Xi Jinping in power for the next 15 years.
The four-day plenary session of the Communist Party of China (CPC) heard and discussed a work report delivered by Xi on behalf of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, an official communique said on Thursday.
The session also adopted the CPC proposals for the formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035.
The session was attended by 198 members of the CPC Central Committee and 166 alternate members of the CPC Central Committee, official media reported.
While the 14th Five-Year plan envisages massive overhaul of the country’s domestic market to boost consumption in order to reduce China’s reliance on shrinking exports markets, the Vision 2035 visualises a long-term plan, reflecting the vision of President Xi.
The Vision 2035 plan prompted speculation that Xi intends to essentially be “president-for-life”.
The aim of Vision 2035, says Benjamin Hillman, a professor at the Australian National University, is to “set goalposts for China’s progress towards achieving high-income status (being a fully developed nation) by 2049”.
Yet the “very idea of a 2035 manifesto has also prompted speculation that Xi intends to lead China through this period, becoming, essentially, president-for-life”, he told the BBC.
Xi, 67, has emerged as the CPC’s most powerful leader after its founder Mao Zedong, holding the posts of CPC General Secretary, head of the military besides the Presidency with prospects of a life-long tenure.
A constitutional amendment in 2018 has removed the two five-year term limit for the President, which would enable Xi to continue in power. His second term as the President is due to end in 2022.
Since he took over power in 2012, Xi firmly established his stamp of authority, doing away with the past system of collective leadership. All CPC meetings, including the plenum, are held in tight secrecy and the proceedings of such meetings other than the official handouts were rarely publicised.
Though the main agenda of the meeting was stated to be the next Five-Year Plan, the plenum was expected to review the political situation as the conclave took place days ahead of the November 3 US presidential election.
China, where the coronavirus emerged in December last year at Wuhan, figured prominently in poll campaigns of both President Donald Trump, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
While China’s ties with the US deteriorated to historic low, both Trump and Biden were expected to follow tough hardline policies towards Beijing. China is also battling an adverse image as COVID-19 spread all over the world, killing more than a million people. The country also faced a tough international situation after it passed a controversial National Security Law this year for Hong Kong amidst massive opposition from the local people and the international community, virtually taking over the security of the Special Administration Region for the first time since it was transferred to China by Britain in 1997. The meeting is also being held in the backdrop of the stalemate in the border standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh, which had affected the relations between the two neighbouring countries. The CPC communique said China would accelerate the modernisation of national defence and the military, which is key to Xi’s vision of China’s emergence as a major global power.
It calls for integrated efforts to build a prosperous country and a strong military.
The country’s national defence capabilities and economic strength should be strengthened at the same time, it said. It said China would nurture a strong domestic market and establish a new development pattern.
The country will ensure smooth domestic circulation and let domestic and international circulations reinforce each other, spurring consumption in an all-round way and expanding investment, the document said.
It said that China would integrate the strategy of expanding domestic demand with deepening supply-side structural reform, and create new demand through innovation and high-quality supply. PTI -
UK’s Labour Party suspends former leader Jeremy Corbyn in antisemitism row
London (TIP): The UK’s Opposition Labour Party on Thursday suspended former leader Jeremy Corbyn from its ranks after a report by the country’s human rights watchdog held the party “responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” during his time in charge. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which had launched an investigation into antisemitism within the party following a string of complaints, found that Labour had broken the law in its failure to handle antisemitism, or anti-Jewish, complaints and there were “serious failings” by its leadership at the time. However, in his reaction to the report, Corbyn said the number of complaints made during his tenure were “dramatically overstated”.
“One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media. That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated,” said Corbyn, in reference to the report.
A Labour Party spokesperson issued a statement soon after to announce that Corbyn had been suspended from the party. “In light of his comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labour Party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation. He has also had the whip removed from the Parliamentary Labour Party,” the spokesperson said.
In his reaction to the EHRC report, current Opposition leader Keir Starmer had indicated that a denial stance to the report would not be tolerated, without any specific references to Corbyn.
Starmer said: “And if – after all the pain, all the grief, and all the evidence in this report, there are still those who think there’s no problem with antisemitism in the Labour Party. That it’s all exaggerated, or a factional attack.
“Then, frankly, you are part of the problem too. And you should be nowhere near the Labour Party either.” Earlier, the EHRC had served the Labour Party with an unlawful act notice after an investigation into antisemitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found it responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.
Its investigation, launched in May last year, identified serious failings in the party leadership in addressing antisemitism and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints. The party was found responsible for three breaches of the UK’s Equality Act (2010) relating to political interference in antisemitism complaints; failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints; and harassment. PTI
Police overpower man threatening officers with knives in Paris: Police
Paris (TIP): Police overpowered a man in the French capital Paris on Friday when he threatened officers with two knives after they challenged him, a police source said.
The officers intervened after police received a call reporting that a man armed with a knife was knocking on his neighbour’s door in a southwestern district of the city.The officers confronted the man in the courtyard of the building and used a Taser and rubber bullets to overpower him, the source said.
No one else was hurt.The incident took place a day after three people were killed in a knife attack in the southeastern city of Nice. The motive for this incident was not immediately clear. Reuters -
Activists converge on Warsaw for ‘biggest’ protests against abortion ruling
Warsaw (TIP): Protesters converged on Warsaw from across Poland on October 30 for what police said would likely be the biggest demonstrations yet against a court ruling that amounted to a near-total ban on abortion.
Tens of thousands of activists have mounted daily rallies, marching through cities and disrupting church services in the predominantly Catholic country since last week’s Constitutional Court decision.
“We expect these to be the biggest protests since the verdict,” Warsaw police spokesman Sylwester Marczak said, adding: “Considering how big they can be, we always use the support of the police from other garrisons.”
Military police began erecting barriers near the parliament and in other parts of the capital.
Protest group Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike) said on its Facebook page demonstrators would gather in three locations in the city centre from 1600 GMT. The movement’s leader, Marta Lempart, told activists to report any attacks and to resist any attempt to prosecute or fine them for taking part. “We are doing nothing wrong by protesting and going out on the streets,” she told a news conference.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said this week the rallies could help the coronavirus to spread. Last week the government banned gatherings of more than five people, saying it was part of its efforts against COVID-19.
Demonstrations, mostly peaceful, have turned into an outpouring of anger against the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, with protesters blaming it and the powerful Roman Catholic Church for the ruling.
