Apple and Google Team Up to ‘Contact Trace’ the Coronavirus

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, Science & Technology 0

The technology giants said they would embed a feature in iPhones and Android devices to enable users to track infected people they’d come close to.

In one of the most far-ranging attempts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, Apple and Google said they were building software into smartphones that would tell people if they were recently in contact with someone who was infected with it.

The technology giants said they were teaming up to release the tool within several months, building it into the operating systems of the billions of iPhones and Android devices around the world. That would enable the smartphones to constantly log other devices they come near, enabling what is known as “contact tracing” of the disease. People would opt in to use the tool and voluntarily report if they became infected.

The unlikely partnership between Google and Apple, fierce rivals who rarely pass up an opportunity to criticize each other, underscores the seriousness of the health crisis and the power of the two companies whose software runs almost every smartphone in the world. Apple and Google said their joint effort came together in just the last two weeks.

Their work could prove to be significant in slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Public-health authorities have said that improved tracking of infected people and their contacts could slow the pandemic, especially at the start of an outbreak, and such measures have been effective in places like South Korea that also conducted mass virus testing.

Yet two of the world’s largest tech companies harnessing virtually all of the smartphones on the planet to trace people’s connections raises questions about the reach these behemoths have into individuals’ lives and society.

“It could be a useful tool but it raises privacy issues,” said Dr. Mike Reid, an assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, who is helping San Francisco officials with contact tracing. “It’s not going to be the sole solution, but as part of a robust sophisticated response, it has a role to play.”

Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said on Twitter that the tool would help curb the virus’s spread “in a way that also respects transparency & consent.” Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief, also posted on Twitter that the tool has “strong controls and protections for user privacy.”

With the tool, people infected with the coronavirus would notify a public health app that they have it, which would then alert phones that had recently come into proximity with that person’s device. The companies would need to get public-health authorities to agree to link their app to the tool.

Privacy is a concern given that Google, in particular, has a checkered history of collecting people’s data for its online advertising business. The internet search company came under fire in 2018 after it said that disabling people’s location history on Android phones would not stop it from collecting location data.

Apple, which has been one of the biggest critics of Google’s collection of user data, has not built a significant business around using data to sell online advertising. Still, the company has access to a wealth of information about its users, from their location to their health.

There are already third-party tools for contact tracing, including from public health authorities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In March, the government of Singapore introduced a similar coronavirus contact-tracing app, called TraceTogether, that detects mobile phones that are nearby.

But given the number of iPhones and Android devices in use worldwide, Apple and Google said they were hoping to make tracing efforts by public health authorities more effective by reaching more people. They also said they would provide their underlying technology to the third-party apps to make them more reliable.

Daniel Weitzner, a principal research scientist at M.I.T.’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and who was one of those behind the school’s contract tracing app, said Google and Apple’s partnership will help health officials save time and resources in developing their own applications to track the virus’ spread.

One challenge for third-party apps is that they must run constantly — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — to be effective. Google said some Android smartphone manufacturers shut down those applications to save battery life.

Apple and Google said their tool would also constantly run in the background if people opt to use it, logging nearby devices through the short-range wireless technology Bluetooth. But it would eat up less battery life and be more reliable than third-party apps, they said.

Indiaspora launches a ChaloGive for COVID-19 online giving campaign

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

The non-profit organization, Indiaspora, announced the launch of an online initiative to raise funds for helping fight hunger among vulneratble populations in the United States and India.

The ChaloGive for COVID-19 online giving campaign has already raised $500,000 from leaders in the organization, according to a press release April 10, 2020, from the organization.

Organizers described it as a “grassroots” initiative through Indiaspora’s online giving platform ChaloGive.org. Contributions to ChaloGive.org will meet demand on the ground through beneficiary nonprofits Feeding America and Goonj in the United States and India, respectively, the organization announced.

Former Pepsi Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who serve on Feeding America’s Food Security Council and Board of Directors, respectively, have endorsed the fund drive, the press release said.

“We are facing an unprecedented situation due to Covid-19,” Indiaspora founder member Anand Rajaraman, a Silicon Valley-based serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist, is quoted saying in the press release. He and his wife Kaushie Adiseshan are the lead donors for the campaign.

“The drastic measures necessary to control this pandemic have created special challenges for vulnerable sections of society across the world, particularly in India and the US,” Rajaraman said.

Noting the “outpouring of support” from the Indian diaspora during this pandemic, Indiaspora said one of the most pressing and urgent challenges facing both the U.S. and India right now is hunger. It estimates some 37 million in the U.S. face food insecurity and in India some 140 million migrant workers have been displaced.

“While all eyes are on frontline hospitals, millions in America and across the globe suffer silently from a growing and equally alarming epidemic of food insecurity as the COVID-19 crisis threatens to push already struggling families deeper into poverty,” said Sejal Hathi, an Indiaspora Board member and physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Now more than ever is the time for communities like Indiaspora’s to come together and rise to this call to feed people in need. I’m so proud to witness exactly this commitment to seva.”

“Given the increasingly global world we are living in, India and its diaspora are in a unique and powerful position to help each other,” said Kris Gopalakrishnan, chairman of Axilor Ventures and a founder of IT services company Infosys, and also a founder member of Indiaspora.

“This crisis has made it even harder for those who were already struggling to survive,” said Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of Axilor Ventures and a founder of IT services company Infosys, who is also an Indiaspora Founders Circle member. “Given the increasingly global world we are living in, India and its diaspora are in a unique and powerful position to help each other.”

Contributions to ChaloGive.org will meet demand on the ground through beneficiary nonprofits Feeding America and Goonj in the United States and India, respectively.

Feeding America, which has been providing emergency food assistance to people facing hunger through its nationwide network of 200 food banks in America for more than 40 years, is responding to the new hunger crisis in the U.S. Every dollar to Feeding America secures 10 meals through the food bank network.

“The nation and our food bank network are facing challenges unlike anything we’ve seen in our organization’s history,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America. “We are truly grateful to Indiaspora for its support of Feeding America through the ChaloGive for COVID-19 campaign. During this time of uncertainty, the generous donations derived from this effort will help bring much-needed food and hope to countless families facing hunger across the U.S.”

In India, Goonj provides disaster relief, rehabilitation and community development with dignity. Through their Rahat Covid-19 initiative, given their already pan-India network and presence, Goonj has already initiated relief work of reaching food, dry ration and hygiene kits to displaced migrants in parts of fourteen states of India.

“Despite our extensive experience of working in disasters, the scale and still unfolding nature of this long-tailed disaster calls for massive resource mobilization for short-, mid- and long-term work,” said Anshu Gupta, Founder of Goonj and a Magsaysay Awardee. We are delighted to partner with Indiaspora on this campaign as an opportunity to engage the Indian-American community and our well wishers from across the world in supporting their fellow citizens in this difficult hour.”

Contributions given at ChaloGive.org will go directly toward these charities’ relief funds, and are fully tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers.

An additional USD $100,000 donated online by April 15 will be matched by Indiaspora’s members; thus, donors who give through the platform will have the opportunity to have their impact doubled.

Aggressive testing, contact tracing, cooked meals: How the Indian state of Kerala flattened its coronavirus curve

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

(From Washington Post)

For hours, the health worker ticked through a list of questions: How is your health? What is your state of mind? Are you running out of any food supplies? By the end of the afternoon, she had reached more than 50 people under coronavirus quarantine. Weeks earlier, that number was 200.

Sheeba K.M. was just one of more than 30,000 health workers in the Indian state of Kerala, part of the Communist state government’s robust response to the coronavirus pandemic. Other efforts include aggressive testing, intense contact tracing, instituting a longer quarantine, building thousands of shelters for migrant workers stranded by the sudden nationwide shutdown and distributing millions of cooked meals to those in need.

The measures appear to be paying off. Even though Kerala was the first state to report a coronavirus case in late January, the number of new cases in the first week of April dropped 30% from the previous week. With just two deaths, 34% of positive patients have recovered in the state, higher than elsewhere in India.

The success in Kerala could prove instructive for the Indian government, which has largely shut down the country to stop the spread of the contagion but continues to see the curve trend upward, with more than 6,700 confirmed cases and more than 200 deaths. Its challenges are plenty – from high population density to poor health care facilities – but experts say Kerala’s proactive measures like early detection and broad social support measures could serve as a model for the rest of the country.

“We hoped for the best but planned for the worst,” said K.K. Shailaja, the state’s health minister, while cautioning that the pandemic is not yet over in Kerala. “Now, the curve has flattened, but we cannot predict what will happen next week.”

Kerala’s approach was effective because it was “both strict and humane,” said Shahid Jameel, a virologist and infectious disease expert.

“Aggressive testing, isolating, tracing and treating – those are ways of containing an outbreak,” said Jameel, who is also the CEO of Wellcome Trust, a health research foundation.

Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization’s representative in India, attributed Kerala’s “prompt response” to its past “experience and investment” in emergency preparedness and pointed to measures such as district monitoring, risk communication and community engagement.

The state faced a potentially disastrous challenge: a disproportionately high number of foreign arrivals. Popular for its tranquil backwaters and health retreats, the coastal state receives more than 1 million foreign tourists a year. One-sixth of its 33 million citizens are expatriates, and hundreds of its students study in China.

Screening at airports was tightened, and travelers from nine countries – including coronavirus hotspots such as Iran and South Korea – were required to quarantine at home starting on Feb. 10, two weeks before India put similar restrictions into place. In one instance, more than a dozen foreign nationals were removed from a flight before takeoff because they had not completed their isolation period. Temporary quarantine shelters were established to accommodate tourists and other nonresidents.

Still, some slipped through. The arrival of a local couple from Italy in the last week of February who did not report to health officials caused an alarm. By the time they were detected, the couple had attended several social gatherings and traveled widely. Nearly 900 primary and secondary contacts were traced and isolated.

Robin Thomas, 34, the son-in-law of the couple who returned from Italy, tested positive for coronavirus, as did his wife and his wife’s grandparents. He said apart from the “excellent treatment” he received, the medical staff also helped them overcome stigma.

“People were blaming us on Facebook and WhatsApp,” he said. “The counselors called us over the phone regularly and gave us confidence.

Shailaja, the health minister, said six states had reached out to Kerala for advice. But it may not be easy to replicate Kerala’s lessons elsewhere in India.

In more than 30 years of Communist rule, the state has invested heavily in public education and universal health care. Kerala has the highest literacy rate and benefits from the best-performing public health system in the country. It tops India’s rankings on neonatal mortality, birth immunizations and the availability of specialists at primary care facilities.

The strength of its health care system allowed it to follow the World Health Organization’s recommendation on aggressive testing, even as central agencies maintained that mass testing was not feasible in a country like India. Through the first week of April, Kerala had conducted more than 13,000 tests, accounting for 10% of all tests done across India. By comparison, Andhra Pradesh, a larger state with a similar number of cases, had carried out nearly 6,000 tests while Tamil Nadu, with more than double the number of cases, had done more than 8,000 tests.

The state took the lead in deploying rapid testing kits, which officials say they continue to use in hotspots to check community spread. This week, Kerala began walk-in testing facilities, which reduce the need for protective gears for health workers.

Kerala also announced an economic package worth $2.6 billion to fight the pandemic days before the central government instituted a harsh lockdown that left many states scrambling. It delivered uncooked lunches to schoolchildren, liaised with service providers to increase network capacity for Internet at homes and promised two months of advance pension.

But there have also been some blips. The state was criticized for going ahead with a local festival in early March that drew thousands of people. Amar Fettle, the state officer responsible for health emergencies, said there was still room for improvement on aspects like social distancing in markets, cough hygiene and lockdown implementation.

Thomas and his wife have recovered, as have his wife’s elderly grandparents – 88 and 93 – who were discharged this week.

“We were very worried about them and thought they may not survive,” Thomas said. “Even when grandfather had a heart attack, the doctors told us they will keep trying.”

Fascinating story of the connection between Hydroxychloroquine, British India, Srirangapatna and Gin & Tonic

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, India, Politics 0

As most of us are already aware, Hydroxychloroquine has taken the world by storm. Every newspaper is talking about it, and all countries are requesting India to supply it.

Now, a curious person might wonder why and how this chemical composition is so deeply entrenched in India, and is there any history behind it.

Well, there is an interesting history behind it which goes all the way to Tipu Sultan’s defeat. In 1799, when Tipu was defeated by the British, the whole of Mysore Kingdom with Srirangapatnam as Tipu’s capital, came under British control. For the next few days, the British soldiers had a great time celebrating their victory, but within weeks, many started feeling sick due to Malaria, because Srirangapatnam was a highly marshy area with severe mosquito trouble.

The local Indian population had over the centuries, developed self immunity, and also all the spicy food habits helped to an extent. Whereas the British soldiers and officers who were suddenly exposed to harsh Indian conditions, started bearing the brunt.

To quickly overcome the mosquito menace, the British Army immediately shifted their station from Srirangapatnam to Bangalore (by establishing the Bangalore Cantonment region), which was a welcome change, especially due to cool weather, which the Brits were gavely missing ever since they had left their shores. But the malaria problem still persisted because Bangalore was also no exception to mosquitoes.

Around the same time, European scientists had discovered a chemical composition called “Quinine” which could be used to treat malaria, and was slowly gaining prominence, but it was yet to be extensively tested at large scale. This malaria crisis among British Army came at an opportune time, and thus Quinine was imported in bulk by the Army and distributed to all their soldiers, who were instructed to take regular dosages (even to healthy soldiers) so that they could build immunity. This was followed up in all other British stations throughout India, because every region in India had malaria problem to some extent.

But there was a small problem. Although sick soldiers quickly recovered, many more soldiers who were exposed to harsh conditions of tropical India continued to become sick, because it was later found that they were not taking dosages of Quinine. Why? Because it was very bitter!! So, by avoiding the bitter Quinine, British soldiers stationed in India were lagging behind on their immunity, thereby making themselves vulnerable to Malaria in the tropical regions of India.

That’s when all the top British officers and scientists started experimenting ways to persuade their soldiers to strictly take these dosages, and during their experiments, they found that the bitter Quinine mixed with Juniper based liquor, actually turned somewhat into a sweet flavor. That’s because the molecular structure of the final solution was such that it would almost completely curtail the bitterness of Quinine.

That juniper based liquor was Gin. And the Gin mixed with Quinine was called “Gin & Tonic”, which immediately became an instant hit among British soldiers.

The same British soldiers who were ready to even risk their lives but couldn’t stand the bitterness of Quinine, started swearing by it daily when they mixed it with Gin. In fact, the Army even started issuing few bottles of Gin along with “tonic water” (Quinine) as part of their monthly ration, so that soldiers could themselves prepare Gin & Tonic and consume them everyday to build immunity.

To cater to the growing demand of gin & other forms of liquor among British soldiers, the British East India company built several local breweries in and around Bengaluru, which could then be transported to all other parts of India. And that’s how, due to innumerable breweries and liquor distillation factories, Bengaluru had already become the pub capital of India way back during British times itself. Eventually, most of these breweries were purchased from British organizations after Indian independence, by none other than Vittal Mallya (Vijay Mallya’s father), who then led the consortium under the group named United Breweries headquartered in Bengaluru.

Coming back to the topic, that’s how Gin & Tonic became a popular cocktail and is still a popular drink even today. The Quinine, which was called Tonic (without gin), was widely prescribed by Doctors as well, for patients who needed cure for fever or any infection. Whenever someone in a typical Indian village fell sick, the most common advice given by his neighbors was “Visit the doctor and get some tonic”. Over time, the tonic word was so overused that became a reference to any medicine in general. So, that’s how the word “Tonic”, became a colloquial word for “Western medicine” in India.

Over the years, Quinine was developed further into many of its variants and derivatives and widely prescribed by Indian doctors. One such descendent of Quinine, called Hydroxychloroquine, eventually became the standardized cure for malaria because it has relatively lesser side effects compared to its predecessors, and is now suddenly the most sought after drug in the world today.

And that’s how, a simple peek into the history of Hydroxychloroquine takes us all the way back to Tipu’s defeat, mosquito menace, liquor rationing, colorful cocktails, tonics and medicinal cures.]

If HCQ Is Really A ‘Gamechanger’, India Musn’t Export It

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, Health 0

Winston Churchill once said that “gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” Now, Churchill himself mostly drank whisky – 3-4 ounces at 11 am, teatime and bedtime. This strict health regimen was accompanied by some champagne, wine and brandy to wash down lunch and dinner. So, what made Churchill speak so glowingly about G&T?

The answer lies in what tonic used to contain in those days – it was a powder extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree called quinine. The powder not only treated malaria – that great scourge of the Indian colony – but also helped prevent it. But it was so bitter that the British officials began mixing it with soda and sugar, giving birth to ‘tonic’. Embellished with an ounce or two of gin, it prevented malaria and saved thousands of lives.

Now, an advanced synthetic version of the same malaria drug, called hydroxychloroquine or HCQ, could end up saving thousands of lives in the time of COVID-19. A few small studies done in France and China where coronavirus patients were given HCQ showed a significant improvement in a large number of them. Although two recent studies have challenged these claims, HCQ is being used widely by doctors across the world to fight the coronavirus. France allowed it for very sick patients, while the US FDA has allowed doctors to give it to hospitalised patients if they think it is needed.

The hydroxychloroquine drug is being tested on at least 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York

Since the world and their uncle has been googling furiously ever since COVID-19 became a global pandemic, HCQ has disappeared from most markets. The drug is used not just for malaria but also as regular treatment for auto-immune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. India usually consumes 20 lakh pills every month to treat these three diseases. Ever since people got to know that HCQ might help fight the novel coronavirus, they began hoarding the drug, leading to shortages for people who need it right now.

That is one reason why India banned the export of HCQ on March 25. This came as a big blow to US President Donald Trump, who has been championing the drug as a ‘gamechanger’. India produces 70 percent of the world’s HCQ and accounts for 47 percent of what is sold in the USA. So when Trump learned that India had stopped all HCQ exports, he threatened to ‘retaliate’. The very next day, India lifted the ban, allowing the drug to be sold to our neighbours and to a few badly affected countries. The US, with the highest number of COVID-positive cases in the world, clearly makes it to that list.

The US has already stockpiled 31 million doses of HCQ of 200 mg each. But how many people will that cover? The early trials in France used three pills a day for 10 days for each patient, or a total of 30 pills per person. A randomized control trial in Wuhan involved giving 2 pills a day for 5 days, or 10 pills per patient. China’s multicentre collaboration group recommends a higher dose of a total of a 100 pill-equivalents to COVID-19 patients with pneumonia. Other trials recommend 14 pills to be give over two weeks.

Although there is no clear consensus on what the dosage should be, if one takes as the average required dose the relatively conservative 14 pills per patient regimen, the US can cover about 2.2 million people with the HCQ it currently has in its stockpile. That is just 0.7 percent of its population, which is hardly anything considering that various models suggest that over 150 million Americans, or nearly half of the country’s population, could catch the virus this year. So the US needs to import a whole lot more of HCQ from India.

How much can we export? Indian companies – IPCA labs, Zydus Cadila, Wallace Pharma among others – have the capacity to produce 20 crore pills every month. Although these companies say they can ramp up their capacities to 35 crore pills by end of May, it is easier said than done in the time of such supply-chain disruptions.

News reports suggest that the Modi government intends to keep a stock of 10-crore pills, and allow the rest to be exported. If we take a 14-pill regimen per person, India will be able to cover 71 lakh people with the pills in its stock. That is just about 0.5 percent of our population. If the US were to import 40 percent of the remaining 10 crore pills, it would end up with 71 million doses in its stock. That will help it cover 1.5 percent of its population. That means Americans could end up with three times the coverage with a drug that is mostly manufactured in our country.

One could argue that India doesn’t have that many coronavirus patients and therefore, we don’t need to keep so much HCQ with us. One could also argue that the idea that HCQ could prevent and cure COVID-19 is more about hope than real scientific evidence. So if Indian companies can make good money from Trump’s idiosyncratic optimism about HCQ and a few test studies, then why stop it?

The point is that the entire game of fighting the coronavirus is about anticipating the future and being prepared for it. HCQ could well turn out to be the gamechanger Trump believes it to be. For a country like India, which is short of hospital beds, ICU facilities and ventilators, there is no conscionable ground to export HCQ till we have built a stockpile that can cover a significant part of our population. The US wouldn’t have thought twice before banning HCQ exports if it were the world’s largest producer of the drug. After all, one’s own citizens must come first before we start talking about cooperation between nations.

With Mukesh Ambani at the Top, India Now Has 101 Billionaires

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy 0

With Mukesh Ambani at the top, India now has 101 billionaires, according to new data released by Forbes magazine. According to the 34th annual world’s billionaires list, in which Forbes ranks the wealthiest individuals globally, there are 2,095 billionaires on the 2020 ranking, down from 2,153 in 2019.

The total combined net worth of this year’s billionaires is $8 trillion, down from $8.7 trillion in 2020. 267 people dropped off this year’s list and a record 1,062 individuals have seen a drop in their fortunes, both reflective of the turbulent markets and the coronavirus pandemic.

Approximately 70% of the list is made up of self-made billionaires. India’s Mukesh Ambani is ranked #21 richest in the world with $36.8 billion.

Forbes released its 34th annual world’s billionaires list, which ranks the wealthiest individuals globally. Approximately 70% of the list is made up of self-made billionaires. India’s Mukesh Ambani is ranked #21 richest in the world with $36.8 billion.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, some of the world’s wealthiest are serving as agents of change and taking action to reinvent their businesses to aid in the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, Forbes said in a statement.

Billionaires like tech tycoon Bill Gates; Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom; Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and a host of others are using their financial resources to help combat the health crisis and boost the economy.

There are 2,095 billionaires on the 2020 ranking, down from 2,153 in 2019. The total combined net worth of this year’s billionaires is $8 trillion, down from $8.7 trillion in 2020. 267 people dropped off this year’s list and a record 1,062 individuals have seen a drop in their fortunes, both reflective of the turbulent markets and the coronavirus pandemic.

“The world’s richest are not immune to the devastating impact of the coronavirus,” said Kerry A. Dolan, Assistant Managing Editor of Wealth, Forbes. “The drop in the number of billionaires this year reflects the economic impact the pandemic is already having.”

To view the full list, visit www.forbes.com/billionaires.

Centi-billionaire Jeff Bezos maintains the top spot on this year’s ranking, for the third consecutive year, despite his net worth plunging by $18 billion. The Amazon CEO is valued at $113 billion, down from $131 billion last year. The decrease in his net worth is primarily due to his recent divorce.

Bill Gates remains in the No. 2 position with a fortune of $98 billion, up $1.5 billion from last year. Bernard Arnault of LVMH moves up on this year’s ranking and debuts in the top three, as the third-wealthiest person in the world, after Warren Buffett’s fortune fell by $15 billion. Buffett (No. 4) is valued at $67.5 billion, down from $82.5 from last year.

Rounding out the top five is Larry Ellison, founder, chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Oracle Corporation. While the software executive moves up on the ranking, his fortune is down $3.5 billion this year, to $59 billion.

There are 178 billionaires who made this list for the first time. Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, debuts on the list as Zoom gains mass popularity while many companies are shifting to a remote workforce.

The richest newcomer is Julia Koch, who inherited a 42% stake in Koch Industries from her late husband, David, who died last year. Her $38.2 billion fortune puts her at No. 18 on the ranking, tied with her brother-in-law, Charles Koch. Julia’s inheritance makes her the third richest woman in the world, after Walmart’s Alice Walton and L’Oréal’s Francoise Bettencourt Meyers. Another notable newcomer: MacKenzie Bezos, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, who lands at No. 22 on the list with a total net worth of $36 billion.

Approximately 70% of the list is made up of self-made billionaires. Those 1,457 listers are people who have built a company or established a fortune on their own. There are a total of 241 women on the 2020 list, including seven who share their fortunes with their husband, child or sibling.

Regionally, Asia-Pacific boasts the most billionaires, with 778, followed by the United States with 614 and Europe with 511. By country, the U.S. leads with the greatest number of billionaires, with 614 (up from 607 last year), followed by China with 389 (up from 324 last year); Germany with 107 (down from 114), India with 102 (down from 106) and Russia with 99 (up from 98).

President Trump’s net worth has plunged $1 billion in less than a month. As of March 1, Forbes valued President Donald Trump’s net worth at $3.1 billion. The markets took a turn and reporters went back to work to approximate how much the coronavirus affected the president’s fortune. Trump’s newly estimated fortune is now $2.1 billion, bringing him to No. 1001 on this year’s ranking, down from No. 715 last year.

“For the first time in our 103 years, the Forbes editorial team, sheltering-at-home around the world, produced this magazine remotely,” said Randall Lane, Chief Content Officer, Forbes. “It’s now a piece of history, and an instant classic, featuring five consecutive covers—the faces of business leaders who are using the coronavirus crisis to reinvent themselves, their companies or the world.”

Methodology

The Forbes Billionaires list is a snapshot in time of wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from March 18, 2020. Forbes lists individuals rather than multi-generational families who share large fortunes, though we include wealth belonging to a billionaire’s spouse and children if that person is the founder of the fortune. In some cases, siblings and couples are listed together if the ownership breakdown among them isn’t clear, however they still must be worth on average a minimum of $1 billion apiece to make the cut.

Here are India’s 101 billionaires as ranked globally by Forbes:

# 21: Mukesh Ambani: $36.8 billion

#78: Radhakrishnan Damani: $13.8 billion

#103: Shiv Nadar: $11.9 billion

#129: Uday Kotak: $10.4 billion

#155: Gautam Adani: $8.9 billion

#157: Sunil Mittal & Family: $8.8 billion

#165: Cyrus Poonawalaa: $8.2 billion

#185: Kumar Birla: $7.6 billion

#196: Lakshmi Mittal: $7.4 billion

#253: Azim Premji: $6.1 billion

#253: Dilip Sanghvi: $6.1 billion

#268: Benu Gopal Banyur: $5.9 billion

#320: Kuldip Singh & Gurbachan Singh Dhingra: $5.1 billion

#320: Nusli Walia: $5.1 billion

#349 Savitri Jindal & Family: $4.8 billion

#426: Bajaj Brothers: $4.2 billion

#484: Rahul Bajaj: $3.8 billion

#494: Kushal Pal Singh: $3.7 billion

#538: Hasmukh Chudgar: $3.5 billion

#538: Muralidivi & Family: $3.5 billion

#538: M.A. Yusuff Ali: $3.5 billion

#565 Kapil & Rahul Bhatia: $3.4 billion

#565: Mahendra Choski & Family: $3.4 billion

#590: Vikram Lal: $3.3 billion

#648: Anil Agarwal & Family: $3.1 billion

#648: Karsanbhai Patel: $3.1 billion

#648: Abhay Vakil & Family: $3.1 billion

#712: Pankaj Patel: $2.9 billion

#764: Chandru Raheja: $2.7 billion

$804: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: $2.6 billion

#804: Pawan Munjal & Family: $2.6 billion

#836: Ravi Pillai: $2.5 billion

#908: Vivek Chand Burman: $2.3 billion

#908: Ravi Jaipuria: $2.3 billion

#945: Micky Jagtiani: $2.2 billion

$945: Shashi & Ravi Raia: $2.2 billion

#945: Arvind Tiku: $2.2 billion

#1001: Vinod & Anil Raigupta: $2.1 billion

#1063: Madhukar Parekh: $2 billion

#1135: Smita Crishna-Godrej: $.9 billion

#1135: Jamshyd Godrej: $1.9 billion

#1135: Nadir Godrej: $1.9 billion

#1135: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: $1.9 billion

#1135: N.R. Narayana Murthy: $1.9 billion

#1135: Rishad Naoroji: $1.9 billion

#1196: Anand Burman: $1.8 billion

#1196: Senapathy Gopalkrishnan: $1.8 billion

#1196: Mangal Prabhat Lodha: $1.8 billion

#1196: Vikas Oberoi: $1.8 billion

#1196: Byju Raveendran: $1.8 billion

#1196: Leena Tewari: $1.8 billion

#1267: Baba Kalyani: $1.7 billion

#1267: Samir Mehta: $1.7 billion

#1267: Sudhir Mehta: $1.7 billion

#1267: Ajay Piramal: $1.7 billion

#1267: Mahendra Prasad: $1.7 billion

#1335: Kalanithi Maran: $1.6 billion

#1335: Harsh Mariwala: $1.6 billion

#1335: P.P. Reddy: $1.6 billion

#1335: P.V. Krishna Reddy: $1.6 billion

#1335: Jitendra Vurwani: $1.6 billion

#1415: Harindarpal Banga: $1.5 billion

#1415: Abhay Firodia: $1.5 billion

#1415: Harsh Hoenka: $1.5 billion

#1415: Ranjani Pai: $1.5 billion

#1415: G. Rajendran: $1.5 billion

#1513: Sanjiv Goenka: $1.4 billion

#1513: Nandan Nilekani: $1.4 billion

#1513: Ajay Prakash: $1.4 billion

#1513: Nandrkumar Parekh: $1.4 billion

#1513: P.V. Rampal Reddy: $1.4 billion

#1613: Rajendra Agarwal: $1.3 billion

#1613: Banwarilal Bawri: $1.3 billion

#1613: Girdharlal Bawri: $1.3 billion

#1613: Amit Burman: $1.3 billion

#1613: Niranjan Hiranandani: $1.3 billion

#1613: Kishore Mariwala: $1.3 billion

#1613: Lachhman Das Mittal: $1.3 billion

#1613: Subhash Runwal: $1.3 billion

#613: Sunny Varkey: $1.3 billion

#1613: Shamsheer Vayalil: $1.3 billion

#1730: Sachin Bansal: $1.2 billion

#1730: Sanjeev Bikhchandani: $1.2 billion

#1739: K. Dinesh: $1.2 billion

#1730: T.S.Kalyanaraman: $1.2 billion

#1739: Hemandra Kthari: $1.2 billion

#1730: Anand Mahendra: $1.2 billion

#1739: Sushil Kumar Pareek: $1.2billion

#1730: Bhadresh Shah: $1.2 billion

#1730: Basudeo Singh: $1.2 billion

#1730: Salil Singhal: $1.2 billion

#1730: Radha Vembu: $1.2 billion

#1851: Archana Balakrishna: $1.1 billion

#1851: Bimy Bansal: $1.1 billion

#1851 Sandeep Engineer: $1.1 billion

#1851: Mofatraj Munot: $1.1 billion

#1851L Arvind Poddar: $1.1 billion

#1851: S.D. Shibulal: $1.1 billion

#1990: Achal Bakeri: $1 billion.

India asks US to extend H-1B, other visas of citizens stranded over Covid-19

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, Travel 0

Following the sharp economic downturn and suspension of business operations triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of US firms employing H-1B visa holders have laid off numerous employees.

If an employer terminates the contract of H-1B visa holders, the employees need to find new employment within 60 days to retain the H-1B status or face the prospect of being deported to their home countries. This existing rule has exacerbated the problems of H-1B visa holders who have been laid off.

Several reports in the US media have cited Indian H-1B visa holders as expressing concerns that it will be virtually impossible for them to find new jobs if they are laid off, given the rapidly slowing economy.

The Indian government has asked the US to extend the validity of visas, including H-1B and other types of visas, held by Indian nationals who have been hit by the Covid-19-related economic slump, people familiar with developments said on Friday.

A petition on the White House website is requesting the US administration to extend the 60-day period to 180 days to protect H-1B workers in these difficult times. The petition further states: “Most H-1B workers are from India and cannot travel home with children who are US citizens as many nations [have] announced an entry ban, including India.”

It adds: “The Covid-19 situation is getting worse with massive lay-offs expected. The economic conditions may have a significant impact on H-1B workers.”

The petition has nearly 49,000 signatures but will get a response from the White House only if it reaches 100,000 signatures by April 18.

The Indian side is hopeful the US administration will step in to help H-1B visa holders.

The H-1B programme is a non-immigrant work visa that allows American employers to hire foreign workers for specialist jobs, and Indians are the largest beneficiary of the programme.

Foreign secretary Harsh Shringla took up the matter during his telephone conversation with US deputy secretary of state Stephen Biegun on Wednesday, when the two sides also discussed ways to enhance cooperation to counter the pandemic and ensure the availability of essential medicines and equipment.

“We have been in touch with the US government, requesting them to extend the validity of visas of Indian nationals – H-1B and other types of visas – who are stranded in the US due to the pandemic,” said one of the people cited above, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We are closely monitoring related developments,” the person added, without giving details.

Falling Oil demand and historically low prizes lead to deal to cut oil production

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy 0

Oil prices dropped on Friday as traders feared that an Opec deal to slash global supplies by 10% would not offset a historic drop in demand due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The price of Brent crude fell nearly 2.5% to $31.82 per barrel on Friday last week, despite news that the oil cartel and allies – known as Opec+ – had reached a deal that would end a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that threatened to flood the market with more oil than the world could use.

Mexico initially cast some doubt over Opec’s plans, after apparently refusing to sign up to its share of cuts, which would have been 400,000 barrels per day (bpd). The country instead offered to cut 100,000 bpd.

The country signaled on Friday that the US may be willing to make further cuts to its production in order to allow Mexico to make less stringent reductions. Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that US president Donald Trump had agreed to help out by cutting additional US output.

Major oil-producing nations collectively called the OPEC+, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, finally came to terms and agreed to cut oil production by 10 million barrels a day — equivalent to 10% of global oil supply — in May and June. Mexico had held out on the agreement on Thursday, but an intervention by the US resolved the standoff.

Crude oil prices have fallen by over 50% since the turn of the year, straining the economy of oil-producing countries and those invested in them. That was largely due to the coronavirus crisis in China and a standoff between Russia and Saudi Arabia — the former walked out of a planned production cut, triggering a price war. Then the pandemic spread around the world, sinking the demand for oil, even as Russia and Saudi Arabia were pushing cheap oil into the market. But now, pushed by the US, also a major oil producer, an agreement has been reached.

The agreement between OPEC and partner countries aims to cut 10 million barrels per day until July, then 8 million barrels per day through the end of the year, and 6 million a day for 16 months beginning in 2021, reports Associated Press. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he had agreed with US President Donald Trump that the US will compensate what Mexico cannot add to the proposed cuts.

India Center Foundation Launches Arts Resiliency Fund for South Asian Artists Affected by COVID-19

April 12, 2020 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, Health 0

The Indian American non-profit arts organization India Center Foundation, in partnership with MELA Arts Connect, April 6 announced the formation of The South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund, a grant program for South Asian artists and arts workers in the U.S. in the fields of the performing arts, film, visual arts or literature who have been impacted by the economic fallout of COVID-19 due to postponed or canceled performances, events or exhibitions.

ICF will provide launch funding of $20,000 towards this initiative, according to a press release. The fund will be co-managed by MAC and supported by a crowdfunding campaign, via a GoFundMe page, as well as multiple live streaming experiences. With the community’s support to reach the targeted goal of $500,000, the fund will be able to provide grants to hundreds of arts workers around the country.

In an ongoing survey about the economic impact of the coronavirus on the arts sector, Americans for the Arts has captured a crippling loss of more than $114 million as of April 4, 2020. “And the situation is only going to get worse, before it gets better,” said Raoul Bhavnani, Indian American co-founder of ICF. “Communities count on the arts to rally around, to gather and to find connection, especially in times of crisis, and the South Asian community is no different,” he said. “With necessary physical distancing in place for the foreseeable future, the arts community — artists, producers, agents, managers, administrators, technicians — are unable to perform or produce their work for audiences and are losing their livelihoods. Losses will only continue to mount unless we choose to support artists NOW, and we hope individuals, corporations and other arts organizations will join us in this critical endeavor.”

The fund will provide support for artists and arts personnel in the U.S. through project grants on a rolling basis for the development of work, particularly during the ongoing pandemic, the release said.

Examples of such projects are:

Creation of music, dance, theater, film, visual arts or literature projects (ongoing or new)
Research for development of music, dance, theater, film or visual arts projects (ongoing or new)
Strategic planning by a manager or agent for an artist
Content creation for project deployment
Creation of resources for artists to support careers in the arts.

