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23 - 29 September 2019 Vol - 29 No. 34 Email : [email protected] Founder : Dr. Govind Narain Srivastava ISSN -2349-1221

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Is the 9/11 mastermind still a matter of public

debate?

US ‘locked and loaded’ to defend Middle East:

President Trump

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After trying and failing to cover up allegations of anti-Semitism of their Quebec candidate Imam Hassan Guillet, one would have assumed the Trudeau Liberals would be careful in making sure they vetted future candidates with links to overseas political ideologies or religious and racial causes.But, it seems, in their quest for...

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Terror attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco’s oil assets caused extensive damages when two drone attacks in succession flattened production capacity at Khurais oil field in Buqayq and crucial oil processing plant at Abqaiq, halved the Kingdom’s oil production and sent crude prices spiking. That sent energy consumers...

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Pakistan PM threatens 'Nuclear War' over Kashmir

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NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 20192

India’s only International Newspaper

Opinion

◆ By Tarek Fatah Author & Columnist, Canada

@[email protected]

◆ By NDT Bureau@NewDelhiTimes

[email protected]

A

I

Pakistan PM threatens 'Nuclear War' over Kashmir

n a no-holds-barred interview with Al Jazeera Pakistan Prime Minister Imran

Khan revealed Pakistan’s limited options on Kashmir and urged the international community to play their role. He warned that the flashpoint between India and Pakistan could turn into a nuclear war to impact the entire world. “There is not much we can do except approach all international organisations that were set up after the first World War — mainly the United Nations,” he said, adding that Pakistan is approaching the US, China, Russia, and the European countries over Kashmir.

Pakistan is peeved with the lukewarm global response after India's revocation of Kashmir's autonomous status. “Unfortunately, because of this whole thing about big markets, [some] countries look at big markets, they look upon India as a market of one billion people,” Imran bemoaned, conveniently forgetting that Pakistan soft-pedals prosecution of Uyghur Muslims in China for exactly the same reasons.

Imran shared Foreign Minister Qureshi’s concerns about an accidental war and alleged falsely that “India is more or less conducting a genocide” likening it to Nazi Germany. Alleging that “eight million Muslims in Kashmir are under siege for almost six weeks” he threatened “this can become a flash point between India and Pakistan”.

Stating Pakistan’s policy on the first use of nuclear weapons he said that Pakistan would never start a war but when two nuclear-armed countries fight a conventional war there is every possibility to end up in a nuclear war. He warned that in a conventional war, “Pakistanis will fight to the death for their freedom”. “When a nuclear armed country fights to the death, it has consequences,” he said.

Pakistan has so far approached the United Nations and every international forum and is preparing to address the United Nations General Assembly in late September. Its assertion will not be climate change or Islamophobia, but Kashmir.

On dialogue with India, he said that Kashmir was the only issue that must be resolved through a political settlement. He surmised that Pakistan overtures were misinterpreted as appeasement and complained that India was trying to push Pakistan from "grey list" into the "black list" of the FATF to slap sanctions for eventual bankruptcy. Blaming India of pursuing an agenda against Pakistan, Imran said there is no question of talking to the Indian government right now especially after revocation of Article 370 against the United Nations Security Council's resolutions.

Imran thanked Trump for his repeated offers to mediate between Islamabad and New Delhi over Kashmir. He hoped that serious intervention by the President of the most powerful country in the world can guarantee some sort of resolution. Even without

direct intervention, the US has requisite clout to influence the UNSC, he said. About the treatment of the Chinese government towards the indigenous Uighurs Muslims population,

he groped for answers. He had no comments to make on Uighurs, except stating, “For us China has been the best friend.”

Imran is fast losing steam, wasting everyone's time by creating a “nuclear war and end of the world” scenario. The world does not buy such narrative anymore. Such irresponsible statement could damage Pakistan’s credibility. Forget nuclear war, can Pakistan afford a limited conflict like Kargil war? Imran is desperately searching a way out from this mess to keep local people’s focus away from the real issues. Imran Khan is absolutely irresponsible, full

of lies, hollow nonsense and bravado to fool Pakistanis, nothing else. He is clueless about challenges facing the nation. He has gone above and beyond to follow the old Kashmir

policy. Imran Khan speaks about improving the lives of Kashmiris and nuclear war almost in the same breath. Such black-mailing will be counterproductive as the world is aware of these old tactics.

Its time Imran focuses on the issues within Pakistan. Best way for Pakistan is to educate Pakistani society to modern age, empower women, downscale religious fundamentalism, shun radical thinking, avoid imposing some people's ideology on others, and extricate terrorism from roots. Imran must strive sincerely to fix Pakistan nation first.

Photo Credit : Shutterstock

Is the 9/11 mastermind still a matter of public debate?

fter trying and failing to cover up allegations of anti-Semitism of their

Quebec candidate Imam Hassan Guillet, one would have assumed the Trudeau Liberals would be careful in making sure they vetted

future candidates with links to overseas political ideologies or religious and racial causes.

But, it seems, in their quest for diversity the Liberal war room has again been blindsided.

Sameer Zuberi, a former media coordinator of the Islamic group the Canadian Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Can), is now the Liberal candidate in the Montreal-area riding of Pierrefonds-Dollard.

Zuberi is a former employee and media relations coordinator of CAIR-Can that campaigned for Sharia law as part of Canada’s Family Court system in 2004-05. It was a branch of the American Islamist

group, Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 2008 Texas Terror funding trial. In 2013 CAIR-Can changed its name to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).

As a CAIR-Can spokesperson, Zuberi sported an Islamic beard, but as a candidate running for parliament, that beard and appearance has been replaced by different demeanour where he reflects his mother’s multi-generational Scottish-Italian ancestry; he avoids mention of the word ‘Pakistan’ as his father’s birthplace, instead stating his

“father came to Canada from South Asia in the 70s.”

Any PR consultant would be impressed by such a carefully conducted makeover, but sooner or later one’s past catches up. As the

ancient motto of India states, “Satyameva Jayate” or “Truth alone Triumphs.”

Sameer Zuberi seems to have made attempts to de-emphasize his past. He either de-activated his previous Twitter account and created a brand new one that has no content or was the only activist on the globe who found no use for Twitter until he became candidate. I asked him if he had a previous Twitter trail, but did not receive a response.

On Sept. 14, days before his nomination, the Conservatives released a 2011 public post from Zuberi where he questioned whether Osama bin Laden was indeed the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack.

In 2011, Zuberi wrote a letter to the editor on the occasion of the killing of bin Laden where he commented: “With respect BL (Bin Laden) masterminding 9/11, although this is still a matter of public debate we need to be careful before subscribing to theories simply because they validate our positions.”

The Conservatives’ statement demanded Justin Trudeau “do the right thing and immediately fire this candidate.”

It went on to say: “9/11 was the most horrific terrorist attack the western world has ever seen. The facts are not still a matter of public debate. … These conspiracy theories are offensive to the more than 3,000 people who died on that horrible day – including 24 Canadians. Anybody who peddles them is

unfit for public office.”

Zuberi later told the media: “It obviously is and has always been clear to me that Osama bin Laden was the perpetrator of the September 11 terror attacks.”

In addition, the public became aware of Sameer Zuberi’s role in the delisting of the Jewish student club Hillel at Concordia Universityand the subsequent withholding of the Jewish student group’s funds when Zuberi was a student at the Montreal university.

Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, added his voice to the controversy surrounding Zuberi. He tweeted: “We are deeply disturbed and alarmed by this report about Mr. Zuberi and we eagerly await clarification from this candidate.

Anti-Semitism and 9/11 conspiracy theories irrefutably have no place in Canada.”

For his part, Zuberi says “the allegations against me from the Conservative Party are blatantly false.” He suggested it was “a desperate attempt to distract from the real problems Andrew Scheer has with his candidates, and their ties to far-right extremism and white supremacy.”

Didn’t take long for the “white supremacy” bogey to appear. I am surprised Zuberi did not invoke “Islamophobia.”


NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 2019 3


Editorial

◆ By NDT Special Bureau

@NewDelhiTimes

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◆ By Dr. Ankit Srivastava Chief Editor

@[email protected]

T

T

US ‘locked and loaded’ to defend Middle East: President Trump

error attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco’s oil assets caused extensive

damages when two drone attacks in succession flattened production capacity at Khurais oil field in Buqayq and crucial oil processing plant at Abqaiq, halved the Kingdom’s oil production and sent crude prices spiking. That sent energy consumers scurrying for reserves. The US President Trump had to authorise the release of the US strategic reserves in case that became necessary to stabilise markets.

Tensions are flaring in the Persian Gulf after Trump said on September 15 that the United States was “locked and loaded” for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. “There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!”, Trump said on Twitter.

Trump’s tweets followed a National Security Council meeting at the White House and hours after the US officials offered the proof that the attack was inconsistent with claims of responsibility by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. The officials instead pointed the finger directly at Tehran. For the US, all options, including a military response, are now on the table but no decisions had yet been made. Iran denied American

allegations, as predicted, and called the US claims “maximum lies”. Tehran threatened American forces in the region. The attack dimmed whatever hopes the world community nurtured of potential nuclear

talks between Trump and Iranian President Rouhani at the UN General Assembly.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman dismissed the US allegation of responsibility as “blind and futile comments” stating, “The Americans adopted the ‘maximum pressure’ policy against Iran, which, due to its failure, is leaning toward ‘maximum lies’.” Houthi leader Bukhaiti reiterated claim of responsibility for attacks, telling it exploited “vulnerabilities” in Saudi air defences to strike the targets. The US Secretary of State Pompeo said there was no evidence the attack came from Yemen. The US government

produced satellite photos showing at least 19 points of impact at two Saudi energy facilities, including damage at the heart of the Kingdom’s crucial oil processing plant at Abqaiq, all coming from the direction of

Iran or Iraq, rather than from Yemen to the south. Iraq denied that its territory was used for an attack on the Kingdom.

Saudi and American intelligence are jointly analysing additional devices recovered northwest of the facilities which apparently didn’t reach their targets. It’s not ruled out that the drone could have been fired from Yemen, then taken a round-about path, but speculations abound that the attack was launched from Iraq by Iranian proxies.

The attacks and recriminations are increasing the already heightened fears of an escalation

in the region. A prominent US Senator suggested striking Iranian oil refineries in response to the assault. Iran warned of the potential of more violence. “Because of the tension and sensitive situation, our region is like a powder keg,” said an Iranian Brigadier General.

“When these contacts come too close, when forces come into contact with one another, it is possible a conflict happens because of a misunderstanding,” he elaborated.

For years, a twilight war has been raging just below the surface of the wider Persian Gulf. Actions by any side will merely break it into the open. There have already been mysterious attacks on oil tankers that America blames on Tehran, suspected Israeli strike on forces in Iraq, and Iran shooting down a US military surveillance drone.

Saudis are the third largest defence spenders in the world and could have utilised its relationship with the USA for its assistance. The USA could have used its sophisticated surveillance to alert Saudis.

Iran could offer joint investigations along with the US, KSA, Russia, China, Germany, France and the UK or the UNSC appointed committee to pre-empt the USA taking any unilateral action.

Trump could also prepare for a retaliatory strike very soon as an election gift for the Commander-in-Chief. That will be bad news for business. But Trump's entire vote bank is anti-war. And that is the sole glimmer of hope in the powder keg that the Middle East is.

China-Iran deal: Strategic implications

he Petroleum Economist reported on September 3 that China will invest

around $290 billion in Iran’s oil, gas and petroleum sectors, and another $120 billion in transport and manufacturing infrastructure through “technology, systems, process ingredients and personnel required to complete such projects” with “up to 5,000 Chinese security personnel on the ground to protect Chinese projects”. China acquired the first right of refusal on all Iranian projects and a 12 per cent guaranteed discount on all energy imports from Tehran.

China’s massive financing of Iran’s development is an extension of the 'Belt and Road Initiative' and a rebuff to America’s thought-so aggressive trade, technology and military moves.

American strategy of ‘maximum pressure’ to bring Iran to knees economically and rein in nuclear and missile programs and politico-military ambitions in the Middle East is thought

to fall flat. Adamant China is nonchalant to “secondary sanctions” of the US on companies and countries which continue economic relations with Iran.

China will import virtually all of Iran’s oil and gas production and expand manifold the present 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to full capacity over 4-5 million bpd through China’s energy giants-CNPC, CNOC, Sinopec-from existing and new fields. Iran won’t need any other markets for oil exports.