FIVE CHARGED
Five women have been charged with organising an illegal protest in the town of Police, where some 850 people gathered on Thursday, regional police spokeswoman Alicja Sledziona said on Friday.
The court decision on Thursday last week outlawed abortions due to foetal defects, ending the most common of the few legal grounds left for abortion in Poland and setting the country further apart from the European mainstream.
After it goes into effect, women will only be able to terminate a pregnancy legally in the case of rape, incest or a threat to their health.
The Catholic Church has said that while it opposes abortion, it did not push the government or the court to increase restrictions. It called for people to talk and refrain from violence this week, but declined to comment further on Friday. Catholic anti-abortion group Ordo Iuris on Friday reiterated its support for the court ruling and opposition to the protesters, and called for calm. “As an institute, we must condemn any violence, no matter in which way it is perpetrated. Nothing justifies hurting another person even in the face of such social unrest,” spokesman Maciej Grajewski said. On Friday, the number of daily new infections in Poland hit an all-time high of 21,629. The overall death toll rose to 5,351. Reuters -
China setting up world’s highest-altitude data centre in Tibet
Beijing/Lhasa (Tibet) (TIP): China is building the world’s highest-altitude cloud computing data centre in Tibet that will meet the data storage needs of the country and South Asian nations like Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, official media reported On Thursday. The data centre is situated in a high-tech zone of the Tibetan regional capital city of Lhasa and located at an altitude of around 3,656 metres, making it the highest-altitude data centre in the world, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. With a total planned investment of 11.8 billion yuan (over USD 1.80 billion), the project will provide services in areas such as video rendering, autonomous driving, distance-learning data backup, among others, according to its Lhasa-based operator, the Ningsuan Technology Group. It is expected to provide those services to major Chinese provinces and cities, as well as Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and part of Southeast Asia, said the company. The first phase of the project is expected to be put into operation in 2021, said the report. After the completion of phase one, the data centre will have 10,000 machine cabinets and an annual revenue of 1.5 billion yuan (about USD 223.5 million), meeting the data storage needs of key clients in the country and in South Asia. Wang Jun, Ningsuan’s vice president and chief marketing officer, said as Lhasa pushes forward with the construction of a regional bureau for stepping up international communications services, Tibet will become a big-data industrial base. PTI
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Tens of thousands of Muslims protest over Macron remarks after killings in France
Islamabad/Dhaka (TIP): Tens of thousands of Muslims protested in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Palestinian territories on Friday after killings in a French church prompted a vow from President Emmanuel Macron to stand firm against attacks on French values and freedom of belief. French Interior Minister Gerald Damarnin said France, the home to Europe’s largest Muslim community and hit by a string of militant attacks in recent years, was engaged in a war against Islamist ideology and more attacks were likely.
In Pakistan, police briefly fired tear gas at protesters who broke through security blockades in Islamabad in a failed attempt to demonstrate at the French Embassy against the printing in France of images depicting the Prophet Mohammad. Protests and gatherings marking the occasion were also held in the Pakistani cities of Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. In Bangladesh, tens of thousands marched through Dhaka, the capital, chanting “Boycott French products” and carrying banners calling Macron “the world’s biggest terrorist”.
“Macron is leading Islamophobia,” said Dhaka demonstrator Akramul Haq. “He doesn’t know the power of Islam. The Muslim world will not let this go in vain. We’ll rise and stand in solidarity against him,” he added.
Some Bangladeshi demonstrators also burned effigies of Macron and carried cut-outs of the president with a garland of shoes around his neck, a severe insult according to Islam.
a Muslim-majority district of India’s financial hub Mumbai, some 100 posters showing Macron with a boot on his face and calling him a “demon” were pasted on pavements and roads.
In Lebanon, security forces fired tear gas to drive back some 300 protesters including supporters of a local Sunni Islamist party who marched from a mosque in the capital Beirut to the official residence of the French ambassador.
Thousands of Palestinian worshippers rallied after Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, in Jerusalem’s walled Old City to condemn the republication of Mohammad caricatures in France. “A nation whose leader is Mohammad will not be defeated,” protesters chanted.
“We hold the French president responsible for acts of chaos and violence that are taking place in France because of his comments against Islam and against Muslims,” said Ikrima Sabri, the preacher who delivered the sermon at al Aqsa. In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinians trampled on a large French flag and burned other French flags. In Gaza, ruled by Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, hundreds of Palestinians took part in anti-France rallies, chanting: “With our souls and blood we will redeem the Prophet.”
Thousands in Somalia turned up for Friday prayers in mosques where sermons were dominated by curses and condemnation of Macron and his government.
Abdirahman Hussein Mohamed, a shopkeeper in the capital Mogadishu, set aside all French products including face wash, perfumes and other cosmetics with a large sign, “NOT FOR SALE”.
“I will never sell those products…as long as France does not apologise. France insulted our Prophet,” Mohamed told Reuters. (Reuters) -
Indian American Professor at University of Washington goes missing on Mount Rainier hike
SEATTLE (TIP): A search is underway for Sam Dubal, an Indian American professor at University of Washington, Seattle, who has gone missing for more than ten days during a hike at Mount Rainier.
Dubal, 33, was last known to be hiking the Mother Mountain Loop out of the Mowich Lake Trailhead, departing on Friday, Oct. 9 and due out on Saturday, Oct. 10, Mount Rainier NPS said in a tweet.
Dubal was reported missing mid-day Oct. 12. Rangers at the National Park sent several teams out that afternoon, two of which continued searching overnight, in coordination with the Washington State Emergency Operations Center, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a media release.
In addition, an Air Force helicopter with Forward Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR), from the 36th Rescue Squadron out of Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, spent 2½ hours Oct. 12 night searching by air, under the direction of the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
The search continued on the ground on Oct. 13, despite heavy rain in the search area, with six search teams including 19 National Park Service rangers and six Mountain Rescue Association volunteers from the Olympic, Everett, and Central Washington units.
The Park has set up a tip line at (360) 569-6684 for anyone who was hiking in the Mowich Lake area over the past few days and may have seen Dubal.
He is 5 foot 9 inches tall, 155 pounds, with black hair and a short black beard, and may have been wearing a blue jacket, NPS said.
Rangers are coordinating the search with state and local resources, who are providing highly skilled rescuers trained to search in hazardous conditions, NPS said.
Dubal had joined the University of Washington’s Department of Anthropology as an assistant professor last June.