Eligible applicants are United States-based South Asian arts workers in the performing arts, film, visual arts or literature who can demonstrate loss of income because of canceled or postponed engagements due to COVID-19.

AAPI Urges President Trump to enhance the existing national registry of COVID-19 recovered patients to collect their convalescent plasma

April 11, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, Politics, U.S. 0

In its efforts to help patients and medical professionals across the nation to receive the required support, training and supplies to protect and heal those infected with the deadly COVID-19 virus that continues to impact the entire nation, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the largest ethnic medical organization in the United States, is urging President Donald Trump and his Administration “to enhance the existing national registry of COVID-19 recovered patients to collect their convalescent plasma, support the creation of supply chain and implementation process in the EARLY treatment of patients infected with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presenting with hypoxia.”

The U.S. has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic after reported cases surpassed those officially reported by China. Since the novel coronavirus called SARSCoV-2 was first detected in the U.S. on Jan. 20, it has spread to at least half a million people in the U.S., across all 50 states, and taking the lives of over 16,000 people.

In a letter dated April 9^th and signed by Dr. Suresh Reddy, President of AAPI and Dr. Lokesh Edara, Chairman on AAPI’s Adhoc Committee, representing the nearly 100,000 Physicians of Indian Origin in the United States. AAPI leaders while thanking President Trump “for guiding the FDA in launching a national effort to bring blood-related therapies for COVID-19 patients in the most expedited manner,” they reiterated the studies done on COVID-19 cases that have shown benefits of using convalescent plasma from recovered patients in combating viral infections.

In addition to the entire AAPI Executive Team, others who are signatory to the Letter included, Dr. Anith Guduri, Sub Editor; Dr. Madhavi Gorusu, Chair on AAPI Covid Plasma Donation Task Force; Dr. Rupak Parikh, CO-Chair of AAPI Covid Plasma Drive; Dr. Purvi Parikh, CO-Chair of AAPI Covid Plasma Drive; Dr. Amit Charkrabarty, CO-Chair of AAPI Covid Plasma Drive; and, Dr. Deeptha Nedunchezian, Chair, AAPI’s Education Committee.

Dr. Suresh Reddy, President of AAPI, who led AAPI's Expedition to Antarctica

“While COVID-19 continues to disrupt life around the globe, AAPI is committed to helping its tens of thousands of members across the US and others across the globe, as concerned physicians witnessing the growing COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our society, healthcare system and economy, AAPI has launched the Plasma Drive from patients who have been cured of COVID-19 and are now with no Corona-virus related symptoms for at least the past two weeks,” Dr. Suresh Reddy, President of AAPI, announced here.

“AAPI, would like to join your efforts in helping patients recover from this deadly illness. We would like to emphasize the benefit of giving convalescent plasma to COVID-19 patients at an EARLY stage before the onset of hypoxia and potentially before intubation at the approval of doctor and the patient being treated,” Dr. Reddy said.

“This could be a lifesaving measure as well as prevent many patients in going to need ventilator support. In Ohio on April 8, 2020 we have to take permission of the Governor to get Convalescent plasma therapy for a physician suffering from COVID -19,” Dr. Edara pointed added.

Currently in USA Comprehensive Care Partnership (CCP) requires an FDA approved Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for administration to a patient but does not require an IND for collection, manufacturing and distribution of plasma as per FDA’s April 3rd press release.

However, obtaining approval takes time and time is of essence here for saving lives in this national emergency. Blood donation centers across the U.S. are ramping up efforts to collect plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the hope it could be used to save the lives of others infected with the pandemic disease.

Some of the other effective initiatives by AAPI that include: Offering regular tele-conference calls which have been attended by over 4,000 physicians from across the United States. AAPI has also collaborated with other national international and government organizations such as, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, National Council of Asian Indian Americans (NCAIA), GAPIO, BAPIO and Australian Indian Medical Graduates Association, in its efforts to educate and inform physicians and the public about the virus, to prevent and treat people with the affected by corona virus.

Another major initiative of AAPI has been the “Donate a Mask” program, under the leadership of Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda, President-Elect of AAPI, Dr. Sajani Shah, Chairwoman-Elect of AAPI’s BOD, and Dr. Ami Baxi. AAPI is planning a Virtual Candle Vigil on April 12^th honoring all the Physicians and others who have lost their lives to the deadly virus.

“We would like to request you to endorse the wide implementation of plasma donation from recovering patients, enhance support to the Blood donation centers and facilitate the shortening of the time required for patient to receive the required supportive treatment,” AAPI wrote in the Letter to President Trump.

AAPI expressed confidence that the Administration will take required steps to facilitate this therapy to be widely available as a viable option in saving American lives. “Under your leadership, we can all fight this invisible enemy, COVID-19, and beat this pandemic. Thank you for your continued leadership and service to the United States of America,” Dr. Reddy said.

For more information on AAPI and its several initiatives to combat Corona Virus and help Fellow Physicians and the larger community, please visit: www.aapiusa.org, or email to: aapicovidplasmadonor@gmail.com

Coronavirus, Tax Relief, and Recovery Rebates: What You Need to Know

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, Health 0

By University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)

Like Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Fourth of July, Tax Day in America is associated with the same calendar date each year.

But as everything around us has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so, too, has the deadline for filing federal income tax returns.

The deadline has been extended for three months to July 15, and Americans don’t have to do anything to qualify for the postponement. While that might seem like a relief, UNLV tax law expert Francine Lipman says taxpayers who are expecting a refund shouldn’t wait that long.

“People are strapped for money right now, and if there’s a tax refund waiting for you, file!” Lipman said.

A majority of Americans are also now waiting for the 2020 Recovery Rebate, which is being made available through the federal coronavirus relief bill, to ease some financial burdens due to loss of income and employment.

We caught up with Lipman — a lawyer and a certified public accountant — who provided several tips for how to navigate these uncertain financial times.

With the new federal tax deadline, why shouldn’t I wait to file my taxes?

If you are expecting a refund, file as soon as possible because you likely need the money now and you will not receive even one penny increase for delaying receiving your refund until July 15. Procrastination does not pay! Moreover, you can use it to help your community. The empirical data is compelling that income tax refunds are spent locally, and as a result, there is a significant multiplier effect for communities, businesses and federal, state, and local governments through consumption, and taxes paid including job creation — or maybe given the current shutdown we can mitigate job losses.

What about state income taxes?

Not all states have extended their tax filing deadlines through July 15. Some states, like Nevada, do not have an individual income tax. Most Nevada residents with only Nevada-source income, for example, have no state income tax filing obligation.

For taxpayers with out-of-state source income, here is a helpful link regarding state tax filing deadlines and other issues.

Where should I go to file my taxes?

Unfortunately, most Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites are temporarily shuttered in Nevada and elsewhere (for updates visit https://www.nvfreetaxes.org).

FreeFile, however, which is available online only through the IRS website, is up and running for taxpayers with a household income of $69,000 or less, or FreeFileFillableForms for households with any amount of income. Both of these sites provide free preparation and electronic filing.

What if I’ve already filed my taxes and I owe the IRS money?

Federal income tax payments and self-employment tax payments for 2019 that were due on April 15 have been postponed until July 15. This includes first-quarter estimated tax payments and IRA contributions for 2019, but does not include refund claims for tax year 2016 that are due on April 15, 2020. The postponement does not apply to second-quarter estimated tax payments (due June 15). Any applicable interest and penalties on payments due on April 15 will begin to accrue on July 16 if not paid by July 15.

Where can I go for assistance if I have questions about my taxes, including my refund?

The IRS has temporarily shut down number of taxpayer assistance resources including its Taxpayer Assistance Centers nationwide. As a result, phone call on-hold wait times are even longer than usual during this tax season, which are usually very long in a normal year.

The IRS website has great, accessible information available at irs.gov, including a quick and easy way to determine when you will receive your refund. You can also access your tax transcripts on the IRS website. Another website that might be helpful is for the Taxpayer Advocate Service if you are suffering a financial hardship and need immediate tax relief.

Who qualifies for the 2020 Recovery Rebate Tax Credit?

All adults who have a valid Social Security number authorizing work and who are not claimed as a dependent on another’s tax return (for 2020). One exception to this general rule is for married couple filing jointly where one of the spouses is a member of the Armed Forces, then only one of the spouses has to have a valid Social Security number that authorizes work.

How much will I receive?

Adults will receive $1,200 per qualifying individual ($2,400 for married filing jointly). Adults who have “qualifying children” will receive an additional $500 each, without limitation on the number of “qualifying children.”

A “qualifying child” for this purpose includes children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters, nieces, and nephews who live with the adult as a member of their household in the U.S. for more than one-half of the year and who are under age 17 with a valid Social Security number authorizing work.

Adults (anyone 17 or older) who are claimed as a dependent on another’s tax return will not receive a Recovery Rebate.

Even if you owe the IRS back tax liabilities, your recovery rebate will not be reduced by any outstanding debts other than past due child support. The Recovery Rebate is a refundable tax credit against 2020 federal income taxes, so it is not gross income/taxable income for 2020.

However, the 2020 recovery rebate amount is reduced by $5 for every $100 above the following adjusted gross income thresholds: $75,000 for single (or married filing separately) taxpayers, $150,000 for married filing jointly taxpayers, and $112,500 for head of household taxpayers. Therefore, households with filing statuses and adjusted gross income levels as follows will be phased out of their $1,200 (or $2,400) Recovery Rebate as follows:

$99,000 single (or married filing separately),

$198,000 married filing jointly, and

$136,500 head of household

But households at these income levels may receive the additional “qualifying child” $500 (also subject to phase-out at $5 per $100 above these thresholds, or an additional $10,000 of income above these amounts for each “qualifying child” ($500/5 = $100 x $100 = $10,000 additional adjusted gross income).

As I tell my law students, math matters!

When will I receive my Recovery Rebate?

The federal government wants to push out these payments as soon as possible. Therefore, they plan to deposit monies into bank accounts per 2019 (or 2018) automatic refund deposit authorizations. The Secretary of the Treasury has indicated that these payments would start sometime around April 13. If they do not have this information from your tax filings, they will mail you a paper check to your last known address.

Paper checks are scheduled to be mailed out on or about early May and will take 20 weeks to distribute given the federal government’s check writing limitations and the significant underfunding of the IRS. It is also the middle of tax season and many, if not all, of the IRS’ face-to-face services have been suspended due to COVID-19. The law does not permit the U.S. Treasury to send out any advance Recovery Rebates after December 31, 2020.

What amount will I receive since my 2020 income and other information is not yet complete?

The US Treasury is going to estimate your Recovery Rebate amount based upon your last tax return on record (e.g., 2019 or if not then, 2018). Accordingly, your advance Recovery Rebate payment will be based upon the information from your 2019 (or 2018) tax return on file including how much your adjusted gross income was and how many “qualifying children” (as defined above) you claimed.

When you file your 2020 federal income tax return in 2021, you will reconcile the estimated Recovery Rebate received with your actual Recovery Rebate based upon your 2020 tax return information. If you should have received a higher Recovery Rebate because for example you had a child in 2020, or your 2020 adjusted gross income is lower than it was in 2019 (or 2018) (e.g., due to unemployment, but remember unemployment compensation is included in adjusted gross income), you will get any amount not previously received. If you received a greater Recovery Rebate based upon your 2019 (or 2018) information as compared to your 2020 actual information you do not have to pay any excess amount received back.

Adults who have not filed tax returns for 2018 or 2019, but who receive Social Security benefits will receive their Recovery Rebate based upon the information the Social Security Administration has on file.

What should I do now?

If your address has changed since you last filed a tax return you should submit an address change online with the US Postal Service and as soon as possible mail a change of address using Form 8822 to the IRS. Unfortunately, the IRS is not presently sorting mail so this address update is likely going to be significantly delayed. Alternatively, if you have not filed a 2019 income tax return and your address or bank account information has changed from your 2018 tax return, you might consider filing your 2019 federal income tax return electronically as soon as possible to update this information as well as any additional “qualifying children.”

If your 2019 adjusted gross income is higher compared to your 2018 adjusted gross income amount, you should consider how the phase-out will impact your estimated Recovery Rebate based upon your 2019 information as compared to your 2018 information.

What other individual tax provisions might be relevant to me as I try to navigate economic challenges now?

Congress has abated the 10% early withdrawal penalties on up to $100,000 withdrawn from certain retirement accounts for COVID-19 financial hardships. However, you will have to include any pre-tax amount withdrawn as income, but Congress will allow you to do this over three years instead of the year of withdrawal.

Seniors who are subject to “mandatory required minimum distributions” from certain retirement accounts because they are over 70.5 (or 72 under the recently passed Tax Cut and Jobs Act) will not be subject to penalties for not withdrawing those amounts for 2020. Therefore, seniors may consider not withdrawing monies from these retirement account.

Unemployment compensation is taxable income so consider electing to withhold federal income taxes on any unemployment payments.

Where do I go for updates on any and all things taxes?

Everything is dynamic and subject to change. Watch the IRS’ website at IRS.gov/coronavirus.

For hourly updates on Twitter follow @irsnews, @yourvoiceatIRS, @taxnotes, Kelly Phillips Erb of Forbes @taxgirl, and of course, Professor Francine J. Lipman @narfnampil.

How religions around the world are keeping the faith during COVID-19

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, Health 0

From Michigan State University

COVID-19 has rocked everyday life for people around the world, requiring religious communities to shift worship at a time that many consider the most holiest of the year.

Daily and weekly services at churches, synagogues, mosques and temples have transitioned to take place in the home with family members as many places of prayer are closed for the first time in their history.

Experts from Michigan State University’s Department of Religious Studies discuss how different religions have adapted centuries-long traditions to adhere to social distancing, and how they’ve adopted technology to allow people to continue worshipping.

Mohammad Khalil, professor of religious studies and director of MSU’s Muslim Studies program:

“Friday prayers have been canceled at mosques throughout the United States and the world; and this is the first time that many mosques have canceled Friday prayer services.

“Mosques are typically open for five daily prayers and now that many are closed, people who are used to praying daily congregational prayers are now praying individually or with their families.

“As an alternative, some mosques are streaming devotional lectures/lessons during the time of Friday prayer, but most are careful not to call it Friday, or Jum’ah, prayer since the assumption is that people will come together physically to perform this particular weekly prayer.

“Beyond virtual lectures, Muslim communities are utilizing online technology in other ways. Some, for instance, are using social media to raise funds and provide services for those in need.”

Laura Yares, assistant professor of religious studies:

“American Jews have been adapting to the current health crisis by taking different kinds of religious practice and community gathering online, from song sessions for young children to Talmud learning for adults.

“Traditional Jewish law requires 10 adult males to be physically present in a room for daily prayer services. This health crisis has compelled a unique reframing of Jewish law to think about technology as a new modality of physical presence. This has enabled prayer services to be conducted by counting 10 people in a ‘Zoom room’ as a reinterpretation of Jewish laws about physical presence.

“Passover begins on April 8, which typically is marked by gathering together with friends and family for the Passover Seder. Traditional Jews maintain strict prohibitions around technology on Jewish holidays, but this current crisis has led rabbis to reconsider the Jewish law in this area too. The highest value in Judaism is the value of preserving human life, and recognizing that being alone for this holiday could pose a threat to both physical and mental health, many Jews are choosing to adapt their typical practice and conduct virtual Seders using technology like Zoom and Google hangouts.”

Arthur Versluis, professor and chair, Department of Religious Studies:

“American Buddhism tended to already be highly technologically savvy before the novel coronavirus, so many groups or organizations transitioned swiftly to online meditation workshops and seminars.

“Group or organizational events that in the past would have been hosted in a particular Buddhist center sometimes were both in-person and streamed online before the current health crisis, hence the swift transition was not that surprising. There is a Tibetan Buddhist center in Ann Arbor, for instance, whose events were shifted to online almost immediately after the virus became an issue. While early to be certain, this shift may well have longer-term implications for American Buddhist practitioners.”

Amy DeRogatis, professor of religion and American culture:
In partnership with The Ohio State University, Derogatis is leading the American Religious Sounds Project. The ARSP educates the public on American religious diversity by listening to its sounds. It includes hundreds of recordings of formal and informal sounds of religious institutions, including prayer, chanting and hymns sourced from places of all kinds – from churches to mosques, interfaith chapels to college football games.

“We are currently crowd-sourcing religious sounds of COVID-19 and expect to hear innovative ways that religious communities are responding to the health crisis – especially with major holidays coming up soon. We would love to have contributions from anyone who is participating in a religious community virtually or would like to share reflections on how the pandemic has impacted their religious or spiritual practices.”

Coronavirus model revises its estimates downward

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

(Courtesy: The Washington Post)

A leading forecasting model used by the White House to chart the coronavirus pandemic predicted Monday that the United States may need fewer hospital beds, ventilators and other equipment than previously projected and that some states may reach their peak of covid-19 deaths sooner than expected.

That glimmer of potential good news came on the same day New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said his state may already be experiencing a “flattening of the curve.” New York reported 599 new deaths Monday, on par with Sunday’s count of 594 and down from 630 on Saturday.

Experts and state leaders, however, continued to steel themselves for grim weeks ahead, noting that the revised model created by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington conflicts with many other models showing higher equipment shortages, deaths and projected peaks.

Some state leaders have also grown increasingly concerned about how the federal government is using IHME’s lower estimates to deny states’ increasingly desperate requests for equipment and help in preparations. The stark differences between the IHME model and dozens of others being created by states exposes the glaring lack of national models provided publicly by the White House or agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for local leaders to use in planning or preparation.

“It’s unclear exactly what the White House is doing on this front,” said Dylan George, who helped the Obama White House develop models to guide its Ebola response in 2014. “As a result, you have every state trying to create their own models to anticipate their needs. And you have one model like IHME being adopted as the national guide.”

The danger of relying so heavily on one model is that model could be wrong or overly optimistic.

“When you plan, you want to plan for the worst-case, not for the average or best-case,” said Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at University of Florida. “Because the risk is not proportional.”

Big differences

This is how starkly models can differ.

Local leaders in the District said on Friday that their model estimates the outbreak in the nation’s capital will peak June 28. The IHME model predicts the peak is coming in just days, on April 16. The District’s model predicts hospitals will need 1,453 ventilators at the peak. IHME predicts a need for only 107. The District is using the IHME model as a best-case scenario and the more dire model to prepare for a likely surge.

D.C. mayor says peak in possible coronavirus hospitalizations will be in mid-summer

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said on April 2 that data projections reveal the peak in possible covid-19 infections will come in late-June or early July. (D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser)

“While we hope that our experience will follow a curve closer to the IHME model, we cannot use a single model for our preparation and risk being underprepared. We continue to refine our models and assumptions and are tailoring them to the DC population and context,” spokeswoman Alison Reeves said in an email.

In states more populous than the District, that vast gap in planning and modeling could mean a life-or-death difference for tens of thousands of people.

LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, director of the District’s Department of Health, explained how the city’s leaders chose their model. It’s called CHIME and was created by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

“We felt that a model that determined the District would have essentially no medical surge needs was not indicative of what we anticipated would be our reality in the District and thought that a model that did not overestimate the impact of social distancing in the United States” was the right one, Nesbitt said.

In the two weeks since IHME’s model was originally released — the researchers announced revisions Monday — it has been criticized by some experts as overly optimistic. But even critics are quick to note that in the absence of any tool offered by the federal government and with no other model offering nationwide state-by-state estimates, IHME could be a lifesaver.

To coordinate their response, some states with few modeling resources or home-state experts have used the IHME forecast that projects peak deaths and the resources needed. The White House relied on it in part to generate its estimate last week that the epidemic would kill 100,000 to 240,000 people nationwide.

Most epidemiological models look at different populations that interact in an outbreak — people susceptible to infection, those who are infectious and those already infected who go on to die or recover.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the IHME model embraces an entirely different statistical approach, taking the trending curve of deaths from China, and “fitting” that curve to emerging death data from U.S. cities and counties to predict what might come next.

For that reason, many experts saw IHME as overly optimistic when it was launched March 26. Few U.S. states or cities are taking action as drastic as what was adopted in Wuhan, China — the birthplace of the coronavirus pandemic — or even Northern Italy in locking down residents.

Another big difference between IHME and other models is a fundamental assumption about how effective social distancing can be. The creator of IHME’s model, Christopher Murray, said many state models assume that social distancing will only slow or reduce transmission to some degree. The IHME model, drawing from the example of Wuhan, assumes policies such as social distancing and stay-at-home orders, can effectively reduce transmission to the point where an epidemic — at least in its first wave — is actually brought under control by authorities.

At the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing Monday, health officials said they thought it was possible to have fewer deaths than have been projected by models, because of the extreme social distancing efforts being undertaken by Americans.

“Models are good, they help us to make projections. But as you get data in, you modify your model,” said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “I don’t accept everyday we’re going to have to have 100,000 to 200,000 deaths. I think we can really bring that down.”

More models, better prediction

When it comes to predictions, statisticians have a favorite maxim: “All models are wrong, but some are useful.”

By drawing on the multiple models, experts are often able to better triangulate their predictions and assumptions. This is why weather experts often draw on several models rather than one in forecasting storms, using an “ensemble” or “suite” of models. Such ensembles are also what generate the cone of uncertainty for hurricanes.

In Illinois, state leaders are using four models — a version of the CHIME model and models from the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. New York state officials have said they are drawing on at least four different models, including IHME’s.

In North Carolina, state leaders are using a “weather forecasting” approach that combines several models — and instead of focusing on specific dates or numbers of beds or ventilators, they have decided to predict the likelihood that the medical system is overwhelmed.

“What we’ve been focusing on is less about ‘what is the exact timing of the peak?’ and ‘what is the exact height of the peak?’ and more about how likely is it that the demand for health care is going to outstrip the supply,” said Kimberly Powers, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Are we going to need more than we have?”

Their composite models predicts a peak in mid- to late-May. As long as social distancing continues, they predict only a 1 in 4 chance of exceeding the capacity of acute care hospital beds. But if those orders were lifted after April, the chances of overwhelming hospital capacity doubled.

One concern from some experts is that the IHME model is being used too much like a crystal ball with undue weight given to its predicted needs for ventilators and hospital beds and staffing.

Leaders in one state said Trump administration officials have used IHME’s numbers to push back and in some cases deny their requests for equipment and help. Officials in that state cited emails and documents in which federal officials highlight IHME projections as evidence the state needs thousands fewer ventilators and beds than the state’s models project. The state officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they said they fear retaliation by the Trump administration that could result in even fewer ventilators and less federal assistance.

“If the federal government is really making these kinds of life-or-death decisions on a single model and on only on the lower end of that model, that’s scary,” said one state official.

Murray said he is well aware of the criticism of his model

But in the absence of any other state-by-state planning tool, he noted in a Monday briefing with reporters, his model is providing a much-needed public service — a point even critics of the IHME model are often quick to point out.

Murray and his team have worked around the clock since they first released their model to feed newly emerging data and sharpen it its projections.

On Monday, they announced their biggest revisions to date — driven by a large amount of new domestic and international data.

While their original model relied only on Wuhan’s curve, the updated model now incorporates curves from seven regions from Italy and Spain where epidemics have also peaked.

The newer version also found that deaths in some states — such as Florida, Virginia, Louisiana and West Virginia — could peak earlier than previous projections. But the deaths nationally were still projected to peak April 16. The newer model suggests the number of acute care hospital beds needed at the peak could be cut almost in half and the number of ICU beds needed at the peak of the surge could drop from 40,000 to 29,000. The model also suggested the total number of deaths would be lower, with an estimated 82,000 deaths from the first wave of infection, although the number could range from 49,000 to 136,000.

Murray agreed with the critique of others that multiple models should be used.

“I could not agree more,” Murray said. “What we’ve learned from 30 years of weather forecasting, even Netflix predictions for movies … you make better predictions when using multiple models.”

Coronavirus: What you need to read

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Updated April 7, 2020

Live updates: The latest in the U.S. and abroad | The latest from the D.C. region

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Social connection is key to mental health during coronavirus pandemic

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health, Social Media 0

By Binghamton University, State University of New York

It’s important to stay socially connected during the coronavirus pandemic and avoid isolation for the sake of our mental health, says Jennifer Wegmann, PhD, a lecturer in health and wellness studies at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

“I think one of the most important things that all of us can start applying to our lives is the concept of social connection,” said Wegmann. “If you look at research as it relates to stress and coping, one of the most important and effective coping strategies that we all have is utilizing our social network. That looks very different for us now, because we’re used to connecting when we’re face-to-face. Allowing people to connect socially, even though it looks different, is going to remain really important.”

Adversity creates an opportunity for us to get innovative, said Wegmann. For example, some people have used the Zoom video conferencing platform to create a virtual “bar,” where they could socialize with people they knew, as well as strangers, like they would if they were in person.

“This is actually a really creative idea,” said Wegmann. “If we give ourselves a little time and space and opportunity, we will see that we can come up with really creative ways to stay connected.”

Binghamton University offers live or pre-taped interviews powered by a state-of-the-art ReadyCam television studio system, available at a moment’s notice. Our system can broadcast live HD audio and video to networks, news agencies, and affiliates interviewing Binghamton faculty, students, and staff. Video is transmitted by VideoLink and fees may apply.

A potential vaccine that could cheer India

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, India 0

With scientists across the world burning the midnight oil to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, every week a potential life-saver emerges. The latest in this long list of possible vaccines to the coronavirus is an age-old combination: Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, better known as BCG. BCG, used as a vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), is being trialled for Covid-19 in Australia. Thousands of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other health care workers are taking part in the randomised controlled trial, reports the New York Times. A clinical trial has also begun in the Netherlands. The Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is seeking permission to do so, saying there is strong data that BCG is effective against viral and parasitic infections.

While it is still early days to bet on one single vaccine, BCG’s emergence is particularly important for India. India is among the many developing countries that have had BCG vaccination drive for many years — a policy to combat TB, which according to the World TB Report, 2019, kills 1,200 a day in India. A correlation study of 178 countries by an Irish medical consultant working with epidemiologists at the University of Texas in Houston shows countries with vaccination programmes — including Ireland — have far fewer coronavirus cases by a factor 10, compared to where BCG programmes are no longer deployed.

How Long Does Corona Virus Survive on Surfaces?

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

While several studies have examined the novel coronavirus, a new study — conducted by researchers from the University of Hong Kong and published in medical journal The Lancet — adds to the rapidly growing research about its stability. (Last month, American researchers had pointed out the virus was stable on plastic and steel for up to 72 hours, but did not last more than four hours on copper or 24 hours on cardboard.)

In the new analysis, researchers tested how long the coronavirus survives on various surfaces at room temperature. Subsequently, they found that on cloth(like a standard cotton lab jacket) and treated wood, it disappears by the second day. On bank notes and glass, it survived for two to four days, while on stainless steel and plastic, it remained for four to seven days. However, as for the outer layer of a surgical face mask, the researchers “strikingly” found detectable levels of infectious coronavirus even after seven days!

The study also observed that the concentration of the virus on all the studied surfaces reduced quite rapidly over time. Moreover, the virus died instantly when touched by common household disinfectants, including bleach.

Note: The presence of the virus on these objects and surfaces was detected by laboratory tools, and not fingers and hands — as the case would normally be. Therefore, the results do not necessarily reflect the potential to pick up the virus from casual contact.

A top White House official warned in January that a pandemic could imperil millions of Americans

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterFinance/Economy, Health 0

A top White House adviser starkly warned Trump administration officials in late January that the crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death.

The warning, in a memo by Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade adviser, is the highest-level alert known to have circulated inside the West Wing as the administration was taking its first substantive steps to confront a crisis that had already consumed China’s leaders and would go on to upend life in Europe and the United States.

“The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil,” Mr. Navarro’s memo said. “This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.”

Dated Jan. 29, it came during a period when Mr. Trump was playing down the risks to the United States. He later went on to say that no one could have predicted such a devastating outcome.

Mr. Navarro said in the memo that the administration faced a choice about how aggressive to be in containing an outbreak, saying the human and economic costs would be relatively low if it turned out to be a problem along the lines of a seasonal flu.

But he went on to emphasize that the “risk of a worst-case pandemic scenario should not be overlooked” given the information coming from China.,In one worst-case scenario cited in the memo, more than a half-million Americans could die.

“Ekal Vidyalaya” Launches Ambitious Initiative Against ‘Coronavirus’

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterEducation, Health 0

When everywhere ‘Coronavirus’ outbreak is being associated only with the urban area populous, “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation” has quietly launched an ambitious initiative against it in rural & tribal areas across India. As for networking and connectivity in such areas, “Ekal” (as it is popularly known) is in very unique position with its presence in over 103,000 such remote hamlets. As the shortage of Masks and Sanitizers became apparent in early March, Ekal tailoring training Ctrs banded together and started stitching face-masks and producing hand sanitizers for Ekal Volunteers, district health authorities and law enforcement personnel. It had been producing 10,000 masks and 1,000 liters of Hand-sanitizers or disinfecting solutions per day as of March-end and supplying them ‘free-of-cost’ to their authorities. Masks and Sanitizers are also being distributed free-of-cost to the poor families. It costs Ekal Rs. 20 each to make it and to distribute it.

According to Bajrang Lal Bagra, CEO of “Ekal Abhiyan” (umbrella organization of all Ekal satellite endeavors), beginning this month – April – Ekal is launching most ambitious plan to triple its ‘tailoring’ capacity in 28 centers to produce 1 Million cotton Masks by the end of April (2020). These 2-ply masks are being made to WHO’s stringent specifications and Ekal plans to keep on producing them as long as there is need. As part of empowerment and to reduce the dependency on ‘outside food’, Ekal-Villages, have actively started harvesting ‘Poshan Vatikas’ (Nutritional sustaining food items) for the people in their own vicinity on cooperative basis. Keeping up with the governmental directive, although all Ekal field activities were suspended on March 14, according to ‘Lalan Kumar Sharma’, Central co-coordinator of “Ekal Abhiyan”, the awareness campaign against deadly Virus is in motion with full throttle speed with the blessings of the local concerned authorities. Currently, ‘Arogya Sahayikas’ (Health Assistant) and Ekal teachers are, not only, emphasizing critical need for personal hygiene and clean environment in villages, but also, keeping a written tab on cases related to fever, cough and shortness of breath. Social-distancing and repeatedly washing hands with soap is being promoted as part of daily routine. Supporting the efforts of ‘Gram-Panchayats’ (village administrative admin), identifying and quantifying urban visitors or returning villagers from such areas is being diligently carried out. Harish Karat of ‘Ekal-Global’ says, “as a reminder for the precautionary habits that one must adopt to arrest the spread of ‘Coronavirus’, the walls in lot of village-dwellings are being painted with healthcare slogans”. What is interesting is that villagers have enthusiastically endorsed this campaign as one of the safeguards in the current crisis. Ekal volunteers residing in Indian urban areas are helping older, poor people during these clampdown days are providing food or sustenance items wherever possible. For example, in ‘Guwahati’ area in two days, ‘Vanbandhu Parishad’ (an allied Ekal organization) delivered food items to 650 families. Ekal-USA providing assistance to the needy in variety of ways – such as food, mask-making, grocery-items and medical help etc. Ekal volunteers in USA are assisting food-banks, soup-kitchen and delivery of groceries to the elderly. According to Suresh Iyer, President of Ekal-USA, “In the U.S., Ekal has partnered with other non-profit organizations, including ‘Sewa International’, in providing community service at this hour of immense need. It’s times such as these we are seeing the best of humanity and I am confident that we will get through this difficult time soon and come out feeling even stronger”. Though, all the annual fund-raising concerts have been cancelled currently for foreseeable future, ‘Ekal Vidyalaya’ is appealing its loyal Donors and well-wishers who have been consistently helping it to keep supporting its multiple endeavors (projects) in rural areas, including its ambitious initiative to fight ‘Coronavirus’. Kindly Donate at https://www.ekal.org/us/donate and be an active member of defense against the virus in the current crisis. Ekal serves the humanity irrespective of caste, creed, and religion

Indian-American journalist dies of COVID-19 in New York

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Indian-American journalist Brahm Kanchibotla has died of COVID-19 that is ravaging New York, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US. The journalist died on Monday April 5th after nine days in a hospital, his son Sudama Kanchibotla said.

Brahm Kanchibotla, 66, was a correspondent for United News of India.

During his 28-year career in the US, he had worked for 11 years as a content editor for Merger Markets, a financial publication, and also did a stint with News India-Times weekly newspaper.

He had emigrated to the US in 1992 after having worked for several publications in India. Sudama Kanchibotla said that the family was not sure of the last rites for him because of the restrictions in New York.

“We have not set a date and it will have to be a very small gathering because only ten people are allowed at funerals,” he said.

Brahm Kanchibotla showed COVID-19 symptoms on March 23. When his conditions worsened, he was admitted to a hospital on Long Island on March 28 and given an oxygen mask, Sudama Kanchibotla said. On March 31, he was put on ventilator and on Monday he had a cardiac arrest.

Besides Sudama, Brahm Kanchibotla is survived by his wife Anjana and daughter Siujana. As of Monday night, 4,758 people have died of COVID-19 in New York City. The US has recorded a total of 368,196 confirmed cases, while the death toll stood at 10,986.

Getting to Know the Gambling Laws in Asia

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Gambling laws vary wildly around the world, and Asia is no different in this respect, with certain countries across the continent taking a liberal approach to sports betting, games of chance and online play, while others impose tight restrictions or even outright bans.

Here is a quick rundown of how gambling legislation differs throughout the major Asian nations to give you a better idea of what to expect when you travel between them.

India

While there are some centrally-implemented laws relating to gambling in India, the most potent of which dates from the late 19th century and bans the running of public casinos and bookmakers, today it is up to individual states to decide how they control this pastime.

In most places, gambling is heavily restricted, with only the availability of wagering on horse racing slipping through the net and being permitted. There are exceptions, specifically in the states of Sikkim, Daman and Goa, where land-based casinos have been granted licenses in recent years.

Sikkim is one of the most forward-thinking states when it comes to legalised gambling, especially in an online context. It has been pushing for domestic web-based casino operators to be supported for over a decade and has its own online lottery.

More broadly, it is not explicitly illegal for any Indian to play on an online casino, with ambiguities in the law meaning that states either ignore this type of activity altogether or do not choose to pursue the few cases that are raised. Indeed this is why more and more overseas operators have been targeting the Indian marketplace, with sites designed specifically for customers from this part of Asia and support for deposits and jackpots in the local currency.

China

Gambling is technically not permitted by law in China, although there are some exceptions and caveats that are worth noting.

For example, the government operates a pair of lotteries which are exempt from these restrictions. There are also major land-based casino resorts in both Hong Kong and Macau, as these special administrative regions do not have to adhere to legislation which impacts the mainland.

Macau alone makes billions in gambling revenue each quarter, with customers hailing from overseas as well as from other parts of China. It is also the only place in China where it is legal for citizens to play best on online casino sites, even if it is not possible for the sites themselves to be based locally.

Japan

Gambling has been a much-discussed issue in Japan for some time, with the practice being outlawed entirely in most conventional senses until relatively recently, when the relaxing of rules allowed land-based casinos to open their doors. As such there are now a total of three casino resort licenses up for grabs, with the ultimate outcome set to be that this pastime is both legitimised and encouraged in certain regulated contexts.

There are also sporting events which are legally open to betting, although this only covers four examples including horse racing, cycling, boating and motorbike-based competitions. These are all controlled by local authorities and so the government takes a cut of the revenues to fund other public projects.

One of the more complex aspects of the Japanese gambling ecosystem is pachinko, a game of chance which is similar to traditional slot machines but adapts elements from pinball in order to sidestep gambling regulations and remain legal. Players do not win cash, but instead get tokens for successful stints of pachinko which are then either exchanged for a prize or taken to a nearby store where they are purchased by the owners of the pachinko parlour.