Iran can export gas via the existing Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline or construct new oil pipelines along the same route. That significantly reduces the threat of the US/Western maritime energy blockade against China or Iran. China need not depend on the US-friendly energy suppliers in the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, the UAE) and East Asia (Indonesia, Brunei) and achieve energy security through Iran and Russia.

China’s transport infrastructure in Iran including high-speed rail on several routes provides additional avenues for trade-overland trade-through Iran and Turkey to and from Europe and maritime trade through Iranian ports (including Indian-sponsored Chabahar) to the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

Economic partnership with China will supplement Iran’s close security ties with Russia to alter the Middle East power equations. Tehran’s nuclear and security policies against the US gets China’s encouragement. Reinforced

‘strategic’ partnership will promote Iran’s objectives in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Afghanistan and help retaliate Israel’s frequent strikes on Iranian military assets and militia affiliates. Iran is promoting the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Assad in Syria against the Western Gulf coalition and could extend influence to Iraq, Lebanon and even Afghanistan.

The aborted US-Taliban deal would have reduced ‘counterterrorism’ US forces in Afghanistan to mere 8,600. Was Iran-China deal the reason why the US backed out, as reduced American presence was inadequate versus heavy Chinese presence in Iran?

The Sino-Iran economic partnership supplements and reinforces China’s long-standing strategic participation with Pakistan. It offers another strategic ‘window’ besides the CPEC and insurance against the possible US or Indian disruption of the China-Pakistan corridor. China acquires security and military foothold when Chinese navy shifts from Gwadar to Chabahar.

Pakistan columnist, Munir Akram, writing in Dawn, talked of an ‘Asian Order’ comprising of China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Central Asia under the SCO and the BRI; and the US Indo-Pacific strategy of the US, Israel, the UK, Saudi, the UAE, Australia, India and Japan on the other; drawing clear battle lines between the two.

India had so far balanced both the worlds, appealing to the US ‘strategic altruism’

to preserve traditional arms import from Russia and trade and investment cooperation with China. Intensifying the Sino-US global confrontation narrows down India’s strategic space to manoeuvre. The evolving power equations could force a strategic choice on India. It is being speculated that to protect Aksai Chin, China is openly supporting Pakistan on Kashmir, indicating emerging alignments.

India’s relations with Iran is over a millennium old and that with Saudi, the UAE, Oman and the GCC is picking up. India has strategic relations with Russia, the US and China who have invested in India's big time, for anchorage during tumultuous times. India must work with anyone to promote national interests. Asian order is a Chinese construct, like the BRI, to promote Chinese interests alone. China can tackle the US alone but not the alliance of Japan-Australia-US-India and/or ASEAN.

China-Iran cooperation took off only after the USA imposed tariff on Chinese imports. China is using Iran deal to avenge the US tariffs. Flirting with Iran is mere sabre rattling. China is just exploiting Iran’s vulnerable situation with western powers and Saudis' alliance.

Asian countries coming together to make “Asia Great Again” suits China. The deal is China’s calculated kick aimed at America’s strategic objectives. Unmasking China’s strategic move and its consequences will be interesting.




NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 20194


International


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International Political Scenario of the Week

Blast in Yemen kills 6 government

troops, Saudi officer

YA emeni security officials said an explosion

targeting a government military convoy killed at least six Yemeni troops and one Saudi Arabian officer.

The blast took place in the eastern Hadramawt province, far from the part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi rebels, and also wounded at least 13 soldiers, many of them Saudi.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has carried out similar attacks in the area.

This was the first such bombing to target Saudi forces in Hadramawt since the Saudi war in Yemen began in 2015.

It also comes days after the Houthi rebels claimed a drone and cruise missile attack on the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.

The security officials said the officer who died was the representative of Saudi troops in Hadramawt, Lt. Col. Bandar Murid al-Otaiby. They said the wounded Saudi troops were airlifted to their home country.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S.-backed military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates began fighting in Yemen in 2015, after the Houthis overran the north, including the capital, Sanaa.

Al-Qaida has leveraged the chaos to its advantage. In 2018, the group said its numbers — which the U.S. officials estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 members — were rising.

Credit : Associated Press (AP)

Canada’s Trudeau comes under fire over brownface photo

t a time when bigotry seems on the rise around the world and doors are

being shut, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has become known as a champion of diversity. Now, amid his bid for re-election, that reputation is under attack in a furor triggered by a photo of him in brownface at a costume party two decades ago.

On September 19, the 47-year-old Trudeau struggled to contain the uproar, begging forgiveness and confessing he failed to grasp how offensive his actions were.

“I have always acknowledged I came from a place of privilege, but I now need to acknowledge that comes with a massive blind spot,” the son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said to applause from a large crowd at a park in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

With Election Day just a month away, his chief opponent in the neck-and-neck race, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, reacted by declaring Trudeau “not fit to govern this country”.

Others wondered whether the incident would reinforce the belief among Trudeau’s opponents that the boyish-looking sex-symbol politician is a lightweight, lacking in substance and maturity.

Trudeau, though, gave no sign whatsoever that he might resign, and there were no immediate calls from any leading figures in his Liberal Party to step down. Instead, many Liberals, some of them minorities, rallied

around him, even as two more instances of him wearing brown-or blackface decades ago came to light.

“I think the real measure of the man, and I think the thing we need to be talking about, is all the amazing things we have done for diversity,” said Greg Fergus, a Liberal member of Parliament who is black.

Fergus said there was a lot of confusion and hurt in the black community, but he noted that Trudeau apologized. And he pointed out that it was Trudeau who put Viola Desmond, a black woman who refused to leave the whites-only section of a Canadian movie theater in 1944, on the country’s $10 bill.

Trudeau has long championed multiculturalism and immigration, with Canada accepting more refugees than the U.S. under the Trump administration. Half of Trudeau’s Cabinet is made up of women, four are Sikhs, and his Immigration Minister is a Somali-born refugee. Canada has over 1.9 million people of South Asian descent out of a population of 37 million.

Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan, a Liberal who is Sikh, said that the brownface picture was wrong but that Trudeau has a record of standing up for minorities. Trudeau named Sajjan Canada’s first Sikh Defense Chief in 2015.

Mitzie Hunter, a Liberal who is running to lead the party in Ontario and is black, tweeted: “I know it is not representative of the man he is. This is a teachable moment for all of us. I accept his apology and I hope Canadians do too.”

Time magazine published the brownface photo on September 18, saying it was taken from the yearbook from the West Point Grey Academy, a private school in British Columbia where Trudeau worked as a teacher before going into politics.

It shows the then-29-year-old Trudeau at an “Arabian Nights” party in a turban and robe with dark makeup on his hands, face and neck. Trudeau said he was dressed as a character from “Aladdin”.

“Darkening your face regardless of the context or the circumstances is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface,” he said. “I should have understood that then, and I never should have done it.”

West Point Grey Academy issued a statement saying the event was organized by a culturally diverse group of parent volunteers. “That said, we recognize that cultural sensitivities have evolved over the past 18 years,” it said.

Trudeau said he also once darkened his face for a performance of Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat Song (Day-O)” during a talent show when he was in high school.

And Canada’s Global News TV network reported a third instance, broadcasting a brief video of Trudeau in blackface while raising his hands in the air and sticking out his tongue. A Liberal Party spokeswoman said the footage was from the early 1990s.

Scheer said his campaign team received the video from a concerned citizen and passed it on to the media.

Asked how many times he has worn brown- or blackface, Trudeau said: “I am wary of being definitive about this because the recent pictures that came out, I had not remembered.”

He said that he has dedicated himself as a politician to “counter intolerance and racism everywhere I can,” and confessed to letting people down. “I stand here today to reflect on that and ask for forgiveness,” he said.


Photo Credit : AP Photo

AlgeriaProtests witnessing the gathering of hundreds of thousands of people against Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah’s government and his plans to hold Presidential elections on 12 December are likely to continue throughout Algeria. Protesters have rejected polls under the current political system. Strikes, especially in the public and hydrocarbons sectors, are also expected. Risks of stampede and injuries are high in coming weeks.

ArgentinaIn connection to their demands for better social programmes from the government, Polo Obrero, the left-wing social rights organisation, has called for protests on September 24. The organisation is looking forward for the participation of thousands of people who are likely to gather in Buenos Aires city centre. The gathering is expected to

cause severe traffic disruption in the Buenos Aires city centre mainly near the Obelisk on

9 de Julio Avenue, the Presidential Palace Casa Rosada, and in front of the Social Development Ministry. Confrontations between protesters and police, and delays to cargo and public transport are likely with the roadblocks announced by the Polo Obrero along the access roads leading into Buenos Aires, as well as in 20 other provinces.

Colombia

In order to demand government action on pardoning traffic violations in the records associated with their drivers’ licences, the Lorry Driver Association-Agremiación Nacional de Conductores de Colombia, has

planned a national strike on September 23. The strike comes as a follow up from the meeting between the representatives of the Agremiación Nacional de Conductores de Colombia and the Transportation Ministry on September 13. Access roads to airports and cities will be affected as a result of the strike. Bogotá-Tunja road and the Cali-Popayán could be affected from roadblocks. Elevated risk of violent confrontation between the protesters and riot police persists.

JordanThe week ahead will see the continuation of the ongoing protests of the Jordan Teachers’ Association (JTA) in Amman. The protests have entered its second week with their demand of salary upsurges remaining at standstill. The open-ended strike by the JTA is to take place along the central Amman to the Fourth Circle, the Parliament building in Zahran district, the Royal Hashemite Court and the Ministry of Education in Al-Abadali district causing traffic disruptions.

KazakhstanAn anti-government protest is called out in

all major cities by the exiled oligarch and leader of the opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK) movement, Mukhtar Ablyazov, for September 21 at 1400 h local time with the focal points being Almaty and Nur-Sultan. In Almaty, the rally is to take place on Astana Square, and in Nur-Sultan it will be held at 6 Republic Avenue, near the Esil shopping mall. Traffic disruption, collateral damage risks to nearby business and street violence are likely.

Nicaragua

A demonstration starting at 1100 h local time, at four points in the capital Managua: the Movistar building; the Pellas building; the National Lottery; and Plaza Vistana, is called for by the Blue and White National Unit (UNAB) and the Civic Alliance (Alianza Cívica) opposition groups against the government of President Daniel Ortega. Heavy police presence with potential escalation of non-lethal crowd control measures is likely because of the absence of legal permit for the demonstration. Damages to infrastructure and private buildings are expected to be limited.



NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 2019 5


International

BS

T

Johnson faces Brexit flak from EU lawmakers and top UK court

ritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson was accused by European Union

officials of failing to negotiate seriously and branded the “father of lies” by a lawyer in the U.K. Supreme Court, as his plan to leave the EU in just over six weeks faced hurdles on both sides of the Channel.

In Strasbourg, France, the European Parliament said it would be the fault of Britain, not the bloc, if the U.K. crashed out of the EU without a divorce deal on the scheduled October 31 departure day.

In London, Johnson’s government battled to convince the U.K.’s top court that the Prime Minister’s decision to suspend the Parliament for five weeks with Brexit looming was neither illegal nor improper. The government’s opponents claim Johnson illegally shut down the legislature to prevent lawmakers from scrutinizing his Brexit plans.

Government lawyer James Eadie told 11 Supreme Court justices that the decision to send lawmakers home until October 14 was “inherently and fundamentally political in nature,” and not a matter for the judiciary. He said that if the court intervened it would violate the “fundamental constitutional principle” of the separation of powers.

But a lawyer for lawmakers challenging the shutdown accused the government of being “unworthy of our trust”.

“We’ve got here the mother of Parliaments being shut down by the father of lies,” said Attorney Aidan O’Neill. He urged the judges to “stand up for truth, stand up for reason, stand up for diversity, stand up for Parliament, stand up for democracy”.

The judges, for their part, wondered why Johnson had refused to provide a sworn statement to the court about his reasons for the suspension.

“Isn’t it odd that nobody has signed a witness statement to say: ‘This is true. These are the true reasons for what was done’?” said one of the judges, Nicholas Wilson.

The developments were the latest in a rocky week for Johnson, who pulled out of a news conference with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg on September 16, because of noisy protesters nearby. On September 18, he was berated by the father of a sick child

over funding cuts to Britain’s health service as he visited a London hospital.

Johnson took power in July with a vow that Britain will leave the EU on October 31 “come what may”. He promised to break a stalemate that saw the Brexit agreement struck between the EU and Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May rejected three times by Britain’s Parliament, prompting May to resign.

Many lawmakers believe a no-deal Brexit would be economically devastating and socially destabilizing, and have put obstacles in Johnson’s path, including legal challenges to the Parliament shutdown.