According to a series of tweets by his sister, UC Hastings law professor Veena Dubal, Sam Dubal was scheduled to return home the following day. Mount Rainier National Park rangers have found his car, according to Veena Dubal.
“My brother is missing. He went camping overnight on Friday night in Ipsuit Creek and Seattle Park in Washington State. He was supposed to be back on Sat. Rangers found his car and are looking for him. If anyone is hiking or camping in the area pls be on the lookout,” Veena Dubal wrote.
Several members of Dubal’s family and the University of Washington Anthropology Department have tweeted about the disappearance of Dubal. Members of the department and his friends have expressed wishes that he returns home safely soon.
“We remain optimistic until we have reason to know otherwise. We’ve seen people come out just fine in situations far worse than this,” Ranger Kevin Bacher with the NPS was quoted as saying in a local media report.
“We know that he had a backcountry permit to spend at Carbon River Camp and we know that he was planning to do the Mother Mountain loop, yes.”
Bacher said weather came in severely into the area on Monday night, which could have flooded trails and log bridges.
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Indian American Hip-hop lover judge to try Google case
WASHINGTON (TIP): Hip-hop loving Indian American US district judge Amit P. Mehta is set to preside over Trump administration’s landmark antitrust lawsuit against search engine giant Google.
In its most aggressive move since its case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago, the US Justice Department and 11 states have accused Google of weaponizing its dominance in online search and advertising to kill off competition and harm consumers.
“Two decades ago, Google became the darling of Silicon Valley as a scrappy startup with an innovative way to search the emerging Internet. That Google is long gone,” the complaint alleged.
Calling the lawsuit “deeply flawed,” Google asserted in a tweet that “People use Google because they choose to — not because they’re forced to or because they can’t find alternatives.”
Gujarat-born Amit Priyavadan Mehta lit up his online fandom when in an epic footnote to a 2015 judgment in a copyright infringement case, he claimed to be no “lay person” when it comes to hip-hop music and lyrics.
“The court has listened to hip-hop for decades and considers among his favorite musical artistes, perhaps as a sign of his age, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Drake, and Eminem,” Mehta wrote.
Appointed by President Barack Obama as a District judge for the District of Columbia in December 2014, he became the first Asia Pacific American judge on what is considered the second highest court in the US after the Supreme Court.
Raised in Reisterstown, Maryland, Mehta received his BA degree in 1993 from Georgetown University and a JD in 1997 from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Beginning his career in a San Francisco law firm before clerking in the Ninth Circuit court, Mehta went on to work at the Washington DC-based law firm Zuckerman Spaeder LLP.
Focusing on white-collar criminal defense, complex business disputes, and appellate advocacy, he also worked as a public defender in Washington for five years.
Among his more famous cases, Mehta was part of the defense team for former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a sexual assault case filed against him by hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo.
In July 2019, he ruled in favor of pharmaceutical firms, blocking a Trump administration rule that required drug makers to put prices in television ads, mainly to lower the cost of prescription medications.
In another case Mehta ruled that President Donald Trump couldn’t block a subpoena from a House committee seeking financial records from his accounting firm.
The decision enraged Trump, who slammed it as a “crazy” decision by an “Obama appointed judge”.
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Biden wins, according to polls sponsored by the mainstream media; Trafalgar poll predicts Trump will win
By Ven Parameswaran There are only 12 days to the Presidential election on November 3, 2020. Everyone is interested in knowing who has better chances to win – President Trump or former Vice President Biden. This discussion and speculation will keep on going till the election.
All the TV networks including Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN and the mainstream media including NYT and Washington Post and the polls sponsored by them have been predicting Biden will win by a comfortable margin. How can one believe them? They predicted in 2016 that Hillary Clinton would win.But Trump defeated Clinton by 306 electoral votes, though Clinton won the popular vote by 2%.
Therefore, the decision will be made by the voters in battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In 2016, Trump’s major victory against Clinton was in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan. He won with a narrow margin of 77,000 votes combined from these four states. According to my calculations Trump has good chances to win New Hampshire, Nevada, and Minnesota this year.
The upstart Trafalgar does not see 2020 the same way everyone else does. Trafalgar’s strategist Robert Cahaly was born in Georgia and got involved in politics going door-to-door as a kid. He started a political consulting firm with some others in the late 1990s. Around 2008, he says, they realized that the polling they were getting was not very good, so they started doing their own. He says they got good, accurate results in the races they were working.
In the 2016 primaries, they started putting out some of their own polls. “Our polls ended up being the best ones in South Carolina and Georgia, “ Cahaly says. “So we started studying what it was that made those so different.”
Then there was the breakthrough in the 2016 general election. “We ended up having an incredible year,” he says. “I mean, we got Pennsylvania right. We got Michigan right. We had the best poll in five of the battleground states in 2016. And I actually predicted 306 to 232 on the electoral college. And we went from doing a little bit of polling on the side to that (being) our primary business in about 24 hours. And since then, that is what we have been doing.”
As a general matter, he discounts national polls. First, because the race for the presidency is won state by state, not on the basis of the national vote. Second, because all the methodological difficulties involved in getting a balanced, representative sample in a state poll of 1,000 people are magnified in a national survey. It is easily skewable at that point, and you start making assumptions.
So how does he see the 2020 race? Fundamentally, as a motivation race, rather than a persuasion race, with perhaps 1.5 per cent, at most, of the electorate UNDECIDED in battleground states.
The likeliest Trump electoral path to victory involves winning the battlegrounds of North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and either Michigan or Pennsylvania among the former Blue Wall states (assuming he does not lose states such as Iowa or Ohio).
THIS IS CAHALY’S BREAKDOWN: He believes Trump will win North Carolina and Florida and discount’s Biden’s chances in Georgia because the Republican-base vote is too big there (the same is true in Texas).
As for Arizona, “I think Trump has the lead,” Cahaly says. “I think Republican Senator Martha McSally has some ground to make up. I see her about 5 points behind Trump, but I think Trump will probably win the state. And win it by a couple of points or more. And if he wins it big enough, McSally has a shot.”
Trump is not there yet in Pennsylvania, according to Cahaly. “Right now, we have got him down in Pennsylvania,” he says, “I think if it were held today, the Undecides would break toward Trump and there would be some hidden vote.
In Michigan, Trafalgar has Trump ahead. “I think he will win Michigan, “ Cahaly says, citing fear of the Democratic economic agenda.
Overall, Cahaly sees another Trump win. “If it all happened right now,” he maintains, “my best guess would be an Electoral College victory in the high to 270s, low 280s.”