Easy No- Bake Strawberry Cheesecake (Eggless)

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterAmmu's Hearty Treats 0

This cheesecake is the easiest but the yummiest cheesecake recipe ever when it comes to no-bake cheesecakes. I really want all the beginners reading this to stop using ready-mixes for quick cheesecakes as it’s a shame to call those as ‘cheesecakes’ as it does not even use cheese. Those packets are full of highly processed and modified dairy solids along with emulsifiers, anti caking agents, preservatives….etc. Uh! That’s a long list of unwanted stuff that’d ruin your body, I know. But that’s the truth.

So please try this recipe once and you’ll never go back to instant cheesecake mixes.

Why is this recipe special?

Easy No- Bake Strawberry Cheesecake (Eggless)

. Common ingredients- Made from ingredients easily found in your kitchen pantry or refrigerator.

. Easy method- This recipe does not involve water bath or other such techniques that puts you into worrying thinking about how the final product is, presentable or not.

. Great texture- Right amount of gelling/setting agent is used in the right way, combined with right proportions of dairy goodness to ensure correct texture and creaminess.

. Tangy- This recipe does not leave that guilty heavy feeling in your mouth or tummy as it’s topped with strawberries with an added zesty flavour from citrusy oranges and squeeze of fresh lemon in the cake itself.

. Cinnamon- A little amount of cinnamon is used in the crust mix , which not only adds flavours to this yummy cheesecake, but also is known to help keep your blood sugar levels under control to a extend.

How did I develop this recipe?

Everyone in my family are cheesecake lovers. And not all cheesecakes are rated good enough by their palates which have tasted and tried a lot of different cheesecakes from most of the places they’ve gone to.

So even though I was expecting a lot of criticism from them during my trials, I never gave up with my ultimate goal of making them rating my cheesecake good enough for a no-bake one. And to my surprise my dad who has a sweet tooth and great palate when it comes to point out the flaws with best criticisms, rated my cheesecake beyond my expectations appreciating its right amount of sweetness, use of citrus, perfect crust, creamy light texture and the used of a tinge of right spices in the crust.

What you’ll need-

For the crust-

1. 250g crumbled digestive biscuits (I used Mc vities whole-wheat digestive biscuits)

2. 100g melted butter

3. One pinch salt

4. 1/2 tsp milk powder

5. 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

6. 1/4 tbsp castor sugar

7. 1 tsp cocoa powder

For the cheesecake layer-

8. Condensed milk – 1/2 tin

9. Philadelphia cream cheese- 200 gram

10. Whipping cream -100ml

11. Sugar – 2 tbsp

12. Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

13. Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp

14. Milk powder- 1/2 tbsp

15. Milk- 3 tbsps

16. Gelatin-3/4 tbsp , dissolved in 50-60 ml hot water.

For the strawberry topping-

17. 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

18. 1/2 cup sugar

19. 1 tsp tbsp lime juice

20. 1-2 tbsps orange juice (fresh)–optional-i used

21. 1/4 tsp finely grated orange peel –optional- I used coz I like dat zesty flavour it give to the berry layer.

How to prepare-

-Grease a 9*5 (or med sized) springform cake dish with a little butter.

-Mix 1 to 7 untill well combined (wet sand texture) .Layer the bottom of the dish with this , pressing down with it hands.

-Combine 8,9,11,14 and 15 in a mixing bowl and blend well using an electric beater.

-In another bowl (cold) powder chilled whipping cream and whip it till it stiffens enough to form peaks.

-Double boil the gelatin water mix till gelatin is completely dissolved.

-Stir it well into the cream cheese mix along with the lemon juice and vanilla extract.

-Fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mix untill well combined.

-Pour this on top of the biscuit layer and refrigerate(DON’T FREEZE) for 2 hrs.

-Mean while, prepare the strawberry layer.

-Caramelise 18 and add in strawberries.

-Cook it till it reaches a lil’ sticky consistency (not watery). Add in 19, 20, 21 and mix well. LET IT COOL COMPLETELY.

-Take out the cheesecake from the refrigerator and top it with the strawberry mix.

-Clinwrap the top of the spring form pan and Refrigerate for another 4 hrs (or overnight) before opening the springform to cut it cheesecake into slices for serving.

Notes, Tips & serving suggestions-

. You can serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top or berries along side as you wish.

. Time for the cake to set may vary with differences in refrigerator temperatures.

. Flavours used in this recipe are according to mine and my family’s preferences. You can always try to incorporate your favourite flavours like using blueberries instead of strawberries,etc.

AAPI SYMPOSIUM ON PRESENTATIONS AND PRACTICES FOR COVID PATIENT CARE

April 7, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

COVID Teleconference Flyer – April 8 2020

The Odds for the presidency: Donald Trump’s Odds Get a Boost

April 6, 2020 Staff ReporterPolitics, U.S. 0

Joe Biden was expected to give Donald Trump a run for his money in the 2020 US Elections, but unexpected recent events could be turning the tables on the two-term vice president and the Democratic party’s hope to paint the White House blue: the coronavirus pandemic and New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s rising stock.

Donald Trump is installed as the short-odds-on favourite to win the 2020 US Elections, which are slated for Tuesday, November 3. Trump is the -110 favourite to win the keys to the White House for a second (and last) term, while Biden, who is Trump’s most prominent threat to the presidency according to most political analysts, is tipped at +125. Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is the longshot of the triplet at far flung +2500 odds in political betting markets.

By the odds for the presidency, one can infer Trump’s probability of winning is higher than Biden’s. This notion is further underscored by the president’s approval rating, which has experienced a renaissance of late (reaching nearly 50%) as he navigates the nation through the coronavirus pandemic that is having a deadly impact across the country.

In a recent interview with ‘Fox & Friends,’ Trump reiterated his hope that he’s ‘going to win.’ Even referencing the aforementioned polls that are in his favour, when he said, “I’ve gotten great marks also. We want to always make sure we have a great president; we have somebody that’s capable.”

Senator Sanders’ campaign took a big hit after Super Tuesday propelled Biden towards a majority in national delegates. What prompted many political obituaries on Sanders’ campaign to surface and his odds in political betting markets to plummet. But the 78-year-old senator isn’t going away quietly. He’s adamant about continuing the fight.

Biden, meanwhile, is leading the race for the party nomination and appears to have it practically in the bag. He has 1,174 delegates to Sanders’ 862 delegates. A total of 1,991 delegates are needed in order to become the Democratic party’s standard-bearer.

The novel coronavirus outbreak forced four primaries that were scheduled for April 4 – Alaska, Wyoming, Hawaii and Louisiana – to be pushed back into June at the earliest. That said Wisconsin is the lone primary election on the schedule for April 7, which is still planning on going ahead amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Sanders reportedly hopes to have another debate with Biden in April, although none are confirmed or scheduled to date. Moreover, Biden doesn’t appear keen to have any more debates. In his words, “I haven’t thought about any more debates. I think we’ve had enough debates. I think we should get on with this,” he said.

Biden’s sense of urgency may be in part due to the global pandemic that has turned electioneering on its head, but there’s an even stronger case against dragging the Democratic primary process out because it could weaken the party’s position entirely come November. It could weaken Biden’s position, no less.

Biden has more than a 300 delegate edge over Sanders but the 77-year-old’s momentum appears to be waning in recent weeks, within the party and the broad spectrum of the elections. Ever since Super Tuesday on March 17, Biden is steadily fading in the national conversation.

Sanders, who’s a dab hand at virtual campaigning, is managing to stay relevant with his supporters. Hosting daily live streams from his home in Vermont, including fireside chats and virtual rallies and phonebanks, the 78-year-old is pioneering virtual campaigning; unlike Biden, who is struggling to strike an audible chord. After a few unsuccessful virtual events, Biden’s team seems content with infrequent TV appearances and interviews that are mostly controlled and remote.

This is part of the virtual town hall the Biden campaign wouldn’t post; Garbled/cut out audio, blank screens, randomly going live to unsuspecting participants

What nobody could have anticipated is the Democratic landscape turning upside down with the skyrocketing popularity of New York governor Andrew Cuomo against a backdrop of the ‘war’ on coronavirus. How the DNC reconciles its choice of Biden and Sanders now in light of Cuomo’s appeal remains to be seen.

The 62-year-old governor isn’t officially in the race nor does he intend to run in the 2020 Elections. Politics couldn’t be further from the governor’s mind, according to Monday’s briefing with the press. “There is no politics, there is no red and blue, We are red, white and blue!. So, let’s get over it and lead by example,” he said.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Pres. Trump: “I am not engaging the president in politics. My only goal is to engage the president in partnership…I’m not going to get into a political dispute with the president.”

Yet, in spite of claim to the contrary, sportsbooks roll out odds for Cuomo. He is now the second best bet to win the Democratic nomination at +1000, ahead of Sanders but behind Biden. (When Cuomo isn’t officially even in the race that’s telling). Cuomo is also the third best bet after Trump and Biden in the race for the presidency, albeit at +2000.

When Trump was asked about a hypothetical Cuomo bid, he seemed to relish the idea, even going so far as saying he would be a better candidate than ‘Sleepy Joe,’ who Trump doesn’t think is ‘capable’ of being president.

Seemingly overnight, Cuomo’s rising star steals the spotlight and encourages re-evaluating the measure of Biden and Sanders’ candidacy for the 2020 US Elections. A right spanner in the works for the Democratic party but potentially an advantage for Trump, whose odds received a boost recently.

AAPI Launches Plasma Drive From Patients Cured of COVID-19, And NonSymptomatic For 14 Days

April 6, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

Of the reported cases in the U.S., 8,503 people have died from the virus, with more than 3,500 of those deaths in New York, 846 in New Jersey, 479 in Michigan, 409 in Louisiana and 318 related deaths reported in Washington state. Worldwide, about 1.23 million cases have been reported and 66,542 related deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins virus dashboard.

Responding to this deadly virus, among the man other initiatives, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the largest ethnic Medical Association in the United States, has embarked on yet another noble mission. “While COVID-19 continues to disrupt life around the globe, AAPI is committed to helping its tens of thousands of members across the US and others across the globe, as concerned physicians witnessing the growing COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our society, healthcare system and economy, AAPI has launched the Plasma Drive from patients who have been cured of COVID-19 and are now with no Corona-virus related symptoms for at least the past two weeks,” Dr. Suresh Reddy, President of AAPI, announced here.

Dr. Seema Arora, Chairwoman of AAPI’s BOT, pointed to some of the other effective initiatives by AAPI that include: Offering regular tele-conference calls which have been attended by over 3,000 physicians from across the United States. AAPI has also collaborated with other national international and government organizations such as, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, National Council of Asian Indian Americans (NCAIA), GAPIO, BAPIO and Australian Indian Medical Graduates Association, in its efforts to educate and inform physicians and the public about the virus, to prevent and treat people with the affected by corona virus.

Another major initiative of AAPI has been the “Donate a Mask” program, under the leadership of Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda, President-Elect of AAPI, Dr. Sajani Shah, Chairwoman-Elect of AAPI’s BOD, and Dr. Ami Baxi. The Task Force on Masks has been busy securing resources and identifying the hospitals and sending the supply of Masks/PPE directly to those in needed. Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda expressed great concern that “the current rate of infections will have a materially adverse effect on both our senior populations and our fellow physicians and healthcare workers who are on the front lines fighting the infection. “It’s essential to create a wholesale expansion of free COVID-19 testing available in order for identifying asymptomatic carries and then isolating them.”

Dr. Madhavi Gorusu M.D., M.B.A, President of Connecticut, Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (CAPI), who is leading the initiative on behalf of AAPI, said, “We must all stay united and support each other in every way we can to get through the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are eligible to donate or if you know of anyone who had made a full recovery from COVID-19 and could act as a potential donor, please contact AAPI by going to its website and providing your personal details.

Dr. Anupama Gotimukula, Vice president of AAPI, said, The Red Cross is seeking people who are fully recovered from COVID-19 and may be able to donate plasma to help current patients with serious or immediately life threatening COVID-19 infections, or those judged by a healthcare provider to be at high risk of progression to severe or life-threatening disease. People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their plasma that can attack the virus. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) plays a critical role in protecting the United States from public health threats including the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

FDA is committed to doing everything we can to provide timely response efforts to this pandemic and facilitate access to investigational drugs for use in patients with serious or immediately life-threatening COVID-19 infections. (https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/investigational-new-drug-ind-or-deviceexemption-ide-process-cber/investigational-covid-19-convalescent-plasma-emergencyinds ) One investigational treatment being explored for COVID-19 is the use of convalescent plasma collected from individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

It is possible that convalescent plasma that contains antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) might be effective against the infection. Use of convalescent plasma has been studied in outbreaks of other respiratory infections, including the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza virus pandemic, 2003 SARS-CoV-1 epidemic, and the 2012 MERS-CoV epidemic. This convalescent plasma is being evaluated as treatment for patients seriously ill with COVID-19.

The Red Cross has been asked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help identify prospective donors and manage the distribution of these products to hospitals treating patients in need. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) plays a critical role in protecting the United States from public health threats including the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Although promising, convalescent plasma has not yet been shown to be effective in COVID-19.

It is therefore important to determine through clinical trials, before routinely administering convalescent plasma to patients with COVID-19, that it is safe and effective to do so. The following pathways are available for administering or studying the use of COVID-19 convalescent plasma: Considerations for healthcare providers interested in obtaining COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma for Use under IND: COVID-19 convalescent plasma must only be collected from recovered individuals if they are eligible to donate blood (21 CFR 630.10, 21 CFR 2 630.15).

Required testing must be performed (21 CFR 610.40) and the donation must be found suitable (21 CFR 630.30). If you’re fully recovered from a verified coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnosis, please refer to the website below for more information regarding: Potential Donor who has had COVID-19 and are fully recovered. Clinician who is interested in receiving convalescent plasma, or want to refer potential donors. https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/plasma-donations-from-recovered-covid-19-patients.html

https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/investigational-new-drug-ind-or-device-exemption-ide-process-cber/investigational-covid-19-convalescent-plasma-emergency-inds

When, and How, Does the Coronavirus Pandemic End?

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

With confirmed cases of Covid-19 globally exceeding 1 million and more countries going into lockdown to slow the pandemic, the emerging question is: “When will this all end?” The answer depends in large part on uncertainties about the novel coronavirus that causes the disease, including whether you can get it more than once and how quickly the world’s scientists might produce a vaccine. The cost and benefits of a prolonged shutdown and what different countries can afford, from both an economic and political standpoint, are factors, too.

1. So how does this end?

There’s a consensus that the pandemic will only end with the establishment of so-called herd immunity. That occurs when enough people in a community are protected from a pathogen that it can’t take hold and dies out. There are two paths to that outcome. One is immunization. Researchers would have to develop a vaccine that proves safe and effective against the coronavirus, and health authorities would have to get it to a sufficient number of people. The second path to herd immunity is grimmer: It can also come about after a large portion of a community has been infected with a pathogen and develops resistance to it that way.

2. How do we manage until then?

For many countries, the strategy is to lock down movement to dramatically slow the spread, closing businesses and schools, banning gatherings and keeping people at home. The idea is to prevent a huge burst of infections that overwhelms the medical system, causing excessive deaths as care is rationed. “Flattening the curve” staggers cases over a longer period of time and buys authorities and health-care providers time to mobilize — to build capacity for testing, for tracking down contacts of those who are infected, and for treating the sick, by expanding hospital facilities, including ventilators and intensive-care units.

3. When can restrictions loosen?

The public shouldn’t expect life to return to normal quickly. Lifting restrictions too early risks inviting a new spike. Authorities in China began to re-open the city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began, two months after it was sealed off from the world, when transmission had virtually halted. But China’s measures were stricter than anywhere else so far, and at least one county has gone back to a lockdown. England’s deputy chief medical officer, Jenny Harries, said lockdown measures there need to last two, three or, ideally, up to six months. Annelies Wilder-Smith, a professor of emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, recommends restrictions stay in place until daily cases drop consistently over at least two weeks.

4. Then what?

A road map authored by a group of U.S. health specialists including former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb calls for an intermediate stage in which schools and businesses would reopen but gatherings would still be limited. People would continue to be encouraged to keep at a distance from one another, and those at high risk would be advised to limit their time in public. If cases begin to rise again, restrictions would be tightened. Their report, published by the pro-business American Enterprise Institute, is arguably more optimistic than the future envisioned by researchers at Imperial College London. Their models suggest that for at least two-thirds of the time until herd immunity is established, all households would need to reduce contact with schools, workplaces or the public by 75%. In any case, the widespread availability of testing is important in this stage. At the heart of the U.S. plan: at least 750,000 tests per week.

5. Why is testing so important?

This virus is wreaking so much havoc, not because it’s especially lethal, but because it’s insidious; many who are infected are well enough to go about their daily business, unwittingly spreading it to others. That makes it vital to test for infection widely in the population, and to test everyone with symptoms. That way, those who are infectious can be put in isolation and everyone they’ve had close contact with while contagious can be tracked down, tested and if necessary isolated as well, limiting the spread in the community. Another kind of test looks for antibodies to see who has already beaten the virus and is thus unlikely to be re-infected, at least for a time. Once widely available, such tests might enable people who test positive for antibodies to move about more freely.

6. Why does where you are matter?

Authoritarian countries such as China can impose stricter controls on movement and more intrusive means of surveillance, such as house-to-house fever checks, tracing and enforcement of quarantines, and are less vulnerable to pressure from businesses and popular opinion. That gives them powerful tools to keep the virus in check, so long as they are vigilant against imported cases. That’s a more difficult proposition for other nations. The poorest countries can less easily afford the economic losses caused by prolonged restrictions, and often don’t have the health infrastructure for extensive surveillance.

7. How long will a vaccine take?

Dozens of companies and universities around the world are working on it, but there’s no guarantee they will prevail. Vaccine development normally is a long and complex process that includes years of testing to ensure shots are safe and effective. In the coronavirus fight, some of the players aim to deliver a vaccine in 12 to 18 months, an extraordinarily ambitious goal. As well as using tried-and-true approaches, scientists are relying on new technologies, like those that add viral genetic material to human cells, inducing them to make proteins that spur an immune response. Some vaccine specialists believe governments, citizens and investors should temper their optimism. It’s not clear if the methods will work, that the timelines will be met or that companies will be able to manufacture enough shots.

8. What about the second path to herd immunity?

First, it would occur only if recovering from an infection leaves people with lasting immunity. It’s not yet known if that’s the case with the novel coronavirus. The portion of a population that would have to be exposed to the virus to establish herd immunity is also unknown. Generally, it’s high, for example 75% for diphtheria and 91% for measles. Patrick Vallance, the U.K. government’s chief scientific adviser, estimated the figure at 60% in February. How long it would take to reach the necessary threshold would depend on measures governments impose in response to the pandemic. Without tight restrictions, it would be faster yet come at a steep cost in illness and deaths as health systems would be overburdened. Some research assumes the actual number of infections is much higher than the confirmed cases. If that’s true, countries are closer to herd immunity than we know.

9. Are there other variables?

We could get lucky, and the virus could fade with the onset of summer in the northern hemisphere, where most cases are, just like outbreaks of influenza subside with seasonal changes. But it remains unknown whether warmer weather will play a role. Even if the outbreak wanes, it could return in the fall. Some are pinning their hopes on an ultra-effective therapy or a cure.

The Reference Shelf

Related QuickTakes on what you need to know about Covid-19, how it transmits, the quest for treatments and a vaccine, and the seasonality question.
Bloomberg News looks at the hurdles to development of a coronavirus vaccine.
The roadmap published by the American Enterprise Institute and the modeling done by Imperial College London.
An article in MIT Technology Review argues that the pandemic will change our lives, in some ways forever.
A commentary in the New York Times suggests the near future will be like a roller coaster ride.

Death Toll Continues to Rise in US – 1,500 die of coronavirus in 24 hours

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

The United States recorded nearly 1,500 deaths from COVID-19 between Thursday and Friday, last week according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, the worst 24-hour death toll globally since the pandemic began.

With 1,480 deaths counted between 8:30 pm (0030 GMT) Thursday and the same time Friday, according to the university’s continuously updated figures, the total number of people who have died since the start of the pandemic in the United States is now 7,406.

More than 1.13 million people worldwide — including more than 278,400 people in the United States – have been infected with the new coronavirus, and the number of deaths from the outbreak continues to rise. Officials are attempting to contain the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. as hospitals brace for unprecedented patient surges.

The worldwide death toll for the coronavirus moved past 60,000 Saturday morning and has infected more than 1.13 million people according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 270,400 cases and more than 7,100 deaths.

President Donald Trump on Friday recommended that Americans cover their faces with masks when outdoors, a policy U-turn following growing scientific research suggesting their widespread use can stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Trump told a White House briefing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was urging people to wear face coverings like scarves or homemade cloth masks, but to keep medical-grade masks available for health workers. “It’s going to be really a voluntary thing,” he underlined. “You don’t have to do it and I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it and that’s okay.”

The about-face was widely expected after senior health officials told reporters the scientific evidence had evolved. Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, cited “recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak as opposed to coughing and sneezing.”

Days earlier, the CDC’s Robert Redfield said up to a quarter of people who are infected may be asymptomatic. Taken together, the developments represent powerful arguments in favor of the widespread use of facial coverings.

The global death toll attributed to the novel coronavirus hit 59,884 early Saturday, and the latest surge in cases in France pushed the European nation’s total past that of China, where the illness was first detected in December.

In the four months since the virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, it has infected at least 1,131,713 people worldwide, according to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University. Five countries – the United States, Spain, Italy, Germany and France – have now confirmed total infection counts well above China’s 82,526 cases.

The United States has reported 278,458 cases, resulting in 7,159 deaths.
Spain has confirmed 124,736 cases, resulting in 11,744 deaths.
Italy has reported 119,827 infections, resulting in 14,681 deaths.
Germany has reported 91,159 cases, resulting in 1,275 deaths.
France has confirmed 83,029 infections, resulting in 6,520 deaths.
China has recorded 82,543 cases, resulting in 3,330 deaths.
Iran has recorded 55,743 cases, resulting in 3,452 deaths.
The United Kingdom has reported 38,697 cases, resulting in 3,611 deaths.
Turkey has recorded 20,921 cases, resulting in 425 deaths.
Switzerland has confirmed 19,702 cases, resulting in 60 deaths.

How to get your US stimulus check from the US Government?

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy, Health 0

The IRS and the Treasury Department say Americans will start receiving their economic impact checks in the next three weeks. The payments are part of the $2.2 trillion rescue package signed into law last week by President Donald Trump aimed at combating the economic ravages of the coronavirus outbreak.

As part of the economic stimulus bill, hundreds of billions of dollars are being earmarked for one-time economic impact payments, or “stimulus checks” to most American households. While the size of the stimulus payments has been widely reported, there are some key details that are still unclear — such as how you’ll actually get your payment, what happens if you haven’t filed a tax return recently, and what if your information has changed.

While this is still a fluid situation and there are some important details the IRS and Treasury haven’t quite figured out yet (to be fair, the bill passed just a few days ago), the IRS recently issued their most up-to-date guidance yet. With that in mind, here are five things about the stimulus check that you need to know.

Most people don’t need to do anything to get the money. But some — including senior citizens and low-income people who might not traditionally file tax returns — do need to take action. People behind on filing their taxes might also want to get caught up.

The IRS and Treasury have provided more details on how to ensure you get paid. Here are the basics:

WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE PAYMENTS?

Anyone earning up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income and who has a Social Security number will receive a $1,200 payment. That means married couples filing joint returns will receive the full payment — $2,400 — if their adjusted gross income, which what you report on your taxes, is under $150,000.

The payment steadily declines for those who make more. Those earning more than $99,000, or $198,000 for joint filers, are not eligible. The thresholds are slightly different for those who file as a head of household.

Parents will also receive $500 for each qualifying child. So, a family of four could get as much as $3,400.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET THE CHECK?

For most people, nothing. If you’ve already filed your 2019 tax return, which is now due on July 15, the IRS will use it to determine your eligibility. If you have not filed a 2019 tax return yet, your eligibility will be based on your 2018 return.

The money will be directly deposited in your bank account if the government has that information from your tax return. If you haven’t filed your 2019 taxes, the government will use information from your 2018 taxes to calculate your payment and determine where to send it. It can use your Social Security benefit statement as well.

I DON’T USUALLY HAVE TO FILE TAXES. DO I STILL GET A PAYMENT?

Yes. People who are not required to file a tax return — such as low-income tax payers, some senior citizens, Social Security recipients, some veterans and people with disabilities — will need to file a very simplified tax return to receive the economic impact payment. It provides the government basic details including a person’s filing status, number of dependents and direct-deposit bank information.

I HAVEN’T FILED MY 2018 OR 2019 TAXES. WILL I STILL GET A PAYMENT?

Yes, but the IRS urges anyone required to file a tax return and has not yet done so for those years to file as soon as possible in order to receive an economic impact payment. Taxpayers should include their direct-deposit banking information on the return if they want it deposited in their account.

I DIDN’T USE DIRECT DEPOSIT ON MY TAXES, WHAT CAN I DO?

The government will default to sending you the check by mail if you did not use direct deposit.

However, IRS and Treasury say that they will develop an online portal in the coming weeks for individuals to provide their banking information so that they can receive the payments immediately instead of in the mail. It has not yet set a deadline for updating that information.

WHERE DO I DO THIS?

The IRS says the Treasury is planning to develop a web-based portal for taxpayers to provide their bank account information for stimulus payments. The goal is to get the money in your hands as soon as reasonably possible, and the quickest way to do that is to allow everyone to use direct deposit if they so choose. We don’t know yet if there will be an option to choose a paper check.The IRS and Treasury say the website irs.gov/coronavirus will soon provide information about the check, including how people can file a simple 2019 tax return.

I NEED MORE TIME TO FILE MY TAX RETURNS. HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO GET THE PAYMENT?

The IRS says people concerned about visiting a tax professional or local community organization in person to get help with a tax return should not worry. The economic impact payments will be available throughout the rest of 2020.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Thursday that many Americans reeling from the financial impacts caused by the coronavirus outbreak can expect to see their one-time stimulus checks of up to $1,200 show up in their bank accounts in about two weeks. For those without direct deposit, Mnuchin promised checks would go out quickly in a matter of “weeks.”

The announcement followed a memo sent out by House Democrats that warned some Americans could have to wait up to 20 weeks – or five months – before they receive their checks.

The first payments are expected go out within three weeks to those for whom the Internal Revenue Service already has direct deposit information on file. Mnuchin said at a White House coronavirus briefing that payments would go out within two weeks to people whose direct deposit details are on file with the government, echoing comments he made after passage of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that payments would not go out until mid-April. He added that a web portal would be established for people to supply their details and that checks would be sent to anyone else, but did not specify a timeline. “I am assuring the American public, they need the money now.”

Three-quarters of U.S. Catholics view Pope Francis favorably, though partisan differences persist

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Culture/Religion, Health 0

Americans’ opinions of Pope Francis have rebounded slightly after hitting an all-time low almost two years ago in the wake of Catholic Church sex abuse scandals, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

Six-in-ten U.S. adults say they have a “very” or “mostly” favorable view of Pope Francis, up from roughly half who said this in September of 2018, when the question was last asked. At that time, a Pennsylvania grand jury had just published a report revealing decades of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, and former cardinal Theodore McCarrick had recently resigned because of separate sex abuse allegations.

Overall, public opinion of Pope Francis is now roughly at the same level as when he assumed the papacy in 2013, but still below higher points in 2015 and 2017, when 70% of U.S. adults said they had a “very” or “mostly” favorable view of the pontiff.

How we did this

U.S. Catholics are more likely than the general public to have a positive assessment of Francis. About three-quarters of Catholics (77%) now view the pope favorably, which is 10 percentage points lower than the share who did so in January 2017 (87%) but not statistically different from the ratings recorded in January or September 2018. (Even though the 2018 and 2020 surveys produced different estimates of the share of Catholics who view Pope Francis favorably, the differences between the current survey and each of the surveys conducted in 2018 do not pass a test of statistical significance.)

Catholics who attend Mass weekly and those who attend less often have roughly similar views of Pope Francis, with about three-quarters in each group expressing a very or mostly favorable opinion of Francis (79% and 76%, respectively).

Partisan differences

A January 2018 survey found growing partisan polarization in views of Pope Francis, with Catholic Republicans holding less favorable views of the pontiff than Catholic Democrats. That polarization persists today, with roughly nine-in-ten (87%) Catholic Democrats and Democratic leaners viewing Francis favorably compared with 71% among Catholic Republicans and Republican leaners.

A majority (59%) of religious “nones” – those who describe their religious affiliation as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – rate Francis as either very or mostly favorable. This is much higher than the share (39%) who rated him favorably when he first became pope in 2013, though at that time roughly a third of “nones” were not familiar enough with Francis to rate him.

Among white Protestants there are varying levels of support for Francis. About six-in-ten white Protestants who do not identify as born-again or evangelical view Pope Francis favorably (62%). White evangelical Protestants, however, are less likely to share this positive view; 43% express a favorable view of Francis. Among white Protestants – both those who identify as evangelical and those who do not – favorable opinions of Pope Francis have increased since the decline seen in September 2018.

New York, New Jersey Relax Rules for Physicians with Work Visas to Join the Fight Against COVID-19

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, Travel 0

As New York state climbs the steep face of its COVID-19 curve, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order vastly widening the scope of practice for some healthcare providers and absolving physicians of certain risks and responsibilities.

Along with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, both the states’ governors signed executive orders this week waiving licensing requirements or granting temporary licenses to foreign-born and foreign-licensed physicians in training in the U.S., in order to lessen the pressure on the work force currently stretched thin, according to a Times of India report.

The new relaxation of the rules could mean that nearly 1,000 Indian physicians currently on J-1 and H-1B visas could join coronavirus fight.

Med Page Today reports that, the order’s provisions include eliminating physician supervision of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and others; enabling foreign medical graduates, such as those of Indian origin, with at least a year of graduate medical education to care for patients; allowing emergency medical services personnel to operate under the orders of NPs, PAs and paramedics; allowing medical students to practice without a clinical affiliation agreement, and lifting 80-hour weekly work limits for residents; granting providers immunity from civil liability for injury or death

Suspending usual record-keeping requirements; allowing several types of healthcare professionals with licenses in other states to practice in New York; and suspending or revoking hospitals’ operating certificates if they don’t halt elective surgeries.

The order, which remains in place through at least April 22, was met mostly with applause, though with some hesitation around work-hour limits, the report said.

Meanwhile, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin is doing its part to help as well. AAPI announced it has organized national tele-conferences on COVID-19, in collaboration with the Indian Embassy and National Council of Asian Indian Americans.

“While COVID-19 continues to disrupt life around the globe, AAPI is committed to helping its tens of thousands of members across the U.S. and others across the globe,” said AAPI president Dr. Suresh Reddy.

Reddy notes that, as concerned physicians witnessing the growing COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our society, healthcare system and economy, AAPI has embarked on several initiatives.

The most effective so far, he said, has been offering twice a week conference calls having been attended by over 2,000 physicians from across the United States.

The teleconference on March 27 was unique as it was jointly organized by AAPI, Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, and National Council of Asian Indian Americans, the release said.

Anurag Kumar, Minister of Community Affairs, while praising the numerous efforts of AAPI, especially in this season of pandemic affecting the world, enumerated the many efforts of the Embassy to help Indians, and with particular focus on the nearly 200,000 Indian students in the U.S., the release said.

The teleconference was moderated by Dr. Lokesh Edara, who lauded AAPI’s efforts in providing such a forum to join in and share their expertise with their fellow physicians and thus provide the best care practice to their patients, especially in this season of fastspreading Covid-19 global pandemic, the AAPI release said.

Dr. Prasad Garimella was a main speaker at the conference. The Indian American physician is a critical care medicine specialist in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and has been practicing for 20 years.

He specializes in critical care medicine, pulmonary disease. Garimella gave an overview of the situation in the state of Georgia, and the many challenges his state faces as the pandemic is fast spreading.

“Everyone needs to act like a health care professional and needs to have the best attitude in order to defeat this deadly virus,” he said, according to the news release. “Social distancing is not isolating. Keep in touch with loved ones. Stay busy and stay connected. Filter and assess the news, look for credible sources to rely upon.”

Dr. Arunachalam Einstein was another speaker, who is an emergency medicine specialist in Everett, Washington. He specializes in emergency medicine and internal medicine. Einstein gave an update of case status in his state.

Another main speaker for the day was Dr. Usha Rani Karumudii, an infectious disease specialist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Easton Hospital and UPMC Passavant.

Kanumudi, in her address, said coronavirus has been there for long. The new virus is called novel because it’s highly infectious and we have high number of people with symptoms.

Another major initiative of AAPI has been the “Donate a Mask” program.

March 30 was National Doctors Day, an annual celebration aimed at appreciating and honoring physicians who help save lives everywhere.

“I want to take this special opportunity to thank our physicians for responding to late-night phone calls, working long hours and providing unswerving care. Today, more than ever, we know the sacrifices they make to put the health of their communities first,” Reddy said in a statement.

“We do acknowledge that these are challenging times, more than ever for us, physicians, who are on the frontline to assess, diagnose and treat people who are affected by this deadly pandemic, COVID-19. Many of our colleagues have sacrificed their lives in order to save those impacted by this pandemic around the world,” he said.

New York Indian Consulate Organizes An Online Interactive Session With GOPIO Members From The New York Area

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

India’s Consul General in New York Mr. Sandeep Chakravorty hosted an online interactive session for GOPIO Life Members and GOPIO chapter officials from the New York area on April 3rd. Other officials from the Indian Consulate present at the interactive session included Deputy Consul General Shatrugna Sinha, Consul for Political and POC Mr. Vipul Mesariya and Community Affairs Consul A.K. Vijayakrishnan.

GOPIO International officials included its Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham, Vice President Ram Gadhavi, Secretary Dr. Rajeev Mehta, International Coordinator Dr. Asha Samant, Media Council Chair Jasbir Kaur, GOPIO-New York President Beena Kothari, GOPIO-CT President Ashok Nichani, GOPIO-Central Jersey official President Kunal Mehta, GOPIO Manhattan officials and several other chapter officials.

Consul General Chakravorty gave a brief of the Indian Consulate functioning and how it has been helping the Indian American community as well as Indian students and visitors who are stuck in the US because of lockdown due to Coronavirus. GOPIO chapters highlighted their activities during the lockdown period especially arranging online webinars and helping the community including senior citizens. There were several questions to the consulate officials on when the Indian visitors can return back to India and lifting of travel ban of OCI card holders. Consul General Chakravorty said that it would take several weeks to get back to the normalcy on these issues.

The Indian Consulate plans several other online interactive sessions covering talks by eminent persons, webinar on important community issues, musical programs and children’s programs.

Padma Thakkar aka Stellar Woman Passes Away

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Women 0

Chicago IL: Padma Surendra Thakkar of Chicago, Illinois passed away peacefully in her sleep in Atlanta with her daughter, Anisa Daftari at her bedside, on March 31, 2020 at the young age of 72. Padma Thakkar was predeceased by her husband, Surendra Thakkar and her parents, Maneklal and Savitaben Thakkar. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Anisa and Dr. Tapan Daftari, respectively; her son and daughter-in-law, Shobhan Thakkar and Rashmi Rampuria, respectively. She was part of big family that included: her late brother and sister-in-law, Mahesh and Prabha Thakkar, respectively; her sister and late brother-in-law, Usha and Prahlad Thakkar, respectively; her late brother and late sister-in-law, Hasmukh and Jayshree Thakkar, respectively; her sister and brother-in-law, Bhavna and Kirit Thakkar, respectively; and her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Ashwin and Gita Thakkar, respectively. She is also survived by her four grandchildren, Shivam, Manav, Avi and Surene and many nieces and nephews, all of whom she loved dearly.