Last week, Scotland’s highest civil court ruled the move illegal, saying it had the intention of stymieing Parliament. The High Court in London, however, said it was not a matter for the courts.

The Supreme Court is being asked to decide who is right in a three-day hearing. If it overturns the suspension, lawmakers could be called back to Parliament as early as next week.

Johnson insists he is working hard to get an agreement with the EU that will ensure a smooth departure. The EU leaders are skeptical of that claim.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the risk of a no-deal Brexit remained “very real” because Britain still had not produced workable new proposals.

“I asked the British Prime Minister to specify the alternative arrangements that he could envisage,” Juncker said. “As long as such proposals are not made, I cannot tell you-while looking you straight in the eye-that progress is being made.”



Ex-Japanese Energy Company Executives acquitted in Fukushima Disaster

hree former Executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. have been acquitted

in Tokyo District Court on criminal charges related to the 2011 meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant in north-eastern Japan.

Prosecutors had accused former TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata and former Vice Presidents Sakae Muto and Ichiro Takekuro of professional negligence for failing to act on studies that showed Fukushima could be at risk from the threat of a tsunami. The trio was also accused of causing the deaths of more than 40 people who died after having been forced to evacuate the area near the plant. Katsumata, Muto and Takekuro were the only people facing criminal prosecution involving the

disaster. Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence each Executive to five years in jail in a trial that lasted more than two years.

A powerful 9.0 magnitude earthquake in March 2011 triggered a massive tsunami that killed 20,000 people and caused the meltdown of Fukushima’s three nuclear reactors in north-eastern Japan, making it the world’s worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.Credit : Voice of America (VOA)


Indonesia sending back 547 containers of waste from WestI ndonesia is sending 547 containers of

waste back to wealthy nations after discovering they were contaminated with used plastic and hazardous materials, amid a growing backlash in Southeast Asia against being a dumping ground for the developed world’s trash.

Nine containers with at least 135 tons of waste were sent back to Australia on September 18, Customs Director Heru Pambudi said at a news conference in Jakarta.

“Some food still remains there with liquid flowing,” Pambudi said as he showed the contents of several containers.

He said 91 other containers will be returned to Australia after administrative processes are complete.

They were among 156 containers held in Tangerang port near Jakarta that will be returned soon to other countries, including the U.S., New Zealand, Spain, Belgium and Britain, he said.

Pambudi said the government has stopped more than 2,000 containers this year in several ports in East Java, Jakarta, Tangerang and Batam near Singapore.

So far it has sent back 331, which will be followed by 216 others to French, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Slovenia, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong. Authorities are still investigating the rest.

The government announced in July that it had sent back nearly 60 containers of waste from Australia that were supposed to contain only paper but included household waste, used cans, plastic bottles, oil packaging, used electronics, used baby diapers and used footwear.

Pambudi said several Indonesian-owned companies that imported the waste must return it to the countries of origin within 90 days.

No other sanctions were declared, although importing hazardous waste is a criminal offense with penalties of up to 12 years in prison and a fine of up to 12 billion rupiah ($850,000).

China banned the import of plastic waste at the end of 2017, resulting in more used plastic being sent to developing Southeast Asian nations.

A study published in June last year in the journal 'Science Advances' that used United Nations data, found other nations will need to find a home for more than 110 million tons of plastic waste by 2030 because of the Chinese ban.

Indonesia and China themselves are among the world’s biggest producers of plastic waste, which is increasingly fouling their land, seas and beaches.


Swedish teen climate activist urges US Lawmakers to “Follow the Science”wedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg appeared before a U.S.

Congressional Committee, urging law makers to “listen to the science” and take action on global climate change.

The 16-year-old Thunberg has been in Washington since last week when she joined the U.S. and indigenous activists for a protest designed to build support for a global climate strike held on September 20 and put pressure on lawmakers to take action on climate change.

She was one of four students to appear before a joint hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

She submitted a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in lieu of her testimony, and told the lawmakers to “follow the science”. “Well, well I don’t see a reason to not listen to the science, is such just such a thing that we should be taking for granted that we listen to the current best available united science. It’s just something

that everyone should do. This is not political opinions, political views or my opinions, this is, this is the science, so yeah,” she said.

On September 18, Thunberg joined seven young Americans who have sued the U.S. government for failing to take action on climate change on the steps of the Supreme Court. They urged political leaders and lawmakers to support their legal fight and take action to phase out the use of fossil fuels.

Thunberg first gained notoriety last year when she began skipping school each Friday to protest outside the Swedish Parliament. She was joined by other students and later founded the ‘Fridays for Future’ weekly school walkouts around the world to demand government climate-change action.

Her organization of “climate strikers” reached 3.6 million people across 169 countries. She has been in the United States since last month when she sailed in to New York on a solar-powered boat to attend the U.N. climate summit.Credit : Voice of America (VOA)



NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 20196


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‘Safarnama’, app to let people engage with architectural legacy


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I n an attempt to allow and let people engage with the heritage and the

stories of the past, a new heritage app, ‘Safarnama’, was launched on September 17. “From conception to execution, the project has taken us nearly two years, and the app uses the GPS location of the phone to pinpoint the heritage buildings nearby it with a small notification that pops up once in the vicinity,” said the Principal Investigator of the project, Deborah Suttan. The app aims to let people engage with the architectural legacy on the one go.

After the app is downloaded, the user will need to scan the QR codes available on customised postcards designed for the project, following which he/ she will be able to have access to the archival material pre-loaded in the app, she further added.

Endowed with an “enormous range of material” drawn from archives in India and abroad, the app will allow the users to “digitally interact” with the cultural landmarks in the National Capital, said she.

Delhi Government sets up committee to draft ‘Deshbhakti’ curriculum

am Aadmi Party led Delhi Government in the National Capital has formulated

a five-member Committee that with the consultation of stakeholders, experts, and individuals working in the education field will help draft the ‘Deshbhakti’ curriculum that was announced in August this year and will be rolled out in schools in 2020.

The Committee comprises of the members from the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) and State Council

of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), school teachers and principals.

Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said, “Our definition of nationalism is very different. Patriotism is not just about chanting ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ but doing your bit for the country.

A child needs to learn that when somebody jumps a red light or pays a bribe, he or she is cheating the country and that is what the curriculum will be all about.”

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced the move on the eve of Independence Day and said that it will help build “a class of patriotic citizens”.

Examination data to be digitised, Delhi Education

Minister lowers the burden on teachers

n an effort to lessen the burden on teachers, the Education Minister of

the National Capital, Manish Sisodia has announced that the examination data in all government schools in Delhi that as of now was maintained by teachers manually will now be recorded digitally.

An official statement issued in this regard, read, “The Education Minister has directed the officials of the Directorate of Education (DoE) to digitize the entire process so that all steps after the evaluation of answer scripts till the generation of report card can be done on the computer tablet. The usage of computer tablet will remove the manual recording of data in multiple sheets. This will substantially reduce the time of subject and class teachers which they can now give to their students and family.”

The government schools of the capital city have been spending around 50 hours while class teachers have been spending a total of 310 hours every year for exam related work.

National Capital likely to ban single-

use plastic items

n line with Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi-led initiative to get rid

of single-use plastic, the government in the National Capital has planned to ban some single-use plastic items that largely include, plastic cups, bags, wrappers, water bottles, sachets and straws, contributing to cause pollution in soil and rivers.

A senior official of the Delhi Environment Department said, “We are working on a plan to ban some of the single-use plastic items. Some states have already done it and have come up with notifications. We are going through them to find out which are the items that could be banned in Delhi.”

Adding further he said, “After we identify the SUP items that could be banned in Delhi, we would soon send a proposal to the government for its consideration. The civic bodies have also taken up a series of initiatives to phase out single use plastic.”

The move comes after PM Mr. Modi, in his Independence Day speech called for collaborative efforts of the citizens to stop using the single-use plastic items.

Delhi CM directs Health Department to procure high quality anti-pollution masks ahead of Diwali

he Health Department has been directed by Delhi Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal to begin with the procurement of high-quality anti-pollution masks as one of the measures under the Delhi Government’s seven-point action plan to put a check on air pollution after Diwali.

More than 272 environment marshals, with one marshal for each municipal ward, are likely to be employed during this

Indian Railways to bring trains “on

demand” from 2024 ◆ By NDT Bureau

@NewDelhiTimes

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S oon after the two dedicated freight corridors become functional in the

coming next two years, the Railways will be able to roll out passenger trains “on demand” on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes as around 90 per cent of the freight trains will be shifted out from these corridors.

Despite huge demand on these corridors, currently it is difficult to bring in more trains, said V K Yadav, Chairman of the Railway Board.

Adding further he said, “The reduction in traffic on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai networks post 2021 will help fast track improvement in infrastructure so that trains can run at 160 kmph.”

He said, “Why should people travel in unreserved coaches in inhuman condition? To change status quo, we are working on plans where we can increase the number of trains so that passengers don’t suffer.”


winter season by the Delhi Government’s Environment Department. More than 2,500 personnel have been trained as environment marshals who are ready to be deployed when the situation needs.

A senior government official said, “We have asked the Health Department to start procurement of N-95, which are the best quality masks for battling air pollution, immediately.

Public health is our top priority. Since post-Diwali, many people, in particular, the elderly face breathing difficulties, we plan to make the masks available before the season approaches.”




NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 2019 7


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Violation of odd-even rule to invite fine of Rs. 20,000

he odd-even rule was imposed by the Aam Aadmi Party government in the

National Capital in January and April 2016, the scheme is going to make a come-back in the city from November 4. But unlike its earlier terms, when it imposed a fine of Rs. 2,000 for the violation of the rule, with the new Motor Vehicles Act coming into effect, the scheme would invite a fine of Rs. 20, 000.

As per the Section 115 of the MV Act, violating the odd-even rule is a traffic offence the fine for which has been raised from Rs 2,000 to Rs 20,000 after amended Motor Vehicles Act that came into effect

from September 1, 2019. An official said, “However, a final decision on the size of penalty had not been made since the notification of compoundable offences under the amended MV Act is yet to be notified by

the Delhi Government.”

Adding further, he said the government has the authority to cut down the amount of penalties which it may or may not do.



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Delhi Police launches app ‘Taptar’, brings

policing services under one roof

ith the launch of its new mobile application, named, ‘Taptar’, Delhi

Police aims to bring all its policing services under one roof.

With this development, the users will be able to navigate to the nearest police station, prepaid taxi booth or traffic pit as the app uses geo-synchronised informatics tool that allows users to avail these services with a single touch. Also, the app will provide the users with the complete details of the area SHO, ACP and DCP.

Delhi Police Spokesperson Mandeep Randhawa said, “The app also has an SOS button, pressing which will connect the user to the 100-number helpline immediately. A person in trouble can tap on the SOS button to reach the police directly.”

Giving an access to the traffic pit, the users can track their vehicle if it has been towed by the traffic police. Also, they can check for challans issued to them. The app also allows the users to enrol for senior citizen registration, tenant verification and service verification.


Delhi Government gets Cabinet’s nod to pay CBSE exam fees of Class X and XII

he Aam Aadmi Party led government in the National Capital on September 18,

got a green signal from the Delhi Cabinet for its proposal of paying the CBSE examination fees for the students of Class 10th and 12th of Delhi government schools.

The move that will cost the dispensation of Rs. 57 crore will benefit around 3.14 lakh students studying in Delhi government schools, government aided schools and the Patrachar Vidyalaya.

A senior government official said, “The Cabinet in its meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal approved the Department of Education’s proposal that the Delhi government will pay the CBSE examination fees for class X and XII students of government, government aided schools, including taken over schools and Patrachar Vidyalayas.”

Another official said, the amount of the fees will be directly paid to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the students need not take any burden or wait for the reimbursements.


DMRC’s dumbbell shaped station comes in National

Capital’s Najafgarh

he first dumbbell shaped station of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

(DMRC) has come up in the National Capital’s Najafgarh area which will be on the Delhi Metro’s Grey Line.

DMRC officials said the shape of the station was initially decided to be in the regular rectangle shape. However, the agency failed to acquire some of the private land needed for the project, as a result of which the station got a shape of a dumbbell. Explaining the same, a senior DMRC official said, “We tried hard to explain to the owners of these plots…We had no other option but to plan the station with what was available with us.”

Shrinking by a few metres in the middle, no compromise has been made for passenger movement or the ticketing area or the platform.

One of the three upcoming stations on the Grey line will be ready to be operated for the passengers by next month.