THERE IT IS. AMONG POLLSTERS, YOU HEARD IT FROM ROBERT CAHALY FIRST, AND PERHAPS EXCLUSIVELY—A POSITION HE HAS BEEN IN BEFORE.
I must point out that the second Presidential debate scheduled for 22nd October can have an impact.
Do not forget Trump has been most unpredictable. President Obama said Trump won’t run, won’t be nominated and cannot win against Hillary Clinton. Nobody expected Trump would defeat nine veteran governors and 5 senators in the Primaries. Trump proved everyone wrong by defeating the most popular Hillary Clinton. There are more women voters than men voters.
Trump is generating more enthusiasm than Biden. The working class of America cannot forget Trump brought the unemployment to 3.4%, a 50-year record. Four organizations have nominated Trump for Nobel Peace Prize based on foreign policy achievements, especially peace in the Middle East.
THE GALLUP POLL ASKED THE AMERICANS: Are you better off today than four years ago? 56% said they are better off. This is the most favorable poll for Trump.The question was coined by President Ronald Reagan during the Presidential debate.
(Ven Parameswaran, Chairman, Asian American Republican Committee (founded 1988), lives in Scarsdale, NY. He can be reached at vpwaren@gmail.com)
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Indian American Committee IMPACT raises $10 million war chest for Indian American candidates
NEW YORK (TIP): IMPACT, the leading Indian American advocacy and political action committee, has raised a $10 million war chest to get Indian origin candidates including Kamala Harris, the first Indian American on a national ticket, and Joe Biden, elected.
Raised in just three months, the funds will be spent to support turnout efforts in the Asian American and Indian American community and to elect IMPACT’s 2020 slate of candidates, as well as Indian American candidates running up and down ballots in states across the country.
Besides the Democratic presidential ticket of Biden and Harris, the slate includes six candidates for the US House and 16 candidates for Statewide and local offices: seven for State Senates, Five for State Houses and four others.
“IMPACT’s fundraising strength reflects trends we’re seeing across the country,” IMPACT Executive Director Neil Makhija, said Monday, October 19, announcing the organization’s groundbreaking effort.
“There’s a level of enthusiasm and excitement about this year’s election among Indian American voters that is palpable, and unrivaled in previous cycles,” he said.
“With an Indian American on the presidential ticket for the first time in history, and a record number of Indian American candidates running for office, Indian American voters are poised to exert a considerable amount of influence in this year’s election, and IMPACT will help mobilize and harness this emerging power.”
IMPACT said it will invest in the presidential, state-wide, and congressional races in battleground states across the country. Investments include committee contributions, paid advertising, targeted turnout operations, and infrastructure building.
This groundbreaking investment comes at a time when Indian Americans — the second largest immigrant group in the US — are beginning to flex their political muscle on the national political stage, it said.
In addition to an Indian American being a historic Democratic nominee for Vice President, the number of Indian Americans in Congress has grown five-fold in just the past eight years and the campaign arm charged with electing Democrats to Congress released its first-ever Hindi-language political ad earlier this year, it noted.
All of these developments have come less than 75 years since South Asians began emigrating to the US, and 55 years after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended discriminatory quotas and opened the doors to Asian immigrants, IMPACT said.
Besides four sitting members of US Congress — Ami Bera (California), Ro Khanna (California), Pramila Jayapal (Washington), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois) — Impact is backing two more, Sri Kulkarni (Texas), and Hiral Tipirneni (Arizona) for the US House.
Seven State Senate candidates backed by IMPACT are: Sara Gideon (Maine), Jay Chaudhuri (North Carolina), Jeremy Cooney (New York), Kevin Thomas (New York), Rupande Mehta (New Jersey), Kesha Ram (Vermont), and Nikil Saval (Pennsylvania).
Five candidates for State Houses are: Nima Kulkarni (Kentucky) Padma Kuppa (Michigan), Jennifer Rajkumar (New York), Amish Shah (Arizona), and Vandana Slatter (Washington).
Impact is also backing Nina Ahmad (Pennsylvania Auditor General), Ronnie Chatterji (North Carolina Treasurer), Pavan Parikh (Ohio Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas) and Ravi Sandill (Texas District Judge).
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Finally, a substantive and informative debate
By Gary Abernathy NBC’s Kristen Welker maintains order for final presidential debate
As always, the “winner” of Thursday’s debate will be largely a matter of partisan opinion. The undisputed winner was journalism. After too many missteps in the Trump era when the media has fallen short of past standards, Welker did a good job of returning some respect to the profession.
The debate Thursday night between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden was so substantive and informative it sometimes bordered on boring, reflecting a level of gravitas we need more of in politics today.
Trump, of course, can be counted on to bring at least a minimum level of bombast. He has a knack for enlivening things even when it seems safe to nod off. He was determined to inject into this nationwide broadcast claims about the business dealings of Hunter Biden, including allegations that the elder Biden was aware of — and involved in — his son’s business dealings (something Joe Biden has denied).
Whether Trump laid a glove on Biden isn’t yet clear, but it was to moderator Kristen Welker’s credit that, even if she didn’t invoke Hunter Biden herself, she also didn’t try to stop Trump from doing so. Biden responded mostly by trying to change the subject to Trump’s foreign dealings. Eventually, Biden will need to answer in more detail questions about his son’s foreign business arrangements, and his attempt to blame Russia for these allegations is all but certain to seem obviously nonsensical.
Over an hour and a half, the debate also covered the pandemic, health care in general, foreign business dealings, the economy, immigration, race relations, climate change, energy and leadership. Viewers were able to hear the stark and substantial differences between the candidates.
On the more than 500 children separated from their parents at the border, Biden did a good job making the emotional case for the tragedy of such circumstances. But Trump was effective in explaining efforts being made to reunite children and parents and the care that children are receiving in the meantime. And when Trump charged that the Obama administration initially supplied the notorious “cages” that housed children, Biden never answered Trump’s repeated question: “Who built the cages, Joe?”
On how governors have handled covid-19, Biden scored with his comment that he doesn’t look at states “in the way [Trump] does, blue states, red states,” saying that to him, “they’re all the United States.” Trump’s upbeat outlook on covid-19 may strike some as too rosy, but it stood in contrast to Biden’s “dark winter” and suggestion that Americans are learning not to live with the virus but “to die with it.” Voters tend to prefer optimism to defeatism. And Biden’s late-in-the-game admission, under pressure from Trump, that he would transition the country away from the oil industry might haunt him.