Padma Thakkar was born on November 10, 1947 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to Maneklal and Savitaben Thakkar. She was the eldest of 5 brothers and sisters. She married Surendra Thakkar in 1966. After moving to the United States in 1967, she continued to be the support for not only her husband, but numerous family members who were immigrating to the United States.. Over the next ten years, the couple welcomed two beautiful children into their home. They also sponsored many family members who immigrated to the United States from India, and not only helped them to settle into a new country, but did so by creating a welcoming and loving environment. Padma not only made and served homemade meals, but provided a sense of stability and comfort for those that left all of their family and friends back home. Together, Padma and Surendra are directly and indirectly responsible for over 800 Lohana Samaj members being in the Chicagoland area. Her children and grandchildren remember her as an extremely kind, loving, warm and generous woman who would welcome everyone she could into her home. She was most well known for her wonderful cooking and dinner parties that will be missed by so many.

Padma Thakkar moved around the US with her husband, living in cities such as Chicago, Pittsburg, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Fort Worth, Charlotte, Kennewick, and Augusta. Throughout her journeys, she worked while always being the support of her children and husband. When she wasn’t a homemaker, she worked in management at various banks and eventually owned her own business (Dunkin Donuts) for over 10 years. Everywhere she went, she rose to higher positions through her dedication and hard work. Despite her long work hours, she was always devoted to making sure her family members were always well taken care of. This was no small task, as her extended family grew to more than a few hundred.

She was an active and dedicated member of the Lohana Samaj and the Shree Jalaram Mandir and was very well-known by many members of the Chicago community. She had also made a new home in Atlanta for the last few years and been loved by all of her friends there as well.

Due to the current COVID-19 virus affecting the lives of everyone, the family will not be able to accept any flowers, though very much appreciated. In lieu of flowers, if you wish, please send donations to A School Bell Rings (www.aschoolbellrings.org) or Pratham (https://prathamusa.org).

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, only immediate family in Atlanta will be able to pay their respects in-person at a private memorial service this Saturday, April 4, 2020 at 11am EST. Anyone wishing to join in the service may join the live stream at https://www.mayeswarddobbins.com/obituaries/Padma-Thakkar/#!/Obituary.

The family will hold a larger in-person service for family & friends when time permits for anyone wishing to pay their respects and celebrate the life of our beloved Padma Thakkar.

How to get into ‘working mode’ while at home

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Health 0

If you are struggling to get into the working mode as you stay at home due to the lockdown, some simple tips like maintaining a routine and dressing up in a way as if you were in office may help you increase productivity, suggests a new report.

“Maintain daily routines as when working regularly — get up at the same time, take a shower, dress-up, get breakfast and than start working at the same time you normally do at the office,” according to the “Work From Home Best Practices” shared by Bain & Company, one of the world’s leading strategy and management consultancies.

Another key point to keep in mind is that you should leave private life outside the room where you work. If you want to check private messages, take a break and do it in your private space.

Taking break, in fact, is quite important to make your work from home effective, according to Bain & Company.

“Reward yourself and give yourself breaks “breaks are critical to recharge batteries, they can be small (e.g., 5 minutes of checking social media) or longer (e.g., full 45 min lunch break),” it said.

At the same time, it is important not to engage in any household tasks/ chores while on worktime.

To get the maximum out of you time, structure your day along key tasks/ objectives to achieve and keep track of what has to be done during the day (and week and month) and clearly decide when to do.

Instead of using the whole apartment for work, use one particular room and avoid having meals in front of the workstation.

“If you have a partner also working from home find clear rules for who can use the workplace at which time and where calls can be made from without ‘distracting’ each other,” the company said, adding that getting the right infrastructure and having good connectivity are key to having fruitful working hours at home. (IANS)

Wuhan Study Describes How Body Positioning Can Improve Breathing in Severe COVID-19 Patients Requiring Ventilation

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

In a new study of patients with severe COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) hospitalized on ventilators, researchers found that lying face down was better for the lungs. The research letter was published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

In “Lung Recruitability in SARS—CoV-2 Associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Single-Center, Observational Study,” Haibo Qiu, MD, Chun Pan, MD, and co-authors report on a retrospective study of the treatment of 12 patients in Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, China, with severe COVID-19 infection-related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who were assisted by mechanical ventilation. Drs. Qiu and Pan were in charge of the treatment of these patients, who were transferred from other treatment centers to Jinyintan Hospital.

A majority of patients admitted to the ICU with confirmed COVID-19 developed ARDS.

The observational study took place during a six-day period the week of Feb. 18, 2020. “This study is the first description of the behavior of the lungs in patients with severe COVID-19 requiring mechanical ventilation and receiving positive pressure,” said Dr. Qiu, professor, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Zhangda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. “It indicates that some patients do not respond well to high positive pressure and respond better to prone positioning in bed (facing downward).”

The clinicians in Wuhan used an index, the Recruitment-to-Inflation ratio, that measures the response of lungs to pressure (lung recruitability). Members of the research team, Lu Chen, PhD, and Laurent Brochard, PhD, HDR, from the University of Toronto, developed this index prior to this study.

The researchers assessed the effect of body positioning. Prone positioning was performed for 24-hour periods in which patients had persistently low levels of blood oxygenation. Oxygen flow, lung volume and airway pressure were measured by devices on patients’ ventilators. Other measurements were taken, including the aeration of their airway passages and calculations were done to measure recruitability.

Seven patients received at least one session of prone positioning. Three patients received both prone positioning and ECMO (life support, replacing the function of heart and lungs). Three patients died.

Patients who did not receive prone positioning had poor lung recruitability, while alternating supine (face upward) and prone positioning was associated with increased lung recruitability.

“It is only a small number of patients, but our study shows that many patients did not re-open their lungs under high positive pressure and may be exposed to more harm than benefit in trying to increase the pressure,” said Chun Pan, MD, also a professor with Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University. “By contrast, the lung improves when the patient is in the prone position. Considering this can be done, it is important for the management of patients with severe COVID-19 requiring mechanical ventilation.”

The team consisted of scientists and clinicians affiliated with four Chinese and two Canadian hospitals, medical schools and universities.

This study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.

Most Americans Say Coronavirus Outbreak Has Impacted Their Lives – More than half have prayed for an end to the virus’s spread

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Finance/Economy, Health 0

As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to rise and schools, workplaces and public gathering spaces across the United States remain closed, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that the coronavirus outbreak is having profound impacts on the personal lives of Americans in a variety of ways. Nearly nine-in-ten U.S. adults say their life has changed at least a little as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, including 44% who say their life has changed in a major way.

Amid widespread calls from experts for Americans to socially distance from one another to avoid spreading the virus, what recently seemed like mundane daily activities now elicit concerns from large swaths of the population. About nine-in-ten U.S. adults (91%) say that, given the current situation, they would feel uncomfortable attending a crowded party. Roughly three-quarters (77%) would not want to eat out at a restaurant. In the midst of a presidential election year, about two-thirds (66%) say they wouldn’t feel comfortable going to a polling place to vote. And smaller but still substantial shares express discomfort even with going to the grocery store (42%) or visiting with a close friend or family member in their home (38%).

How are people adapting their behavior in light of the outbreak? Four-in-ten working-age adults ages 18 to 64 report having worked from home because of coronavirus concerns – a figure that rises to a majority among working-age adults with college degrees and upper-income earners. Still, despite current circumstances, about two-thirds of adults with children under 12 at home say it’s been at least somewhat easy for them to handle child care responsibilities.

The virus also has impacted Americans’ religious behaviors. More than half of all U.S. adults (55%) say they have prayed for an end to the spread of coronavirus. Large majorities of Americans who pray daily (86%) and of U.S. Christians (73%) have taken to prayer during the outbreak – but so have some who say they seldom or never pray and people who say they do not belong to any religion (15% and 24%, respectively).

Among U.S. adults who said in an earlier survey they attend religious services at least once or twice a month, most (59%) now say they have scaled back their attendance because of the coronavirus – in many cases, presumably because churches and other houses of worship have canceled services. But this does not mean they have disengaged from collective worship entirely: A similar share (57%) reports having watched religious services online or on TV instead of attending in person. Together, four-in-ten regular worshippers appear to have replaced in-person attendance with virtual worship (saying that they have been attending less often but watching online instead).

These are among the findings of a Pew Research Center survey of 11,537 U.S. adults conducted March 19-24, 2020, using the Center’s American Trends Panel.1 Other key findings from the survey include:

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they feel comfortable proceeding with a variety of activities despite the coronavirus outbreak. For example, 68% of Republicans and people who lean toward the GOP say they would be comfortable visiting with a close friend or family member at their home, compared with 55% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Along these same lines, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say their lives have changed in a major way as a result of the virus, and that they have been feeling psychological distress.

Compared with older Americans, young adults are more likely to say they are comfortable going to a crowded party, a restaurant or a small gathering with close family or friends. Still, most adults under 30 say they are uncomfortable eating out at a restaurant (73%) or going to a crowded party (87%). Young adults are more likely than their elders to say they have used a food delivery service due to the outbreak.

Concerns about public activities and changes to personal lives have been felt more acutely in states with higher numbers of COVID-19 cases. For instance, 51% of those living in highly impacted states say their lives have changed in a major way, compared with 40% of those in states with the lowest numbers of cases.

Most Americans say their personal life has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak

Nearly nine-in-ten U.S. adults say their personal life has changed at least a little bit as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, with 44% saying their life has changed in a major way. Just 12% say their life has stayed about the same as it was before the outbreak.

Women (47%) are more likely than men (41%) to say their personal life has changed in a major way as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. And while more than four-in-ten white (45%) and Hispanic (47%) adults say this has changed their lives significantly, about a third of black adults (34%) say the same.

Income and education are also linked to assessments of the personal impact of the coronavirus outbreak. More than half of those with higher incomes (54%) say this has changed their life in a major way, compared with 44% of those with middle incomes and 39% of those with lower incomes.2

Similarly, 61% of those with postgraduate degrees, and a narrower majority of those with bachelor’s degrees (54%), say the coronavirus outbreak has changed their life in a major way. By comparison, 43% of those with some college and about a third of those with a high school diploma or less education (35%) say this has happened to them. Across income groups, those with at least a bachelor’s degree are more likely than those with less education to say the coronavirus outbreak has changed their life in a major way.

Across age groups, similar shares say the coronavirus outbreak has had a major impact on their personal life. For example, 43% of adults younger than 30 say the outbreak has changed their life in a major way, as do 45% of those ages 65 and older.

Not surprisingly, those in states with a high number of coronavirus cases are more likely than those in states that haven’t been as affected to say their personal life has changed in a major way because of the outbreak. About half of those who live in states with a high number of cases (51%) say their life has changed in a major way, compared with 43% of those in states with a medium number of cases and 40% of those in states with a low number of cases.3

Among the 33% of Americans who say they or someone in their household has either lost a job or took a pay cut because of the coronavirus outbreak, 54% say their personal life has changed in a major way as a result of the outbreak. This compares with 39% of those who say they have not experienced either of these situations.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say their personal life has changed in a major way as a result of the coronavirus outbreak: About half of Democrats and Democratic leaners (51%) say this, compared with 38% of Republicans and those who lean to the GOP.

These partisan differences remain even after accounting for the fact that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to live in states with a high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19. About a third of Democrats (34%) live in these states, compared with 22% of Republicans. More than half of Democrats in states with a high number of cases (57%) say their life has changed in a major way, compared with 42% of Republicans in states with a high number of cases. Similarly, in states with a medium or low number of cases, Democrats are more likely than their Republican counterparts to say the coronavirus outbreak has impacted their life in a major way.

More than three-quarters of Americans say they are not comfortable eating out in a restaurant given the current situation with coronavirus

About six-in-ten Americans say they would feel comfortable visiting with close friends and family members at their home (62%) and going to the grocery store (57%), given the current coronavirus outbreak. Roughly four-in-ten say they would not be comfortable doing these things (38% and 42%, respectively). Far fewer express comfort in going to a polling place to vote (33%) or eating out in a restaurant (22%), and only about one-in-ten (9%) say they would feel comfortable attending a crowded party.

There are some notable demographic differences in what Americans are comfortable doing during the current outbreak. In particular, younger adults are more likely than older Americans to express comfort with leaving their homes for various reasons. Across all age groups, majorities of Americans say they are uncomfortable eating out in a restaurant; still, about one-quarter of young adults ages 18 to 29 (27%) say they would be comfortable doing this, compared with just 16% of Americans 65 and older. Younger Americans are also more likely to feel comfortable visiting with family and friends: 68% of adults younger than 30 say they’d be comfortable doing this, compared with 60% of Americans ages 30 to 49, 64% of adults ages 50 to 64 and 56% of those 65 and older.

Across a variety of measures, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they are comfortable continuing with regular activities. Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats to say they are comfortable going to a grocery store and visiting friends and are far more likely than Democrats to say they are comfortable eating in a restaurant.

Roughly seven-in-ten Republicans (68%) say they are comfortable visiting with a close friend or family member at their home, while 32% say they would be uncomfortable. Democrats are more divided: 55% say they would be comfortable doing this while 45% say they would not be comfortable.

When it comes to Americans’ comfort with visiting with those close to them, partisan differences remain even after accounting for the fact that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to live in states with a high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19. About two-thirds of Republicans in states with a high number of cases (65%) say they would be comfortable visiting with close family and friends, compared with 50% of Democrats in these states. Similarly, in states with a medium or low number of cases, Republicans are more likely than their Democratic counterparts to say they are comfortable visiting with family and friends.

Overall, Americans living in suburban and rural areas are more likely than those living in urban communities to feel comfortable visiting with close friends and relatives. However, Americans living in urban areas are divided depending on how many confirmed cases of COVID-19 are in their state. Those living in urban areas in states with a high number of cases are the least likely to feel comfortable visiting with others (47%) while urban dwellers in states with a medium (56%) or low (67%) number of cases are more likely to feel comfortable going out to visit friends. These differences are not as stark in suburban areas, and there is no difference in comfort with visiting others among Americans in rural communities, regardless of the number of cases in the state.

About one-in-five adults say they have used a food delivery service because of the coronavirus outbreak. Amid recommendations for social distancing to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, about one-in-five adults (21%) say they have used a food delivery service instead of going to a restaurant or grocery store as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Adults younger than 30 are particularly likely to say they have used a food delivery service because of the coronavirus outbreak: Three-in-ten in this group say they have done this. A quarter of adults ages 30 to 49 also say they have used a food delivery service because of the coronavirus outbreak, while smaller shares of those ages 50 to 64 (15%) and those 65 and older (14%) say the same.

Hispanic adults (26%) are more likely than white (19%) and black (20%) adults to have used a food delivery service instead of going to a restaurant or grocery store as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. And while about a quarter of women (23%) say they have done this, about one-in-five men (19%) say the same. There are no notable differences by educational attainment, income, or whether people live in states with a high, medium or low number of coronavirus cases.

Most working-age adults with at least a bachelor’s degree have worked from home as a result of the coronavirus outbreak

Four-in-ten working-age adults – those ages 18 to 64 – say they have worked from home as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.4 Men and women in this age group are about equally likely to say they have worked from home.

About three-quarters of working-age adults with a postgraduate degree (73%) say they have worked from home as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, as do 62% of those with a bachelor’s degree. Far smaller shares of working-age adults with some college (35%) or with a high school diploma or less education (22%) say they have worked from home.

Similarly, working-age adults with higher incomes are more likely than those with lower incomes to say they have worked from home because of the coronavirus outbreak: 61% of those in the upper-income tier say they have done this, compared with 41% in the middle-income tier and an even smaller share (27%) of those with lower incomes.

In states with a high number of coronavirus cases, 45% of working-age adults say they have worked from home because of the outbreak; smaller shares in states with a medium or low number of cases say the same (38% each).

Most adults with young children at home say it has been easy for them to handle child care responsibilities

Even as many schools have closed because of the coronavirus outbreak, 65% of adults with children younger than 12 at home say it has been at least somewhat easy for them to handle child care responsibilities during this time, with 32% saying it has been very easy. About a third (35%) say this has been very or somewhat difficult for them.

San Diego Tunnel Task Force uncovers sophisticated cross-border drug tunnel under the U.S./Mexico border

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, U.S. 0

Federal agents seize 4,400 pounds of illicit drugs from the tunnel’s exit in the U.S

Federal agents on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force uncovered a sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel on Thursday, March 19, which extends under the United States-Mexico border to a warehouse in a commercial complex in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego. The discovery of the tunnel resulted from an ongoing investigation by members on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, which include Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Attorney’s Office.

Agents on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force developed information about a transnational criminal organization suspected of smuggling narcotics into the U.S. via a cross-border tunnel. As the investigation progressed, agents worked in cooperation with the Fiscalia General de la Republica and Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional to locate the tunnel entrance in Mexico. Agents subsequently presented evidence to a U.S. federal judge and obtained a federal search warrant for the warehouse in Otay Mesa. The U.S. exit point was discovered subsequent to the execution of the warrant.

Agents seized approximately 1,300 pounds of cocaine, 86 pounds of methamphetamine, 17 pounds of heroin, 3,000 pounds of marijuana and more than two pounds of fentanyl from the tunnel. The large seizure of mixed drugs represents the first time in San Diego’s history where five different types of drugs were found inside a tunnel. The total street value of the drugs seized from the tunnel is estimated at $29.6 million.

The tunnel extends for more than 2,000 feet underground from a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico to a warehouse in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego. The tunnel has an average depth of 31 feet and is three-feet wide through most of the passageway.

Agents estimate the tunnel has been in existence for several months due to the advanced construction observed in several portions of the passageway, which included reinforced walls, ventilation, lighting and an underground rail system.

“I’m proud of the excellent work performed by Homeland Security Investigations agents, as well as U.S. Border Patrol and Drug Enforcement Administration agents as integrated partners of the San Diego Tunnel Task Force. Their tenacity made the difference in shutting down this tunnel,” said HSI San Diego Acting Special Agent in Charge Cardell T. Morant. “I hope this sends a clear message that despite the ongoing public health crisis, HSI and our law enforcement partners will remain resilient and continue to pursue criminal organizations responsible for the cross-border smuggling of narcotics into the United States.”

“Several months ago, agents on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force announced the seizure of the longest cross-border tunnel and today we announce the discovery of another sophisticated tunnel with large quantities of drugs seized from within,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge John W. Callery. “These tunnels show the determination of drug trafficking organizations to subvert our border controls and smuggle deadly drugs into our community. But these recent tunnel seizures also show the dedication of our amazing partners on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force to locate and shut down these tunnels to keep our communities safe. Despite the current COVID-19 pandemic, DEA employees continue to work tirelessly to serve and protect the community.”

“I’m immensely proud of the dedication and diligence of agents on the task force to shut down this tunnel,” said Chief Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke. “Cross-border tunnels represent one of the most significant threats to our national security. Criminal organizations can use these tunnels to introduce anything they want into the U.S. This is especially concerning during a global pandemic.”

“If cartels keep spending millions of dollars building tunnels, we will keep finding and filling them,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer. “This time, we seized a jaw-dropping $30 million worth of dangerous drugs that aren’t going to reach the streets. This is the most valuable single-day tunnel seizure in recent memory, and it is the largest seizure of multiple drugs in a single tunnel. This takedown is even more significant in the face of a global pandemic, where stopping the movement of unauthorized people and packages across international borders is of utmost importance.” Brewer praised the excellent work of the San Diego Tunnel Task Force in locating and dismantling yet another cross-border drug tunnel, especially the efforts of AUSA Orlando Gutierrez.

Throughout the investigation, the San Diego Tunnel Task Force received substantial support from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

“The Sheriff’s Department remains committed to protecting the citizens of San Diego County from the dangers associated with the importation, sales, and use of illegal drugs, as well as the violent crimes associated with them,” said San Diego Sheriff William Gore. “By working collaboratively with agencies like Homeland Security Investigations, and groups like the Tunnel Task Force, we work tirelessly to achieve this mission. These partnerships are key to achieving these goals. We would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of these detectives and agents who worked tirelessly on this case. We thank them for their efforts.”

The San Diego Tunnel Task Force would like to thank the Government of Mexico authorities for their cooperation in this bi-lateral investigation.

Tunnels like this bring large quantities of dangerous drugs and violence into our communities. Law enforcement often relies on the public’s assistance in identifying the location of these tunnels. Anyone may anonymously report suspicious activity to the Tunnel Task Force at 1-877-9TUNNEL (1-877-988-6635).

Gauri and Shah Rukh Khan offer their 4-storey office to BMC for quarantine facilities

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Entertainment, Health 0

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan has revealed a series of initiatives to help citizens during India’s fight against coronavirus.

In a seven point plan, Khan revealed contributions via his various businesses to multiple funds, an effort to help supply 50,000 items of PPE equipment for health workers, and a pledge to provide daily meals to more than 5,500 families in the city of Mumbai, as well as a kitchen that will make 2,000 daily meals to serve homes and hospitals.

The contribution that B-towners are making to ease the coronavirus crisis reiterates the belief that in trying times, everyone stands together. From contributing financially to the PM and CM’s relief funds to now offering infrastructure, Gauri and Shah Rukh Khan are leading the pack from the front. Their magnanimity has set a precedence of how one can stand united in the times of COVID 19.

Announcing their contribution, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation tweeted, “We thank @iamsrk & @gaurikhan for offering their 4-storey personal office space to help expand our Quarantine capacity equipped with essentials for quarantined children, women & elderly. Indeed a thoughtful & timely gesture!#AnythingForMumbai #NaToCorona“

In the past, SRK and Gauri’s companies, KKR, Red Chillies and Meer Foundation provided monetary help as well as food for anyone who needed it.

The actor said on Twitter, “Given the enormity of the task, my team and I discussed ways to contribute in our own modest way. We have come up with a series of initiatives, which we hope will make a small difference.”

The actor praised the efforts of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the fight against COVID-19. The country is currently under an unprecedented lockdown. Cases rose to 1,965 in India on Thursday while the death toll stands at 50.

This crisis is not going to pass in a hurry, it will take its time and its toll on all of us. It will also show us that there isn’t really a choice between looking out for ourselves and looking out for one another. There’s nothing more obvious in the spread of this pandemic, than the fact that each one of us is inextricably connected to each other, without any distinction,” the actor added.

He concluded, “As a nation and as a people, it is our duty to give it all we’ve got. I am going to try my best and I know each one of you will do so too. Only together we will be able to fight through these difficult and unimaginable days.”

Indian Dhaba Style Mutton Curry

April 4, 2020 Staff ReporterAmmu's Hearty Treats 0

This scrumptious spicy curry with tender pieces of mutton is all you need to enjoy your warm bowl of rice , rotis or parathas.

It’s a popular North Indian recipe authentic to Punjabi restaurants (Dhabas). The mutton is slow cooked to perfection in a paste of roasted whole spices sautéed in a sauce of tomatoes and onions, after marinating in a yogurt mix and shallow frying to lock in the flavours.

This dish is guaranteed to standout is any dinner.

Why is this recipe special?

. Authentic- I promise you that you’ll never want to go to an expensive north indian restaurant to experience the goodness of a perfectly made indian curry once you try making this in your kitchen .

. Spicy, hot & tangy- This dish has all the flavours you’ll drool for in an indian meat curry

. Techniques- The use of a combination of methods for cooking the meat-marinating, shallow frying, sautéing & slow cooking- helps the meat to retain softness, juiciness, tenderness & the sauce gets well infused with the meat .

How I developed this recipe?

Like every South Indian who has an admiration for North Indian cuisine because of how famous and rich it’s dishes are all around the world … and also because it’s usually North Indian dishes that are generally served in most of the indian restaurants as the refined version of Indian cuisine as a whole, I too had my experiments in my kitchen to please my family with home cooked North Indian dishes in an attempt to make them agree that the recipes that I come up with are as good as their restaurant versions. And guess what? I succeeded with a good enough number of recipes to add to the star list. This is one of it.

What you’ll need-

. 1 kg chunky mutton pieces (shoulder/leg)

. 1/2 tablespoon Ginger paste

. 1/2 tablespoon Garlic paste

. 2 tsp Red chilli powder

. 1 tsp roasted cumin powder

. 1/2 cup yogurt

. 1/2 tablespoon raw papaya paste

. 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped ginger

. 1/2 tablespoon garlic paste

. 2 crushed green chilies

. 1.5 cups tomato puree

. 3 onions, finely sliced

. 2 cardamoms

. 3 cloves

. 1 inch cinnamon stick

. 1-2 bay leaves

. 1 or 2 dried red chilli es

. 1 tablespoon coriander powder

. 1/2 teaspoons turmeric powder

. 2 teaspoons ghee

. 1/3 cups sunflower oil

. 2 cups water

. 1 teaspoon garam masala powder

. 1 tsp kasuri methi (dried & crushed fenugreek leaves)

. 1 teaspoon garam masala powder

. 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

How to prepare-

. Marinate mutton pieces with salt, ginger -garlic pastes, red chilli powder, cumin powder, yogurt & papaya paste for a minimum of 2 hours .

. Heat oil & shallow fry the mutton pieces in oil for 8-10 minutes in a pan.

. Transfer this pieces into a vessel and temper cumin seeds after adding ghee to the same pan. Add whole spices along with the dried red chilies and sauté for a minute or 2.

. Add finely chopped ginger, crushed green chillies, onions, garlic paste & saute til onions are soft and golden.

. Now add coriander powder , turmeric powder and sauté till the raw smell of the powders are no more.

. Then you can add the tomato purée and mutton pieces. Mix this well adding the water. Cover and cook on medium flame for an hour. Once the mutton is cooked simmer uncovered until the right curry consistency is reached.

. Stir in chopped coriander and sprinkle with the garam masala powder.

. Temper the kasuri methi in a teaspoon of ghee and pour on top of the curry.

Notes, tips & serving suggestions-

. If you prefer your curry to be on a creamy side you can add 2 tablespoons of cashew paste or milk cream towards the end

. You are welcome to adjust the hotness of your curry by reducing or increasing the amount of red chilli powder in the recipe by 1 teaspoon less or more.

. Pour a spoon of cream or butter on top of the curry in a swirl to make it look more appetising before serving. Also chopped coriander on top.

Embassy of India Student Hub Advisory [Updated 27 March 2020]

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

Following the growing cases of COVID-19, US universities have taken measures to shut down on-campus operations and/or move classes online. The Embassy of India/India Student Hub has the following advisory for Indian students who may be impacted by these decisions. Please note that this advisory is based on information available as of 27 March 2020. The WHO, CDC, Government of India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (for India-specific updates), and your universities are the best sources for the latest information in this rapidly evolving situation. Further India Student Hub updates will be issued as needed.

Please read this advisory carefully. For emergencies, continue to contact the 24×7 Consular Emergency helplines at Embassy or Consulates as per your present location. In addition, to help support Indian students during the COVID-19 crisis, the Embassy of India Student Hub has established a non-emergency Peer Support Line. Details for these are given below:

If you are staying on-campus and are asked to vacate, check with your university about retaining on-campus housing. If your petition is not accepted, consult with your university and/or with your network on how to find alternate accommodations;
If your university or program is shutting down on-campus services, check with your university or program on how to avail your university’s health services, student health insurance, international student services, and any other essential service(s) that may be impacted;
The Embassy of India/India Student Hub can provide information on temporary emergency resources. The Embassy has partnered with and is grateful to members of the Indian community who have made these resources available for Indian students in an emergency. During this extraordinary situation created by the pandemic, our commitment remains steadfast to ensure welfare of our students in the best possible manner within available resources and with the support of the US government;
The Embassy of India is in touch with the US government, which is monitoring the implications that this evolving situation may have for international students. Please note:

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (‘SEVP’) has confirmed that international students can temporarily engage in distance-learning, either from within the U.S. or outside the country, in light of COVID-19, without any penalty to their visa status;
In addition, for most cases, SEVP noted that the five-month temporary absence rule will not apply for students who remain in Active status. Read the full SEVP guidance here: (https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2020/COVID-19FAQ.pdf);
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides updated information on visa status and CPT/OPT applications/extensions at https://www.ice.gov/covid19.
If you, a relative, or a friend were admitted on a visa that may be expiring (and were not admitted as an F-1 student for Duration of Status), you may need to take action to extend the authorized stay. We are given to understand that DHS is currently not in a position to offer a blanket extension of visa cases. However, they are working hard to quickly process urgent requests from individuals. We have been asked to advise Indian nationals whose visa status may be expiring (for any reason) to apply online as early as possible through USCIS. You may direct yourselves/family members to https://www.uscis.gov/visit-united-states/extend-your-stay for specific information regarding extensions of status for individuals who are unable to depart as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Official campus advisories and your Designated Student Official (DSO) and/or program coordinator can also provide more information or clarification on questions relating to F-1/J-1 students or their dependents.
5. Please avoid all non-essential domestic or international travel, as recommended by the WHO and CDC:

For official advisories on domestic travel within the US or internationally, consult the US Department of State , US Transportation and Security Administration, and the relevant local and state government websites;
Kindly note that India has suspended all scheduled international commercial passenger flights until 1830 hrs GMT on 14 April 2020. In addition, all domestic passenger flights within India are also suspended until 14 April 2020. This action has been taken in the interest of public health and safety of all Indian citizens. The latest Government of India travel advisories can be found at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/;
Remain in contact with your DSO for information on any possible impact international travel may have on your F-1 or J-1 status.

We again request you to avoid travel for two reasons:

a. to protect you from exposure to COVID-19, and

b. to prevent you from being a source of transmission to other people/communities.

We will update the information as soon as commercial flights to India resume. Meanwhile, if you need any support, please do reach out to us using the information below.

6. Please practice social distancing (staying at home as much as possible, except to access essential services) and maintain a distance of at least 2 metres (6 feet) away from other people to minimise the transmission of COVID-19. If you have flu-like symptoms, please self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days. Consult the WHO and CDC websites for further information about the disease, preventative measures, and what to do if you experience any symptoms.

This is an unprecedented situation, but we can successfully manage it by making decisions with a calm mind. Please take prudent health precautions and carefully review information and travel advisories.

To receive the latest Embassy of India Student Hub advisory(s), register here:

Contact Information

For peer support and advice, contact the India Student Hub’s COVID-19 Peer Support Line at (414)-404-6342 or (414)-40-INDIA (11 AM – 5 PM EDT daily), or by email at: covid19@ishubus.com

For emergency consular services by jurisdiction, please visit:

Residents of Bermuda, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia	https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/ cons4.washington@mea.gov.in Tel: 202-213-1364 and 202-262-0375
Residents of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virgin Islands	https://www.indiainatlanta.gov.in/ cons.atlanta@mea.gov.in Tel: 404-910-7919 and 404-924-9876
Residents of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin	https://www.cgichicago.gov.in/ visa.chicago@mea.gov.in Tel: 312-687-3642 and 312-468- 3276
Residents of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska	https://cgihouston.gov.in/ enquiriescgi@swbell.net Tel: 713-626-2149
Residents of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont	Reach out through PRAMIT available on our website: https://pramit.indiainnewyork.gov.in/ Tel: 212-774-0607/347-721-9243
Residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming	https://www.cgisf.gov.in/ oci2.sf@mea.gov.in Tel: 415 483 6629

Best Regards,

शम्भु हक्की

Shambhu Hakki

प्रथम सचिव (प्रैस, सूचना तथा संस्कृति)

First Secretary (Press, Information & Culture) & Political

भारतीय राजदूतावास, वॉशिंग्टन डीसी

Embassy of India, Washington D.C.

फ़ोन/Phone: 202 939 7041

ईमेल/Email : fspic.washington@mea.gov.in

Website: https://www.indianembassyusa.gov.in/

$2 Trillion Relief Bill as U.S. Becomes Coronavirus Epicenter

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, U.S. 0

President Trump on Friday signed into law the largest economic stimulus package in modern American history, backing a $2 trillion measure designed to respond to the coronavirus, COVID 19 pandemic while the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassed 100,000.

Under the law, the government will deliver direct payments and jobless benefits for individuals, money for states and a huge bailout fund for businesses battered by the crisis. The legislation will send direct payments of $1,200 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $75,000, and an additional $500 per child. It will substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 13 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, and for the first time will extend the payments to freelancers and gig workers.The deadly disease broke the longest bull-market in history and caused 3.3 million Americans to lose their jobs last week.

Trump signed the measure in the Oval Office hours after the House approved it by voice vote and less than two days after the Senate unanimously passed it. “We’re so pleased to be able to have passed on the floor—practically unanimously—this important bill, CARES. And we want to demonstrate that we do care for the American people in every way,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Ca.) said after the bill was passed by voice vote.

While majority support for the measure didn’t appear threatened, House members are currently scattered across the country and with domestic air travel schedules slashed due to plummeting demand. This was the logistical and procedural obstacle that Pelosi had hoped to avoid.

The U.S. is now the global center of the coronavirus outbreak, with the more than 100,000 American diagnoses passing the number of cases in China. The disease’s devastating spread in the U.S. and the economic toll that countermeasures to contain it have wrought led Pelosi to begin on Thursday to talk about the contents of another aid bill that would come after the one the House is currently working to pass.

The measure will also offer $377 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $500 billion government lending program for distressed companies reeling from the crisis, including allowing the administration the ability to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers. It will also send $100 billion to hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic.

The law was the product of days of talks between members of Mr. Trump’s administration and Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress. And even before Mr. Trump held a bill signing on Friday afternoon, congressional leaders said they expected to negotiate more legislative responses to the pandemic in the coming months.

Pelosi said in an interview Thursday that in the next recovery package, she wants to go above and beyond the current bill’s level of direct cash payments to Americans. The bill passed by the Senate provides for $1,200 per taxpayer and $500 per child.

“We do want to see more direct payments” to Americans, Pelosi said on Bloomberg TV Thursday afternoon. “We had much higher direct payments in our House bill, and we would hope to see that we could do that again.” Family and medical leave and workplace safety would also be a focus for the House in the next aid bill, she said.

For an update on the fast growing pandemic, please visit: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports

U.S. Public Sees Multiple Threats From the Coronavirus – and Concerns Are Growing

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Majorities express confidence in CDC and state and local officials – From Pew Research Center

As coronavirus cases increase across the United States and federal and state governments scramble to address the crisis, 70% of Americans say the COVID-19 outbreak poses a major threat to the nation’s economy and 47% say it is a major threat to the overall health of the U.S. population.

So far, Americans are less concerned about how the new coronavirus is affecting their health, finances and local communities. Still, 27% say the coronavirus is a major threat to their personal health, while 51% say it is a minor threat. Only 22% says it does not threaten their personal health.

Underscoring the rapidly changing nature of this crisis, the shares of Americans who say the COVID-19 outbreak is a major threat to the economy and other aspects of life increased substantially over the past week. For example, in interviews conducted March 10-11, 42% of the public said the coronavirus was a major threat to the health of the U.S. population; in interviews conducted March 14-16, 55% say it is a major threat to the nation’s overall health.

The national survey by Pew Research Center – conducted March 10-16 among 8,914 adults using the Center’s American Trends Panel, in conjunction with the Center’s Election News Pathways project – finds widespread public confidence that public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local government officials are doing a good job in responding to the coronavirus outbreak.

More than eight-in-ten (83%) say they are very or somewhat confident that CDC officials are doing a good job, including 40% who are very confident. Most (73%) also say they are confident in state and local government officials.

The public is less confident in how President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are responding to the crisis: Fewer than half are very or somewhat confident that Trump (45%) and Pence (48%) are doing a good job responding to the crisis.

Here are the other major findings from the new survey:

News media’s response to coronavirus outbreak. An Election News Pathways report out today finds that Americans are closely following news about the coronavirus outbreak, and they give the news media fairly high marks for their coverage: 70% say the news media are doing very or somewhat well covering the story. And misinformation is also part of the story: 48% of Americans report having seen at least some news they thought was made up about the virus.

Strongly partisan reactions to the government’s response to COVID-19 outbreak. Partisanship is evident in the public’s views of most national problems, and so far, the coronavirus outbreak is no exception. Perhaps the most striking example of this: 59% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say the outbreak is a major threat to the health of the U.S. population as a whole; only 33% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the same.