North Delhi civic body installs trommel machines

at Bhalswa landfill site

he North Delhi Municipal Corporation has begun with its first step in its

ambition project towards taming the Bhalswa landfill site using bio-mining process. For this, the north civic body has started the civil work for installation of trommel machines to process the waste.

The work is being done using earthworms and road rollers to prepare an eight-acre site for the installation of nine trommel assembly line for the segregation of the legacy waste. The proposals regarding the bioremediation and its funding have also been given a nod by the civic body’s Standing Committee.

Taking it to the social media, Commissioner Varsha Joshi tweeted, “While we are ready to start bioremediation of Bhalswa landfill from October 1, the civil work for the trammels is starting today (September 20). Our continuous excavation and greening work leads to two great results – no fire since May, and grass growing on the stabilised slopes.”

In a fight against dengue, Delhi CM launches “Champions Campaign”


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I n a fight against dengue, the Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal

initiated “Champions Campaign” in the National Capital. The launch of the campaign comes three weeks after he had launched mega drive against vector-borne disease dengue.

He urged the citizens of Delhi to encourage their friends to inspect their homes and surroundings on every Sunday and get rid of the stagnant water. The campaign envisages that citizens must reach out to 10 of their friends, encouraging them to check

their premises for signs of dengue, said an official statement, adding further, “Such a community-driven campaign will ensure the citizens are encouraged to take initiative and responsibility for their fellow citizens”.

Delhi CM tweeted, “Lakhs of Delhiites are joining the #10Hafte10Baje10Minute campaign against Dengue. This Sunday, after inspecting your home at 10am, call 10 of your friends and encourage them too to inspect their homes and be a Champion in the fight against Dengue! (sic).”



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23 - 29 September 20198


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Nepal’s sexual minorities say progress in rights has stalled

epal seized the lead in equal rights for sexual minorities in South Asia

four years ago with a new constitution that forbids all discrimination based on sexual orientation. Even citizenship certificates and passports now allow a “non-male, non-female” category.

But same-sex couples such as Niraj Sunwar and Aashik Lama say progress has stalled since the Constitution was adopted.

Sunwar, 23, and Lama, 28, are still waiting for the day when they can legally marry. Lama also hopes to adopt a child, which isn’t possible because no laws currently allow it.

“We want to be lawfully wedded in a government office and have a legal certificate so we can openly live the life we want,” Lama said. “We want to adopt a baby and start a family life.”

Such rights were enshrined in the Constitution, which was introduced after the abolition of Nepal’s centuries-old monarchy, because of a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that outlawed all discrimination against sexual minorities. LGBT activists, however, say politicians have failed to write new laws that reflect their rights.

Even worse, a Civil Code that was passed through Parliament and came into force last year has moved things backward by clearly stating that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.

“Nepal opened the way and other countries are following, but it has stalled here,” said Manisha Dhakal, Executive Director of the Blue Diamond Society, an LGBT rights group. “Parliament has no commitment; it just doesn’t want to do it.”

In addition to banning sexual discrimination, the new Constitution provides special privileges to minority groups, including a reserved number of government jobs

and educational positions. The LGBT community has been defined as a minority, but receives no such reserved positions.

“Though the constitution says clearly there should be no discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, there are no laws to support it,” said Pinky Gurung, an LGBT rights activist.

Under a new citizenship bill being prepared in the Parliament, transgender people seeking to change their status would be required to show medical proof, but the bill does not clarify what kind, Dhakal said.

“A provision requiring us to get examined physically violates our privacy,” she said, also noting that sex change surgery is currently unavailable in Nepal and unaffordable for most transgender people.

She said activists are planning to go to court to demand equal rights, and then take the issue to international rights groups to pressure the government. Nepal’s Constitution was ahead of its time not just at home but also in South Asia.

In India, homosexuality was decriminalized in 2018 when the Supreme Court declared British-era laws unconstitutional. Tiny Bhutan’s Parliament recently repealed provisions that made “unnatural sex” illegal.

Meanwhile in Bangladesh and Pakistan, both Muslim-majority nations, gay relationships remain illegal, and gay rights activists routinely face discrimination. If the rights were granted as they appear in the Constitution, Nepal would be head of almost every country in all of Asia. Taiwan in May became the first place in the region to legalize same-sex marriage.

There is no accurate number for the size of Nepal’s LGBT community. The next census, held every 10 years, is planned for 2021, and Gurung said they are demanding that the number of LGBT people be counted.

Because there is no census data, there are no quotas for jobs, educational positions or health care slots for the LGBT community. And activists say discrimination against the LGBT community in Nepal is still all too common in everyday life.


Suicide bomb in Southern Afghanistan kills at least 20

A powerful early morning suicide truck bomb devastated a hospital in

southern Afghanistan on September 18, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 90 others, an official said.

The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, which destroyed part of the hospital in Qalat, the capital of southern Zabul province, and left a fleet of ambulances broken and battered.

Residents, many of whom had come to see their sick family members, used shawls and blankets to carry the wounded inside the destroyed building, while authorities scrambled to take the worst of the wounded

to hospitals in nearby Kandahar. In the early hours after the explosion there were contradictory figures of the dead and wounded. The provincial Governor’s spokesman Gul Islam Seyal put the death toll at 12 but said authorities were on the scene sifting through the debris. Atta Jan Haqbayan, Head of the Provincial Council, put the death toll at 20.

The Taliban, who have been carrying out nearly daily attacks since peace talks with the United States collapsed earlier this month, said a nearby government Intelligence Department building was the target.

Credit : Voice of America (VOA)

UN expert: Suu Kyi’s role in Rohingya abuses

still uncleartop U.N. investigator said “it’s still an open-ended question” about how

much Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be implicated in human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims.

Marzuki Darusman said it was “probably the case” that Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace prize laureate, may not have been “knowledgeable” about a violent crackdown against the ethnic minority that erupted in August 2017 and ultimately drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes in Myanmar. But he said that after the crackdown, she didn’t address it.

“It’s still an open-ended question to what extent she might be implicated,” said Darusman, a former Indonesian Attorney-General who headed a fact-finding mission on Myanmar over the last two years on a mandate from the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council.

Darusman spoke to reporters after his team issued its latest report, calling for those who perpetrated rights violations against the Rohingya to be brought to justice, such as through an international tribunal — and even face genocide and crimes against humanity, if necessary. Their report suggested hundreds of people could face prosecution, and listed several top Myanmar Generals by name.

The fact-finding team has not called for Suu Kyi to be tried, but Darusman’s comments were likely to revive pressure on a leader who has come under scathing criticism for her silence and inaction, such as by the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, and has been stripped of an array of honors since the Rohingya migrant crisis erupted.

Darusman spoke after Myanmar’s Ambassador in Geneva told the council that his country rejects any move to bring the issue of alleged rights violations against the Rohingya to an international legal forum.

Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun insisted Myanmar’s government will “never tolerate any violation of human rights to anyone” and is “capable of addressing the issue of accountability”.

Yanghee Lee, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, appealed to Suu Kyi at the council “to open your eyes, listen, feel with your heart, and please use your moral authority, before it is too late”.

The fact-finding team’s report chronicled an array of alleged human rights violations by Myanmar security forces and said counter-insurgency operations against Rohingya in 2017 included “genocidal acts”. It said the operations had killed thousands of people and caused more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.



Bangladesh’s leading cellphone companies

in legal tussleangladesh’s two leading cellphone companies are negotiating with a

regulator over claims of about $1.5 billion in unpaid taxes as they face a possible loss of their licenses amid a legal battle that could hurt investor confidence.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has asked Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom giant Telenor, and Robi, an entity majority-owned by Malaysia’s Axiata Group Berhad, to pay $1.52 billion for evading spectrum fees, value-added taxes and revenue since December 2014.The two companies say the

audits by the commission are flawed. On September 18, Grameenphone officials met with Finance Minister A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal, Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar and other government officials to try to resolve the dispute.

Kamal said they discussed the issue in detail and hope to settle the crisis within three weeks. Michael Foley, Chief Executive Officer of Grameenphone, said in a statement that they are looking for an “amicable solution”.

“We look forward to a positive conclusion on this issue, which will allow the industry and the government to refocus on building digital Bangladesh,” he said.

Shahed Alam, Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer of Robi, said it also welcomed the government’s decision to meet for “a candid and transparent discussion on resolving the disputed audit claims”.

“We believe the much-protracted impasse in the telecom sector will finally come to an end, much to the delight of the industry stakeholders,” he said in a statement.

The crisis deepened in recent weeks after the regulator on September 5 issued notices to the operators asking them to explain within 30 days why their licenses should not be cancelled for failing to pay the taxes.

Earlier this year, the regulator slashed Grameenphone’s bandwidth by 30% and Robi’s by 15%, putting pressure on them, but the decision was later reversed because of the inconvenience to their millions of subscribers.

But they continued to suffer as the regulator stopped allowing them to import network equipment or offer new services and packages to subscribers.

The two operators together have more than 120 million active subscribers, about 76% of the total active subscribers in the country.

Robi Axiata Limited (Robi) is a subsidiary of the Asian telecom giant Axiata Group Berhad, based in Malaysia. Other shareholders are Bharti Airtel International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and NTT DOCOMO Inc.





NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 2019 9


North AmericaCentral America’s dengue epidemic deadly in Honduras

I n a ward usually reserved for juvenile burn victims, children lay listlessly

under mosquito nets next to worried parents. On a recent day, 9-year-old Carlos Benítez was headed home after enduring several days of intravenous fluids while doctors waited for his dengue fever to break.

But Dr. Sara Hernández, who supervised the ward at the University School Hospital, knew the bed would immediately be filled, just as all the beds have been since the ward opened in June amid a deadly epidemic of the mosquito-spread virus.

At least 135 people have died from dengue this year in Honduras, nearly two-thirds of them children. Many other suspected deaths await lab confirmation. Honduras already has by far the highest death rate from dengue in Latin America this year, and the country’s most prevalent strain also happens to be the most aggressive and the deadliest.

The epidemic hit a country roiled by social unrest and led by a President who has lacked credibility since he won another term in spite of a Constitutional ban on his re-election in 2017. Juan Orlando Hernández has also been named a co-conspirator in his brother’s U.S. drug trafficking case. Doctors and nurses spent weeks marching against his proposed reforms, which they feared were a step toward privatizing the country’s health care system.

A level of complacency also existed among the population after five years in which there were only 16 dengue deaths. But that’s often

the way the virus acts — a few years of calm followed by a big outbreak.

As a region, Central America and Mexico have already recorded nearly double the number of dengue cases as the entire previous year. Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua have seen double-digit death tolls.

The last time this many people in Central America and Mexico died from dengue was 2013, according to data compiled by the Pan American Health Organization. That year, Mexico accounted for the majority of the dead with 192.

When outbreaks of this magnitude occur, health officials typically find that the sick do not seek treatment soon enough and then often receive inadequate medical attention, said Dr. José Luis San Martín, Regional Adviser for the Pan American Health Organization, who visited Honduras in August.

He also noted the country’s “very tense sort of socio-political situation”. “When we review the history of the virus, we always

find there is a group of external factors that could have been manageable,” San Martin said.

Honduran children figure disproportionately among the outbreak’s fatalities this year because children have fewer defenses and greater exposure due to them attending schools and playing outside, said Hernández, the dengue ward doctor.

When an outbreak happens under normal circumstances and is well managed from the outset, dengue should not cause many deaths, San Martín said.

Most people who are infected never get sick, but people who have been infected previously by another dengue strain are more likely to get severe dengue, which is sometimes called hemorrhagic dengue. It can cause abdominal pain, vomiting and bleeding and can damage internal organs.

On a recent afternoon, dozens of emergency workers cranked up howling fumigation machines that looked like leaf blowers and fanned out into a hillside Tegucigalpa neighborhood. As pesticide smoke engulfed her home and street, Ingrid Hartón said she hoped the fumigation would prevent more deaths.

“We always have dengue and every once in a while, dengue causes deaths,” she said.

Roberto Herrera Cáceres, Director of Honduras’ National Human Rights Commission, said the government needs to be better

prepared for epidemics, as well as forest fires, floods and other events in the age of climate change.

“We shouldn’t be suffering the loss of compatriots or the loss of Honduras residents as a consequence of this sort of lack of foresight,” Herrera said.

The government is addressing the problem now through fumigation and education, as well as improving its detection and treatment of dengue cases, San Martín said.

Twelve of the country’s 18 provinces, known as Departments, have been under an emergency since June 14. The Honduran government declared a national health emergency on July 2. Two weeks later, President Hernández called on Hondurans to treat dengue “with the seriousness it requires”.