Trump was good Thursday evening, and probably not just because of the debate sponsors’ decision to mute microphones if necessary to allow for uninterrupted answers. The president took a different approach to this debate than he did to the first one, which was a disaster for him. Trump’s performance Thursday encapsulated what makes him frustrating for those who want him to succeed. This is the version of Trump many of his supporters want to see more often — smart, informed and even presidential. Sadly, he doesn’t show up often enough.
As moderator, NBC’s Welker offered a master class in handling the two candidates. It stood in sharp contrast to last week’s examples of what not to do at the competing town halls that replaced the canceled second debate.
Last week, Trump was aggressively — some might say rudely — grilled by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, who turned what was intended to be an audience-driven event into a one-on-one debate. Bizarrely, Guthrie spent an inordinate amount of time pressing Trump on QAnon, a fringe conspiracy movement most Americans aren’t focused on as an election issue. In the event’s opening minutes, she also demanded that Trump denounce white-supremacy groups, a favorite media topic no matter how many times Trump repudiates them.
On ABC, meanwhile, Biden was treated like an old friend dropping by for drinks. Moderator George Stephanopoulos never broached reporting in the New York Post and other outlets on emails purportedly obtained from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden. Stephanopoulos only mildly pressed Biden on whether he would pack the Supreme Court, settling for a “noncommittal committal” that Biden would answer the question before Election Day — depending on how the Amy Coney Barrett nomination turned out.
These set the stage for how Welker would moderate Thursday’s face-off. She was respectful and tough in equal measure for both candidates, allowing them to make their points but always returning to the topics she wanted addressed. Focusing on the agenda, she put both candidates on the spot. For instance, she hit Trump hard on the allegations of racism frequently leveled against him, but she also pressed Biden on negative consequences of the 1994 crime bill he oversaw as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And so it went throughout the night, fair and balanced.
As always, the “winner” of Thursday’s debate will be largely a matter of partisan opinion. The undisputed winner was journalism. After too many missteps in the Trump era when the media has fallen short of past standards, Welker did a good job of returning some respect to the profession.
(Gary Abernathy is contributing Columnist with Washington Post)
(Source: Washington Post)
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U.S. presidential elections: Biden significantly ahead in opinion polls
Days before the U.S. presidential election, opinion polls show that democratic nominee Joe Biden is significantly ahead of incumbent Donald Trump in the race for the White House. While Biden appeals to a broad variety of people cutting across age, race and gender lines, Trump holds an edge among white, male, older and under-educated voters.
Poll favorite
According to data from multiple opinion polls, aggregated by fivethirtyeight.com, a U.S.- based news website, Biden had a 10.7%-point lead over Trump in national polls as of October 17. In March, the gap was narrower (4%-6% points). It widened in June (6%-9.5% points) and increased further in October (8%-10.5% points).
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, views on Trump are central to voting choices — both among his supporters and Biden’s. In October, 63% of Biden’s supporters said their choice was more a vote “against Trump”. Also, 71% of Trump’s supporters said their choice was more a vote “for Trump”.
Overall acceptance
Overall, Biden enjoys significant acceptance across gender, race, age and education lines. However, Trump holds a slight advantage over Biden in certain sections of the population. Charts show the % of voters who would vote for Biden/Trump if the presidential election was to be held today*. Among both men and women, Biden was favored by the majority, though the gap was narrow among men.
Pew surveyed 11,929 adults, including 10,543 registered voters, during the last week of Sept. and the first week of Oct. 2020.
(Agencies)
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Indian-Americans can swing results in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina
Nearly 2 million Indian-Americans can make difference in tightly contested states
NEW DELHI /NEW YORK (TIP): Joe Biden, Democratic Party’s nominee for the US presidential elections, did not touch on India during the two debates with contender and President Donald Trump.
But in an op-ed written for the influential India West media group, Biden wrote on why he is confident of the Indian-American vote going towards him.
With Trump’s “Indian air is filthy’’ comment still reverberating, Biden contrasted his “long-lasting’’ ties with the Indian-American community as opposed to the US President’s transactional nature.
“And as we value the Indian-American diaspora, we’ll continue to value the US-India relationship. For Donald Trump, it’s photo-ops. For me, it’s getting things done,” he said in a reference to Trump’s two stadium addresses with PM Modi.
The Indian-American electorate of nearly 2 million can make the difference in tightly contested states such as North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Texas.
“This lasting relationship continues on this campaign, including at the top with Kamala Harris as the Vice-Presidential nominee,’’ wrote Biden while pointing out that one of the last events he hosted at the Vice President’s residence was a Diwali reception.
“But the truth is, President Trump doesn’t share our values. As a result, today’s America doesn’t feel like the America of our dreams.’’
Biden’s observations on affordable health care and home, free education and restoring H-1B visas would be words of comfort for the largely middle class Indian-Americans seeking stability. In contrast, Trump has asked the Supreme Court to wipe out the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, clamped down on legal immigration and is opposed to free education, wrote the former US Vice President.
“It’s likely you and your family have been caught in the middle of Trump’s crackdown of legal immigration and his decisions on the H-1B visa program. And his dangerous rhetoric about immigrants has even fueled hate crimes against Indian Americans,’’ wrote Biden.
On education, he promised free college tuition for families making less than $ 125,000 a year and help Indian American families through a first-time home buyer’s credit worth up to $15,000.
Biden also sought to address India’s concerns regarding terrorism and China by promising to work with New Delhi to promote regional peace and stability where “neither China nor any other country threatens its neighbors.’’
“We’ll open markets and grow the middle class in both the US and India,’’ he also assured.
(Source: The Tribune, India)
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November 3 US poll is election of a lifetime, says eminent Indian American Chatterjee
WASHINGTON (TIP): The November 3 presidential poll is an “election of a lifetime” for it being held amid a pandemic and seeing the “highest participation” of India-Americans, according to eminent community leader Swadesh Chatterjee.
A strong Democrat whose relationship with the party’s presidential candidate Joe Biden goes back to past several decades, Chatterjee (72) said even as the US has all ingredients required to handle the pandemic of this magnitude, it could not be managed properly because of the “misinformation and wrong decisions” made by the leadership of the country.
“You know, to me this campaign is one of a lifetime. This election is an election of my lifetime. I totally agree with the people that this (election) you will keep in the history book one of the campaigns, which people have not seen before,” North Carolina-based Chatterjee told PTI in an interview.