Trump viewed as minimizing coronavirus risks; news media seen as exaggerating them. Reflecting the public’s modest level of confidence in Trump’s response to the outbreak, 52% say he has not taken the risks from the coronavirus outbreak seriously enough, while 37% say he has gotten the risks about right; 10% say he has exaggerated the risks. By contrast, a majority of adults (62%) say the news media have exaggerated risks from the outbreak.

Financial toll from coronavirus. Among those who are currently employed, only 36% say they would continue to get paid if they were unable to work for two weeks or more because of the coronavirus. Another 21% say they could still meet basic expenses, even if they did not get paid during the crisis. A third of Americans say they would not get paid and that it would be difficult to keep up with expenses. Among adults with family incomes of less than $50,000, about half (49%) say they would struggle with day-to-day expenses.

Has the coronavirus been exaggerated – or not taken seriously enough?

Americans generally say that the public health officials at the CDC have gotten the risks of the coronavirus about right. But far fewer say that about the news media, Donald Trump and congressional Democrats.

A majority (63%) says public health officials at the CDC have gotten the risks for the coronavirus about right. Relatively few say they have exaggerated the risks (21%) or not taken them seriously enough (15%).

By contrast, a majority (62%) says the news media have exaggerated the risks from the coronavirus outbreak. Just 30% say they have handled the risks appropriately, and 8% say they have not taken the risks seriously enough.

Critiques of Trump’s response run in the opposite direction. About half (52%) say either that Trump has not taken the risks seriously enough (23%) or that he hasn’t taken them seriously at all (29%); 37% say he’s gotten the risks about right.

When it comes to Democratic leaders in Congress, about as many say they have exaggerated the risks (40%) as say they have gotten them about right (38%); 19% say they haven’t taken the risks seriously enough.

Views of how Trump, Democratic leaders and the news media have responded to the risks of the coronavirus are highly partisan. However, there is bipartisan agreement that officials at the CDC have responded appropriately: 64% of Democrats and Democratic leaners and 63% of Republicans and Republican leaners say CDC officials have gotten the risks of the coronavirus about right.

Roughly three-quarters of Republicans (76%) say the news media have exaggerated the risks of the coronavirus, including 53% who say they have greatly exaggerated them. While Democrats are less likely than Republicans to say this, many do criticize the news media in this regard: 49% of Democrats believe the media have exaggerated the coronavirus risks, compared with 41% who think they’ve gotten them about right.

Partisans are far apart in how they assess Trump’s response to the coronavirus. Nearly eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (79%) think the president has not taken the risks seriously enough, including 50% who say he hasn’t taken the risks seriously at all. Among Republicans and Republican leaners, 68% think he’s gotten the risks about right, compared with far fewer (22%) who say he hasn’t taken them seriously enough.

A narrow majority of Democrats (56%) say their party’s leaders in Congress have gotten the risks of the virus about right; the remainder of Democrats are about evenly split between saying their leaders have exaggerated the risks (23%) and saying they haven’t taken them seriously enough (20%). Most Republicans (60%) criticize Democratic leaders in Congress for exaggerating the risks of the coronavirus, while 20% say they’ve gotten the risks about right and 18% say they haven’t taken them seriously enough.

Coronavirus threat perceptions rose over survey field period

Information about the coronavirus outbreak and guidance from federal, state and local officials evolved over the survey’s seven-day field period, and public concern about the threat posed by the virus was higher at the end of the survey than at the beginning.

For instance, in the first two days of the survey field period (March 10-11), 42% said the new coronavirus outbreak was a major threat to the health of the U.S. population. In the final three days of the survey field period, this share had risen to 55%.

This increase in the perceived threat posed by the coronavirus over time was seen across the four other areas of concern measured in the survey.

Bipartisan confidence in CDC, state and local officials

Republicans have much more confidence than Democrats in Trump and Pence to respond to the coronavirus, but majorities of both partisan groups say they are confident in CDC health officials and their state and local officials to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

A large share of Republicans and Republican leaners (87%) say they either are very (48%) or somewhat (39%) confident in public health officials at the CDC to do a good job responding to the coronavirus. Most Democrats and Democratic leaners (80%) also say they are confident in CDC officials, though fewer (33%) are very confident.

Similarly, 75% of Republicans and 72% of Democrats say they are at least somewhat confident that their state and local officials are doing a good job responding to the coronavirus outbreak.

Republicans are broadly confident that Trump and Pence are doing a good job responding to the coronavirus, while large shares of Democrats lack confidence in them to do this.

About eight-in-ten Republicans (82%) say they are very or somewhat confident in Trump to do a good job responding to the coronavirus; nearly as many (77%) say the same about Pence. By contrast, 87% of Democrats say they are not too (20%) or not at all (67%) confident in Trump to do a good job responding to the coronavirus; a slightly smaller majority (77%) say they are not too (30%) or not at all (47%) confident in Pence.

Fewer Republicans than Democrats see ‘major’ threats from coronavirus

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to describe the coronavirus as a major threat across all five areas of concern tested in the survey.

Most notably, Democrats and Democratic leaners are 26 percentage points more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to say that the virus presents a major threat to the U.S. population as a whole (59% vs. 33%).

And while majorities in both parties say the coronavirus outbreak is a major threat to the U.S. economy, Democrats (77%) are more likely than Republicans (62%) to say this.

Democrats are also somewhat more likely than Republicans to say the coronavirus is a major threat to day-to-day life in their community, their personal financial situation and their personal health.

How an extended job absence would impact workers

Missing work for an extended period because of the coronavirus would hurt lower-income, less highly educated, younger and nonwhite workers more than others in the labor force.

Overall, just over half of employed people (54%) say they would not get paid if the coronavirus caused them to miss work for at least two weeks. The larger share of this group (33% of all employed people) say it would be difficult for them to keep up with their basic expenses while out of work and not being paid; 21% of workers say they would not get paid but would still be able to keep up with expenses.

Just more than a third of employed people (36%) say they would still get paid if they could not work for at least two weeks because of the coronavirus; 10% say they aren’t sure what would happen.

Nearly seven-in-ten employed people with family incomes of less than $30,000 a year (68%) say they would not get paid if they had to miss work for two weeks because of the coronavirus, including 52% who say they’d have trouble keeping up with expenses during this time. Smaller shares of employed people with higher annual incomes say this. For instance, just 11% of those earning $100,000 a year or more say they would not get paid and would have trouble meeting expenses if they were out of work for at least two weeks because of the virus; most of this group (61%) say they’d continue to get paid if they could not work.

Black and Hispanic workers are less likely than white workers to say they’d still get paid if they had to miss work for two weeks because of the coronavirus. A majority of Hispanic workers (66%) say they would not get paid if the coronavirus caused them to miss work for two weeks, including 47% who say it would be difficult to meet expenses during this time. Half of black workers say they would not get paid, while another 23% say they aren’t sure what would happen.

The youngest workers surveyed – those ages 18 to 29 – are the age group most likely to say they would not get paid if forced to miss two weeks due to the coronavirus. They also are more likely than other age groups to say they would have trouble meeting basic expenses without income.

Racial, ethnic differences in personal health concerns from coronavirus

Most Americans view the coronavirus as a threat to their own personal health, though far more view it as a minor (51%) than major (27%) threat; 22% say it is not a threat.

The level of personal concern about the virus varies significantly across demographic groups. In particular, older adults, black and Hispanic people, and those with no college experience are especially likely to view the coronavirus as a major threat to their own health.

Majorities of those of all races and ethnicities see the new coronavirus as at least a minor threat to their health. However, 46% of black people and 39% of Hispanics view the coronavirus as a major threat to their own health, compared with 21% of white adults.

Among adults ages 65 and older, 86% say the coronavirus is a threat to their personal health, including 33% who say it’s a major threat. Among adults ages 18 to 29, a smaller majority sees the virus as a personal health threat (72%) and 23% view it as a major threat.

Those who live in urban areas (33%) are somewhat more likely to see the coronavirus as a major threat to their personal health than those living in suburban (25%) or rural (25%) areas.

Across levels of educational attainment, 35% of those with no college experience say the coronavirus is a major threat to their personal health, compared with 26% of those with some college experience, 19% of college graduates and 21% of postgraduates.

There are not major differences in concern over personal health between those who say they are covered by health insurance and those who say they are not.

Close followers of coronavirus news more likely to see major threats

About half of U.S. adults (51%) say they are following news about the coronavirus very closely, while 38% say they are following it fairly closely and just 11% say they are following it not too or not at all closely.

Those most closely following news about the coronavirus are significantly more likely than other groups to say the virus poses a major threat in all five areas of concern tested in the survey.

For instance, 78% of those following news very closely say the coronavirus outbreak is a major threat to the U.S. economy, compared with 65% of those following news fairly closely and just 46% of the relatively small share of the public that’s following the news not too or not at all closely. This pattern is consistent across the other areas of concern measured in the survey.

These measures and more can be explored further in the Election News Pathways data tool, where all of the data associated with this project is available for public use.

The dollar is on a tear. Here’s why that’s troubling

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy 0

Even though the novel coronavirus has the United States essentially in lockdown mode, the American dollar continues to be viewed as the world’s safest and most stable currency.

The value of the greenback is surging, up more than 7% against a basket of other currencies — such as the euro, British pound and Swiss franc — since hitting the lowest point of 2020 on March 9.

But this strong demand from other countries around the world has created a liquidity crunch — essentially a dollar shortage. There are worries that this could further disrupt global financial markets.

“This collapse in global activity leaves a lot of people with US dollar liabilities to finance, and not enough dollars coming in to do it,” said Kit Juckes, a strategist at Societe Generale, in a report.

“It doesn’t matter that they don’t owe these dollars to Americans…what matters is that they need dollars and need them now,” Juckes added.

That appears to be the main rationale behind moves from the Federal Reserve to roll out new dollar loans (known as swap lines) with five major central banks on Sunday and an expansion of the program with nine other central banks on Thursday.

The Fed announced further plans Friday to step up the frequency of dollar swaps with The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.

The arrangements will now be daily — as opposed to just weekly — starting Monday and will last until at least the end of April.

“Any stress in wholesale funding markets is getting noticed, and anything done to address it matters. Expanding the swap lines to more countries could continue to improve currency funding constraints,” said Lauren Goodwin, economist and multi-asset portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments, in a report.

The resurgent dollar may create another big problem for giant US multinational companies that are already staring to struggle from lower demand abroad as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A strong dollar makes US exports more expensive — and therefore less competitive — than foreign made goods.

Benefits to a strong dollar as well

Still, the demand for the dollar is also a good psychological sign.

It shows that investors around the globe are still in confident in America’s status is the world’s leading economy and the dollar as a reserve currency for the world.

“The dollar is rallying because it is a safe haven currency. And that has some benefits,” said Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.

With that in mind, Schutte said investors should not worry about what the dollar will do to corporate profits. A stronger dollar also makes imported goods cheaper for American consumers.

“The US is still the number one economic power on the planet. There is a reason that the dollar and Treasury bonds are considered the healthiest in the world. This is unavoidable and in the long run it is not harmful,” said Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines, a company that provides advice for 401(k) plans.

Still, some experts question if the dollar can rally much further from these levels.

It might be time for the dollar to give back some of its gains — especially as other countries begin to realize that they need to prop up their own currencies.

“The main risk for the dollar is G7 currency intervention. With the rise in the greenback driving many currencies to multi-year lows, central banks from Brazil to Norway have rushed to prevent further losses,” said Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, in a report.

“There’s a very good chance that coordinated action on a global scale will be next. If they come into the market, it will be to sell dollars, not buy them,” Lien added.

U.S. economy deteriorating faster than anticipated as 80 million Americans are forced to stay at home

Economic decline will be sharper and more painful than during the 2008 financial crisis

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy 0

The U.S. economy is deteriorating more quickly than was expected just days ago as extraordinary measures designed to curb the coronavirus keep 84 million Americans penned in their homes and cause the near-total shutdown of most businesses.

In a single 24-hour period, governors of three of the largest states — California, New York and Illinois — ordered residents to stay home except to buy food and medicine, while the governor of Pennsylvania ordered the closure of nonessential businesses. Across the globe, health officials are struggling to cope with the growing number of patients, with the World Health Organization noting that while it required three months to reach 100,000 cases, it took only 12 days to hit another 100,000.

The resulting economic meltdown, which is sending several million workers streaming into the unemployment line, is outpacing the federal government’s efforts to respond. As the Senate on Friday raced to complete work on a financial rescue package, the White House and key lawmakers were dramatically expanding its scope, pushing the legislation far beyond the original $1 trillion price tag.

With each day, an unprecedented stoppage gathers force as restaurants, movie theaters, sports arenas and offices close to shield themselves from the disease. Already, it is clear that the initial economic decline will be sharper and more painful than during the 2008 financial crisis.

Next week, the Labor Department will likely report that roughly 3 million Americans have filed first-time claims for unemployment assistance, more than four times the record high set in the depths of the 1982 recession, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. That is just the start of a surge that could send the jobless rate spiking to 20 percent from today’s 3.5 percent, a JPMorgan Chase economist told clients on a conference call Friday.

Estimates of the pandemic’s overall cost are staggering. Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund manager, says the economy will shrink over the next three months at an annual rate of 30 percent. Goldman Sachs pegs the drop at 24 percent. JPMorgan Chase says 14 percent.

“We are looking at something quite grave,” said economist Janet L. Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair. “If businesses suffer such serious losses and are forced to fire workers and have their firms go into bankruptcy, it may not be easy to pull out of that.”

As layoffs skyrocket, the holes in America’s safety net are becoming apparent

Little more than seven months before the presidential election, President Trump already is looking past the crisis and promising a swift recovery. “We’re going to be a rocket ship as soon as this thing gets solved,” he said Thursday. “… We think it’s going to come back really fast.”

Most economists expect the economy to begin climbing out of its deep hole in the second half of this year. But those forecasts depend upon the pandemic being brought under control and the United States and other governments enacting policies that prevent lasting harm to factories and financial arteries. Even if all that happens, the economy will be smaller at the end of this year than it was at the beginning, according to Bridgewater, Goldman and JPMorgan.

The truth is no one knows what will happen months from now. No one on Wall Street or in Washington has any experience dealing with the kind of complex threat that has suddenly materialized to upend American life — a global health scare that is strangling the economy and disrupting financial markets.

Americans are very likely to get $1,200 checks. Here’s what you need to know.

Individual workers and their families — many only recently recovered from the economic cataclysm of 2008 and 2009 — are already feeling the effects. The unexpected economic shock has put millions of Americans living on the precipice of ruin. In a Fed survey last year, 39 percent of Americans said they would be unable to handle an unexpected $400 expense.

Lyndsy Hartmann knew something was wrong last weekend when she went to her job at a spa company in Charlottesville. Hartmann, 34, normally handles 150 calls a day from people interested in booking spa treatments and massages. But on Saturday and Sunday, she received a total of six.

The fall of the ‘last Citadel’ of justice: Supreme Court of India

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, India, Politics 0

“I am surprised as to how Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who once exhibited such courage of conviction to uphold the independence of the judiciary, has compromised the noble principles on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary,” said Retired Justice Kurian Thomas. He was reacting to the appointment of recently retired Supreme Court Chief Justice to the Rajya Sabha by the Modi Administration. “Mr. Gogoi’s decision to accept the nomination to Rajya Sabha has certainly shaken the confidence of the common man on the independence of the judiciary,” Mr. Joseph added.

Not so long ago, on January 12, 2018, Mr. Gogoi was part of the four-member Supreme Court along with Justice Kurian Joseph, who held an unprecedented news conference to warn about dangers of political interference in the judiciary. “The four of us are convinced that unless this institution is preserved and it maintains its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country,” Justice Jasti Chelameswar said during the press conference held at his home.

Since independence, the Supreme Court has remained a firewall against abuse of power by the Executive branch and the elites of the ruling class. The integrity of judges has been a critical component in rendering impartial decisions that have far-reaching effects on society. Judicial independence is vital in reassuring the public that judges would dispense cases with honesty and impartiality, in accordance with the law and evidence presented to them. The Supreme court must be free of fear and favor from the Executive; if and only if that is the case will the Court be trusted by the public.

If we look at the record of Gogoi as the Chief Justice, he has headed a five-member constitution bench that delivered a historical and unanimous judgment deciding the fate of the Babri Masjid land in Ayodhya in favor of Hindus. He also headed the bench that put SC’s stamp of approval on the Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France clearing the BJP government of serious corruption charges from the Opposition. Moreover, the Supreme Court headed by Gogoi appeared to have dragged its feet in setting up a quick hearing on the violations of the civil rights of Indian citizens in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 by the Modi government.

Therefore, his nomination to the Rajya Sabha raises a serious question of quid pro quo that would have a diminishing effect on the judges who serve on the Court and debilitating impact on the Institution and its Independence. An Institution that the public relies on for the final word. One may argue that Mr. Ranjan Gogoi’s nomination to Rajya Sabha is not unprecedented, and it has happened under the rule of the Congress Party as well. When Justice Rangnath Mishra, the former Chief Justice of India, was nominated to Rajya Sabha in 1998, most observers also saw it as a case of quid pro quo. Two wrongs don’t make it right.

There are indeed widespread criticisms around Gogoi’s nomination, and some prominent citizens have spoken out loud. “What concerns me is that Justice Gogoi had relinquished charge as the CJI as recently as on November 17, 2019, exactly four months ago. In my view, offering the higher members of the judiciary nominated positions such as the Governor of a State or a Membership in the Rajya Sabha undoubtedly sets an unhealthy precedent, as it tends to weaken the institution of the judiciary,” wrote E.A.S Sarma, a former IAS officer of 1965 batch in a letter written to President Ram Nath Kovind.

Some others are also wondering about the evolution of Ranjan Gogoi from an independent justice, who has spoken out against the tyranny of the Executive interference in the judiciary, to a vassal of a Machiavellian ruling hierarchy that is hellbent on controlling the judicial process for the purpose of promoting their political agenda. As soon as Mr. Gogoi was nominated to the position of CJI, a 35-year-old junior court assistant wrote to 22 Justices in the Supreme Court, accusing him of sexual harassment. Later, a three-member Supreme Court panel investigating the allegations gave a clean chit to Gogoi in the matter. The woman who filed the charges was fired, and her family was reportedly harassed. The complainant said in a statement, “Today, my worst fears have come true, and all hopes of justice and redress from the highest Court of the land have been shattered.” However, in a curious and shocking twist to the whole story, the woman was magically reinstated after Gogoi vacated his office. One wonders who is behind this entire drama and how the justice may have been compromised.

When those four justices, including Gogoi, conducted that 2018 press conference, they expressed their disapproval about how then-Chief Justice Dipak Misra was assigning cases. Particularly pertaining to a petition seeking an independent investigation into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of BH Loya in 2014. At the time of death, Loya was presiding over the Sohrabuddin encounter case, in which the current Home Minister was a prime accused. In November 2017, the caravan reported the shocking claims raised by the family of Judge Loya.

In Expressing their strong disapproval of the process, on behalf of the four Justices, Mr. Chelameswar said “they don’t want another twenty years later some very wise men in the country to say that Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph sold their souls; they didn’t take care of their institution; they didn’t think of the interest of the nation. So, we place it before the people of the country,”

Only time will tell whether Mr. Ranjan Gogoi has sold his soul or compromised the noble principles. Still, his actions during his tenure as CJI and now his acceptance of Rajya Sabha seat from the BJP has indeed cast a cloud suspicion around him and may have irreparably damaged the independence of the institution, he was sworn to protect and proclaimed to defend. However, for the people India, it is a steep and tragic fall of the last citadel of justice and a threat to freedom itself.

(Writer is a former Chief Technology Officer of the United Nations and Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA)

IAPC Board of Directors for 2020-21 Announced

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Community, Social Media 0

INDO AMERICAN PRESS CLUB, Inc. (IAPC) has announced the Board of Directors for the year 2020-21. Dr. Joseph .M. Chalil will serve and lead IAPC, the largest ethnic Indian American media forum, formed in 2013 to provide a common platform and to be the voice for media personnel of Indian origin, and to help shape the world to be world that is fair, just and equitable for the all today and future generations.

IAPC DIRECTOR BOARD (2)Dr. Mathew Joys is the Vice Chairman and Mathewkutty Easow is the Board Secretary. Other members of the Board of Directors include: Kamlesh Mehta, Ajay Ghosh, Parveen Chopra, Dr. P.V Baiju, Thomas Mathew(Anil), Ginsmon P Zacharia, Korason Varghese, Mini Nair and Thampanoor Mohan.

Prof. Joseph M. Chalil, MD, MBA, FACHE, Cofounder and Publisher of The Universal News Network, www.theunn.com, has been selected to be the Chairman, Board of Directors of Indo-American Press Club (IAPC), for a two year term, leading the organization to newer heights. Dr. Chalil, an author of several scientific and research papers in international publications, is the Chairman of Healthcare Advisory Board and an Adjunct Professor at H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University in Florida and is a member of the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine (NSU MD) Executive Leadership Council, in Florida.

Dr. Chalil holds several US Patents, and is an expert in US Healthcare policy and a strong advocate for patient centered care.A recipient of the prestigious AAPI National Presidential Awards in 2015 and 2013 AAPI New York President’s Award, Dr. Chalil was recognized and honored with the 2013 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award. After completing his studies in India, Dr. Chalil immigrated to the United States, and had his higher studies in Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Davenport University, and JJM Medical College.

Dr. Mathew Joys is a founding member of IAPC and a well- known journalist and columnist. His career began in India at the Finance department of the Indian Government and extended his abilities to be the Rotract/Rotary club Director and National General Secretary of Employees federation (NTC) in India. He is also a Creative author and authored many books including the ‘Oh My Beloved’ an interpretation of the Song of Songs in the Bible, and ‘ American Aadukal’ (the Goats of America) are the few. He is the Executive Editor for the JAIHINDVARTHA Newspaper from NY and Associate Editor for Express Herald and editorial board member for the NERKAZHCHA Weekly from Houston.

Kamlesh Mehta is a Long Island based media entrepreneur, senior Rotarian, community leader, businessman and philanthropist. Hailing from a prominent Jain family in Rajasthan, he started his diamond trading business in Bombay in 1985 before migrating to New York in 1986 to set up an expansive business of rare gemstones and diamonds. He delved into the media business in 2008, founding The South Asian Times, an award winning leading weekly newspaper for the community. Ventures of his Forsythe Media group include The Asian Era, a lifestyle magazine.

In January 2010, Mehta was appointed to the Nassau County administration to the prestigious position of Director of Business and Economic Development, where he served for over five years.

In September 2009 Mr Mehta became the Charter President of the Rotary Club of Hicksville South. He rose in the international organization to serve as Governor of RI District 7255 in the year 2015-16.

Parveen Chopra is a journalist serving the community for three decades. He is the editor of the New York based The South Asian Times weekly newspaper, and “One World Under God’ interfaith journal. With postgraduate degree in mass communication from Punjab University in Chandigarh, he has worked for India Today magazine and founded a spiritual magazine called Life Positive from New Delhi. He is a trained teacher of Transcendental Meditation and yoga.

Ajay Ghosh, the Chief Editor of Universal News Network, came to the United States to pursue his higher studies in Journalism in 1997 and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the School of Journalism at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. Having a Master’s Degree in Social Work, he worked as a freelance writer on social issues for numerous publications in Delhi and had worked as the Chief Editor of The Voice Delhi.

In the United States, starting as a reporter for India Post, he worked as the New York Bureau Chief of Indian Reporter and World News and had worked as the New York Bureau Chief of India Tribune, a weekly newspaper, published from Chicago. Ajay had served as the Executive Editor of NRI Today and was the North American Bureau Chief of The Indian Express, North American Editions. Ajay serves as the Media Consultant of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). In December 2019, he was part of a nearly 200 member expedition to Antarctica, the 7th Continent on Earth.

In addition, Ajay taught Social Work Seminar and guided students at the Graduate School of Social Work, Fordham University in New York City from 2006 to 2016. He was an Adjunct Professor at Bridgeport University. At present, he works as a Psychiatric Social Worker at Yale New Haven Hospital and serves as a Social Worker at Hartford Health At Home. Ajay had served as the founder President of Indo-American Press Club in 2014. In 2015, Ajay was honored with Excellence in Reporting Award by American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. Ajay received the Excellence Award in 2018 from NAMAM, a North American Community organization that fosters collaboration and education among members of the Indian American community.

Mathewkutty Easow is a well known Media personality and an experienced Columnist in the Indian American community. He is currently serving as the Vice-chairman for the “JaiHindVartha” USA edition. Mathewkutty is the bureau chief of the Global Reporter New York. He has written on many recognized topics to the Indian community to bring out the truth in a world of information. Prior to immigrating to USA, he had served in the Govt. of India, Central Excise & Customs Department.

Dr. P.V. Baiju comes from the profession of professors and columnists. He has brought out the many avenues of Canadian Indians’ struggles to the world in a profound way. His media work in Canada was recognized as the Organon for Canadian Indians. His regular column “akkare ikkare” in JAIHINDVARTHA detailing the issues of Indo Canadian community is well received worldwide. He works as Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the MacCowen University, Alberta Canada.

Thomas Mathew (Anil) is a well- known photo Journalist in the USA and one of the founding members of the IAPC organization, served in the National Committee and as its National Treasurer.

Ginsmon P Zacharia is the Founding Chairman of IAPC. He is also the MD of the Global Reporter channel and contributed many relevant topics to the generation. He is the CEO and Publisher of Asian Era and Aksharam magazines. He worked at the management team for “The South Asian Times” and he was the Bureau Chief for DEEPIKA in EUROPE for 16 years, which was the GRAND entry to his journey in the media industry.

Ginsmon produced the BLOCKBUSTER Reality show on Jaihind TV while crisscrossing the nation and broadcast it in 250 episodes. This program allowed many singers to bring out their talents to the Mainstream. In 2018, he was awared with the prestigious Achievement Award in Journalism by The Kerala Center in New York.

Karson Varghese is a Columnist and Editor of Jai Hind News. He has shown his proven media skills while working as the general secretary at IAPC and P R O of the Y’s Men international . His LIVE media one on one interviews have touched many lives, streamed through “Valkkannadi” segments of the Kalavedi.

Mini Nair is a well-known media personality in India and North America. She is one of the founding members of IAPC and earlier served on the National Executive Committee. She has profound experience in digital and visual media and has worked with many recognized TV channels such as Doordarshan, India Vision, Surya TV, Asia Net, and Kairali TV. She is specialized in conducting Talk shows, Live programs, Scripting, and has anchored more than 2500 episodes during the last 25 Years. She has a Degree in Law and Diploma in Journalism from the University of Kerala. Mini was the president of the IAPC Atlanta chapter in 2019 and earlier served as its Advisory Board Member.

Thampanoor Mohan comes from the print, digital and visual media background and has served for the last 45 years in India and North America. In India He has been a leading coordinator in the publications of ‘Rural Information Bureau’ . He is a well known photographer, writer and philanthropist among Indian community. He was instrumental in telecasting Malayalam Programs for the first time from North America through Kairali TV. His strong dedication to the community is demonstrated being one of the founding organizers for KCABC and Vancouver Malayali Samajam. His contributions in establishing IAPC and its Chapters in Canada are enormous. He is the Regional Director of JaihindVartha Canadian edition, he has been the Media Coordinator for the Namasthe Canada program sponsored by the Consulate General of India, Vancouver,BC. He is the producer of “Canadian Connections”. He is now serving as the National Coordinator for Global Reporter channel.

Indo American Press Club (IAPC) is the fast growing syndicate of print, visual, online, and electronic media journalists and other media related professionals of Indian origin working in the United States, Canada, and Europe. IAPC is committed to enhance the working conditions of our journalists, exchanging ideas and offering educational and training opportunities to our members, aspiring young journalists and media professionals around the globe; and also by honoring media people for their excellence, and for bringing in positive changes through their dedicated service among the community. Today IAPC envisages its vision through collective efforts and advocacy activities through its 12 Chapters across the US and Canada, in the larger public sphere. For more information, please visit: https://indoamericanpressclub.com/

AAHOA Advocates for Indian American hoteliers facing devastation seek urgent Congressional help

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Tourism 0

The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA)–the largest hotel association in the world—in a call to arms to its nearly 20,000 members, who own almost one in every two hotels in the U.S. with more than $30 billion in property assets and hundreds of thousands of employees, has called on its members to prevail on the U.S. Congress to address their challenges in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that has devastated their industry.

In a form letter that urged every member to sign on to and send off to their respective Member of Congress and Senators, AAHOA said that “the Coronavirus pandemic is inflicting significant financial strains upon hoteliers across the country” and that “now more than ever, Congress must protect those affected most by the coronavirus.”

It said that “AAHOA is working around the clock to ensure that our lawmakers in Washington, D.C. and state capitals hear America’s hotel owners’ concerns loud and clear.”

The suggested form letter said, “I am a small business owner and a constituent who lives in your district. I am also a member of AAHOA, which represents nearly 20,000 members nationwide, who own nearly 50 percent of all hotels in the United States, and employ nearly 600,000 workers accounting for over $10 billion in annual payroll.”

“As small business owners, our members consistently contribute to the economy through tourism, real estate development, job creation and community investment,” it said, and continued, “The hotel industry is in severe distress and we need your help now!”

The letter said, “As the coronavirus has spread, it has rightfully led to event cancellations and travel restrictions out of concerns for health and safety. As a result, we have seen a dramatic drop-off in guests in every hotel across the country.”

The letter noted, “While we prepare for downturns and unexpected circumstances each year, no business can ever be prepared for a national economic catastrophe like this. The hardest-hit people during this time are our employees and America’s small businesses.”

“Because we have no guests to serve, rooms to clean, shuttles to drive, or meals to prepare, our staff do not have work and I do not have the capital necessary to pay them. Employees’ hours are limited and jobs have unfortunately already been lost. We literally cannot pay our employees and we cannot meet our mortgages. I am terrified that within weeks, I will be forced to close my hotel.”

Thus, it urged their “support of the ideas below in the next stimulus package to help the hotel industry survive this crisis.”

AAHOA’s asks of Congress to allocate $100 billion for the creation of a Hospitality Workforce Relief Fund – create grants to businesses so hoteliers can retain and rehire employees.

It said, “The outlook for the spring and summer travel season is bleak as cancellations pile up. The fund would help employers make payroll, slow rising unemployment, and help keep employees on employer-provided health insurance, lessening the impact on the Unemployment Insurance program.”

It also asks Congress to allocate $50 billion for flexibility in lending and in this regard, “Facilitate forbearance of principal and interest payments on debt during this health crisis, and make federal funds available to owners to cover debt.”

It said, “Small business hotel owners that are facing severe economic circumstances who are able to have debt canceled should not be required to pay taxes on this Cancellation of Debt (COD) income.”

The letter also called for “Access to small business loans” and this included providing hotel owners with zero interest, unsecured loans and loan guarantees from SBA, capping loan sizes at $10 million and allowing forbearance for the first 12 months.”

The letter also requested Congress to ensure hotel owners have immediate access to capital to make their payroll and mortgage payments. “Congress should establish a voluntary liquidity facility program to provide zero-interest loans or loan guarantees to hotel owners. We need the lending process to work much faster in order to provide meaningful help to our businesses,” it said.

Another ask was for Congress to support regulatory flexibility for lenders, which meant the lawmakers support to Eliminate Troubled Debt Restructuring (TDR) status for businesses affected by the COVID-19 crisis that pursue workout arrangement with affected business borrowers or to create a separate designation for COVID-19 related loans.”

It pointed out that “a TDR designation remains throughout the life of the loan. A declaration at this point will discourage lenders from finding adequately flexible workout arrangements with lodging industry borrowers.”

The form letter also called for the elimination of administrative burdens for SBA disaster loans, and complained that The Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) program is not working.

It said, “The EIDL process requires state governors to request assistance before business owners can apply. Hoteliers need capital now. Although the funds exist, it will take at minimum 4-6 weeks before any hotel owner sees any relief to help make payroll — by then, layoffs will occur and doors may close.”

Meanwhile, in lauding the signing of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act into law by President Donald Trump on Mar. 19, AAHOA said, “The bill will provide many American workers affected by COVID-19 with paid sick leave, boost food assistance, unemployment insurance, and federal Medicaid funding, and provide free testing for coronavirus for those who need it.”

It predicted that “the passage of this bill will provide much-needed relief to working Americans affected by this pandemic. It also includes important tax credits for small businesses to help offset some of the costs. This bill is a good step towards where we need to be as a country and as an industry.”

A proposed Travel Workforce Stabilization Fund emerged from a meeting March 18 between President Trump and hospitality and travel industry CEOs. The proposal calls for $250 billion to be split between a travel and employment grants account and a travel business stabilization account. These would provide hoteliers and other travel-dependent businesses with emergency liquidity in the face of a sharp decline in occupancy rates and overall travel.

AAHOA said that “the Travel Workforce Stabilization Fund is exactly the type of aggressive and direct action needed to stave off the complete economic collapse of not just the hospitality industry, but the broader travel industry and the elimination of millions of jobs. It could help tens of thousands of small businesses keep the lights on and keep their employees on staff.”

The CARES Act Is Signed into Law
Today, President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan CARES Act into law. The CARES Act provides small businesses with immediate liquidity, which will address the need for capital used to make payroll and cover operating expenses. AAHOA applauds Congressional leadership for expediting this critical relief package. The passage of the CARES Act provides AAHOA an opportunity for further conversations with the Trump administration and Congressional leadership regarding the necessary assistance small businesses need to weather this national pandemic.

Read the Statement

What this means for you: We are expecting additional relief packages in the coming weeks as our government responds to the economic crisis sparked by COVID-19, and AAHOA is dedicated to advocating on behalf of America’s hoteliers throughout the duration of this legislative process.

New Resource: The Small Business Owner’s Guide to the CARES Act
The programs and initiatives in the CARES Act that was just passed by Congress are intended to assist business owners with whatever needs they have right now. When implemented, there will be many new resources available for small businesses, as well as certain non- profits and other employers. This guide provides information about the major programs and initiatives that will soon be available from the Small Business Administration (SBA) to address these needs, as well as some additional tax provisions that are outside the scope of SBA.
Download the Resource

More than 3,000 Hoteliers Educated with AAHOA’s COVID-19 Webcast Series
AAHOA created a series of COVID-19 webcasts that will keep you informed and help determine next steps for your business. With more than 3,000 hoteliers educated to date, AAHOA is proud to make these webcasts available to the entire industry, so please share them with your employees, business partners, and others in your network. Here’s what some attendees have said:

“This was very helpful. In these difficult times, I cannot express how grateful our company is to the team at AAHOA and the experts they bring in.”
“This was one of the best presentations I have seen. The information was great and presented very well. I am very glad I took the time to be here.”
“Way to be on top of this crisis. AAHOA provides top speakers. Thanks for all you do.”

Webcasts by Category

Leadership

Finance

Franchise

Hotel Owners & COVID-19: Approaching Your Brand for Royalty Fee Relief

Revenue Management

Insurance & Taxes

Marketing

Operations

Legal

Advocacy

Hotel Owners & COVID-19: The CARES Act

What this means for you: AAHOA is averaging more than one webcast a day to help hotel owners amid this crisis. And our work isn’t done! Stay tuned for the latest webcasts to be released in the coming days. What’s different about AAHOA’s resources is that they’re created specifically for hotel owners.

‘God’s own country’ or not? NRIs and Tourists in the throes of Coronavirus crisis

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, Tourism 0

The world has indeed taken notice of how well Kerala has handled the Coronavirus threat so far and widely applauded for steps the state has undertaken to mitigate the crisis. However, as the virus fear sweeps through Kerala, some of the stories coming out of my home state are very disconcerting. It doesn’t bring out the best of humanity, especially from those who have lived and prospered on the largesse of the NRI remittances and significant revenue from the tourism boom.