New reports of cases have been declining for the past few weeks, but experts said it was too early to think the worst had passed, because the region remains in the heart of the rainy season.

Historically, dengue has been seasonal. Normally, cases would begin to fall off in November with the conclusion of the rainy season and pick up again in June. However, last year an outbreak began in November. Experts will be watching closely to see if that happens again, which could suggest a possible shift in the seasonality of the virus.



North America: Where have the wild birds gone?

orth America’s skies are lonelier and quieter as nearly 3 billion fewer

wild birds soar in the air than in 1970, a comprehensive study shows.

The new study focuses on the drop in sheer numbers of birds, not extinctions. The bird population in the United States and Canada was probably around 10.1 billion nearly half a century ago and has fallen 29% to about 7.2 billion birds, according to a study in the journal ‘Science’.

“People need to pay attention to the birds around them because they are slowly disappearing,” said study lead author Kenneth Rosenberg, a Cornell University conservation scientist. “One of the scary things about the results is that it is happening right under our eyes. We might not even notice it until it’s too late.”

Rosenberg and colleagues projected population data using weather radar, 13 different bird surveys going back to 1970 and computer modeling to come up with trends for 529 species of North American birds. That’s not all species, but more than three-quarters of them and most of the missed species are quite rare, Rosenberg said.

Using weather radar data, which captures flocks of migrating birds, is a new method, he said.

“This is a landmark paper. It’s put numbers to everyone’s fears about what’s going on,” said Joel Cracraft, Curator-in-charge

for Ornithology of the American Museum of Natural History, who wasn’t part of the study.

“It’s even more stark than what many of us might have guessed,” Cracraft said.

Every year University of Connecticut’s Margaret Rubega, the State Ornithologist, gets calls from people noticing fewer birds. And this study, which she wasn’t part of, highlights an important problem, she said.

“If you came out of your house one morning and noticed that a third of all the houses in your neighborhood were empty, you’d rightly conclude that something threatening was going on,” Rubega said in an email. “3 billion of our neighbors, the ones who eat the bugs that destroy our food plants and carry diseases like equine encephalitis, are gone. I think we all ought to think that’s threatening.”

Some of the most common and recognizable birds are taking the biggest hits, even though they are not near disappearing yet, Rosenberg said.


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US expels 2 Cuban diplomats, citing 'influence

operations'he U.S. announced that it is expelling two Cuban diplomats and restricting

travel of members of Cuba’s permanent mission to the United Nations as leaders gather from around the world for the annual U.N. General Assembly.

The Cuban diplomats who are being expelled are attached to the U.N. mission and tried to “conduct influence operations against the United States,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. She provided no details on the allegations and the diplomats’ names weren’t released.

All members of the Cuban mission are being restricted to the island of Manhattan.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the allegations were a “vulgar slander” against the two diplomats.

Rodríguez said on Twitter the expulsion seeks to “provoke a diplomatic escalation” and increase tensions between the two countries.

Relations between Cuba and the U.S. have deteriorated under President Donald Trump. His administration has restricted travel to the island and has imposed new economic sanctions.


85 charged with running drug networks in Southern California

ederal authorities have charged 85 people with selling methamphetamine,

heroin and fentanyl through drug networks linked to Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel.

Eight indictments were unsealed in San Diego federal court after sweeping raids resulted in arrests and drug and gun seizures. Authorities say 47 of those charged are in custody and 38 are being sought.

Some of the charges carry potential 20-year sentences.

Federal agents used wiretaps, undercover agents and other techniques during a yearlong investigation during which 175 pounds of drugs were seized.

Most of the drugs were seized in San Diego County but some were taken in Los Angeles, Riverside and even in Alaska.The indictments say the networks supplied drugs dozens of sub-distributors throughout Southern California and laundered tens of thousands of dollars in proceeds.




NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 201910


AfricaHarry and Meghan make 1st

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Zimbabwe Police: Doctor who disappeared is safe, in hospital

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ICC pretrial hearing starts in Central African Republic case

rosecutors urged International Criminal Court judges to put on trial

two alleged leaders of a predominantly Christian militia involved in a bitter conflict with Muslim forces in Central African Republic, saying they armed and incited members to attack Muslim civilians in an attempt to regain power.

Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom are suspected of involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, persecution, torture and the use of child soldiers when they were senior leaders in the anti-Balaka militia. They have not entered pleas.

Prosecutor Kweku Vanderpuye told a three-judge panel at the global court that the crimes followed atrocities by Muslim forces known as the Seleka as they seized power in Central African Republic in 2013, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee into exile.

The interreligious violence left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Mosques, shops and homes were looted and destroyed. Bursts of deadly violence continue today despite attempts to make peace.

Vanderpuye alleged that Ngaissona was an influential leader of the anti-Balaka group and Yekatom a military leader who called himself Rambo and commanded thousands of fighters drawn from the ranks of local self-defense groups.

“From exile, Mr. Ngaissona and other members of Bozize’s inner circle used these groups,” Vanderpuye told judges. “They exploited the vengeance and hatred felt by the people to create a formidable fighting force which could defeat the Seleka, opening the way for them to reclaim power.”

However, the anti-Balaka did not limit themselves to fighting Seleka forces and instead “relentlessly terrorized” Muslim civilians as well, he said.

The prosecutor told judges that the anti-Balaka fighters used child soldiers to commit atrocities, recounting the story of one former child soldier who told prosecutors he was ordered to stab or cut off the ears of Muslim prisoners.

“When the prisoner was exhausted, we would dig a shallow grave about knee height, put him in and then the Chiefs will come back and kill him,” Vanderpuye said, quoting the former child soldier.

Ngaissona, who was Chief of Central African Republic’s Soccer Federation when he was arrested on an ICC warrant in Paris last year, faces 111 charges. Yekatom, who was turned over to the court in 2018, faces 21 charges.Credit : Associated Press (AP)


Watchdog says global oil consortium hurting South Sudan

he largest multinational oil consortium in South Sudan is “proactively

participating in the destruction” of the country, the actor George Clooney and co-founder of The Sentry watchdog group told The Associated Press this week.

A new report released on September 18, by the Washington-based group that reports on links between corruption and mass atrocities says it found that Dar Petroleum provided direct support to deadly militias. “And it has paid for government officials to live lavishly while the rest of the population suffers the consequences of a brutal civil war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives,” Clooney said.

The report explores how a variety of international individuals and businesses are linked to armed conflict, corruption and atrocities during the country’s five-year civil war that ended with a peace deal a year ago. The oil consortium is the most prominent example.

South Sudan is the most oil-dependent country in the world, and Dar Petroleum is one of the country’s most important entities. It is comprised of China’s state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, Chinese state-owned Sinopec, the private Egyptian-based firm SSTO and South Sudan’s state-owned Nile Petroleum.

While most of the country’s oil rigs were shut down or destroyed during the war, the oil consortium continued operating.

Emails shown to the AP by The Sentry show that the South Sudan government directed Dar Petroleum to deliver drums of diesel to the “community Oil Protection Forces,” armed groups with close links to the oil industry including members of the Padang militia, known for committing atrocities such as burning villages, targeting civilians and attacking the United Nations protection site in Malakal in 2016.

The report says the Petroleum Ministry requested 251 barrels of diesel to be delivered to military and militia forces in Upper Nile state in 2014 and 2015.

Dar Petroleum has strong ties to South Sudan’s national security apparatus. Its Vice President is a Major General in the service and the company has used funds earmarked for community development to support the lifestyles of senior politicians, the report said. Last year the consortium agreed to pay more than $686,000 to a hotel in the capital, Juba, to cover bills for the former Petroleum Minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.



olice in Zimbabwe say the leader of a doctors' strike, who allegedly was

abducted by government agents, is receiving care at a Harare hospital and is not under arrest.

Dr. Peter Magombeyi reappeared in the village of Nyabira late on September 19, five days after he went missing. In his absence, doctors and nurses held protests in Harare, demanding the government find him and ensure his safe return.

Speaking to VOA's Zimbabwe service, national police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said Magombeyi is under observation at a hospital.

"He has been examined by his own medical team and a government team," Nyathi said. "He is safe and has not been arrested at all as claimed in some sections of the media."

He added: "Dr. Magombeyi has accessed his lawyers who are interacting with the police. He has accessed his family and they are also interacting with the police."

Nyathi said police will interview Magombeyi once he is cleared by doctors. Magombeyi is acting President of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, whose members went on strike since September 3.

The doctors, who are paid less than $200 per month, are demanding a pay raise to keep pace with Zimbabwe's soaring inflation. The doctors have rejected government calls to return to work while negotiations continue.

Officials have denied accusations that agents kidnapped Magombeyi as a form of punishment or intimidation.


rince Harry and his wife, Meghan, along with their infant son, Archie,

are making their first official tour as a family, starting September 23, in a troubled South Africa whose President says women and children are “under siege” by shocking violence.

South Africa is still shaken by the rape and murder of a University student, carried out in a Post Office that sparked protests by thousands of women tired of abuse and impunity in a country where more than 100 rapes are reported every day. This is “one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

Empowering women is one of the issues Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will address on a 10-day, multi-country visit, along with wildlife protection, entrepreneurship, mental health and mine clearance, a topic given global attention by Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, when she walked through an active mine field during an Africa visit years ago.

Some in South Africa said they are happy to see the arrival of Meghan, who has been vocal about women's rights and is likely to speak out again. One of her first events is a visit to a workshop that gives self-defense classes to young girls.

“I think the Duchess of Sussex' visit is perfectly timed. She's coming to South Africa at an incredibly turbulent time,” said Lara Rosmarin, who leads a local tech incubator that will be part of the royal visit. “People are anxious, people are scared, people are worried ... She's coming at a time when she can instill some hope and some promise and perhaps highlight the struggles of women in South Africa.”

The high-profile visit by the royal family is expected to contrast with the breath-taking

series of stories in local media in recent weeks about the reported abuse of women and children-“even babies,” the President reminded Parliament this week.

The scope is now well known. More than 2,700 women were murdered last year and more than 1,000 children, the government says. One in five women over age 18 has faced physical violence from a partner.

“The conviction rate for rape is a shameful 5%,” the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, Mmusi Maimane, said. The state should oppose bail for suspects, deny parole to those found guilty and ensure that a life sentence means life in prison, South Africa's President now says.

Some women want more, saying South Africa should bring back the death penalty for rapists. Capital punishment was abolished in the country in 1995.Despite the recent unrest, the royal family likely will focus on the positive. Planned events in their first public stop, Cape Town, include a visit to a non-governmental group that trains surfers to provide young people with mental health services.“She is a very influential person and just for her to be here and to some way influence the girls on our program is a big part of why we're excited to have her here,” said Courtney Barnes, a surfing coach with Waves For Change.Harry and Meghan also will visit the oldest mosque in South Africa and meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A “rare privilege and honor,” Tutu and his wife, Leah, said.The Prince later will break away for visits to Botswana, Angola and Malawi with a special focus on wildlife protection.In Angola, Harry will walk in the footsteps of his mother, whose walk across a mine field in 1997 helped to inspire an international ban on anti-personnel mines later that year. That field in Huambo is now a busy street, and Angola's government, now years past a grinding civil war, hopes to be free of land mines by 2025.




NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 2019 11


South America

T

Bachelet denied campaign took money from Brazil OAS company

he U.N. human rights Chief Michelle Bachelet is denying accusations by

a former businessman ensnared in Latin America’s biggest corruption scandal that her 2013 Presidential campaign in Chile illegally took money from the Brazilian company, OAS.

Bachelet told Chile’s 24 Horas TV channel from Geneva that she “never had any link with OAS or any other company”.

The Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported this week that Leo Pinheiro of OAS told Brazilian authorities as part of a plea bargain that the company gave $140,000 to Bachelet’s campaign to make sure an international consortium kept a contract to build a bridge to the Chilean island of Chiloe. He said OAS followed orders from Brazil’s then President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is now imprisoned.

Da Silva was convicted in a corruption case

that stems from a nationwide investigation that has ensnared many of Brazil’s top businessmen and politicians. OAS Executives were not immediately available to respond to a request for comments. Former OAS President Leo Pinheiro was released from prison on September 17, after a judge recently approved his request to spend the rest of his sentence under house arrest.

The “Car Wash” investigation has looked into billions of dollars in contracts with Brazilian oil-giant Petrobras and now affects almost all aspects of business and political life in South America’s largest country.