“I hope this election will determine the future of not only this country but the future of the world as well,” said Chatterjee, whose first recollection of being involved in a presidential campaign goes back to the Regan era.
Thereafter he has been involved in several presidential campaigns, in particular, that of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and now Joe Biden.
Chatterjee said Senator Kamal Harris being the vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic party was a dream come true for the Indian-American community.
“Indian-American participation is the highest this time… Quite a number of Indian-Americans already involved in the campaign, on both sides, though Biden-Harris team has got more Indian-Americans on its staff than anybody else,” said Chatterjee, who for more than three decades has been an eyewitness to US political system.
He expressed the hope that a large number of Indian-Americans would go out and vote this time to “make a change not for just for us but for the world as a whole”. There would be more participation of Indian-Americans this election, he added.
Chatterjee, who played a key role in India-US relationship right from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era, said the bilateral relationship between the two largest democracies is at a point that there will be some challenges in future, but it is not going to go down no matter who comes in the White House after November 3.
“Because the relationship is much, much deeper. Secondly, the relationship between the US and India does not depend on individual relationship like (Donald) Trump versus (Narendra) Modi, because that is not the essence of the relationship,” he said.
Trade and taxation, he noted, was one of the few issues that pose challenges to the bilateral relationship. Chatterjee exuded confidence that his friend Biden would be the “best President for India, and the US under his administration will have a deeper relationship with the country”.
(Source: PTI)
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U.S.- India 2+2 talks will focus on regional issues
NEW DELHI (TIP): US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper will arrive in New Delhi on October 26 and meet with their Indian counterparts External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh the next day to discuss “salient regional” issues . They are also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
“The Third India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue will entail a comprehensive discussion on cross-cutting bilateral issues of mutual interest. In addition, both sides will also exchange views on salient regional and global issues,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava during a weekly briefing with journalists.
On Wednesday, October 21, Mr. Pompeo had said talks during his visit will include “discussions on how free nations can work together to thwart threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”
However, the MEA did not respond to a specific question about whether LAC tensions, and the ongoing talks with China would feature during the 2+2 meeting, nor would Mr. Srivastava comment on which agreements, including the geo-spatial agreement BECA would be signed at the meetings, adding that he would rather not “prejudge the outcomes” of the visit.
“India and U.S. have a comprehensive global strategic partnership which includes political, security and defense, economic, commercial, technology and people-to-people contacts. We have regular dialogue for various levels to discuss ongoing bilateral cooperation and to exchange views on developments in the region,” the MEA statement said.
The MEA denied that the timing of the visit of senior U.S. officials exactly one week before U.S. elections on November 3, was unusual, and said it followed the pattern of “2+2” meetings in previous years.
“As regards the timing of the meeting, you know that diplomatic calendars have their logic, and you will notice that the earlier two meetings have been held towards the end of the year,” Mr. Srivastava said in response to a question from The Hindu.
In a separate response on progress in border negotiations with China, the MEA said, “India and China continue to have discussions through both diplomatic and military channels to peacefully resolve the issues along the LAC in India China Border areas.. []The immediate task is to ensure a comprehensive disengagement of troops in all the friction areas.”
Mr. Pompeo will also travel to Maldives, Sri Lanka and Indonesia during the visit, where his focus will remain on the U.S.’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which he has frequently repeated, will involve “countering” the challenge from China.
The 2+2 Foreign and Defense Minister’s mechanism, which was announced by U.S. President Trump and PM Modi during their first meeting in 2017, was held in Delhi in September 2018 and in Washington DC in December 2019. It replaced the “India-U.S. Strategic and Commercial dialogue”, involving the Foreign and Commerce Ministers, announced by then U.S. President Barack Obama and PM Modi in 2015.
(Source: EAM / The Hindu)
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US proposes not to issue business visas for H-1B specialty occupations
WASHINGTON (TIP) The Trump administration on Wednesday, October 21 announced a rule that will likely curb US companies’ use of skilled foreign workers, particularly in the tech industry, which officials said was necessary to protect American jobs amid mass unemployment triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The joint rule from the US Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security will significantly increase the minimum wages companies must pay to workers enrolled in the H-1B visa program. It also will narrow the definition of “specialty occupations” eligible for H-1B visas.
The rule, which takes effect in early December, will likely face criticism from trade groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce, who say the H-1B program is necessary because of a shortage of skilled American workers.
More than two-thirds of H-1B visa holders come from India, and they are disproportionately employed by tech firms, according to government statistics.
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India relaxes visa norms; except for tourism, all categories of foreigners allowed to enter India
NEW DELHI / NEW YORK (TIP): India on Thursday, October 22, relaxed visa restrictions to allow all categories of foreign nationals to enter India through air or sea for any purpose except for tourism.
In an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the government said, “It has been decided to permit all OCI and PIO card holders and all other foreign nationals intending to visit India for any purpose, except on a tourist visa to enter by air or water routes through authorized airports and seaport immigration check posts.”
It said that the decision was to make a graded relaxation in visa and travel restrictions for more categories of foreign nationals and Indian nationals who wish to enter or leave India.
According to the MHA order, the relaxations include flights operated under Vande Bharat Mission, Air Transport Bubble arrangements or by any non-scheduled commercial flights as allowed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. “All such travelers, however, will have to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding quarantine and other health/COVID-19 matters,” it added.
The MHA in its order said that under this graded relaxation, “Government of India has also decided to restore with immediate effect all existing visas (except electronic visa, tourist visa and medical visa).”
“If the validity of such visas has expired, fresh visas of appropriate categories can be obtained from Indian Mission/Posts concerned. Foreign nationals intending to visit India for medical treatment can apply for a medical visa, including for their medical attendants,” the order said.
With these relaxations, now foreign nationals will be allowed to come to India for various purposes such as business, conferences, employment, studies, research, medical purposes and a few others.
In view of the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had taken a series of steps and had decided in February this year to curtail the inward and outward movement of international passengers.
(Source: MHA)
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The final debate, a Pandora’s Box of Accusations and Lies
“I am the least racist person in this room”, Trump claimed.NEW YORK (TIP): The October 22 debate between President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden may be characterized as a friendly verbal duel between the two. President Trump, heeding the counsel of his advisors did manage to overcome his impulse to attack left and right, and appear aggressive. He was assertive though, with all his unfounded accusations and claims, but the saving grace was an absence of Trumpian aggression. He did try to provoke Biden by repeatedly referring to the latter’s and his son Hunter Biden’s shady financial deals with countries like Ukraine, Russia and China.