I am referring here about the treatment some of the Keralites meted out to NRIs and foreign nationals who are either returning from foreign countries or trapped in the state due to state-imposed travel restrictions. Most of the NRIs are Indian citizens, and they have the right to return to their home country. Some of the tourists who might have caught off guard and stranded by these fast-moving developments around the Coronavirus or made the trip regardless due to their long-term planning for a dream vacation or fearing potential losses in terms of prepaid bookings.

Kerala’s prosperity in the last five decades can be primarily attributed to the ‘money-order economy’ where the foreign currency remittances fast-tracked the socio-economic development in the state. According to World Bank reports, India retained its position as the world’s top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping 79 Billion dollars back home in 2018. Kerala tops in that category, with almost 20% of that remittances directly going to the state. The money the NRIs send home helps not only the families but also the balance of payments of the country.

The flow of that amount of money into the Kerala economy by way of remittances has a very significant impact on the living conditions of its citizens. It is important to note that 80% of emigrants from Kerala went to the Gulf, and they contribute a large chunk of the remittances that flow into Kerala. According to a previous study done by the Middle East Institute, remittances were 1.74 times the revenue receipts of the state. Remittances in Kerala were 5.5 times the finance received from the central government and 36 times the exporting earnings from cashews and 30 times that from marine products.

The study also pointed out the impact of remittances to Kerala and how it has manifested in household consumption, saving and investment, the quality of houses, and the possession of modern consumer durables. Remittances also played a role in enhancing the quality of life and contributing to a high human development index for Kerala in terms of education and health, along with the reduction of poverty and unemployment.

The overall result for the state has been quite impressive. Kerala’s rating for the Human Development Index (HDI) 0.790, is the highest in India, resulting from the vast improvements state has made in the fields of sanitation, health, education, and poverty reduction. In 2016, the state was also declared ‘open defecation free’ with toilets in every household. The female literacy rate in Kerala stands at 94%, and it is the only state in the union where the female population exceeds the male population.

Nevertheless, the stories being aired about some of the experiences of returning NRIs and stranded tourists at these difficult times are heart-wrenching. It is critical that the returning NRIs ought to be truthful to the authorities and mindful of their vulnerability in terms of spreading this virus. They need to behave responsibly as per the rules and be accountable for their actions. However, they shouldn’t be blamed for the failures of the state from properly screening all arrivals. It is the responsibility of the authorities to ascertain origins of travel and routings and to decide whether anyone should be quarantined. The infrastructure should have been already in place at all airports for health screenings, and the medical personnel should have been fitted with protective gear.

Instead, what we are witnessing is an act of demonization of some of those who happened to carry the Coronavirus, probably of no fault of their own. Some of them might have contracted the virus during the travel and possibly even asymptomatic upon their arrival. Therefore, there is very little justification for the harassment and name-calling they were subjected to and the contempt with which they have been treated.

The experiences of some of the foreign tourists at the hands of my fellow Malayalees are even more appalling. An alien couple was found to be traumatized and crying incessantly in the middle of a road as they haven’t had food for three days. According to the reports, they were denied food or lodging by panicky guest houses and hotels across the state and finally had to be rescued by the Police department. There were stories of tourists sleeping in cemeteries because their reservations to the hotels were not being honored.

It is not only a phenomenon in Kerala but also across the country where foreign tourists are being evicted from their apartments, made to feel unwelcome in Taxis, asked to leave restaurants, and have been subjected to hostile looks in public spaces. Social media also bears some responsibility in spreading this panic-driven disinformation that all foreign tourists are carries of the Coronavirus. Even students from Northeast are not spared this time around as many have experienced harassment at the hands of other students, and their interactions were marked by suspicion and rudeness often bordering racism.

Finally, Keralites are one of the largest groups of economic refugees on this planet, constantly exploring opportunities and daring to break barriers to travel to the ends of the earth to better themselves. We do expect those foreign countries and their nationals to treat us fairly, provide us with opportunities, respect our cultures, and honor our religious traditions. Besides, we also request them to transfer part of their wealth to our state so that folks who are left behind may do better with their own lives as well.

Therefore, it is obligatory to keep our end of the bargain in treating foreign tourists as well as returning NRIs fairly in good times as well as bad. We simply cannot have it both ways! I am encouraged to see that the government of Kerala, which saw more than a million tourists set foot in the state in 2018, came out to denounce such attacks on foreign tourists asking locals not to see them as carriers of virus. A national crisis often reveals the character of a people. Kerala is often dubbed as ‘God’s own country’ and not let the world call us ‘Devil’s own people’!

(the writer is a former Chief Technology Officer of the United Nations and Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, USA)

Popular Indian-born chef Floyd Cardoz passes away due to Covid-19

March 29, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

Floyd Cardoz, an influential India-born chef and restaurateur widely credited for introducing the flavors of his homeland to New York’s fine-dining scene in the 1990s, died Wednesday from an infection related to covid-19, according to the company that oversees his restaurants. He was 59.

The company, Hunger Inc. Hospitality, issued a statement confirming his death. The statement said he died in New Jersey.

A multiple James Beard Award nominee, Cardoz went to culinary school in Mumbai before studying at the respected Global Hospitality Management School at Les Roches in Switzerland. He moved to New York in 1988 and, several years later, started working at Lespinasse, where the late Gray Kunz blended Asian ingredients with French techniques.

Cardoz left Lespinasse to join forces with restaurateur Danny Meyer to open Tabla, a pioneering Indian-American fine-dining destination in Manhattan. It received three stars from Ruth Reichl when she was restaurant critic for the New York Times.

“Mr. Cardoz is working with a palette similar to that employed by Mr. Kunz, but here it is not tempered by the cream and butter of the French kitchen,” Reichl wrote in her review. “This is American food, viewed through a kaleidoscope of Indian spices. The flavors are so powerful, original and unexpected that they evoke intense emotions. Those who do not like Tabla tend to dislike it with a passion.”

Cardoz would earn four Beard nominations for his work at Tabla, which closed in 2010 after a 12-year run. It was the first restaurant that Meyer closed. Cardoz also won Season 3 of Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters.”

“Few people have done more than Floyd to impact an entire industry, the career trajectories of more cooks, or the palates of more restaurant goers,” Meyer wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday.

“He was beyond talented as a cook. He was a super-taster, big-hearted, stubborn as the day is long, and the most loyal friend, husband, and dad you could imagine,” Meyer continued. “My heart is just broken. His life and career was full of triumph and adversity. We opened and closed two restaurants together and in that time he never once lost his sense of love for those he’d worked with, mentored, and mattered to. He made monumental contributions to our industry and to my organization, and his passing leaves us with a gaping hole.”

Meyer and Cardoz would team up again to open the North End Grill in the Battery Park City neighborhood of New York. The restaurant was something of a free-association concept, wrote critic Pete Wells in his two-star review in the Times, offering grilled seafood, egg dishes and pours from a large single-malt Scotch collection.

Cardoz would go on to open several of his own restaurants, both in New York and Mumbai. In New York, he opened Paowalla in the SoHo neighborhood in 2016 before transforming it, two years later, into the more casual Bombay Bread Bar, which closed last year. In Mumbai, Cardoz operated a pair of restaurants, O Pedro, his ode to Goan food and culture, and Bombay Canteen, his take on Indian regional cooking.

The chef had recently returned from India, where, among other things, he filmed an episode (“Don’t Call It Curry”) for Season 2 of David Chang’s Netflix series, “Ugly Delicious.” Cardoz checked himself into a New York hospital in March, which set off a panic among his friends and fans. He would later, in an Instagram post, apologize for alarming everyone.

“Sincere apologies everyone,” he wrote. “I am sorry for causing undue panic around my earlier post. I was feeling feverish and hence as a precautionary measure, admitted myself into hospital in New York. I was hugely anxious about my state of health and my post was highly irresponsible causing panic in several quarters.”

Cardoz had tested positive for covid-19 on March 18, Hunger Inc. Hospitality said in the statement. His death has led to an outpouring of tributes online. Chang wrote that he was heartbroken in an Instagram post and added, “we will carry on your beautiful legacy.” In a tweet, Khushbu Shah, the restaurant editor at Food & Wine magazine, wrote: “Deeply upset to hear this news. It was an honor to know Floyd. He was a kind, ground breaking chef who paved the way for so many South Asians.”

The chef wrote two cookbooks: “One Spice, Two Spice” in 2006 and “Flavorwalla” in 2016.

Survivors include Cardoz’s mother, Beryl, his wife, Barkha, and their two sons, Justin and Peter.

Simple Dates & cashew nut cake (Lactose-free)

March 27, 2020 Staff ReporterAmmu's Hearty Treats 0

Looking for a recipe for baking from scratch ?

Here it is… this snack cake recipe is not only nutritious, but also lactose free and thus does not trouble your guts.

Why is this recipe special?

Simple Dates & cashew nut cake (Lactose-free)

. It’s a lactose free cake recipe that does not miss out on its dairy taste because of the addition of ghee– nutty tasting clarified butter used in indian cuisine and medicines for centuries.

. Good fats- cashews, avocado oil & ghee are used in perfect proportions providing all the good fats for proper metabolism

. Iron & fibre- Dates are rich in iron and fibres supporting digestion. This recipe also use little brown raw can sugar which also contains iron in it.

. Antioxidants- The perfect combination of dates, cocoa & nuts provide antioxidants that fights the free radicals in our bodies.

How I developed this recipe?

Being a lactose-intolerant human, this recipe is a go-to recipe I developed for myself after working with the ratios and proportions of the ingredients following a trial and error method. I had always wanted to find a cake recipe that does not taste like it’s dairy free & oily. This is the result! This cake doesn’t taste oily at all. The ghee used in it is a saver as the combination of ghee & oil gives the cake a buttery goodness!

It’s a healthy recipe developed from scratch and the use of nutritious dry fruits in it tells it all..

What you’ll need-

1/2 cup All purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon Baking powder

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 pinch salt

1 pinch nutmeg pwdr

3 tablespoons brown raw cane sugar

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon white vinegar

1/4 cup avocado oil

1 teaspoon ghee

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup boiling water

1/4 teaspoon Baking soda

13-14 pitted & dates chopped

3-4 tablespoons chopped cashews, lightly pan roasted.

8-10 cashew halves

How to make-

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Grease & line a 500 ml square /round cake tin (I used a borosil 6 inches square glass tray).

In a small bowl soak the dates in 1/4 cup boiling water mixed with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

Sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt & nutmeg and keep aside.

In a larger bowl, start whisking together egg & vinegar till foamy (use an electric egg beater or stand mixer). Continue whisking adding sugar. After sugar is well incorporated, add in oil little by little, along with ghee, without stopping whisking- the mixture should become pale and fluffy.

Next, whisk in the soaked dates (don’t drain) and vanilla.

Then, fold in the flour mix gently and finally the chopped nuts .

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Decorate its top with cashew halves and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the a wooden toothpick inserted to the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Notes, tips & Serving suggestions–

. You can use sunflower oil/ canola oil if you can’t get avocado oil.

. Choice of nuts is totally up to you – I chose cashews because I like how well cashews go with dates in this cake. You can even go for a mix of 2 kinds of nuts. eg. cashews & walnuts.

. This cake can be stored for 3-4 weeks in a refrigerator

.Cut into squares and heat it when served with coffee or tea, if not baked on the same day.

. 2-3 tbsps of chopped dark chocolate can be added to the batter before baking, if prefered.

Top 5 Reasons Online Casinos are so Popular Today!

March 25, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment, Social Media 0

Why are online casinos so popular?

People have always loved the thrill and excitement of playing at casinos right from the beginning. Casinos offer players the experience of fun and joy. It gives them a chance at changing their fortunes overnight.

However, these casinos were not easy to access, with distance and time proving to be a major problem. This led to the birth of online casinos. Ever since they came into existence, online casinos have only continued to increase their stature. One such notable online casino is Casumo Casino.

All the skepticism and doubts that came their way are now slowly starting to disappear. These online websites have done so much to get the stronghold they have today.

Let us tell you why we think online casinos have grown so popular.

Online casino

Online casinos owe it completely to themselves for making it so far. The potential for growth was certainly there but people seemed to be too worried about safety and security. But now it has become incredibly popular. So, how did they do it? Read to know more.

A lot of improvements and changes were constantly made by casino operators to make online casinos special, and there are quite a number of advantages of playing at online casinos. We can attribute this popularity that they have gained to 5 factors.

Take a look at Casumo Casino. They are a good example to breakdown the growth and popularity of an online casino. Casumo Casino, after being founded in 2012, has grown fast to be a well-esteemed online gambling website and a household name.

The 5 major reasons for online casinos being so popular are as follows:

Convenience
Bonuses
Versatility
Safety
Mobile Compatibility

The online casinos have grown to be so popular due to each of the above factors that played a major part. Now that you know what, let us tell you how.

Convenience

The older generation will surely have a story about Las Vegas to tell you or about their dreams of visiting the place. If you are wondering why, it’s the home to casinos and gambling. But not everyone could travel and live the dream.

The introduction of online casinos stormed the world. All that thrill and excitement of a casino right in your hand. The idea of not traveling long distances and time constraints flew right off the handle.

Just picture yourself in a room all to yourself after an incredibly tiring and exhausting day. You take out your phone and open an online betting website. Bang! Right there that very moment. How would you feel? Relaxed and a sort of excitement will be in the air.

Bonuses

A major factor driving customers to online casinos is the welcome bonus and the casino’s promotional offers. Online casinos offer their players welcome bonuses and other such rewards. This makes them very attractive.

The various bonus options and free cash surely lures people. Who would say no to free money?

Versatility

Do you have to spend loads of time finding a game that piques your interest in casinos? That all changes with online casinos. Every game is just a click away. Just type in and find it. A large number of games to choose from all in one place.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

Safety

Initially, players were not all convinced due to real money being used. Most of them were worried about the safety and security of their money. In recent times, with all the technological advancement and encryption, people are convinced and feel safe with putting their money in.

Mobile compatibility

The final reason as to why online casinos became so big is mobile casinos. In today’s world technology is at the center of life, which makes it an attractive option. Mobile has taken over the world. So a mobile app that can be used on the go offers more comfort.

All of these factors greatly influenced the growth of online casinos. This led to the popularity of online casinos growing rapidly. You could even say that online casinos are at the frontier of technological development today.

Have fun playing at your favourite online casino! We wish you all the luck!

Thai Style Spicy Tuna Cakes With Tangy Cilantro Dip (Low-carb)

March 23, 2020 Staff ReporterAmmu's Hearty Treats 0

This time, I’ve got an easy peasy protein rich appetizer recipe to share with’all that could please all those fit foodies & restaurant food lovers out there. It’s flavourful, healthy & you don’t have to go shopping to find the ingredients!

What makes this recipe special?

Fast- It won’t take more than 10-20 minutes including prepping ingredients to get this done.
Healthy- It’s a healthy and at the same time, tasty recipe with high protein from the tuna fish and almost zero carb (carbs only used in the dip- 1 teaspoon brown/palm sugar)
Inexpensive- Who stocks up on tuna cans cause it’s cheap & healthy, but only uses it for your bland tuna sandwiches and salads?
I know, almost all of you- like I do. This is the first and foremost reason I would ask all of you to try it. This recipe from scratch only needs the cheapest (yet healthiest) ingredients already found in your kitchen pantry. Canned tuna is the most inexpensive seafood anyone could think of!
Flavourful- Almost all of us adore Thai cuisine (including me) and are willing to pay at expensive Thai restaurants to have finest Thai dishes loved for their authentic flavours -spices & healthy comfort. This recipe here falls under the same category- but, easy thai!

How I developed this recipe?

-I have eaten salmon fish cakes from restaurants around me, but salmon.. for fish cakes? Why, right? I feel like using salmon for fish cakes is not a great idea as fresh pink salmon definitely is pricey and better enjoyed in recipes keeping the flesh together- grilling to get that perfect crispy skin. So yeah, I chose tuna, which is easy to get all around the year and does not have to be fresh, as it’s all crushed and made to cakes.

-And then about making it low carb- most fish cake recipes call for bread crumbs to bind it all together, in this thai fish cake recipe you don’t have to use breadcrumbs or flour, as eggs along would do the job of binding all of it to the patties.

What you’ll need-

For the fish cakes :

. 2 cans of solid white tuna

. 2 finely chopped- Thai red chilli (1 seeded & 1 de-seeded) or 1 habanero chilli pepper

. 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

. A Half inch piece of ginger- freshly grated

. 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

. 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions (spring onion sprigs)

. Half tablespoon chilli oil

. 1 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional)-could used more chilli oil or peanut oil for people who don’t prefer smokey Thai flavour from the toasted sesame oil

. 2 eggs, lightly beaten

. 1-2 tablespoons oil, for shallow frying

Thai Style Spicy Tuna Cakes With Tangy Cilantro Dip (Low-carb)

For dip-

. 2.5 teaspoons fish sauce

. Half teaspoon dark soy sauce

. Half teaspoon chilli oil

. Half teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)

. 2 teaspoons lime juice

. 1 teaspoon palm/brown sugar

. Half of thai red chilli, finely chopped

. 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro

. 1/4 teaspoons lime zest (optional)

How to make –

For fish cakes:

-Drain the tuna and add to a mixing bowl along with all the other ingredients for the fish cakes- except the oil for frying.

-Mix up everything with a fork & shape into small disc balls (~2 inches balls gently flattened up into patties)

-Heat the oil for shallow frying the patties in a thick bottom (preferably non-stick eg. granite/cast iron) pan, gently drop the patties and brown the top and bottom of the fish cakes by carefully flipping both sides.

For the dip:

-Mix up all the ingredients listed under the dip until the sugar is dissolved & everything else is well incorporated.

-Pour into a tiny dipping bowl

Serve hot fish cakes with the dip alongside & enjoy your healthy-tasty appetizer!

Notes & tips-

Don’t press the patties too hard as you want the cakes to be light & airy- not dense.
Take care not to drop the patties before the oil is hot enough & not when oil is overheated as if dropped in above cases, the delicate patties could stick to the bottom & brown burn, respectively.
You can use the cilantro dip recipe as a stir fry sauce for your poultry, meat , seafood and veggies later on ,with an addition of little cornflour dissolved in it .
Tangy cilantro dip can also be enjoyed as an accompaniment for sushis & dumplings with thinly sliced ginger strands.

Anurima Bhargava on Commission on International Religious Freedom Troubled By India’s NRC, CAA

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion 0

Anurima Bhargava, Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has said that India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is “troubling” and could result in the “disenfranchisement” of India’s minority Muslim populace.

In remarks at a hearing convened by the USCIRF on March 4th on Capitol Hill, to zero in on the implications of the CAA and the “genocidal violence” against the Rohingya Muslims by the military rulers in Myanmar, Bhargava, a prominent civil rights lawyer and longtime human rights activist, and only the second Hindu American (after Preeta Bansal) to serve on the USCIRF, warned that “recent events in India, have helped bring a spotlight to the import of citizenship to our sense of belonging, identity, and collective dignity, and to the horrors that ensue when citizenship of certain targeted communities come into question.”

Bhragava said that although “Indian officials have stressed that the CAA will not impact those already residing in India, yet the fear is that this law in conjunction with a planned National Population Register and a potential nation-wide National Register of Citizens, or NRC, could result in the wide-scale disenfranchisement of Indian Muslims.”

Consequently, said Bhargava, who served in a senior position in the Obama administration’s Department of Justice in its Office of Civil Rights, and was nominated to the USCIRF by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), “This would leave them vulnerable to prolonged detention, deportation, and violence,” and argued, “We are already seeing this process being conducted in the northeastern state of Assam.”

She told the packed room of civil and human rights activists, Congressional and administration staffers, media and members of the public, that “The NRC is claimed as a mechanism for identifying migrants in the region,” but noted that “many Indian citizens, in particular Muslims, have had their citizenship questioned and challenged by local authorities by being excluded from the NRC despite their families having lived in India for generations.”

Bhargava said, “A number of citizens fear being sent to detention camps and effectively rendered stateless. With the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in place to protect non-Muslims excluded from the NRC, this process will largely impact Muslims.”

She spoke of how, “Many Indians of all faiths have been exercising their peaceful right of protest to express their opposition to this law. Yet, since its passage we have seen a deadly crackdown by government authorities against the protestors and recent communal violence in Delhi targeting Muslim communities that has resulted in the deaths, beatings, and burnings of Muslims and a few Hindus as well.”

Expressing concern over “how citizenship laws and the details of citizenship processes in Burma, India, and more broadly, are leveraged as a weapon against religious communities,” Bhargava, as did the other commissioners saying the rationale behind the hearing was to help the USCIRF develop policy recommendations for the U.S. government in response to these issues.

She said it was an effort as to “how the United States government and the international community can more effectively ensure that individuals of all faiths can freely live without fear of losing their citizenship and the many rights that come from citizenship and the difficulties and violence that come from its loss.”

Earlier, USCIRF chair, Tony Perkins, in his opening remarks, said, “The right to a nationality is a fundamental human right and serves as a bedrock for accompanying political and civil rights.”

Declaring that “it is the right to have rights,” he argued, “Denying individuals this fundamental recognition not only strips them of accompanying rights but also denies them the ability to participate in the political process and use legal pathways to seek redress for discrimination and persecution.”

India has always reacted sharply to the criticism by the USCIRF and maintained that the CAA is an internal matter of the country and asserted that the goal of this legislation is to offer succor to the oppressed minorities of the neighboring Muslim majority countries, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Last month, New Delhi slammed the comments by the USCIRF over the violence in New Delhi during the time of President Trump’s visit as “factually inaccurate, misleading’ and an attempt to politicize the issue. Raveesh Kumar, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “We have seen comments made by the USCIRF, sections of the media and a few individuals regarding recent incidents of violence in Delhi. These are factually inaccurate and misleading, and appear to be aimed at politicizing the issue.”

On Dec. 9, the USCIRF slammed the CAA as “a dangerous turn in the wrong direction,” and called on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Home Minister Amit Shah — the catalyst behind this legislation.”

The USCIRF is “deeply troubled by the passage of the CAA originally introduced by Home Minister Shah, in the Lok Sabha given the religion criterion in the bill,” it said.

Shah, earlier in the day had introduced the controversial bill in the Lok Sabha that offers Indian citizenship for non-Muslim illegal immigrants — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christians — who have entered the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, who have fled these countries in the face of religious persecution.

At the time, the USCIRF, said, “The CAA enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion.” Thus, it argued, “The CAB is a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith.

“In conjunction with the ongoing NRC process in Assam and nationwide NRC that the home minister seeks to propose, USCIRF fears that the Indian government is creating a religious test for Indian citizenship that would strip citizenship from millions of Muslims,” it warned.

It also complained that for more than a decade now the Indian government has ignored its statements and annual reports, and also refused to issue visas for USCIRF officials to travel to India to investigate alleged religious freedom violations against minorities.

Although established by an act of Congress, the USCIRF has no enforceable mechanism, and in the past few decades, as successive U.S. administrations and even the U.S. Congress has sought to establish strategic and economic partnerships with burgeoning economies and allies like India, human rights and religious freedom abuses and violations that were a priority of U.S. foreign policy in years past, have been largely relegated to the back-burner or completely ignored.

Dr. Prachi Dua Given Outstanding Women’s Achievements Award at New York Gala

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Women 0

Dr. Prachi Dua, a dynamic and rising woman leader in New York, was among the five distinguished women who have excelled in their profession and community services, and were honored with the prestigious Outstanding Women’s Achievements Awards, Five distinguished women who had excelled in their profession and community services were presented with Outstanding Women’s achievements Awards

The glittering ceremony organized as part of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day Celebrations at Akbar’s Ballroom in Garden City, New York on Sunday March 8, 2020, was organized by IAF (Indian American Forum) led by Indu Jaiswal, known for her strong commitment and dedication to the community cause was the organizing force behind the gala.

New York State Senator Kevin Thomas honored Dr. Dua and others during the gala Senator Kevin Thomas congratulated all honorees and acknowledged the efforts of IAF Team.

Dr. Dua serves as an Ophthalmologist in Northwell Health System, working closely with the residents and treats patients at the North Shore Hospital in Manhasset and LIJ. She had served as the President of the Medical Student Resident, a Chapter of the national AAPI in 2018-2019 and is now the Chair of Academic Affairs for National and Young Physicians Section for local AAPIQLI Chapter this year.

Dr. Saroj Shah a board-certified Ob/GYN, practicing in New York for over 35 years. Dr Shah has been a leader in the Indian Community promoting culture and Womens empowerment. Dr Shah and along with committee members were successfully able to establish the Indian Unit at Parker Jewish Institute, providing quality healthcare to the elderly from Indian American Community.

Prof Francesca Cassio is a professor of Music at Hofstra University (NY) and since 2011 holds the Sardarni Harbans Kaur Chair in Sikh Musicology, the first academic position of its kind in the United States. Dr .Cassio was awarded the Stessin Prize with the article “Female Voices in Gurbani Sangit and the Role of the media in promoting “Female Kirtanie” accomplished scholar, dedicated teacher and Kirtan singer.

Aashmeeta Yogiraj is with a multifaceted background in information science, political science and journalism, Aashmeeta Yogiraj brings digital literacy to a traditional broadcasting environment in her role as the Director of Marketing at Jus Broadcasting Corp. Yogiraj holds a Master’s of Science from Syracuse university and received her Bachelors from SUNY Stony Brook. She along with JUS Team have successfully opened another studio in California.

Keynote Speaker Dr Isma H Chaudhry, Chair of Nassau County Asian American Council, serves on the board of the Nassau County Minority Affairs Council. was all in praises for the efforts of Indian American Forum and Indian American Community. She congratulated all honorees and stressed the importance of role women are playing in this world. Citations of behalf of Nassau County Executive Laura Curran the town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino, New York State Senator Kevin Thomas Were presented to all Honorees

Community leader Shammi Singh, the Chairperson of the Gala, in her remarks, welcomed all the guests congratulated all the honorees and praised their efforts in achieving such success. American National Anthem was sung by Gurbani Kaur Sethi and Indian National Anthem sung by Roopam Maini. Mistress of Ceremonies, Chanbir Kaur Sethi made the evening enjoyable. The hall was beautifully decorated with Passion Color theme and spring flowers, theme courtesy Sunita Sadhnani of Glamorous Event Planners.

The gala began with Ganesh Vandana sung by Vandana Jauhar, Dance performances presented by students of well-known Choreographers Namrata Bajaj from BnB Dance School, Toral Shah and Sunita Sadhnani enthralled audience with Vocal performances. Mr Mohinder Taneja gave special thanks for all our sponsors and media partners. Chanbir Kaur, Roopam Maini, Indie Singh, Dr. Isha Mehta and Sunita Sadhnani coordinated a brief Q&A session with the honorees discussing and emphasizing their accomplishments

Among those present during the event were BobbyKumar Kalotee Founder of IAF and Chair of Nassau County Human right Commissioner Dr and Mrs. Mann Saluja from International Punjabi Society, Shashi Malik, President of India Association of Long Island, Sher Singh Madra , Andy Mansukhani,, Board of Directors of Nargis Dutt Foundation, Meena Chopra, Bharti Desai, Past President of Gujarat Samaj of New York, Haseena Mooppan from Domestic Harmony Foundation, Rizwan Qureshi from HAB Bank, Roopam Maini from BCB Bank,, Jasbir Jay Singh, Vice President of IALI,, Smiti and Ram Khanna, Flora Parekh, Pinky Jaggi and Jyoti Gupta, President LILC, Nishi Bahl, Ravi and Jaya Bhooplapur, Dr Rajiv and Vandana Jauhar, ,Dr Shashi and Usha Patel, Dr Urvashi and Anoop Kapoor, Dr Subhadra Nori, Dr Sunil Mehra and Past Presidents of AAPIQLI and members, Judges and several other dignitaries were present

Board of Trustees, Dr .Parveen Chopra, Dr Azad Anand, Surinder Rametra, Dr Ved Kawatra, Animesh Goenka, Dr Urmilesh Arya, Dr Bhupendra Patel, Bobby Kumar Kalotee, Mohinder Singh Taneja Board members Beena Kothari, Bina Sabapathy, Nirmala Rametra, Anu Gulati, Dr Meena Jaiswal, Vijay Goswamy, Tejal Kamath, Rohini Singh, Anuj Rihal, Inesha Singh, Gala Chairperson Shammi Singh and Many others helped in making the event a grand success. It was indeed a very successful evening, showcasing and honoring outstanding women achievers, who are successful in business, cultural, professional, education, and medical. Community and social services.

Dr. Manish Raj Gupta, a plastic surgeon accused of drugging, raping and filming women

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Dr. Manish Raj Gupta, 49, an Ohio plastic surgeon is charged with illegally dispensing controlled substances, aggravated sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Dr. Gupta is accused of drugging multiple women, raping them and recording the encounter. Dr. Manish Raj Gupta, 49, a board-certified plastic surgeon and medical doctor, was arrested by the FBI on March 6, and booked at the Lucas County Corrections Center. He is charged with illegally dispensing controlled substances, aggravated sexual abuse, and sex trafficking.

Local news reports say Gupta consented to detention without prejudice so he’ll remain in custody If convicted, he could face life in prison. According to Gupta’s website – Artisan Cosmetic Surgery – he owns three clinics – two in Ohio – in Toledo and Oregon – and one in Taylor, Michigan.

News reports say the FBI filed a complaint in U.S. District Court to investigate Gupta in January 2019. The Blade reported that a woman, identified in the complaint as “KB,” and worked as a high-end escort, told the FBI she met with Gupta at a convention for plastic surgeons at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Los Angeles in September 2016.

The Blade report says that he KB said she had consensual oral sex with Gupta before dinner, but refused to be recorded. However, after dinner, the Blade reports says that KB “believes she was drugged to the point of unconsciousness” even though she did not give permission to use drugs. That’s when she believes that Gupta had sex with her without her consent and recorded the incident.

After waking up and realizing that Gupta was in the bathroom, KB reportedly went to a friend who is an anesthesiologist. She gave him a urine sample for an at-home drug test and tested positive for a benzodiazepine, a type of tranquilizer, the Blade report says. The Blade report, citing court documents, says that it was then that KB went to a rape treatment center at Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center and had a rape kit performed.

Afterward, KB found others online who made a similar complaint about a plastic surgeon from Toledo called “Dr. G” from March 2013 through September 2016. According to the Blade report, the FBI obtained a search warrant on Dec. 30, 2019 for Dr. Gupta, and found thumb drives that contained five different videos of Gupta engaging in sex acts with four different unconscious women. After a second search on March 6, agents obtained more evidence from Gupta’s homes, two of his medical offices, his car, and electronics. They also obtained his DNA sample. The FBI also found “significant, unaccounted-for-losses of drugs, such as Ketamine, Valium, fentanyl, and morphine,” the Blade reported, and added that Gupta received a shipment of Ketamine two weeks prior to the alleged incident with KB.

Meanwhile, the Blade report says that the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy issued multiple warnings after they found discrepancies in record-keeping for controlled substances at one of Gupta’s offices in 2016 and 2019.

According to Gupta’s website, he was born in Troy, Michigan, and completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts from Boston University, after which he studied medicine at the American University in the Caribbean. Upon completion of his medical degree, he began training in surgery and completed his General Surgery residency from Huron Hospital—Cleveland Clinic Health System.

His awards included Resident of the Year, and he was designated a chief resident in the Department of Surgery. Subsequent training in Plastic Surgery was completed at the Medical College of Ohio and St. Vincent’s Mercy Hospital Toledo, Ohio. Gupta is proud to be on staff with plastic surgical privileges at St. Anne’s Hospital in Sylvania, St. Charles Hospital in Oregon, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Toledo Hospital and St. Luke’s Hospital. Dr. Gupta is currently the chief of Plastic Surgery at St. Charles Hospital, and is also proud to has served as head of the general surgery at Bay Park Hospital.

The Worst-Case Estimate for U.S. Coronavirus Deaths

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, U.S. 0

Officials at the C.D.C. and epidemic experts conferred last month about what could happen in the U.S.

The C.D.C. scenarios have not been publicly disclosed. Without an understanding of how experts view the threat, it remains unclear how far Americans will go in adopting socially disruptive steps that could help avert deaths.

Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and epidemic experts from universities around the world conferred last month about what might happen if the new coronavirus gained a foothold in the United States. How many people might die? How many would be infected and need hospitalization?

One of the agency’s top disease modelers, Matthew Biggerstaff, presented the group on the phone call with four possible scenarios — A, B, C and D — based on characteristics of the virus, including estimates of how transmissible it is and the severity of the illness it can cause. The assumptions, reviewed by The New York Times, were shared with about 50 expert teams to model how the virus could tear through the population — and what might stop it.

The C.D.C.’s scenarios were depicted in terms of percentages of the population. Translated into absolute numbers by independent experts using simple models of how viruses spread, the worst-case figures would be staggering if no actions were taken to slow transmission.

Between 160 million and 214 million people in the U.S. could be infected over the course of the epidemic, according to one projection. That could last months or even over a year, with infections concentrated in shorter periods, staggered across time in different communities, experts said. As many as 200,000 to 1.7 million people could die.

And, the calculations based on the C.D.C.’s scenarios suggested, 2.4 million to 21 million people in the U.S. could require hospitalization, potentially crushing the nation’s medical system, which has only about 925,000 staffed hospital beds. Fewer than a tenth of those are for people who are critically ill.

The assumptions fueling those scenarios are mitigated by the fact that cities, states, businesses and individuals are beginning to take steps to slow transmission, even if some are acting less aggressively than others. The C.D.C.-led effort is developing more sophisticated models showing how interventions might decrease the worst-case numbers, though their projections have not been made public.

“When people change their behavior,” said Lauren Gardner, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering who models epidemics, “those model parameters are no longer applicable,” so short-term forecasts are likely to be more accurate. “There is a lot of room for improvement if we act appropriately.”

Those actions include testing for the virus, tracing contacts, and reducing human interactions by stopping mass gatherings, working from home and curbing travel. In just the last two days, multiple schools and colleges closed, sports events were halted or delayed, Broadway theaters went dark, companies barred employees from going to the office and more people said they were following hygiene recommendations.

The Times obtained screenshots of the C.D.C. presentation, which has not been released publicly, from someone not involved in the meetings. The Times then verified the data with several scientists who did participate. The scenarios were marked valid until Feb. 28, but remain “roughly the same,” according to Ira Longini, co-director of the Center for Statistics and Quantitative Infectious Diseases at the University of Florida. He has joined in meetings of the group.

The coronavirus has touched a diverse collection of countries and cultures, but a number of shared experiences have emerged — from grieving the dead to writing songs.

The C.D.C. declined interview requests about the modeling effort and referred a request for comment to the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Devin O’Malley, a spokesman for the task force, said that senior health officials had not presented the findings to the group.

The assumptions in the C.D.C.’s four scenarios, and the new numerical projections, fall in the range of others developed by independent experts.

Dr. Longini said the scenarios he helped the C.D.C. refine had not been publicly disclosed because there remained uncertainty about certain key aspects, including how much transmission could occur from people who showed no symptoms or had only mild ones.

“We’re being very, very careful to make sure we have scientifically valid modeling that’s drawing properly on the epidemic and what’s known about the virus,” he said, warning that simple calculations could be misleading or even dangerous. “You can’t win. If you overdo it, you panic everybody. If you underdo it, they get complacent. You have to be careful.”

But without an understanding of how the nation’s top experts believe the virus could ravage the country, and what measures could slow it, it remains unclear how far Americans will go in adopting — or accepting — socially disruptive steps that could also avert deaths. And how quickly they will act.

Studies of previous epidemics have shown that the longer officials waited to encourage people to distance and protect themselves, the less useful those measures were in saving lives and preventing infections.

What’s at stake in this coronavirus pandemic? How many Americans can become infected? How many might die? The answers depend on the actions we take — and, crucially, on when we take them. Working with infectious disease epidemiologists, we developed this interactive tool that lets you see what may lie ahead in the United States and how much of a difference it could make if officials act quickly. (The figures are for America, but the lessons are broadly applicable to any country.)