Prosecutors say Executives of major construction companies such as OAS, Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez effectively formed a cartel that decided which firms would be awarded Petrobras contracts and how over-priced each deal would be. The padded prices were used to pay off dozens of politicians and Petrobras Executives, investigators say.

The dozens of top businessmen and politicians who have already been convicted or are being investigated is a who’s who of Brazil’s elite. The initial probe has mushroomed into related investigations in other nations because big Brazilian companies operated across Latin America

and elsewhere in the world.

In a plea deal with the U.S. Prosecutors, Odebrecht admitted to paying bribes in such countries as Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. The center-right government of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera declined to comment on the accusations against the center-left Bachelet. But some governing party lawmakers asked her to provide more details. “OAS is an international company that focused on financing candidacies from the left in exchange for favors, or in other words, corruption,” said lawmaker Antonio Coloma.

Far-right lawmaker José Antonio Kast called on Bachelet to quit her U.N. post and answer to Chilean authorities. He said that if the accusations against Bachelet are true, “it would be the greatest corruption scandal to hit a Chilean President”.

Center-left politicians called the accusations unfounded. Bachelet became Chile’s first women President in 2006. After her term, she was named the first head of the U.N. Women, the world body’s new women’s agency. She left the post to return to Chile and won the Presidency again, serving in 2014-18.



Police investigate government

leader in Brazil Senate

B razilian police raided the office of the governing coalition’s leader in

the Senate, Fernando Bezerra Coelho, on September 19, part of a wider investigation into a possible kickback scheme.

Investigators said the personal debts of several officials, including those related to election campaigns, had been paid off by companies that had been awarded public construction contracts.

Police said Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court had signed off on 52 search warrants in raids involving more than 200 police officers.

The Senator, a key ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, offered to resign his position as government leader in the Senate on TV Globo. The President’s press office declined to comment.

Bezerra Coelho’s Attorney André Callegari said he had not seen the full accusations yet, but that Bezerra Coelho will “obviously deny” any involvement.

Callegari said the investigation covered the Senator’s son, also a federal lawmaker.

He called the search “unnecessary” since the investigation targeted events prior to his current role in Congress.

The operation is the result of an investigation launched in 2017, federal police said, predating the administration of Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1.

Authorities are looking into illegal activities allegedly carried out when Bezerra Coelho was a Minister in the Cabinet of former President Dilma Rousseff.

His party later dropped its backing for Rousseff, when one of its members, then Vice-President Temer, took over. Bezerra Coelho allied himself with Bolsonaro after his election in 2018.

If confirmed, the departure of Bezerra Coelho, the President’s interlocutor in the Upper House, could hurt the government’s efforts to pass an ambitious pension reform that raises the minimum retirement age to 65 for men and 62 for women and increases workers’ contributions.



NGO: Forest fires in Bolivia burn Switzerland-sized areaF

C

ires have consumed more than 3.1 million hectares (12,000 square

miles) of forests and grasslands in just over a month in Bolivia, according to an environmental group, with the blazes affecting the South American country’s Amazon region.

The Friends of Nature Foundation said the burned area is the size of Switzerland and its estimates are based on satellite images. In its report, it said that since January fires have burned 4.1 million hectares (15,800 square miles), including 3.1 million hectares since farmers and ranchers began burning pastures in August.

Bolivia neighbors Brazil, where fires raging in the Amazon have caused international anger and led to criticism of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s environmental policies.

But most of Bolivia’s fires are in dry forests, prairies and farmland in its south-eastern Chiquitanía region although some are affecting its Amazon. The vast Chiquitanía region joins the Bolivian and Bolivian Amazon rainforests.

According to the foundation, in Chiquitanía, 1.4 million hectares of burned area “corresponds to forested areas and the rest to non-forested areas”.

The government of Santa Cruz province, where most of the fires are taking place, said 2.7 million hectares have been burned in the

province. Authorities in Bolivia say farmers and ranchers start fires to renew pastures and clear land but the blazes got out of control this year due to a drought and strong winds that the government attributes to climate change.

Critics say a decree issued by Morales’ government in July allowing controlled burns for agricultural purposes contributed to the disaster.

Thousands of soldiers, police and volunteers are battling the blazes, along with two fire-fighting tanker planes from the United States and Russia.



US, Latin America allies to weigh sanctions

on Venezuelaolombia’s ambassador to the U.S. says 18 countries of the Americas

will meet to consider multilateral sanctions against Venezuela.

Francisco Santos says Colombia expects to get the required 13 votes during the meeting in New York on September 23. His government accuses Venezuela of harboring terrorists. The 70-year-old Rio Treaty says a threat to any member is a threat to all.

Sanctions can include loss of diplomatic recognition, an economic boycott or even military action. Santos says that last option is off the table.

Many of the countries at the meeting already have withdrawn recognition of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, though his effort to oust Maduro has so far failed. Venezuela withdrew from the Rio Treaty, but the members have accepted Guaidó’s request to re-join.




NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 201912


Opinion

◆ By Kaveh Zahedi

@donkaveh1

◆ By Luis Alfonso de Alba

@ladealba

I

C

Confronting the new climate reality in Asia and the Pacific

n less than ten days world leaders will be gathering at the United Nations in

New York for the Climate Action Summit. Their goal is simple; to increase ambition and accelerate action in the face of a mounting climate emergency.

For many this means ambition and action that enables countries to decarbonize their economies by the middle of the century. But that is only half the equation. Equally ambitious plans are also needed to build the resilience of vulnerable sectors and communities being battered by climate related disasters of increasing frequency, intensity and unpredictability.

Nowhere is this reality starker than in the Asia Pacific region which has suffered another punishing year of devastation due to extreme events linked to climate change. Last year Kerala state in India had its worst floods in a century. The floods in Iran in April this year were unprecedented. Floods and heatwaves in quick succession in Japan caused widespread destruction and loss of life. In several South Asian countries, immediately following a period of drought, weeks of heavy monsoon rains this month unleashed floods and landslides. Across North-east and South Asia, record high temperatures have been set. The latest research from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the

Pacific has shown that intense heatwaves and drought are becoming more frequent; unusual tropical cyclones originate from beyond the traditional risk zones and follow tracks that have not been seen before; and unprecedented floods and occurring throughout the region. The science tells us that the impacts are only going to increase in severity and frequency as greenhouse gas emissions concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise.

The poor and vulnerable are taking the biggest hit. Disasters cost lives and damage livelihood and assets. Increases in disaster exposure are increasing child malnutrition and mortality and forcing poor families to take children out of school-entrenching inter-generational poverty. And they perpetuate inequalities within and between countries.

A person in the Pacific small island developing states is 3 to 5 times more at risk of disasters than a person elsewhere in our disaster-prone region. Vanuatu has faced annual losses of over 20% of its GDP. In Southeast Asia, Lao, Cambodia and Viet Nam have all faced losses of more than 5% of their GDP. In short, disasters are slowing

down and often reversing poverty reduction and widening inequality.

But amidst this cycle of disaster and vulnerability lies a golden opportunity for careful and forward-looking investment. The Global Commission on Adaptation recently found that there would be over $7 trillion in total net benefits between now and 2030 from investing in early warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure, improved dryland agriculture, mangrove protection, and in making water resources more resilient could generate.

So where could countries in the Asia Pacific region make a start? First, by providing people with the means to overcome shocks. Increasing social protection is a good start. Currently developing countries in Asia and the Pacific only spend about 3.7 per cent of GDP on social protection, compared to the world average of 11.2 per cent, leaving people vulnerable in case they get sick, lose their jobs, become old or are hit by a disaster. In the aftermath of Typhoon Hyan in the Philippines we saw effectiveness of social protection, especially cash transfers, but these were only possible because the government could use the conditional cash transfer system and mechanism already in place for poor and vulnerable people.

Second by lifting the financial burden off the poor. Disaster risk finance and insurance can cover poor and vulnerable people from climate shocks and help them recover from disaster, such as Mongolia’s index-based insurance scheme to deal with the increased frequency of “dzuds” where combination

of droughts and shortage of pasture lead to massive livestock deaths. Disaster risk finance can also help countries pool the risks as is happening through the emerging ASEAN Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance programme.

Third by increasing investment in new technologies and big data. Artificial Intelligence driven risk analytics as well as fast combination of sensor and geospatial data, can strengthen early warning systems. Big data, including from mobile phones, can help identify and locate vulnerable populations in risk hotspots who have been the hardest to reach so far, ensuring faster more targeted help after disasters.

Experience around the region has already shown the potential. In India, a combination of automated risk analytics, geospatial data and the digital identity system (the so called AADHARR system) have helped to identify and deliver assistance to millions of drought-affected subsistence farmers. But much more investment in needed to make technology an integral part of disaster risk response and resilience building.

Climate related disasters are likely to increase in Asia Pacific. This is our new climate reality. The Summit provides the perfect platform to make the commitments needed for helping communities and people to adapt to this reality before decades of hard-won development gains are washed away. Kaveh Zahedi is Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

Young people are right about climate change: It’s time to listen

limate change is not a far-away problem–it is causing huge damage

right now in Asia-Pacific and around the world. From air pollution choking many major cities, to more extreme heat and natural disasters, to one million species at risk, the urgent need for climate action is clear. We are all paying the price today, but unless we take action immediately to limit the impacts of climate change, it is young people who will be living with the ever-increasing consequences of global warming. So, it is no surprise that it is young people who are at the frontlines of efforts do something about it.

We cannot afford to ignore the voices of young people. We cannot afford to trivialize their demands. What they say matters.

Today, there 1.8 billion people in the world are between the ages of 10-24 years, and 1.2 billion of them are between 15-24 years. It’s not just that we need to listen to the voices of youth, it’s because the voices of youth matter. Young people can drive agendas. This is the most interconnected generation in history. And together, what they purchase determines what sells.

Young people are telling us we need to change. The world is on an unsustainable path, and as climate impacts increase, the

opportunities for today’s young people will diminish. They are demanding nothing short of a transformation of the economy to a green economy.

Political, business and civil society leaders in every country are taking notice. To ignore the voices of youth is to ignore the urgency with which we must act.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is convening the Climate Action Summit in September in New York to spark this transformation. The Secretary-General has made clear that we must value the voices and welcome to the global stage the young climate champions who have been setting the agenda and inspiring climate solutions.

That’s why I’m working with Secretary-General Guterres to convene the first-ever UN Youth Climate Summit in New York City on Saturday, September 21.

The Youth Climate Summit will feature a full day of programming that brings together young activists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and change-makers who are committed to combating climate change at the pace and scale needed to meet the challenge. It will be action oriented, and inclusive, with equitable representation of young leaders from all walks of life and every region of the globe.

More than 7,000 young people between the ages of 18 to 29 answered our call to apply to attend the Youth Climate Summit. While only slightly more than 500 can attend, an

effort has been made to ensure wide and inclusive representation. 100 young leaders from the Global South were awarded a UN sponsorship, or “Green Ticket”– funded, carbon-neutral travel to New York City – to participate in the Summit.

These outstanding young leaders have been selected based on their demonstrated commitment to addressing the climate crisis and advancing solutions.

Given the impacts of climate change in Asia-Pacific, including increased disaster risk, inequality and harm to the environment, and the leadership of young people in communities here – I’m pleased that several young people from the Asia-Pacific region have been selected to participate in the Summit in New York. I look forward to

joining the selected young climate leaders in this historic moment in September and hearing from them about potential solutions that can help meet the challenges posed by climate change. But their work, and our work, does not end there.

It is imperative that all of us – individuals, business leaders, heads of state – draw inspiration from these young leaders.

Secretary-General Guterres has called on world leaders to come to the Climate Action Summit with concrete plans, not beautiful speeches. Leaders would do well to hear the calls from young people to protect their communities today and safeguard their futures.

Businesses must step up and follow young entrepreneur’s lead in the transition to a low-carbon economy that provides inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

And everyone in civil society can join with young climate champions by following along on the Youth Summit livestream and making choices that have less harmful effects on the environment through ActNow.

I urge young people to continue taking positive climate action now and holding leaders, business and your communities to account. By doing so, you will continue to push us forward in this race we cannot afford to lose.Luis Alfonso de Alba is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Climate Action Summit




NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 2019 13


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Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad’s visit to Vietnam boosts Vietnam-Malaysia relations

ietnam and Malaysia formally established diplomatic relations in 1973. Over the

past 46 years, the traditional and multifaceted friendly relations between the two countries have been constantly strengthened and developed. The two countries are important members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and share common foreign policy goals such as respect for multilateralism. Both the South Asian countries are also important members of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Both countries regularly exchange delegations and conduct high-level contacts, contributing to strengthening good bilateral relations. A joint statement on the Vietnam-Malaysia strategic partnership framework was issued on the occasion of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visit to Malaysia in August 2015. The two countries adopted an action programme to implement the Vietnam-Malaysia strategic partnership in March 2017.