Debate Moderator NBC White House Correspondent Kristen Welker chose 6 topics for the debate which included Coronavirus, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change , National Security, and Leadership.
U.S. President Donald Trump defended his approach to the coronavirus outbreak and claimed the worst of the pandemic was in the past.
Democrat Joe Biden renewed his attacks on U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic while Trump leveled unfounded corruption accusations at Biden and his family.
Trump appeared to be straight lying with regard to his claim that the Coronavirus vaccine will be ready in weeks. When Moderator Kristen Welker asked him if he was guaranteeing that the vaccine will be ready “in weeks”, he said “NO”, and tried to explain away that many companies were almost there. And, on demand from Welker, he named a few companies , adding there were many others engaged in developing the vaccine.
But even when the subject was the pandemic, Trump was foreshadowing what was to come, which was his onslaught of hazy accusations about Biden’s son Hunter and his foreign financial entanglements which have sprouted into Biden family entanglements, which Trump couldn’t really explain and didn’t really have his facts straight on and which are wholly unproven if not outright disproved. But still, Trump carried on with this story line through the foreign policy conversation — with a slight detour to fracking — and on through health care where he looks forward to the complete dismantling of the Affordable Care Act but still has yet to pull the big, beautiful Republican health care plan out of his hat.
Biden spent much of this time declaring himself innocent of any foreign wrongdoing and reminding Trump that he was, in fact, not running against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or any of the Democratic governors who have gotten under Trump’s skin. “He thinks he’s running against someone else. He’s running against Joe Biden,” said Joe Biden.
One of the final topics of discussion was race and it was, as always, the most nerve-racking. What white supremacist group will the president refuse to disavow? What racist retweet will he refuse to acknowledge? What horrible thing will the president say and then declare himself misunderstood? Welker asked each candidate to speak directly to Black Americans who feel compelled to give their children “the talk” in which they snatch away their innocence and explain how they must interact with police officers with a combination of fear and self-preservation. Do you empathize with those families?, Welker asked.
Biden spoke first and looked into the camera as he both outlined his understanding of “the talk” and what it means to have to deliver it. Trump couldn’t keep his gaze directed at the viewers. His eyes darted from the moderator to Biden and back again. As the conversation moved on to the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism, the president bragged about his funding of historically Black colleges and universities and his support of criminal justice reform. “I am the least racist person in this room,” he declared. But what does he say to those who believe he throws fuel on the fires of racial animosity and hatred? “I don’t know what to say.” And perhaps that was his most honest moment of the night.
In closing, Welker asked each man to imagine his Inauguration Day speech. What might he say to those Americans who didn’t vote for him? How would he bind up the country? Trump spoke of money. “Success is going to bring us together,” he said. Trump believes that all things are transactional and when enough money is offered, anything, anyone can be bought. Black Americans can buy themselves out of racism. Women can buy themselves gender parity. The country can buy back its disintegrating reputation as humane and just.
Biden’s inaugural speech would not ignore the economy. But it would also recognize that some things simply do not have a price. “I’m going to make sure you’re represented,” he said. “I’m going to choose hope over fear.”
It should be said to the credit of Kristen Welker that she was in total control of the debate, unlike Chris Wallace who was moderator for the first debate on September 29 , when he had often to raise his voice many a time to bring about order.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Trump’s ‘filthy’ comment on India dismays strategists
‘Look at India, it’s filthy,’ the US President said in the Oct 22 presidential debate
NEW DELHI / NEW YORK (TIP): After not figuring in the first presidential debate between US President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, India did crop up in the second edition but not in the manner proponents of a much closer Indo-US strategic relations would have wished for. “Look at China. How filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it’s filthy. The air is filthy,’’ said Trump in a remark that cut several strategic analysts to the bone. On the other hand, the US has the “lowest number in carbon emissions”, he claimed.
Several questioned on social media the need for Trump to make an unsavory reference to India when they were expecting Indo-US ties to turn the strategic corner during the forthcoming visit of two top American cabinet ministers to India. They also wondered if Trump had this view of India why did he pay a return stadium-visit to Ahmedabad barely six months after being hosted in a Houston stadium by PM Narendra Modi.
Biden did not mention India.
Trump was responding to debate moderator Kristen Welker’s question on how he would simultaneously combat climate change and support job growth.The debate was expected to feature India and the wider neighborhood. During the first debate, the two candidates did not speak much on the American foreign policy, especially in the Asia Pacific, which seems to be the focus of the current administration.
One reason for the cursory references to foreign policy is also because one debate was cancelled after Trump refused to participate in an on-line format.Welker had chosen six topics for in-depth discussions. Three of them were domestic issues while the other three – climate change, leadership and national security – had foreign policy ramifications. Trump, however, was consistent in his observations in blaming the three countries. In the first debate on September 29, he had said, “China sends up real dirt into the air. Russia does, India does — they all do.’’
(Source: The Tribune)
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U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approves Barrett for Supreme Court
Incensed Democrats boycott
WASHINGTON (TIP): As expected, the Republican-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, October 22, approved President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to a lifetime Supreme Court seat clearing the way for a final Senate confirmation vote planned for Monday, October 26. By a 12-0 vote, the panel approved Barrett with all Republican members voting yes and the 10 committee Democrats boycotting the meeting after calling the confirmation process a sham. With Trump’s fellow Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate majority, Barrett’s confirmation appears certain. The empty seats for the Democratic committee members had posters placed upon them bearing photographs of people who they argue would be hurt if the Affordable Care Act healthcare law, also known as Obamacare, is struck down as Trump has sought in a case to be argued before the justices on Nov. 10. Barrett, 48, has been a federal appeals court judge since 2017 and previously was a legal scholar the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Her confirmation would give the top U.S. judicial body a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices named by Trump. “The Senate majority is conducting the most rushed, the most partisan and the least legitimate process in the long history of Supreme Court nominations,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters after the vote.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said the Democratic boycott was “their choice.”
“It will be my choice to vote the nominee out of committee. We’re not going to allow them to take over the committee,” Graham said. Schumer called the Republican hurry to confirm Barrett “a naked power grab” through a “sham vote,” arguing that Republicans broke the committee’s own rules by approving the nomination without Democrats present. No nominee to the Supreme Court has ever been confirmed by the Senate this close to a presidential election. More than 45 million ballots already have been cast. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned a confirmation vote on the Senate floor on Monday, October 26.