Impact of Coronavirus on Economy

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy, Health 0

The long-anticipated – and feared – moment when Covid-19 would infect the markets arrived with a bang. Despite efforts by central banks and a less-than soothing address from President Trump, markets the world over went into free-fall as the coronavirus extended into more than 80 countries, sending infections and deaths surging.

With comparisons to Black Monday of 1987 and the great crash of 2008 circled on policymakers’ jotters, the New York Fed said it would inject a record $1 trillion into American money markets by purchasing Treasury securities across a range of maturities.

That is quantitative easing on a scale and with a speed never seen before, wrote David Goldman. The Fed is trying to stop a financial avalanche that threatens to bury risk assets and throw the world into a deep recession.

It was enough for US stock prices, which had fallen by almost 10% at their lowest, to recover a good deal of their lost ground by the end of the week.

For a gauge of the impact on the broader economy, look no further than US Treasuries.

Prices of the benchmark debt climbed to their highest levels since 2009, as investors continued to flee risk assets, writes by David Goldman. The market, though, highlights how the dollar can no longer be considered the haven asset it has been for decades.

Even as the world tries to grapple with COVID-19 — and is miserably falling short — it may not be the last such pandemic to engulf the planet, going by the recent outbreaks of viral infections.

The United Nations has warned that the global economy faces “a US$2 trillion hit” in a “doomsday scenario” after the WHO declared a worldwide pandemic. As the Covid-19 disease spreads across the planet and the battle switches from China to Europe and the US, concerns are growing that global growth will be wiped out as consumer demand evaporates, Gordon Watts reports.

Rate cuts: Such restrictions are bound to cause a drop in economic activity. The world economy was already strained by the Chinese lockdown. To cope, countries are proposing various forms of stimulus. In the US, the Trump administration could introduce a payroll tax cut to put more cash in people’s hands. The US Federal Reserve, which last week cut benchmark interest rate to boost lending activities, said it will inject $1.5 trillion into bond markets. The UK has slashed the interest rates and revived a programme to support lending to small and medium-scale businesses. Tax breaks and cheaper loans were also introduced in Germany. Australia said it will spend $11.42 billion to avoid a recession.

Fund for healthcare: Then there are the funds to support the overburdened healthcare system. Italy has launched a $28 billion package, while the European Commission has earmarked a similar figure. Iran, which is reeling under the US sanctions, took a rare step of seeking financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF has not lent Iran money since 1962 — that is, never since the Islamic Revolution.

The Growing/Spreading Pandemic

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

The worldwide outbreak has sickened more than 156,000 people and left more than 5,800 dead, with thousands of new cases confirmed each day. The death toll in the United States climbed to 57, while infections neared 3,000.

Hospitals across the U.S. are working to expand bed capacity and staffing to keep from becoming overwhelmed as the caseload continues to mount.

“We have not reached our peak,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. “We will see more cases, and we will see more suffering and death.”

Millions of Americans braced for the week ahead with no school for their children for many days to come, no clue how to effectively do their jobs without child care, and a growing sense of dread about how to stay safe and sane amid the relentless spread of the coronavirus.

Tens of millions of students nationwide have been sent home from school amid a wave of closings that include all of Ohio, Maryland, Oregon, Washington state, Florida and Illinois along with big-city districts like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Some schools announced they will close for three weeks, others for up to six.

While the number of known cases in the U.S. appears to be comparatively low as of now, the figures are almost certain to spike very soon, as both testing and exposure increase. While COVID-19 has unquestionably spread further than officially known, it is poised to round the curve and spread widely across the U.S. by the end of April.

To better understand outbreaks like this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) consults a network of academics and industry experts who specialize in modeling the spread of contagious diseases. One of those outside groups, the Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Socio-technical Systems at Northeastern University, provided TIME with exclusive access to 100 of the different coronavirus scenarios it has generated in its efforts to support the CDC.

“What we’re seeing now is really just the tip of the iceberg,” says Alessandro Vespignani, the director of the Northeastern lab, who worked alongside colleagues Matteo Chinazzi and Ana Pastore y Piontti on this research. “That’s the problem of not doing extensive testing. Because testing has been limited here, I would be inclined toward the worst case scenarios.”

Away from the headlines: While the main virus outbreaks in recent years included Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), H1N1 influenza pandemic, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Ebola, Zika, Nipah virus, cholera, yellow fever and Lassa fever, they are by no means the only contagions. According to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), between 1980 and 2013, there were 12,012 outbreaks of viral infections that affected 44 million people globally.

Hidden tremors: Just like there are an average of 55 earthquakes a day — though most of them too small to be noticed — similarly, “7,000 new signals of potential outbreaks occur each month, generating 300 follow-ups, 30 investigations and 10 risk assessments,” says the WHO. While most of them die out naturally, some, like the COVID-19, can become a deadly global phenomenon. The problem is compounded by the fact that today, an outbreak can travel from a remote village to any major global city in less than 36 hours, or less than one and half days. With the proportion of people living in urban areas expected to rise from 55% currently to 68% by 2050 — coupled with increasing deforestation — pandemics may be the new normal. In the last 17 years, 31% viral outbreaks, such as the Nipah virus, Zika and Ebola, were linked to deforestation.

Cost of pandemics: According to a World Bank study, only 39% of the economic losses from outbreaks of viral infections are due to the infected individuals — 61% of the economic losses are due to the change in behaviour by healthy people as they seek to avoid the infection. Case in point: The 2015 MERS-coronavirus outbreak in South Korea that cost $8.5 billion while the number of casualties was 38 and the number of quarantined was 17,000. In the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the World Bank estimates that the three countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia collectively lost $2.2 billion in gross GDP. Add the cost of healthcare, employment and food security and the cost rises to $53 billion. Globally, while the direct cost of a flu pandemic is around $80 billion, the indirect cost, which includes the mortality component, can cost $570 billion annually — and this was before COVID-19 struck.

Border controls: The United States has suspended all travel from Europe, excluding Britain and Ireland, for 30 days. India had on Wednesday suspended all travel visas till April 15, except for diplomats, members of UN bodies, or those with employment and project visas. Other nations, too, have introduced restrictions that bar travellers from new clusters of Covid-19 like Italy, Spain and France. Qatar’s temporary ban also applies to travellers from India. China, where the contagion appears to be receding, is introducing entry restrictions to stop re-introduction of infection from abroad.

How bad is it in India? Though India is placed better off than, say, Italy, where over 12,000 have been infected and 800 killed, the number of confirmed cases continues to climb. As of Thursday, 74 were confirmed infected, including 16 Italians and 1 Canadian. Also, the samples of the 76-year-old who died on Wednesday in Karnataka were confirmed positive, marking India’s first fatality from Covid-19.

Now a piece of grave news: Observers have doubted if Iran’s official figure of 10,000 infections and 846 deaths were true, since a holy city visited by thousands — Qom — is the country’s epicentre. Now, satellite images reveal authorities have been digging up large trenches in a cemetery in Qom.

Study details first known person-to-person transmission of new coronavirus in the USA

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

Person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurred between two people with prolonged, unprotected exposure while the first patient was symptomatic. Person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurred between two people with prolonged, unprotected exposure while the first patient was symptomatic. Despite active monitoring and testing of 372 contacts of both cases, no further transmission was detected.

New research published in The Lancet, describes in detail the first locally-transmitted case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19, in the USA, from a woman who had recently travelled to China and transmitted the infection to her husband. No further transmission was detected, despite monitoring contacts for symptoms and testing all those who developed fever, cough, or shortness of breath, as well as a sample of asymptomatic healthcare professionals who had come into contact with the patients.

On January 23, 2020, Illinois reported the state’s first laboratory-confirmed case (index case) of COVID-19 in a woman in her 60s who returned from Wuhan, China in mid-January, 2020. Subsequently, the first evidence of secondary transmission in the USA was reported on January 30, when her husband, who had not travelled outside the USA but had frequent, close contact with his wife since her return, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Public health authorities conducted an intensive epidemiologic investigation of the two confirmed cases. This study describes the clinical and laboratory features of both patients and the assessment and monitoring of several hundred individuals with potential exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

In total, 372 individuals were identified as potential contacts–347 of these people were actively monitored after confirmation of exposure to the woman or her husband on or after the day of symptom onset (including 152 community contacts and 195 healthcare professionals). There were 25 people that had insufficient contact information to complete active monitoring. A convenience sample of 32 asymptomatic healthcare personnel contacts were also tested.

These 347 contacts underwent active symptom monitoring for 14 days following their last exposure. Of these, 43 contacts who developed fever, cough, or shortness of breath were isolated and tested for SARS-CoV-2, as well as asymptomatic healthcare professionals. All 75 individuals tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.

On December 25, 2019, the female patient travelled to Wuhan where she visited a hospitalised relative and other family members with undiagnosed respiratory illness. On her return to the USA on January 13, 2020, she experienced six days of mild fever, fatigue, and cough before being hospitalised with pneumonia and testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (figure 1). Prior to hospitalisation she was living with her husband who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic cough. These conditions made it difficult to determine the timing of his symptom onset related to COVID-19. Eight days after his wife was admitted to hospital, the husband was also hospitalised with worsening shortness of breath and coughing up blood, and also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Both patients recovered and were discharged to home isolation, which was lifted 33 days after the woman returned from Wuhan, following two negative tests for SARS-CoV-2 taken 24 hours apart.

“This report suggests that person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 might be most likely to occur through unprotected, prolonged exposure to an individual with symptomatic COVID-19”, says Dr Jennifer Layden, Chief Medical Officer of the Chicago Department of Public Health, USA, who co-led the research. “Our experience of limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 differs from Wuhan where transmission has been reported to occur across the wider community and among healthcare professionals, and from experiences of other similar coronaviruses. Nevertheless, healthcare facilities should rapidly triage and isolate individuals suspected of having COVID-19, and notify infection prevention services and local health departments for support in testing, management, and containment efforts.” [1]

The authors emphasise that individuals who think they might have been exposed to COVID-19 and experiencing a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms consistent with COVID-19 should call their healthcare provider before seeking help so that appropriate preventive actions can be taken.

“Although further detailed reports of contact investigations of COVID-19 cases could improve our understanding of the transmissibility of this novel virus, the absence of COVID-19 among healthcare professionals supports US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations around appropriate infection control”, explains co-lead author Dr Isaac Ghinai from the Illinois Department of Public Health, USA. [1]

Co-lead author, Dr Tristan McPherson from the Chicago Department of Public Health, USA adds: “Without using appropriate facemasks or other personal protective equipment, individuals living in the same household as, or providing care in a non-healthcare setting for, a person with symptomatic COVID-19 are likely to be at high risk of infection. Current CDC recommendations for individuals with high-risk exposures to remain quarantined with no public activities might be effective in reducing onward person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2.” [1]

The researchers acknowledge that these data are preliminary and note several limitations, including that the report describes only one known transmission event, therefore the findings may not be generalisable or representative of broader transmission patterns. They also point out that this investigation might not have identified all individuals with potential exposure to COVID-19 as it was dependent on the couples’ recall of the places they visited, the people they met, and the time of symptom onset. Finally, the investigation into these cases took place prior to updated CDC guidance on classifying exposure risk among contacts of patients with COVID-19. For example, updated guidance suggests that a sore throat should be included as a possible symptom of COVID-19 when evaluating healthcare workers, and indicates that a single PCR test, as used in all the contact tracing in this study, might not be sufficient to definitively rule out infection over a 14-day incubation period, and as a result some cases of COVID-19 might not have been detected.

This study was conducted by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA; Illinois Department of Public Health, Chicago, USA; Chicago Department of Public Health, Chicago, USA; Cook County Department of Public Health, Oak Forest, USA; DuPage County Health Department, Wheaton, USA; Metro Infectious Disease Consultants, Burr Ridge, USA; Premier Primary Care Physicians, Carol Stream, USA; Cook County Health, Chicago, USA; Northwestern University, Chicago, USA; Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie, USA; and Wright State University, Dayton, USA.

Coronavirus: A Major Threat To Donald Trump’s Re-Election

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, Politics, U.S. 0

The biggest threat to Donald Trump’s re-election in 2020 may be COVID-19. The spread of the novel coronavirus is shaping up as a test of Trump’s core pitch to voters: that they are better off than they were when he took office. Sharp drops in the stock market, school and office closures, crashing oil prices and widespread disruptions to other major industries have some Trump supporters concerned that the virus is triggering a new financial crisis that could hurt Trump’s bid for a second term more than any political test he’s faced so far.

“The economic ramifications of the coronavirus are increasingly likely to weigh heavily on Trump’s re-election chances and quite possibly could cost him re-election,” says Republican donor Dan Eberhart.

One recent historical precedent in particular troubles Trump’s close allies. After the housing bubble precipitated an economic meltdown in 2008, voters turned from incumbent Republicans to opposition Democrats in that fall’s election, voting Barack Obama into the White House and sending Democratic majorities to both the House and the Senate. The parallels to 2008 “are especially frightening from my vantage point right now,” Eberhart says.

Some Republicans privately concede that the Administration’s response has not inspired confidence. Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat from the virus in press briefings, saying on Feb. 26, for example, that the risk to Americans “remains very low” and “may not get bigger.” He contradicted his own experts in saying that the the virus can be contained and its spread in the U.S. is not inevitable. U.S. public health officials were late to pivot from a strategy of containing to virus to one of mitigating its impact, and Trump Administration officials fell behind understanding how pervasive the virus is inside the U.S. because the initial set of tests designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) didn’t work well enough.

“If he can’t and his government doesn’t get a handle on this thing and start to show some competence, yeah, there could absolutely be electoral fallout in November,” says Reed Galen, an independent political strategist who was deputy campaign manager for John McCain’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign, which was hampered by McCain’s mishandling of the economic swoon that fall.

Trump’s re-election campaign is emphasizing the actions the President has taken to contain the virus so far, from tapping Vice President Mike Pence to lead the government response to the virus to restricting travel to the U.S. from China, South Korea, Italy and Iran. Public health officials, including Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director at the CDC, believe the travel restrictions bought valuable time for the U.S. to prepare for the rise in COVID-19 cases. But some of that time was squandered by a flawed roll out of test kits, which has limited the U.S. ability to detect the domestic spread of the virus. State and local labs are still facing shortages of tests.

if there was any doubt that the virus will be a key campaign issue, polling shows that COVID-19 has already become one of the top news events of the last 10 years in Americans’ minds, according to a Public Opinion Strategies poll published Monday. So far, public opinion is mixed on whether the country is prepared for a broader outbreak, with 49% of Americans believing the country is ready and 46% saying they don’t believe the nation is prepared.

Trump has been keenly focused on the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. On Friday, while touring the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Trump said he would rather the passengers aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship remained aboard offshore, even as public health officials planned for the ship to dock and passengers to disembark. “I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship,” Trump said.

Trump has pushed White House aides to develop a package of aggressive measures to stimulate the economy, including a payroll tax cut, relief for hourly wage workers, loans for small businesses, and bailouts for the cruise-ship industry and airlines, he told reporters in the White House briefing room Monday night. Those steps, which weren’t ready to release Monday, will be presented to lawmakers on Tuesday, Trump said, and will be “very dramatic.”

“We are going to take care of and have been taking care of the American public and the American economy,” Trump said, adding: “It’s not our country’s fault. This is something we were thrown into and we’re going to handle it.”

Trump has been resistant to scaling back his activities as a precaution even as several Republican officials have announced plans to self-quarantine — including Trump’s newly named chief of staff, former North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows — following interactions at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference with an infected individual. Trump himself had contact with two Republican congressman, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, before both lawmakers announced on Monday they were isolating themselves for 14 days. Collins shook hands with Trump at the CDC on Friday and Gaetz rode on Air Force One with Trump on Monday. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Monday evening that Trump hasn’t been tested for COVID-19 because “he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms.”

Nor has Trump slowed down his campaign activities at a moment when many big public events are being canceled to stem the spread of the virus. On Monday, Trump attended a $4 million fundraiser with 300 people at a private home in Longwood, Fla. He’s held six rallies in the past month. When he toured the CDC on Friday, his red campaign hat was perched on his head, Trump said he’d continue to hold rallies and it doesn’t bother him to have thousands of supporters standing close together in an arena. “The campaign is proceeding as normal,” said Tim Murtaugh, director of communications for Trump’s re-election campaign. “We announce events when they are ready to be announced. The President held a rally last week, then a town hall, and fundraisers this week and over the weekend.”

Trump’s campaign strategy involves boosting turnout among Republicans, but if the public health crisis extends to Election Day on Nov. 3, it could potentially suppress the number of voters willing to go to the polls. In the meantime, the campaign has sought to blame Democrats for criticizing the Trump Administration’s handling of the virus response. “What is not helpful is the politicization of the coronavirus, which is exactly what Democrats are doing on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail. Once again, we see politicians trying to scare people to score political points. It’s reckless and irresponsible,” said Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, in an email.

What’s clear is that a President who has been in permanent campaign mode since the first day of his term is keenly aware of the stakes. “What we know is from natural disasters is the way a political leader handles a disaster can make or break a campaign,” says Whit Ayers, a Republican pollster at North Star Opinion Research. “Focus on the performance and the poll numbers will take care of themselves.” Trump’s performance is still unfolding, but one thing he knows for certain is that voters are watching.

Americans return to long waits for entry screenings at US airports

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Travel, U.S. 0

As weary travelers returned to the U.S. amid coronavirus-related travel restrictions, they were greeted with packed, hourslong waits for required medical screenings at airports.

Posts on social media indicated passengers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport waited upward of four hours in winding lines, eliciting criticism from elected Illinois officials.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker tweeted at President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, noting that the customs process is under federal jurisdiction and demanding they take action to address the crowds. His concerns were echoed on Twitter by his fellow Democrats, Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.

“This is unacceptable, counterproductive and exactly the opposite of what we need to do to prevent #COVID19,” Duckworth tweeted. “The Trump Administration must send more support to O’Hare immediately.”

While U.S. citizens, green card holders and some others are allowed to return home, travelers from Europe are being funneled to one of 13 U.S. airports where they’re subject to health screenings and quarantine orders.

Acknowledging the long lines at those airports in tweets posted just after midnight, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting secretary said the screenings take about a minute per passenger.

“Right now we are working to add additional screening capacity and working with the airlines to expedite the process,” Chad Wolf tweeted. “I understand this is very stressful. In these unprecedented times, we ask for your patience.”

The dense crowds at the selected airports — among the busiest across the country — formed even as public health officials call for “social distancing” to stem the spread of the virus.

“I’m less concerned about having to stand here for the amount of time that I am, and more concerned about where the people are traveling from that are around me and what they may or may not have been exposed to,” Dorothy Lowe told WFAA-TV at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, where some waits stretched to three hours.

The Texas airport’s Twitter account responded to passengers who raised concerns about the cramped conditions, saying its customer experience team was taking “extra precautions” and that hand sanitizer was available in all terminals. Meanwhile, O’Hare and Chicago police offered queuers bottled water and snacks, according to the airport’s Twitter account.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.

Travelers from restricted countries in Europe, China and Iran are being advised to self-quarantine for 14 days after reaching their final destination in the U.S. “If you don’t have to travel, I wouldn’t do it,” Trump said.

India Suspends Travel Visas to India Until April 15, With a Few Exceptions

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, India, Travel 0

In view of the rapid spread of coronavirus, the Government of India has suspended Travel Visas to India until April 15, with a few exceptions, according to a statement by the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC.

The Indian government has issued the following instructions:

All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN / International Organizations, employment and project visas, stand suspended till 15 April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT (0800 EST) on 13 March 2020 at the port of departure.

Visa free travel facility granted to OCI card holders is kept in abeyance till 15 April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT (0800 EST) on 13 March 2020 at the port of departure.

Any foreign national who might need to travel to India for compelling reasons may contact the nearest Indian Mission / Consulate.

All incoming travelers, including Indian nationals, arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 15 February 2020 shall be quarantined for a minimum period of 14 days. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT (0800 EST) on 13 March 2020 at the port of departure.

All incoming travelers, including Indian nationals, would be subject to medical screening and can be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days on their arrival in India.

International traffic through land borders will be restricted to designated check posts with robust screening facilities. Ministry of Home Affairs will separately notify these check posts.

Following the shutting down of university campuses in various parts of the US in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the government on Thursday advised Indian students to avoid international travel.

The Consulate General of India in New York in its advisory asked the students to either stay put in on-campus housing or move in with friends unless it is necessary. The campuses which have closed are now offering online classes to the students in the US.

The government advised the students who are staying in on-campus housing and have been asked to leave by the school authorities, to check with the university if they can stay back. “If the universities are not accepting applications or have not approved applications for continued housing, ask friends if they will be able to host for the period for which the university has shut down,” the advisory said.

The consulate asked the students to check with their respective university about how to avail of health services, international student services, and any other essential services which are impacted in case on-campus services are suspended.

The consulate has advised the students to avoid all non-essential travel internationally and domestically. “In case students do plan on international travel, they should check with designated school officials (DSOs) how any possible future international travel restrictions may challenge their F1 or J1 visa status,” the advisory said.

The government in its advisory told students that they will be subjected to medical screening upon arrival and may be put in quarantine for a minimum of 14 days, in case they plan to return home in India. (IANS)

Oil Prices Collapse

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy 0

Oil prices slipped as low as $30 per barrel this week as the new coronavirus, COVID-19, led to shuttered factories and Saudi Arabia and Russia ramping up oil production.

The future of oil prices will shape how the world recovers from the coronavirus outbreak and the fate of regional and national economies, not to mention how the world responds, or doesn’t, to the urgent threat of climate change.

As the world, and the markets, struggle to assess the impact of the collapse in oil prices, here are answers to six key questions:

There are two reasons for the oil-price collapse. First, coronavirus has reduced economic activity, from factories shuttering in China to international air travel declining dramatically. That decline in economic activity, in turn, leads to reduced demand for oil, the energy source that largely powers the global economy.

Usually, a collapse in oil companies leads oil producers, particularly OPEC, the cartel that accounts for 40% of the world’s oil production, to slow down their production to try to raise prices. But last week a meeting of OPEC members plus Russia fell apart after Russia refused to agree to slow production. Instead, Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s second and third-largest producers of crude oil, respectively, announced that they would increase their production, further reducing prices. Goldman Sachs suggested that prices could hit $20 per barrel if the price war continues.

Aren’t Russia and Saudi Arabia hurting themselves by deflating oil prices?

In the short term, keeping oil prices low definitely harms Russia and Saudi Arabia. Both countries produce oil relatively cheaply, but depend on making a big profit selling it to fuel their economies. The International Monetary Fund estimated that in 2020 oil would need to be priced at $78.30 per barrel for Saudi Arabia to balance its budget. Russia’s breakeven budget point is said to be in the $40-range.

But there are bigger long-term strategic interests at play. For one, leaders of both countries clearly view their oppositional objectives as worthy priorities. Saudi Arabia needs much higher oil prices in the medium to long-term, and is willing to take the hit to force Russia to the table.

Despite the dust up, both parties share an even bigger foe: U.S. shale oil producers. These producers, centered largely in West Texas and New Mexico, have boomed since the advent of fracking, which has allowed them to reach vast new oil reserves. Consequently, the U.S. has catapulted to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil. By lowering oil prices, Russia and Saudi Arabia will disrupt the American industry and likely force some companies into bankruptcy.

What does this mean for the U.S. domestic oil and gas industry?

This price war poses a dire threat to the U.S. oil and gas industry, particularly the companies drilling in the West Texas region known as the Permian Basin. The industry was already strained by low profits and difficultly accessing capital. If the price war continues, many small producers will likely go bankrupt while bigger players scale back operations. Shares in many big oil and gas companies like Occidental Petroleum and Continental Resources, for instance, fell by more than 50% this week. This will inevitably lead to lost jobs across the region. “Anybody that’s been on the edge is probably going to go into distress pretty quickly,” says Deborah Byers, says U.S. oil & gas leader at consulting firm EY.

Industry representatives, including the American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry’s powerful trade group, insist they don’t want government assistance to make it through the tough times. But a report in the Washington Post suggested that the Trump Administration is considering providing aid to the industry.

Will this stimulate the economy?

Typically, low oil prices stimulate the economy because the fossil fuel remains essential: oil fuels factories and transportation and even serves as the feedstock for a vast array of products. President Trump tweeted as much on Monday.

Feeling Recognized at Work May Reduce the Risk of Burnout

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Health 0

Differing ‘Forms and Sources’ of Recognition Relate to Burnout Symptoms

Newswise — PHILADELPHIA, PA — Professional recognition at work from both supervisors and coworkers may be associated with a lower risk of burnout in employees, suggests a study in the March Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Dr. Daniela Renger of Kiel University, Germany, and colleagues performed a pair of studies to investigate the role of recognition at work as a protective factor against burnout. Characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased personal accomplishment, burnout is a common problem with a major impact on employees as well as organizations.

In the first study, 328 employees received a questionnaire addressing professional recognition and burnout. Employees reporting higher levels of recognition from both supervisors and coworkers had lower symptoms of burnout, including exhaustion and depersonalization.

The second study included 220 employees evaluated on a more detailed questionnaire, addressing three specific forms of recognition: esteem, respect, and care. The results confirmed the importance of recognition by supervisors and coworkers.

In addition, certain forms of support were related to specific burnout symptoms. Symptoms of exhaustion were lessened for employees reporting higher levels of “equality-based respect” by both coworkers and supervisors, while higher levels of respect by coworkers and care from supervisors were associated with lower symptoms of depersonalization. Esteem from coworkers and supervisors was exclusively related to feelings of personal accomplishment, after adjustment for other factors.

Previous studies have reported that support, especially from supervisors, protects against burnout. The new study is the first to focus on different forms and sources of social recognition on employees’ symptoms of burnout.

“[O]ur findings suggest that organizational policies should systematically address the different forms that recognition at work can take (esteem, respect, and care) and the sources from which it can originate (coworkers and supervisors) as a key factor in protecting against burnout,” Dr. Renger and colleagues conclude. They discuss implications for companies interested in designing general and targeted interventions against burnout.

Healthier and Happier Without Facebook

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth, Social Media 0

By Ruhr-Universität Bochum

People who reduce the time they spend on Facebook smoke less, are more active and feel better all round. Two weeks of 20 minutes less time per day on Facebook: a team of psychologists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) invited 140 test persons to participate in this experiment. Lucky those who took part: afterward they were more physically active, smoked less and were more satisfied. Symptoms of addiction regarding Facebook usage decreased. These effects continued also three months after the end of the experiment. The group headed by Dr. Julia Brailovskaia published their results in the journal “Computers in Human Behavior” on March 6, 2020.

The research team recruited 286 people for the study who were on Facebook for an average of at least 25 minutes a day. The average usage time per day was a good hour. The researchers subdivided the test persons into two groups: the control group comprised of 146 people used Facebook as usual. The other 140 people reduced their Facebook usage by 20 minutes a day for two weeks, which is about one third of the average usage time.

All participants were tested prior to the study, one week into it, at the end of the two-week experiment, and finally one month and three months later. Using online questionnaires, the research team surveyed the way they used Facebook, their well-being and their lifestyle.

Not necessary to give it up altogether

The results showed: participants in the group that had reduced their Facebook usage time used the platform less, both actively and passively. “This is significant, because passive use in particular leads to people comparing themselves with others and thus experiencing envy and a reduction in psychological well-being,” says Julia Brailovskaia. Participants who reduced their Facebook usage time, moreover, smoked fewer cigarettes than before, were more active physically and showed fewer depressive symptoms than the control group. Their life satisfaction increased. “After the two-week period of Facebook detox, these effects, i.e. the improvement of well-being and a healthier lifestyle, lasted until the final checks three months after the experiment,” points out Julia Brailovskaia.

According to the researchers this is an indication that simply reducing the amount of time spent on Facebook every day could be enough to prevent addictive behavior, increase well-being and support a healthier lifestyle. “It’s not necessary to give up the platform altogether,” concludes Julia Brailovskaia.

ccording to the researchers this is an indication that simply reducing the amount of time spent on Facebook every day could be enough to prevent addictive behavior, increase well-being and support a healthier lifestyle. “It’s not necessary to give up the platform altogether,” concludes Julia Brailovskaia.

Reference: “Less Facebook use – More well-being and a healthier lifestyle? An experimental intervention study” by Julia Brailovskaia, Fabienne Ströse, Holger Schillack and Jürgen Margraf, 6 March 2020, Computers in Human Behavior.

Angrezi Medium: Irrfan, Deepak Dobriyal shine in aimless film

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

A couple of great performances can actually turn an utterly mediocre film into okay stuff, you realise watching Irrfan and Deepak Dobriyal in “Angrezi Medium”.

Homi Adajania’s follow-up to Saket Chaudhary’s 2017 comedy hit “Hindi Medium” is a standalone story that bears no link with the first film by way of plot or characters and is, quite frankly, not a patch on the original. There are the sporadic brilliant scenes and the random bursts of humour, but the overall storytelling simply falls short, faltering every now and then. It’s almost as if the writers were not quite sure how to push the narrative beyond a point, especially in the second half.

The film begins by introducing Irrfan as Champak Bansal, owner of one of two Ghasitaram sweet shops in the same locality of Udaipur — the other belonging to his brother Gopi (Deepak Dobriyal). The two brothers are normally busy bickering over whose shop represents the ‘real and original’ Ghasitaram brand. Champak is a single parent, taking care of his teenage daughter Tarika (Radhika Madan). The girl has a big dream. She wants to pursue higher studies at a top university in the United Kingdom.

The film tries setting up adequate drama using that premise, as the narrative moves from Udaipur to London. In the process, the story also tries creating space to talk of too many issues. There is the obvious theme of the young generation’s fetish for foreign universities, and the question of how expensive world-class education continues to be. The screenplay also talks of teen rebellion and generation gap. A cameo by Dimple Kapadia is used to highlight loneliness among the aged.

Somehow, all of these comments don’t add up to much, owing to weak writing. As the minutes pass, you sense the classic ‘Sequel Syndrome’ taking over — it is almost as if this film was made because the idea worked the first time, and it seemed lucrative enough for a second outing.

The urge to squeeze in too many sub plots and characters takes its toll as the film, after an engaging build-up in the first hour, meanders in the post-interval portion before reaching a rather insipid ending. What rescues the film from sinking are the three performances that matter. Irrfan, Deepak Dobriyal and Radhika Madan are first-rate.

Towering above all with a simply flawless performance, Irrfan proves once again why he will always be special for Bollywood buffs. He clearly relishes every bit of being Champak, bringing alive the nuances that define the goodnatured, smalltown businessman’s quirks with ease.

Perhaps his performance would have seemed incomplete without the comic-melodramatic chemistry he shares with Radhika Madan, as Champak’s daughter Tarika. “Angrezi Medium” is primarily a father-daughter story and Radhika matches Irrfan’s screen presence admirably to light up the screen in their scenes together.

Deepak Dobriyal is a delight to watch as ever — if only Bollywood had more imaginative roles for him than the hero’s sidekick. To his credit, Dobriyal finds a zillion ways to reinvent that stereotype, you realise watching him go in “Angrezi Medium”.

Pankaj Tripathi elicits a few laughs in a cameo, Kareena Kapoor was quite honestly never needed in this screenplay, and Dimple Kapadia could have done with a stronger role. Ranvir Shorey and Kiku Sharda bring alive their roles with innate talent.

What amazes you is that Adajania has employed a battery of four writers — Bhavesh Mandalia, Gaurav Shukla, Vinay Chhawall, Sara Bodinar — to come up with such an aimless script that offers utterly half-bakes characters to a cast that seemed awesome in the opening credits.

We would perhaps have ended saying “Angrezi Medium” is a good idea gone waste — except that as the storyline slips with every passing minute – you begin to wonder if there was an idea to begin with. (IANS)

Pretty Raspberry & White Chocolate Swirl Log

March 16, 2020 Staff ReporterAmmu's Hearty Treats 0

Got some fresh raspberries from your local store and wondering what to do with them?

Ditch your weekday super berry smoothies.

It’s time for a cheat sweet treat for this weekend. I’ve come up with a fancy dessert this time. Enjoy this with your family & friends. I’m sure you’ll be surprised with the compliments you are going to receive for this lovely treat that could satisfy your sweet tooth cravings.

What makes this recipe special?

. A combination of berries and chocolate is the best when you want your dessert to standout.

. This recipe is easy when it comes to how lovely the final dessert roll turns out to be- it’s not your boring Swiss roll guys!

. No store bought sponge rolls with additives like preservatives & emulsifers tastes as good & wholesome as this vanilla sponge sheet in this recipe.

How did I develop this recipe?

This recipe is basically my favorite vanilla sponge sheet recipe + easiest cream less white chocolate firm ganache recipe + fresh cream raspberry filling.

I developed this recipe out of my husband’s craving for a white chocolate raspberry cake. But I didn’t want to make the usual boring raspberry cake with white chocolate & buttercream filling as that’s what everyone would go for when they are given these 2 key ingredients or could be a cookie / pannacotta to the farthest for us home cooks.

This recipe here, uses less cream, sugar and butter, it’s delicious and best for a dessert that doesn’t go too far with fat & carbs. And so, this is the kind of sweet indulgence I would offer my family and now, from me to you

What you’ll need-

Basic Vanilla Sponge Cake Roll-

. 100 g sifted cake flour

. 100 g castor sugar

. 4 eggs (yolks & whites seperated

. 1/4 tsp cream of taster or white vinegar

. 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (any flavourless oil like canola/sunflower)

. 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

White Chocolate Rasberry Cream Filling –

. 100g chopped white chocolate

. 125g fresh raspberries

. 125 ml heavy cream

. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter ,at room temperature

White Chocolate Ganache frosting (firm finish)-

. 100g white chocolate

. 100g butter, at room temperature

. Half tablespoon milk (if needed to loosen up)

How to make:

For frosting

Melt white chocolate & butter on a water batch (double boil method), stirring constantly until white chocolate is just melted & well incorporated.

Let it cool down & refrigerate after cling wrapping for a minimum of 2 hrs.Make it a day ahead and refrigerate overnight if you choose to.

Cake sheet roll-

Preheat oven to 230 degree Celsius . Grease & line a sheet cake pan with parchment paper.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar trill foamy. Add in sugar little by little untill well incorporated and soft peaks are formed.

On low speed, stir in egg yolks & vanilla too.

Gently fold in sifted cake flour little by little and end by folding in vegetable oil, all with a spatula.

Pour the cake batter evenly onto the lined pan & bake for 7-8 minutes until it springs back.

When done, cover & flip onto a damp cloth & it up when keeping it moist & to avoid cracking.

Filling-

Mash up the fresh raspberries and cook for 6-10 minutes in a saucepan pan. Then strain out the seeds from this purée.

Melt chocolate with the cream in a Microwave for 30-40 seconds & stir well to incorporate the cream every 20 seconds & set aside to cool.

Add butter to the above & mix well. Stir in the raspberry purée & whisk well

Refrigerate after cling wrapping.

Laying & mounting-

Unroll, Remove parchment paper& cloth, trim-up the sponge sheet & spread a good amount of the prepared filling on it. Roll back tightly.

Clinwrap the entire sponge cream roll and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes to firm up.

Whisk up the chilled frosting mix using a hand/stand mixer (adding half tablespoons milk- if necessary) until fluffy.

Spread it evenly onto the cake roll & run a fork several times on the ganache to create a pattern pf vertical lines

Sprinkle chopped pistachios and decorate with raspberries on top.

Cut into circle slices& serve after refrigeration.

Notes & Tips-

. If you don’t have cake flour & all you have at home is All- purpose flour, Mix all – purpose flour to cornstarch in the ratio of 7:1. ie., 14 tablespoons of all- purpose flour + 2 tablespoons cornstarch for 1 cup (16 tablespoons) of cake flour – DIY cake flour !

. You can add in your favorite raspberry / strawberry jam instead of raspberry purée , if you can’t get fresh raspberries.