In August 2019, Malaysian Prime Minister undertook a two-day official visit to Vietnam the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc. During the visit, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuân Phúc. The two Prime Ministers discussed a wide range of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interests. Both sides noted with satisfaction that the

excellent Strategic Partnership between the two countries has been constantly bolstered on the basis of mutual trust and extensive co-operation in all areas, particularly economics, defence, security, agriculture and socio-cultural.

Malaysia and Vietnam pledged commitment for the early signing of an action programme to realize the bilateral strategic partnership for 2020 – 2025, with a focus on enhancing economic links, strategic cooperation in national defence and security, and partnership in marine cooperation, innovation, science, education and labour. Both PMs welcomed the discussion on the new Plan of Actions (POA) for the period of 2020 – 2025.

The two PMs also agreed to maintain frequent high-level contacts and increase discussions on strategic issues through the exchange of high-level visits, as well as regular exchanges among political parties, governmental and parliamentary delegations.

Malaysia and Vietnam also enhanced cooperation in the field of defence and security. he two sides agreed to promptly launch bilateral defence mechanisms, including a high-level committee on Defence Cooperation and naval consultations, while accelerating the signing of cooperation documents, including a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation, a MoU on the establishment of joint patrol and hotline at sea, a MoU on law cooperation, agreements on the prevention and control of human trafficking, and the transfer of sentenced persons. The two Prime Ministers agreed to increase bilateral

exchanges in defence through the prompt establishment of the High-Level Committee (HLC) on Defence Cooperation. Both sides agreed to hold the first meeting of the HLC on Defence Cooperation that will be hosted by Vietnam in 2019.

Regarding regional and global strategic and security issues of common concern, the Malaysian PM voiced his nation’s support for Vietnam as Chair of ASEAN in 2020 and as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in the 2020 – 2021 tenure. The two countries pledged closer collaboration with ASEAN to ensure peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea.

Vietnam and Malaysia share robust trade and economic relations. Bilateral trade between the two countries has reached US$11.5 billion – an estimated year on year rise of 13%. Malaysia is the eighth largest investor in Vietnam with nearly 600 projects worth over US$12 billion. In a joint statement, both the countries agreed to promote

the mutual import and export of each country’s products, including electrical and electronics, petroleum products, chemicals and chemical products, manufactures of metal, machinery, equipment and parts, agricultural produce, palm oil, halal products, seafood, as well as garments and textiles, and raise the total trade to reach $15 billion or higher by 2020.

The two Prime Ministers emphasised on investments in areas of high potential, such as oil and gas, information technology, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence, Industrial Revolution 4.0, wastewater treatment, skill training, logistics, smart agriculture, food industry (halal) and textiles.

Both sides encouraged investors to resolve any outstanding or arising business disputes in accordance with the receiving countries’ rules and regulations.

Perseverance paving the way to success

en fail much oftener from want of perseverance than from want of talent.

William CobbettIt becomes quite difficult to deal with situations especially at the time of adversity and despite our inherent strength to give a tough fight, back to the challenges coming our way, we often fail to win and give up because of augmented challenges. Giving up or quitting things does not mean that the person has not been trying or has been reluctant to do hard work. The reality is quite harsh to adopt as in this global era of multitasking and busy schedules, just working hard is not enough to climb the ladder of success. In order to reach our destinations and attain the heights of success, it is essential for individuals to adopt what could be termed as perseverance in place of hard work. Despite it being used interchangeably with hard work and determination, we must understand that equating these terms only hold the potential to limit their scope and disrupt their actualization in aiding human endeavours. In the words of Newt Gingrich,

‘Perseverance’ is the hard work one does after one get tired of doing the hard work we already did. Perseverance is nothing else then the not quitting attitude in a person. In the modern era of advancement and progress that is based on time-efficiency and short-attention span, the core element of a successful life could be conveniently glued to the quality of perseverance held by an individual.

A man possessing a deterministic spirit and a will to never quit what so ever the situation and circumstances in the life span throw at them is definitely hard to defeat. Perseverance serves to be the inner strength of an individual that in unity with hard work and commitments toward the goals drive the wheels of success with full confidence. When we search for commonalities among those who have been successful in their lives, the never giving up attitude is what connects the dots of ways leading to their success.

In the wake of existence, no one is ever to get a path full of roses. Even if they get so, the presence of thorns is inevitable. By cultivating the good of perseverance within, a person arms themselves to give a tough fight to the setbacks and barricades coming their way. Many a times a person is full of regret for giving up just before reaching the end milestone. At that time only one thought hovers over a person’s mind and that thought

is of despair and disappointment of quitting when the destination was so near. In that case, the person blessed with the quality of perseverance is the one who in actual aspect reaches its desired success location.

It is quite imperative that in lieu to align success in our life, one must cultivate the habit of persevering through adversities and stumbling blocks coming in our way of progression. Instead of throwing up the towel too soon, one must try to remain consistent and positive about our desires and goals, and it definitely will turn the page to success if we bar the self from giving up too prematurely. Despite the delay in success, the patience we hold and the hard work we continue to do is what account for perseverance in a person.

The continuous failure we are subjected to holds the negative potential to break our confidence and destabilize our mental strength to continue with same dedication.

But a person in possession of perseverance is sure to overcome their shortcomings and turn it into their strengths. So, in order to master success, one must keep on persevering unless we attain success in the same and this what in a nutshell represent the definitional characteristics of perseverance. It even helps a person to be exceptionally committed to their ambitions and their goals.

Perseverance not just aid us in attaining success but the quality has several added benefits that could make a person’s existence in this modern world quite satiating and enabling. Holding the potential of perseverance augments the person’s sense of self-worth and avowals the sense of pride. It brings us to harmony with the fact that it is definitely within our reach to mould our destination per our desires in the positive way. The commitment we show towards our ambitions is enhanced and enunciated through perseverance that in turn motivates the self to take an extra step in the direction of progress and fulfilment of goals. As we tend to persevere towards the goals, new and unexpected discoveries about the self and the world is certain to expand the arena of our knowledge.

Success has never been an easy asset to attain in life and this very realization is essential to drive our wheel of commitment and hard work to attain it through perseverance.



NEW DELHI TIMES

23 - 29 September 201914


Technology & Health

To join the animal welfare movementcontact [email protected],www.peopleforanimalsindia.org

◆ By Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

@ManekaGandhiBJP

F

A

Facebook to name first oversight panel members by year-endacebook said that it expects to name the first members of a new quasi-

independent oversight board by year-end.

The oversight panel is intended to rule on thorny content issues, such as when Facebook or Instagram posts constitute hate speech. It will be empowered to make binding rulings on whether posts or ads violate the company’s standards. Any other findings it makes will be considered “guidance” by Facebook.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to establish the board last November after Facebook came under intense scrutiny for failures to protect user privacy and for its inability to quickly and effectively remove disinformation, hate speech and malign influence campaigns on its platform.

“Facebook should not make so many important decisions about free expression and safety on our own,” he wrote at the time.

Critics call the oversight board a bid by Facebook to forestall regulation or even an eventual breakup. The company faces antitrust investigations by the Federal Trade

Commission, Congress and a group of State Attorneys General. “Facebook is attempting to normalize an approach to containing hate speech internally,” said Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook policy adviser and a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School. “If it can illustrate that this approach can work, it can pacify the public itch to regulate the business model behind Facebook.”

Luigi Zingales, a University of Chicago professor of finance, called the board’s creation “a clever move” that’s more about appearance than substance.

“It’s hard to imagine that this board will not be completely captured by Facebook,” said Zingales, who co-chaired a committee of more than two dozen prominent academics that published a report on how to rein in digital platforms. To avoid that, at least some of its members would need to be chosen by outsiders, he said.

The multinational board will eventually comprise 40 members, who will collectively decide a few dozen cases a year, company Executives told reporters in a conference

call. It will at first hear only cases initiated by Facebook but will begin hearing appeals initiated by users in the first half of 2020, the company said. It will get to work as soon as 11 members are named.

Priority cases will involve content that “threatens someone else’s voice, safety, privacy, dignity or equality” and affects a large number of people, Facebook said in a blog post. Experts say the panel will have a limited range for decision-making, however. Local laws or directives from repressive governments might clash with its rulings, and Facebook might heed them for business reasons.

“How to deal with authoritarian regimes is a deep issue for the platform, and for the world really,” said Harvard law student Evelyn Douek, an Australian expert on content moderation. Douek says the group’s charter, also released on September 17, should insulate board members from public pressure and Facebook’s commercial imperatives. But she believes the conditions under which members could be removed are still too vague.

The first few board members will be directly chosen by Facebook; they will then choose additional members. Facebook will also name the administrators of the trust that manages the Oversight Board and pays its members’ salaries.

Brent Harris, Facebook’s Director of Governance, told reporters the company had not yet decided how much board members would be paid. He did not respond when asked how many hours a week would be expected of them in the part-time job. Facebook expects panelists will include former judges, editors, publishers and journalists, he said.Credit : Associated Press (AP)


Similarities in reaction among animals and humans: Viewed through a new lens

re we the only ones who vote, drink, sleep around, eavesdrop on conversations?

Every animal does the same thing. So, why not see the world through a new lens and realise that all of us are the same. It will make it easier for you not to make them suffer, or tolerate people and decisions that make them suffer. The latest decision by the new President of Brazil, that the Amazon forests should be cut and housing/mining instituted there, will destroy not just thousands of species of animals, insects and native people, but bring the world much closer to the terrible end it deserves. One man can change the world for the worse. Why don’t you be the one person who changes it for the better – even if it is just in your own area.

* Chickens value social status and each group has a very strict power hierarchy. When roosters mate with females, according to a study done by Oxford University and printed in The American Naturalist, the hens selectively eject sperm, from their reproductive tracts, from roosters who are low in rank, making sure that they only bear chicks from superior ranking fathers rather than from low status ones.

Both sexes mate with multiple partners. Hens sometimes don't have a choice in mates. They prefer important males, but other roosters with lower status will force them — the females are half their size — to mate. Rather than attempt to fight off undesirable mates, hens have developed a more subtle way to reject them.

* Alcohol/ethanol consumption occurs in every human society that has access to fermentable raw materials. Chimpanzees drink alcohol too. The Royal Science Open Society scientists discovered that the chimps

in Guinea frequently drink fermented palm sap, a naturally-occurring alcohol, that human locals are also partial to. The chimps also use utensils to gather and drink this liquor, namely, crushed leaves they used as “sponges” to sop it up and move it to their mouths—often in such copious quantities that some of them actually get drunk.The slow loris ingests fermented nectar (3.8% ethanol content) from the Bertam palm. Green monkeys on St Kitts target tourist cocktails. However, like humans’ primates, are not attracted to, and rarely eat, over-ripe fruit (which contain higher levels of ethanol).

* People watch other people and this allows us to figure out who's nice and who's mean. Do dogs do the same? Scientists, Chijiiwaa, Kuroshimaa et al, tested 54 dogs that each watched their owners struggle to retrieve something from a container. The dogs were divided into three groups: helper, non-helper, and control.

In the helper group, in the presence of the dogs, the owner requested help from another person, who then held the container for him. In the non-helper group, the owner asked for help from a person, who then turned their back without helping. In the control group, the person helped without being asked for help.

After the interaction each offered a piece of food to the dog. Dogs chose food either from the helper, or the control person, but refused to take something from the nonhelper. The dogs' avoidance of someone who behaved negatively to the owner suggests that social eavesdropping is common to all species.

*According to raisingyourpaws.com, when humans are shocked, or extremely frightened, the hair on their arms and sometimes their neck literally stands on end. The same applies to felines. Adrenaline rush causes the phenomenon. Raised hackles in humans as well as in cats signify fear,

imminent aggression or shock. The same applies to dilated pupils. The human eye tends to expand involuntarily in extreme situations, just as it does in cats. Humans express self-satisfaction, pride or cockiness, by walking very erect and throwing their head back and thrusting the chin forward. The equivalent behaviour, typical to cats, is stalking or prancing around, head up and tail in the air.