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Russia Poses Greater Election Threat Than Iran, Many U.S. Officials Say
WASHINGTON (TIP): While senior Trump administration officials said this week that Iran has been actively interfering in the presidential election, many intelligence officials said they remained far more concerned about Russia, which in recent days has hacked into state and local computer networks in breaches that could allow Moscow broader access to American voting infrastructure, a report in New York Times says. The discovery of the hacks came as American intelligence agencies, infiltrating Russian networks themselves, have pieced together details of what they believe are Russia’s plans to interfere in the presidential race in its final days or immediately after the election on Nov. 3. Officials did not make clear what Russia planned to do, but they said its operations would be intended to help President Trump, potentially by exacerbating disputes around the results, especially if the race is too close to call.
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Iran and Russia Seek to Influence Election in Final Days, U.S. Officials Warn
WASHINGTON (TIP): Iran and Russia have both obtained American voter registration data, top national security officials announced late on Wednesday, providing the first concrete evidence that the two countries are stepping in to try to influence the presidential election as it enters its final two weeks, New York Times says.
Iran used the information to send threatening, faked emails to voters, said John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, and Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, in an evening announcement from the bureau’s headquarters. Intelligence agencies had collected information that Iran planned to take more steps to influence the vote in coming days, prompting the unusual timing of the briefing as an effort to deter further action by Tehran.
There was no indication that any election result tallies were changed or that information about who is registered to vote was altered, either of which could affect the outcome of voting that has already begun across the United States. The officials also did not claim that either nation hacked into voter registration systems — leaving open the possibility that the data was available to anyone who knew where to look. The voter data obtained by Iran and Russia was mostly public, according to one intelligence official, and Iran was exploiting it as a political campaign might. Voters’ names, party registrations and some contact information are publicly available. That information may have been merged with other identifying material, like email addresses, obtained from other databases, according to intelligence officials, including some sold by criminal hacking networks on the “dark web.”“This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy,” Mr. Ratcliffe said.
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IRS fights fraud aimed at charities, joins international awareness week
WASHINGTON (TIP): The Internal Revenue Service is combating fraud by once again joining organizations around the world to highlight the third annual International Charity Fraud Awareness Week, Oct. 19-23.
International Charity Fraud Awareness Week (ICFAW) brings together everyone involved in the charity and not-for-profit sectors to raise awareness of and share good practices for tackling fraud and cybercrime. This award-winning campaign is led by a coalition of over 40 charities, regulators, law enforcement organizations, representative and umbrella bodies, and other not-for-profit stakeholders. The IRS is partnering with ICFAW as part of its ongoing commitment to fight fraud against charities, businesses and individuals.All charities are susceptible to fraud and can be targeted. Those providing services and supporting local communities may be especially vulnerable to fraudsters attempting to exploit the current pandemic or weather-related disasters. More than ever, charities need to be fraud aware and take steps to protect their money, people and assets from harm.“Especially during these uncertain times, it’s vital for everyone to remain vigilant against fraud, identity theft, scams and schemes,” said IRS Director of Exempt Organizations and Government Entities, Margaret Von Lienen. “Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for new opportunities, and COVID-19 is just one more chance to take advantage of unsuspecting individuals and charities. This campaign provides resources that can help protect charities and other organizations.”
This year’s campaign has three core messages: be fraud aware, take time to check, and keep your charity safe.
The ICFAW Charity Fraud Hub features helpful documents, free tutorials, videos, case studies and on-demand webinars, including, ‘COVID-19 and charity fraud: what to watch out for and how to stay safe.’ Charities and anyone else interested in fighting fraud can also take part in the ICFAW social media campaign using #charityfraudout.
Those encouraged to participate in the week’s activities include:
Trustees, staff and volunteers from charities, non-government organizations, and non-profits Organizations that represent the interests of non-profits, Accountants, auditors and those acting as professional advisors to non-profits, Regulators, law enforcement officials and policymakers working to safeguard non-profits.
In addition to crooks who target charities, those who create fake charities are a problem for the non-profit community. In fact, fake charities are once again part of the IRS’ “Dirty Dozen” tax scams for 2020. Taxpayers can find legitimate and qualified charities with the Tax-Exempt Organization Search tool on IRS.gov.
Visit the Fraud Advisory Panel website to learn more about ICFAW and how to get involved.
(Based on a press release)
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11 Indian students arrested for trying to illegally remain in U.S.
These students were arrested from various locations in Boston, Washington, Houston, Ft. Lauderdale, Newark, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg
WASHINGTON (TIP): Federal law enforcement agencies have arrested 15 students, including 11 from India, on charges of fraudulently staying inside the country.
These students were arrested on Wednesday, October 21 from various locations in Boston, Washington, Houston, Ft. Lauderdale, Newark, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. In addition to 11 Indian nationals, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also arrested two Libyans, one Senegalese and one Bangladeshi national.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, the arrests were made as a result of Operation OPTical Illusion, a law enforcement operation targeting non-immigrant students who fraudulently used the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program to remain in the U.S. OPT enables non-immigrant students to work in the U.S. in positions related to their field of study for up to one year, with an additional 24 months if the student participates in STEM optional practical training. ICE said these students claimed to be employed by companies that do not exist.
“This is just another example of the Trump Administration not only putting America first but making sure the laws of the immigration system are enforced,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli.
“Every instance of fraud is a job an American worker could have had, and with so many Americans looking for work this crime is even more unacceptable,” he said. “ICE has a system of checks in place to mitigate fraud and is committed to protecting national security by ensuring that students, visitors, and schools comply with U.S. immigration laws,” said ICE Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Tony Pham. “These latest arrests demonstrate that the agency is actively targeting individuals who try to exploit the student visa system,” he said.
(Source: PTI) -
Global Contest on the theme of “ Durga Puja and its relevance in people’s lives”
NEW YORK (TIP): ICCR is in the process of organizing a Global Contest on the theme of “Durga Puja and its relevance in people’s lives”, starting from 18th to 25th October 2020. Contestants have to share their beautiful selfies in Durga Puja attire or Durga Puja celebrations along with a two- sentence caption on how they connect with this festival with the hashtag #ICCRDurgotsav. Please find the twitter link regarding the same at: https://twitter.com/ICCR_Delhi/status/1317668855255162880
For more details please visit ICCR’s website at https://www.iccr.gov.in/