* When a human male proposes, he offers a precious stone to his beloved. So does a penguin. According to Edinburgh zoo studies, pebbles are the most prized possession of Adelie penguins, equivalent to diamonds for humans. Adelie penguins use pebbles to make their nests and help keep their eggs afloat in the freezing water. Because they live on the frozen, barren Antartica coast, these are scarce. Penguins are notorious for stealing each other pebbles and fighting over them. During courtship, the male will present the female with a pebble as a gift. If the female accepts the generous gift, they mate for life.

But, like humans, female penguins, whether they are single or attached, will provide sex for stones, as the BBC recorded in Deep into the Wild series. The prostitution starts with the female penguin flirting with the male penguin. She will initiate a courtship ritual by joining him at his site and “head-bowing” to him. This is soon followed by copulation. After that, the female penguin will take a stone from his nesting site and return to her nest. Sometimes, she will come back for even more stones which the male will allow her to take.

* A study by psychologists in McGill University and the University of British Columbia, Canada, published in Nature Methods, shows that mice, like humans, express pain through facial expressions in the same way humans do.Scientists do their pain research on mice, which means subjecting them to terrible cruelty. Scientists have developed a Mouse Grimace Scale which shows that as the pain increases the mouse shows the same contortions of the face that humans show. Five facial features are scored: orbital tightening (eye closing), nose and cheek bulges and ear and whisker positions, according to the severity of the stimulus.

* Are humans the only ones that vote? Red deer of Eurasia live in large herds, either grazing or sitting down. Some deer are ready to move on before others are, but, research by biologists Conradt and Roper have noted that herds only move when 60 percent of the adults stand up — essentially voting with their feet. Even if a dominant individual is more experienced, and makes fewer mistakes than its underlings, herds typically favour democratic decisions over autocratic ones.

African buffalo also make group decisions about when and where to move. Researchers realized that what looked like random stretching is actually voting behaviour in which females indicate their travel preferences by standing up, staring in one direction and then lying back down.

"Only adult females vote, regardless of their social status within the herd," biologist David Sloan Wilson writes. The herd moves always in the direction of the majority gaze. “On days in which cows differ sharply in their direction of gaze, the herd tends to split and graze in separate patches for the night."



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Producer: “The Rookie” co-star’s misconduct claims unfounded

ctress Afton Williamson’s claims of misconduct against her on the set of

“The Rookie” weren’t substantiated by an independent investigator, according to the ABC drama series’ producer.

Production company, “Entertainment One” said the investigation led it to conclude no unlawful or inappropriate behaviour was committed by the co-workers accused by Williamson.

In early August, “The Rookie” co-star said she was quitting the show because of sexual harassment and racial discrimination she experienced during its freshman year last season.

The probe, which began in late June, involved some 400 hours of interviews and review of video and other evidence, Entertainment One said in a statement. The full report wasn’t released for privacy reasons, said the company known as “eOne”.

Williamson called the finding “heartbreaking” in a lengthy Instagram post, saying the results were the result of lies and a cover-up. She vowed to continue to work to improve

conditions for cast and crew on sets.

The Executive Producers, one of whom Williamson previously accused of mishandling her allegations, were found to have “addressed matters of which they were made aware promptly and in a fair and reasonable manner”, eOne said.

The company said it recognizes that people view situations through their own “experiences and perspectives”, adding that it regretted that “Ms. Williamson’s time on the series was not a positive one for her, and we respect her decision to move on to other projects”.

A separate statement from the Disney-owned network welcomed the probe’s completion.

“We are confident that eOne takes these matters seriously and that they will continue to look for the best ways to surface concerns and address complaints,” ABC and ABC Studios said in a joint statement.

The law firm of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp hired third-party EXTTI, a firm that investigates allegations of workplace misconduct and discrimination, to handle the probe, eOne said.

The Los Angeles-based crime drama, starring Nathan Fillion in the title role of a rookie police officer, returns September 29 for its second season.



National Book Awards list for translation has

global reach

A uthors from Asia, Africa and South America are among those on the

National Book Awards longlist for translated literature, a category started last year.

The 10 fiction and non-fiction works announced include the celebrated Polish author Olga Tokarczuk’s novel “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Among others cited are Brazilian journalist Eliane Brum’s non-fiction “The Collector of Leftover Souls”, translated from Portuguese by Diane Grosklaus Whitty, and Yoko Ogawa’s dystopian novel “The Memory Police”, translated from Japanese by Stephen Snyder. “Space Invaders”, by Chilean author-actress Nona Fernandez, was translated from Spanish by Natasha Wimmer, and Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga’s “The Barefoot Woman” was translated from French by Jordan Stump. Others on the longlist are Pajtim Statovci’s

“Crossing” translated from Finnish by David Hackston, Vigdis Hjorth’s “Will and Testament” translated from Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund, Khaled Khalifa’s “Death is Hard Work” translated from Arabic by Leri Price, Laszlo Krasznahorkai’s “Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming” translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet and Naja Marie Aidt’s memoir about the death of her son, “When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl’s Book” translated from Danish by Denise Newman.

Longlists for poetry, non-fiction and fiction will be announced in the coming days. The lists will be narrowed to five finalists on October 8. Winners will be announced November 20.

The awards are presented by the National Book Foundation.



NBCUniversal names streaming

service “Peacock”, to launch in 2020

omcast's NBCUniversal will name its upcoming streaming service

“Peacock”, offering a broad slate of original content, including “Dr. Death” starring Emmy and Golden Globe winner Alec Baldwin, the company said.

“Peacock”, which will also offer classic sitcoms like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”, is scheduled to launch in 2020, the NBCUniversal said. The company owns traditional television network NBC, whose logo features a peacock.

The service will compete with streaming giant Netflix and Walt Disney Co.'s upcoming “Disney+” streaming service as well as other digital subscription options, as traditional media companies seek to attract online viewers.

Details on pricing and distribution will be announced closer to launch, the media company said.

Reuters had reported in January that an ad-free version of the NBC service will be available for about the same price as other subscription video services.

“Peacock” will also have other shows such as a reboot of “Battlestar Galactica” and original comedy “Rutherford Falls”, the company said.



Defining moments of PM Modi’s life with

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Mann Bairagi”

T he fans of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi will be given another chance to

have a more magnified look into his life. Actor Akshay Kumar on Prime Minister Mr. Modi’s 69th birthday on September 17, wished him a happy birthday and unveiled Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Mahaveer Jain’s upcoming production “Mann Bairagi” that is based on the defining moments of PM Mr. Modi’s life.

The movie, likely to be released this winter, covers lesser known facts about the Prime Minister’s life. “He is a man dedicated to building our nation. We wanted to put forward that incident in his life when he was 17-18 which changed his entire perspective of existence,” said co-producer Mahaveer Jain.

B-Town shines with glamorous

stars gracing IIFA 2019

lia Bhatt starrer “Raazi” stole the night at one of the biggest award nights for

B-Towners, the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), bagging the best film award.

While Alia Bhatt bagged the Best Actor (Female) award for her impressive performance in “Raazi”, Ranveer Singh walked home with the Best Actor (Male) Award for his spectacular performance in “Padmaavat”.

Sriram Raghavan was extended the award for Best Director for Ayushmann Khurrana starrer “Andhadhun” that grabbed the award for Best Story at the IIFA night.

Hosted by Ayushmann Khurrana and his brother Aparshakti Khurrana, the event was organised at the N.S.C.I (National Sports Club Of India) at Worli, Mumbai and turned into a glamorous affair with the presence of big names of the industry, including Rekha, Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Madhuri Dixit, Shahid Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and others.


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Sex-abuse reports on rise; SafeSport Center seeks more money

he U.S. Center for SafeSport is fielding 55% more reports of sex abuse and

other misconduct in 2019 than it did last year, leading to an increasingly urgent debate over who should provide the lion’s share of money to an organization struggling to manage its caseload.

This week, the 2½-year-old center tasked with investigating sex-abuse claims in Olympic sports received a $1.3 million infusion from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, bringing the USOPC’s overall contribution to $7.4 million in 2019.

The country’s national governing bodies, which oversee the individual Olympic sports, have contributed $2.05 million for this year, and including a small government grant and other donations, the center will operate on $10.5 million in 2019.

Officials at the center worry that’s an untenable amount for an organization that is now receiving an average of 239 reports a month, compared with 154 during a typical month last year. Out of those, the SafeSport Center has 1,290 open cases, with 2,237 that have been closed. It has 18 investigators and lawyers (with four vacancies) on a staff of 37 (with six vacancies) to handle them. The center projects it will need to double its staff next year and triple it by 2023 to keep up with the work.

The stark numbers lend urgency to a fight over who should fund the center in the long term. The USOPC, which founded the center, is pushing the federal government to provide more than what it currently allots — a $2.2 million grant spread over three years, none of which can be used for investigations.

“I think it’s an ‘And’ question, not an ‘Or’ question,” said the USOCP CEO Sarah Hirshland, who has been lobbying lawmakers to provide government money to help.

Two senators, meanwhile, have proposed a bill that, in addition to adding oversight to the Olympic movement, would compel the USOPC and the NGBs to essentially double what they provide now, increasing the grants to a total of $20 million a year.

Nearly half of the 50 NGBs operate on annual budgets of $3 million or less, and though each NGB pays according to its size and, in extreme cases, the number of reports its sport has referred to the center, there is concern that neither the NGBs nor the USOPC can absorb big increases in their SafeSport budgets.

“The $20 million proposal would absolutely force us to make some difficult choices,” Hirshland said.

The USOPC brought in around $323 million in revenue in 2018, up from $183 million in ’17; the federation’s numbers spike in Olympic years and go down during non-Olympic years. It uses the money to support athletes in a number of ways - including training, insurance, prize money for winners of major

events and the NGB funding. Last year, administrative costs rose to more than 11% of total spending ($31.2 million) because of payments to two law firms that did work involving the sex-abuse scandal and a severance to the former CEO Scott Blackmun.

Hirshland and other leaders are pointing to the model that funds the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; the USADA received about $9.5 million of its $21 million in 2018 revenue from government, an additional $5.1 million from the USOPC and $6.7 million from “testing and other services,” according to its annual report.

“I think that makes sense, because we’re addressing societal issue, and government’s authority to protect and serve fits in really well in that area,” said Max Cobb, the CEO of the U.S. Biathlon, who heads up the NGB Council.

But the red tape the center had to go through to receive the $2.2 million, combined with the restrictions put on the money and uncertainty over the congressional appropriations process, gives pause to the new center’s CEO, Ju’Riese Colon, about relying too heavily on government funding.

“The USOPC and the NGBs must be invested in changing their sport culture, which means they must invest in the center,” Colon said, while adding that she’s not against receiving money from the government, as well. “While I appreciate people connecting us (to the USADA) because we’re certainly similar, the job and scope is so different, and I think the funding is going to have to be a lot different.”

When he and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., introduced the bill that calls for $20 million, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called it a more direct and dependable pathway for the center to receive the money than relying on government.

“Having a secure and stable source of funding is very important. It fortifies the independence and integrity” of the center, Blumenthal said.



New York wins WNBA lottery, gets No. 1 pick in 2020 drafthe New York Liberty will have the No. 1 pick in next year’s WNBA draft

for the first time in franchise history.

One of the original WNBA teams, the Liberty won the draft lottery. New York had the best odds of getting the No. 1 pick with a 44.2% chance.

“It’s awesome to be able to have that pick,” Liberty coach Katie Smith said. “We’re going to be able to add a really elite piece to what we already have. It’s a silver lining to a year where we battled and came up short. It’s something we can look towards the future and add a piece that will help us compete for a championship.”

New York had the No. 2 pick last year and took Asia Durr. It’s been rare for the Liberty to pick high in the draft with last year being the first time they had a top-three pick.

Dallas will pick second, Indiana third and Atlanta fourth.

The Fever had the second-best odds of getting the No.1 pick with a 27.6% chance.

“We’re excited about the outcome of the draft lottery and are confident that we will continue to build a championship franchise,”

said Tamika Catchings, Vice President of basketball operations for the Fever. “We look forward to adding a top talent to an already promising core group of players.”

Dallas had a 17.8% chance of picking first and Atlanta 10.4%. “We’re open to helping our team in a variety of ways,” Dallas coach Brian Agler said. “There’s some depth we’re looking at and it will be also be interesting to see who will come into the draft as an underclassman. We’re open to helping our team in a variety of ways by selecting a player in the lottery or trading the pick.”

The Wings have had the No. 2, 3 and 4 picks a few times when the franchise was in Detroit, Tulsa as well as Dallas, but still have never won the draft lottery. Oregon guard Sabrina Ionescu and Baylor forward Lauren Cox are among the leading prospects to be selected No. 1.



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