. You can use butter-scotched (praline) nut bits instead of pistachios if you prefer.

Pretty Raspberry & White Chocolate Swirl Log

March 12, 2020April 12, 2023 Staff ReporterFood 0

Hello peeps!

Got some fresh raspberries from your local store and wondering what to do with them?

Ditch your weekday super berry smoothies.

What makes this recipe special?

. A combination of berries and chocolate is the best when you want your dessert to standout.

. This recipe is easy when it comes to how lovely the final dessert roll turns out to be- it’s not your boring Swiss roll guys!

. No store bought sponge rolls with additives like preservatives & emulsifers tastes as good & wholesome as this vanilla sponge sheet in this recipe.

How did I develope this recipe?

This recipe is basically my favourite vanilla sponge sheet recipe + easiest cream less white chocolate firm ganache recipe + fresh cream raspberry filling.

What you’ll need-

Basic Vanilla Sponge Cake Roll-

. 100 g sifted cake flour

. 100 g castor sugar

. 4 eggs (yolks & whites seperated

. 1/4 tsp cream of taster or white vinegar

. 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (any flavourless oil like canola/sunflower)

. 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

White Chocolate Rasberry Cream Filling –

. 100g chopped white chocolate

. 125g fresh raspberries

. 125 ml heavy cream

. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter ,at room temperature

White Chocolate Ganache frosting (firm finish)-

. 100g white chocolate

. 100g butter, at room temperature

. Half tablespoon milk (if needed to loosen up)

How to make-

For frosting

Melt white chocolate & butter on a water batch (double boil method), stirring constantly until white chocolate is just melted & well incorporated.
Let it cool down & refrigerate after cling wrapping for a minimum of 2 hrs.Make it a day ahead and refrigerate overnight if you choose to.

Cake sheet roll-

Preheat oven to 230 degree Celsius . Grease & line a sheet cake pan with parchment paper.
Beat egg whites with cream of tartar trill foamy. Add in sugar little by little untill well incorporated and soft peaks are formed.
On low speed, stir in egg yolks & vanilla too.
Gently fold in sifted cake flour little by little and end by folding in vegetable oil, all with a spatula.
Pour the cake batter evenly onto the lined pan & bake for 7-8 minutes until it springs back.
When done, cover & flip onto a damp cloth & it up when keeping it moist & to avoid cracking.

Filling–

Mash up the fresh raspberries and cook for 6-10 minutes in a saucepan pan. Then strain out the seeds from this purée.
Melt chocolate with the cream in a Microwave for 30-40 seconds & stir well to incorporate the cream every 20 seconds & set aside to cool.
Add butter to the above & mix well. Stir in the raspberry purée & whisk well
Refrigerate after clingwrapping.

Laying & mounting-

Unroll ,Remove parchment paper& cloth, trim-up the sponge sheet & spread a good amount of the prepared filling on it. Roll back tightly.
Clinwrap the entire sponge cream roll and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes to firm up.
Whisk up the chilled frosting mix using a hand/stand mixer (adding half tablespoons milk- if necessary) until fluffy.
Spread it evenly onto the cake roll & run a fork several times on the ganache to create a pattern pf vertical lines
Sprinkle chopped pistachios and decorate with raspberries on top.
Cut into circle slices& serve after refrigeration.

Notes & tips-

. You can add in your favourite raspberry / strawberry jam instead of raspberry purée , if you can’t get fresh raspberries.

. You can use butterscotched (praline) nut bits instead of pistachios if you prefer.

Joe Biden Bounces Back Leading in Delegates Count

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterPolitics, U.S. 0

A couple of week ago, former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign was on life support. On Saturday, February 29^th, Biden won a commanding victory in the South Carolina primary, a state whose demographic makeup truly reflects the diversity of the Democratic Party base, gave him a boost that he badly needed.

South Carolina was always at the heart of Biden’s electoral strategy — his first opportunity to establish himself as the clear choice of the party, positioned right before the critical delegate binge of Super Tuesday.

Joe Biden reclaimed his status as a Democratic front-runner with stunning victories on Super Tuesday and opened a clear path to amassing enough delegates to clinch the nomination by the Democratic National Convention.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had an advantage on Super Tuesday he will not see again: many early votes cast before moderates coalesced around one candidate. Bernie Sanders, the left wing’s champion, has dodged a knockout blow for now. While he has lost his lead in pledged delegates, he remains competitive and he has probably stopped Biden well short of an overall majority of delegates awarded on Super Tuesday.

But the results nonetheless leave reason to doubt whether Sanders can fare well enough to amass a majority of pledged delegates by the convention without yet another big turn in the race, this time in his favor. He was largely swept in the Eastern half of the country, where most of the delegates awarded after Super Tuesday are at stake. And in many states he was assisted by large numbers of early voters who cast ballots before the South Carolina race, when the party’s moderate voters were still divided. He will no longer have that advantage.

Biden swept the South with expected, overwhelming support among African-American voters, who backed him by a margin of 56 percent to 19 percent across the Super Tuesday states, according to exit polls. His success among white voters was less expected and allowed him to extend his strength well beyond the South.

He ran even or ahead among white voters in every state east of the Mississippi River, except for Sanders’s home state of Vermont, according to the exit polls, and won decisive victories in the affluent suburbs around Boston, Washington and Minneapolis. He even carried much of the old, moderate rural vote that Sanders swept four years earlier.

Biden rapidly consolidated moderate-leaning voters in the days after his landslide victory in the South Carolina primary. Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar left the race and endorsed him, with the result that he appeared to add nearly all their former supporters. His strength across the rural North and in affluent suburbs mirrored their strengths in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

Biden got an additional lift as his leading moderate rival, Mike Bloomberg, dropped out of the race, and it seems Bloomberg will be willing to use his considerable wealth to support him.

Texas offered a different test. The state’s Democratic electorate is a mix of African-Americans and more conservative and affluent white voters who tend to back Mr. Biden, and younger, urban and Latino voters who tend to back Mr. Sanders. According to the exit polls, Mr. Sanders won Latinos by a margin of 50 percent to 24 percent across the Super Tuesday states, with a margin of 41 percent to 24 percent in Texas.

In an election night count that reflected the shift in the national political environment over the last week, Biden eventually overtook Sanders in the Texas returns, with a wide advantage among late-deciding voters who cast their ballots on Election Day. In a telling indication of how quickly moderate voters had coalesced behind Biden, the exit polls across the Super Tuesday states found that among voters who decided in just the last few days, Biden won by a margin of 48 percent to 21 percent.

Sanders denied Biden a more sweeping victory because of the West, where Sanders can count on his strengths among Latinos, liberals and younger, urban voters without fully facing his weakness among African-American voters and conservative rural whites. The West also has the highest rate of early voting in the country, which helped blunt Biden’s surge.

Buttigieg and Klobuchar combined for 22 percent support in the exit poll in Colorado, where advance voters represented the largest share of the vote of any state on Tuesday. Their support was not recorded in the election night tabulation because they withdrew from the race, but both candidates routinely breached 10 percent in early voting elsewhere in the country, including in California.

The large early and absentee vote in some of the states most favorable to Sanders helped him in the delegate count. Over all, Biden holds only 45 percent of pledged delegates after Super Tuesday, according to preliminary Upshot estimates, while Sanders is expected to finish with around 39 percent. These tallies could change depending on the eventual result in California (which might not become official for weeks), but if they hold, Biden’s delegate lead would be far from irreversible. In fact, Sanders would need to defeat Biden by only three points in the remaining two-thirds of the country to overtake him.

A three-point deficit is not a daunting handicap, certainly not when Biden was polling 20 points lower just a few days ago. But the Super Tuesday results do not augur well for Sanders’s odds of pulling it off. He remained so competitive on Super Tuesday in part because of the large number of early and absentee voters who cast ballots before it became apparent that Biden was the viable moderate candidate.

The rest of the country may not be so favorable to Sanders, either. With Texas and California off the board, most of the remaining populous states lie in the East, where Sanders tended to lose, often badly. They also tend to have a below-average Latino share of the vote.

The states where Latino voters do represent roughly an average share of the electorate do not seem likely to be as favorable to Sanders as California or Texas. Arizona, New Mexico, New York and Florida allow only registered Democrats to vote, and therefore exclude a disproportionate number of young Hispanic voters — many of them registered as independents — who are likeliest to back Sanders. These closed primaries will exclude many young non-Latino voters as well, posing a broader challenge to Sanders that he did not overcome in 2016 and has not yet had to face in 2020.

Biden, in contrast, will continue to find many states in the next few weeks where black voters represent an average or above-average share of the population. He needs somewhere around 54 percent of the remaining delegates to claim a majority heading into the Democratic nomination, and his path to accomplishing this might be as simple as repeating the same outcome as Super Tuesday under a more favorable set of states, without the burden of early votes cast long before he emerged as the top rival to Sanders.

A decision by Elizabeth Warren on whether to stay in the race will affect whether it becomes easier for Biden or Sanders to amass a delegate majority, just as Bloomberg’s decision to drop out already has. Each was on track to win about 14 percent of the national vote, enough to often cross the 15 percent threshold for viability and therefore win delegates that might have otherwise gone to the front-runners. In doing so, they dragged both Biden and Sanders farther from 50 percent of pledged delegates.

It is hard to evaluate how much Biden or Sanders will be helped or hurt if Warren is out of the race. One thing was clear Tuesday night: The longer she stayed in the race, the more likely it was that no candidate would win a majority of delegates before the convention.

Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York who had hoped to self-fund his way to the Democratic presidential nomination but was spurned by voters in Tuesday’s balloting, dropped out of the race Wednesday. Bloomberg endorsed Joe Biden, saying the former vice president had the best chance to win in November.

“I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

Ambassador Richard Verma is keynote speaker at South Asians for Biden launch in Washington, D.C.

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Rich Verma, former U.S. Ambassador to India in the Obama administration, the first ever Indian American to serve as the American envoy to New Delhi in the second term of the Obama administration, was the keynote speaker at the launch of South Asians for Biden in the Washington, Maryland and Virginia area, held at the Oval Room Corporation’s Penthouse in downtown D.C., Feb. 28.

Verma, in a scathing indictment of President Donald Trump and his close aides — during and after their recent trip to India last month–laying claim to being the protagonists behind elevating U.S.-India relations to the next level, declared, “It was a rewriting of history.”

He said, “I was shocked to see the delegation,” that accompanied Trump to India, particularly “people that have spent the last three years trying to keep people like all of us, and our parents and our relatives, out of this country. Or to make the lives of people who happen to have a different background, a different religion, different skin tone, much harder — harder not easier.”

Former Air Force veteran, Retd. Lt. Col. Ravi Chaudhary, the coordinator behind South Asians for Biden, reminiscent of South Asians for Obama, in his welcoming remarks to the dozens of local Democratic leaders and activists who attend the event, said, also spoke of how Biden was instrumental in helping veterans, especially South Asian veterans.

Chaudhary, a former Commissioner on the White House Advisory Council on Asian American and Pacific Islanders(AAPI) in the Obama administration, recalled that “as a member of the President’s AAPI Commission, I’ve had personal experience “of his (Biden’s) support for the accommodation of religious freedom in the U.S. military so that South Asians, especially Sikhs with turbans could serve unabatedly and that wave has now traveled and is continuing and it all traveled with Joe.”

“We are at a dangerous time in our democracy…It’s really a dangerous time, and it’s not just because of this past week with the collapse of the stock market and the spread of the (Corona) virus…It’s really an important time for the immigrant community,” Ambassador Verma said.

Verma said that it was an outrage to watch the likes of “Stephen Miller taking selfies in front of the Taj Mahal and then talking about how great the trip was and how Trump did it all.”

Verma, ripping into Trump and his entourage pushing the visit as a grand success, even though it was heavy on optics and symbolism and light on tangibles — like a much touted trade deal — and substance, said, “That trip was built on the backs of people that came 50, 60 years ago and labored so hard and faced a lot of discrimination and fought every single day to have a better life for their kids.”

“And, they acted as if history started yesterday with their trip and they tarnished and exploited all of what has come before them,” he added. Verma asserted that “it was an outrage of unprecedented proportions” and warned that “we have to recognize what they were doing. It was a rewriting of history and these people are so dangerous to the American experience, the American dream.”

Verma said Trump’s recent thrashing of the likes of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a Ukranian American, who testified before the House Intelligence Committee about Trump’s conversations with Ukraine’s president, his repeated demands earlier that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom he called “a Mexican” appointed by Obama(even though Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican parents who had immigrated to the U.S.), “and the same with President Obama, whom he (Trump) alleged was not born in the United States, and you can go down the list” was to divide the nation by implying that they were all “lesser Americans.”

“That somehow, we are not as American as they are,” he said. “They are trying to define what it means to be Americans,” and reiterated “it is indeed a dangerous time in our democracy.” Verma also recalled several of his interactions with and inspirational stories of Biden and how hard the former vice president has worked to ensure the American dream is a reality for all, and especially his commitment to veterans.

“Once while flying on an aircraft, we were tired from a long day, I turned around and Joe was in the back of the plane, chatting with an Air Force Master Sergeant, listening to his feedback, and understanding veteran challenges. It went on for three hours. That’s the type of caring leader Joe will be as our President…” he said.

“But I’m telling you, three weeks ago when I saw Lt. Col. Vindman get walked out of the White House and this Purple Heart veteran being treated the way he was, I knew immediately about what I need to do next.”

Certina Romel Shares Best Ever Middle Eastern Fattoush Salad (vegan)

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterAmmu's Hearty Treats, Health 0

Are you one of those people out there, who believes in having a raw leafy salad atleast once a day in order to keep your health conscious mind sane?

Then, this refreshing salad is for you. It’s not only loaded with all the leafy goodness but also has added crunchiness from its Arabic seasoned pita crisps. It’s a very easy to make salad with readily available ingredients in your pantry.

What makes this recipe special?

. Use of a mix of greens (unlike in traditional fattoush salad) both Romaine & iceberg lettuce along with baby arugula leaves & parsley – more greens, more iron!

. An awesome vinaigrette dressing that’s pretty easy to make at the last moment- sure is a saver!

. Use of homemade whole wheat pita bread for making crisps (given after the salad recipe)

– Does it get more better guys?!

How I developed this recipe?

After moving to Dubai I got to try many dishes from their vast & vibrant cuisine. Fattoush salad is a very popular side & appetiser here in the Middle East and it’s accompanied with regular Arabic lamb/meat grills to their popular rice dishes.

You guys would be surprised to know that fattoush salad and tabbouleh (Arabic chopped parsley salad) are as famous as hummus here!

Me, being a person who always loves to recreate new dishes and being a food critic (I know that these 2 traits together can be tragic at times! #jk), always wanted to make the best ever version of this amazing salad.

And yeah, one of the best fattoush salad I had was from Restaurant Leila, which serves traditional Lebanese food here in Dubai. What made their fattoush salad distinct was their perfectly tangy & subtly sweet dressing, which I’ve almost perfectly recreated in my recipe after many trials.

The most important element that I had contributed to the traditional recipe is definitely the whole wheat pita crisps. I have come up with the easiest ever pitas, which are brown unlike traditional white flour pitas arabs use in their authentic recipe-I’m not being a racist here!

You know what’s the best part? This pita crisps can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks and used in your salad whenever you get hold of fresh greens. And this bonus recipes can be used on its own for hot ,perfectly pocketed brown wholesome pitas that can be stuffed & sandwiched with your favourite fillings (try falafels, tahini & greens -for vegans & grilled lamb/chicken, garlicky mayo or yogurt & greens-for meat lovers).

Ok guys, so now, before being over-excited about my amazing stovetop pita recipe & spilling out my to-go recipes with you (coz these can be made a whole new topic later),let’s get started.

What you’ll need-

For pita crisps-

2 whole wheat pita breads (recipe below)- cut into you can use store bought if you are lazy/didn’t get time to make your own

All-spice powder- 1/2 tsp

Paprika/ red chilli powder- 1/2 to 1 tsp (depends on how spicy you want your crisps to be)

Salt to taste

Sunflower/canola oil (basically, any flavourless frying oil)

Salad veggies-

leaf mix- 1 cup baby arugula leaves, 2 cups roughly chopped iceberg lettuce, 2 cups roughly chopped romaine lettuce, 2 tbsps finely chopped parsley

Baby tomatoes- 1 cup, cut cross-sectionally into 2

Baby radish (outer pink-inner white)- 1/2 cup, thinly sliced cross-sectionally to lovely circles

Small English cucumbers- 1 cup, cut length wise into to 2 & then cross-sectional into a number of bite sized pieces (semi-circular)

White onions-1/2 a big or 1 whole medium sized, cut sliced into thick juliennes

For dressing-

Garlic- 2 cloves, very finely minced (don’t used store bought minced garlic)—optional

Balsamic vinegar- 1 tbsp

Pomegranate molasses – 1/2 to 1 tbsp

Sumac powder (an Arabic condiment made from dried red-colored berries )- 1 tsp

All spice powder- 1/4 tsp

Cinnamon powder- 1/4 tsp

Juices from 1/2 a lemom

Salt to taste

Extra virgin olive oil -1 tbsp

How to prepare?

Cut you pita breads diagonally into 6 triangular pieces and fry them in hot oil (make sure your oil taken in a deep vessel is hot enough to ensure crispness) till wonderfully brown & crisp .

Drain your chips into a plate lined with kitchen towel to get rid of excess oil dripping .

Season you chips with all-spice powder, paprika powder & salt

Ps: Try a bit of pita crisps but be careful not to finish them before you make your salad( they are that yum)!

Next, in a big salad bowl (preferably glass) layer up the veggies: (bottom)onions-cucumbers-tomatoes-radishes-leafy greens(top)

Prepare the vinaigrette by combining all its components in a small bowl & mix well.

Pour the dressing over the layered up veggies into the the salad bowl & give a rough stir

Lightly crush the triangular pita crisps into smaller parts and lay them over the dressed greens .

Dig in & enjoy!

Serving suggestions-

Lighlty smear a tablespoon of pure extra virgin olive oil & sprinkle with sumac powder after preparing the salad.

Garnish with 2-3 moon-sliced lemon pieces & a few pomegranate seeds.

Whole wheat pita bread-

(8 Pitas)

. 2 cups whole wheat flour

. 1 cup lukewarm water

. 1/2 tbsp (not heaped)Active dried yeast

. 1/2 tbsp sugar

. Salt to taste

Sieve atta with salt.

Dissolve sugar in water. Sprinkle and mix in yeast to it. Cling wrap it let the yeast bloom for about 10 mins in MW oven.

Mix in oil with whole wheat flour very well.

Make the dough by mixing in yeast mixture with atta mix.

Knead till the dough is not sticky. Sprinkle little flour on counter if necessary. Roll into a big single ball and coat with less than 1/2 tsp olive oil.

Clinwrap the dough and keep for proofing in the MW for 1 hour to 1.5 hrs.

Punch down the dough after it doubles in size. Fold upto texturise and cut into 8 equal parts. Roll into lemon sized balls & dust each of these balls will flour before flattening using a rolling pin.

Flatten into circles (ps: make sure these aren’t as thin as tortillas or rotis, as they need to be thick enough to puff up properly).

Flip on to a uniformly heated tawa (better use a flat & thick cast iron cookware) placed over stovetop flame & flip every 10-20 seconds till they puff up in bubbles and starts lightly browning.

Soon flip onto direct flame (stovetop flame with circumference of that of the pita) and see the pitas beautiful ballooning.

Your pitas with steaming pockets are ready!

Notes & tips-

Always use freshly cut greens for raw salads.

Whole wheat pita crisps can be substituted with store bought gluten free pita chips, for people allergic to gluten.

About Certina Romel:

“A food enthusiast is what I would love to describe myself as,” says this young chef of Indian origin, who has joined a professional diploma program in cookery & patisserie recently. “The above recipe is a simple but a lovely one. I had prepared this a few days ago.”

Recalling taste for cooking, Certina says, “I still remember 5-year-old me faking an obedient kid around my mom in the kitchen wanting her to let me roll out gol-gol chapatis (Indian whole-wheat flatbread/roti that’s perfectly round & soft). Later as a teen I always used to wait to reach home from school as I had a daily cooking session every evening when I was allowed to own the kitchen for 1 solid hour -after a lot of nagging-which was worth it!- when I could cook a dish on my own . That’s the point of my life I realised i was fond of coming up with new dishes, the food I love and I always wanted my dad to be my food critic of whatever I made.”

After many years of several beautiful events in her life-completing high school, junior college, going to Georgia for medical studies, getting married- Certina never let go of her passion for cooking.

Little did she know that she would find her utopia in an epicurean world through her ongoing journey to become a professional chef from a humble home cook. “So yeah, I’m currently doing a professional diploma program in Cookery & Patisserie at International Centre for Culinary Arts(ICCA) , Dubai & I’m proud to be at one of 10 best culinary schools of the whole world.”

Sharing her own experiences in cooking, Certina says, “It has always made my day when smiles lit up on the faces of people who indulge in food I cook. Believe me peeps, if a spoonful of your food could make a person’s worst day in life to a happy one, that’s the best thing you could ever do!”

Over 100,000 infected with Coronavirus – Coronavirus: slower than flu but more dangerous, says World Health Organization

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

As of today’s reports, the global number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has surpassed 100 000. As we mark this sombre moment, the World Health Organization (WHO) reminds all countries and communities that the spread of this virus can be significantly slowed or even reversed through the implementation of robust containment and control activities.

China and other countries are demonstrating that spread of the virus can be slowed and impact reduced through the use of universally applicable actions, such as working across society to identify people who are sick, bringing them to care, following up on contacts, preparing hospitals and clinics to manage a surge in patients, and training health workers.

More than 4,000 people have been placed in quarantine across New York state, where 33 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19, according to governor Andrew Cuomo
Italy’s death toll rose by nearly 50 on Friday to 197, while the number of confirmed cases surpassed 4,000
Boris Johnson announced £46m extra funding for research into developing a coronavirus vaccine, saying he hopes one would be ready to use in around a year
Facebook shut its London offices over coronavirus after an employee tested positive
Two teenagers were arrested over an attack on a Singaporean man in London, during which they allegedly shouted “I don’t want your coronavirus in my country”

At least 3,400 people have died across the world after being infected with Covid-19, figures showed on Friday.

The US saw its death toll rise to 15, after another person who had tested positive for the virus died in Washington – bringing the total number of fatalities in the state up to 12. Donald Trump has signed an $8.3bn (£6.4bn) emergency funding bill to combat the disease – but also claimed erroneously that its spread had been “stopped” and that cases were “very few because we have been very strong at the borders”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has observed that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads less efficiently than the influenza or flu virus. However, the WHO also noted that the illness caused by COVID-19 is more severe than that of the flu.

In a media release issued, WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted, “COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, and transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, while in the case of influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission.”

The WHO is relying on data compiled on the virus to obtain a clearer picture of the situation as it unfolds. The WHO chief observed, “as we get more data, we are understanding this virus, and the disease it causes, more and more.”

He added, “this virus is not SARS, it’s not MERS, and it’s not influenza. It is a unique virus with unique characteristics. Both COVID-19 and influenza cause respiratory disease and spread the same way, via small droplets of fluid from the nose and mouth of someone who is sick. However, there are some important differences between COVID-19 and influenza. Some countries are looking for cases of COVID-19 using surveillance systems for influenza and other respiratory diseases.”

According to evidence collected from China, which WHO observed, 1 per cent of the reported COVID-19 cases do not display symptoms, and the majority of such cases tend to develop symptoms within two days.

“There are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics to cure the disease. It can be contained – which is why we must do everything we can to contain it. That’s why WHO recommends a comprehensive approach,” said Ghebreyesus.

WHO calls on all countries to continue efforts that have been effective in limiting the number of cases and slowing the spread of the virus.

Every effort to contain the virus and slow the spread saves lives. These efforts give health systems and all of society much needed time to prepare, and researchers more time to identify effective treatments and develop vaccines.

Allowing uncontrolled spread should not be a choice of any government, as it will harm not only the citizens of that country but affect other countries as well.

Sri Preston Kulkarni wins Democratic primary in Texas to run for Congress

Sri Preston Kulkarni, an Indian American has won the Democratic Party primary for Congress in Texas and will run in the November election for a seat held by the Republican Party.

He defeated two rivals with over half the votes polled in the party election on Tuesday for the constituency that covers suburbs of Houston. Kulkarni lost the 2018 election by five per cent to Pete Olson, who is retiring.

Pierce Bush, a grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, was one of those who contested the Republican primary for nomination to contest the seat.

But he lost and since none of the Republican candidates got more than 50 per cent of the votes, a runoff is to be held later this month with the two top vote-getters to select the nominee to challenge Kulkarni.

Kulkarni is a former US Foreign Service officer, who served in Iraq, Russia, Israel and Taiwan. Currently, there are four Indian Americans in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate.

Kulkarni thanked his volunteers for their unflinching support. “None of this would have been possible without our hundreds of volunteers, from middle-schoolers to senior citizens, and, of course, the thousands of voters who participated in this election,” he said.

“I am beyond thankful to be in this fight with you. I look forward to working with you all to make sure our communities and our families get the representation they deserve in Congress,” he said.

Sri Preston Kulkarni wins Democratic primary in Texas to run for Congress

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterPolitics, U.S. 0

Sri Preston Kulkarni, an Indian American has won the Democratic Party primary for Congress in Texas and will run in the November election for a seat held by the Republican Party.

Pierce Bush, a grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, was one of those who contested the Republican primary for nomination to contest the seat.

Kulkarni is a former US Foreign Service officer, who served in Iraq, Russia, Israel and Taiwan. Currently, there are four Indian Americans in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate.

“I am beyond thankful to be in this fight with you. I look forward to working with you all to make sure our communities and our families get the representation they deserve in Congress,” he said.

1.5 billion-year-old Earth had water everywhere, but not one continent, study suggests

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEnvironment 0

What did Earth look like 3.2 billion years ago? New evidence suggests the planet was covered by a vast ocean and had no continents at all. Continents appeared later, as plate tectonics thrust enormous, rocky land masses upward to breach the sea surfaces, scientists recently reported.

They found clues about this ancient waterworld preserved in a chunk of ancient seafloor, now located in the outback of northwestern Australia.

Around 4.5 billion years ago, high-speed collisions between dust and space rocks formed the beginnings of our planet: a bubbling, molten sphere of magma that was thousands of miles deep. Earth cooled as it spun; eventually, after 1,000 to 1 million years, the cooling magma formed the first mineral crystals in Earth’s crust.

Meanwhile, Earth’s first water may have been carried here by ice-rich comets from outside our solar system, or it may have arrived in dust from the cloud of particles that birthed the sun and its orbiting planets, around the time of Earth’s formation.

When Earth was a hot magma ocean, water vapor and gasses escaped into the atmosphere. “It then rained out from the atmosphere as conditions got cool enough,” said lead study author Benjamin Johnson, an assistant professor in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University.

“We can’t really say what the source of the water is from our work, but we do suggest that whatever the source, it was present when the magma ocean was still around,” Johnson told Live Science in an email.

In the new study, Johnson and co-author Boswell Wing, an associate professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, turned to Panorama’s unique landscape in the Australian outback. Its rocky scenery preserves a hydrothermal system dating to 3.2 billion years ago, “and records the entire ocean crust from the surface down to the heat engine that drove circulation,” Johnson said.

Preserved in that craggy seafloor were different versions, or isotopes, of oxygen; over time, the relationship between these isotopes can help scientists decode shifts in ancient ocean temperature and global climate.

However, the scientists uncovered something unexpected through their analysis of more than 100 sediment samples. They found that 3.2 billion years ago, oceans held more oxygen-18 than oxygen-16 (the latter is more common in the modern ocean). Their computer models showed that on a global scale, continental land masses leach oxygen-18 from the oceans. In the absence of continents, the oceans would carry more oxygen-18. And the ratio between these two oxygen isotopes hinted that at the time, there were no continents at all, the study found.

“This value is different than the modern ocean in a way that can be explained most easily by a lack of emergent continental crust,” Johnson said in the email.

Other researchers have previously proposed the idea that Earth was once ocean covered, Johnson said. However, there’s less agreement about how much of that crust was visible above sea level. This new discovery “provides actual geochemical constraints on the presence of land above sea level,” he explained.

The prospect of an ancient waterworld Earth also offers a new perspective on another intriguing question: where the planet’s earliest forms of life appeared and how they evolved, the researchers wrote in the study.

“There are two major camps for the origin of life: hydrothermal vents and ponds on land,” Johnson said. “If our work is accurate, it means the number of environments on land for life to emerge and evolve was really small or absent until sometime after 3.2 billion years ago.”

The findings were published online today (March 2) in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Editor’s note: The headline of this article was updated on March 3 to correct the age of a continent-free Earth; while the evidence in this study dates to more than 3 billion years ago, Earth at that time was only 1.5 billion years old, not 3 billion years old.

Protests in 21 US varsities against Delhi violence

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, India, Politics 0

A student-led group from the Yale University has called for demonstrations across 21 varsities in the US against the violence in Delhi, which has claimed the lives of 46 people in the Indian capital, a media report said.

“A Holi Against Hindutva” demonstrations have been organised by Students Against Hindutva, a South Asian student activist group, the American Bazaar newspaper said in the report on Monday.

In a statement on Monday, Shreeya Singh, founder of the group, said: “This fight is the most patriotic fight I have ever fought for, and I believe it is the diaspora’s duty to stand behind the protesters risking their lives day after day for India’s secular soul.”

On the demonstration plans, the organisers said that they will ask participants to be dressed in black as opposed to Holi’s traditional white attire and will also supply only white coloured powder.

“The goal of this symbolic use of black and white is to signify that we are not in celebration but in condemnation. Raising awareness about recent events in India among people in the US and students on campuses across the country is of utmost importance to our mission,” they added.

The universities where the demonstrations will take place are Yale University, Cornell University, UCLA, Claremont Colleges, UC Davis, Harvard University, Princeton University, Brown University, Dartmouth University, Purdue University, American University, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, University of Pennsylvania, Northeastern University, Columbia University, Wellesley College, University of Illinois, Chicago, Rutgers, UC San Diego, Michigan State and Duke.

Besides the 46 fatalities, the violence that erupted in northeast Delhi last week also injured over 260 people (IANS)

India defends citizenship law as UN rights chief joins legal challenge

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, India, Politics 0

India defended its contentious citizenship law as an internal issue Tuesday as the UN rights chief sought to join efforts challenging the legislation in the country’s highest court.

The law, which makes it easier for religious minorities from three neighboring countries to get Indian citizenship — but not if they are Muslim — was the spark for last week’s deadly riots in New Delhi.

More than 40 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the worst sectarian violence to rock the capital in decades.

That followed street demonstrations that have occasionally turned deadly across the Hindu-majority country since the law was approved by parliament in December.

“The Citizenship Amendment Act is an internal matter of India and concerns the sovereign right of the Indian parliament to make laws,” foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said.

“We strongly believe that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India’s sovereignty.”

Dozens of petitions filed in the Supreme Court, including by social rights activists and political parties, are challenging the law’s constitutionality.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet informed India on Monday of its application to be a third party in one petition brought by a former civil servant, Kumar said.

The court is hearing all the petitions together. Kumar said the government was confident in the legality of the law, which was approved by parliament in December.

The UN application came as the government Tuesday summoned the Iranian ambassador over tweets by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif condemning the “wave of organized violence against Indian Muslims” in the Delhi riots.

Kumar said a “strong protest was lodged against the unwarranted remarks”, adding that they were “not acceptable”.

— Agence France-Presse

As India counts dead, brutality of Hindu-Muslim riot emerges

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

The wounded came in waves. First in ones and twos, limping up the steps and staggering through the aluminum doors, and then in wheelbarrows, with bleeding skulls and stabbed necks. Finally, the motorcycles and auto-rickshaws arrived, their seats stained with the blood of as many as they could hold.

As the Mustafabad neighborhood of India’s capital was ravaged by communal riots for three days this week, the Al-Hind Hospital turned from a community clinic into a trauma ward.

Doctors like M.A. Anwar were for the first time dealing with injuries such as gunshot wounds, crushed skulls and torn genitals.

“I wanted to cry and scream,” he recalled. “Something inside of me died during those three days.”

Almost a week after the clashes between Hindus and Muslims began, a clearer picture of the horrors inflicted during New Delhi’s worst communal riots in decades has begun to emerge.

On the eve of President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India last Sunday, Hindus and Muslims in the Indian capital charged at each other with homemade guns and crude weapons, leaving the streets where the rioting occurred resembling a war zone, with houses, shops, mosques, schools and vehicles up in flames. At least 42 people were killed and hundreds more wounded.

Authorities have struggled to identify some of the bodies because of the gruesomeness of the injuries.

While both sides behaved brutally, most of the victims were Muslim.

Authorities haven’t given an official account of what sparked the riots, though the violence appeared to be a culmination of growing tensions that followed the passage of a new citizenship law in December.

The law fast-tracks naturalization for some religious minorities from neighboring countries but not Muslims. Opponents say it violates India’s secular constitution, and further marginalizes the 200 million Muslims in this Hindu-majority nation of 1.4 billion people.

The law spurred massive protests across India that left at least 23 dead. But what unfolded in Mustafabad this week was far more brutal, with mobs hacking individuals with swords, burning people alive and bludgeoning people to death.

A Hindu intelligence bureau officer was repeatedly stabbed and his dead body thrown into a sewage drain that divides Hindu and Muslim residential areas. A Muslim man had his legs spread so far apart that the lower half of his body tore. His condition remained critical.

Questions have been raised about the role of the New Delhi police and whether they stood by while the violence raged or even aided the Hindu mobs.

A New Delhi police spokesman, Anil Mittal, denied that police had aided rioters.

Al-Hind hospital’s doctors said authorities kept ambulances from reaching certain riot-hit places.

A little after midnight on Wednesday — more than 72 hours after the violence began — a New Delhi High Court passed an extraordinary order directing the police to provide safe passage for ambulances.

It was too late for many victims.

With streets taken over by the mobs and no way through for ambulances, Anwar knew early on that his clinic would soon be overcome with wounded.

Some slumped in plastic chairs as they draped gunshot-riddled arms and legs over tables.

Others just lay on the floor, bleeding.

Those who were there described the blood and chaos, but also shared oddly uplifting stories of teamwork and grit.

“We didn’t sleep. We didn’t eat anything. All we wanted to do was save lives. And we did,” said Aanis Mohammad, a volunteer at the clinic. “No patient of any religion was turned away.”

By mid-afternoon Wednesday as the violence came to an end, Anwar and his overwhelmed colleagues had treated more than 400 people and referred almost 100 to larger hospitals. Dozens, however, remained at the clinic in critical condition.

The hospital also gave refuge to those fleeing the violence, providing more than 50 people with food, bedding and safety.

Clean-up efforts in Mustafabad are underway but the scars are still visible.

At Guru Teg Bahadur hospital along New Delhi’s eastern border, 18-year-old Salman Ansari waited for his father’s body to be handed over.

Ansari’s father had gone out to collect scrap for money as there was no food in the house. After seeing police assurances on the news, he thought it would be safe. It wasn’t.

Ansari said he was sleeping when two strangers dumped his father outside their home last week. He carted his father 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) on the family’s rickshaw to a private clinic. The doctors demanded 5,000 rupees ($69). His pockets were empty. By the time Ansari managed to reach a public hospital, his father was dead.

For Anwar, the doctor, he said he eventually grew numb to the carnage. Yet he’s still coming to grips with how fellow Indians could do what they did to one another. “It’s as if evil had pervaded and housed itself in the hearts of the mob,” he said.

___ Associated Press writer Aniruddha Ghosal contributed to this report.

Mukesh Ambani Named World’s Ninth Richest

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Finance/Economy 0

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chief Mukesh Ambani is the ninth richest person in the world along with Steve Ballmer of Microsoft and Larry Page of Google, each having a net worth of $67 billion, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2020.

Ambani, 62, maintained a place in the top 10 for the second time after a $13 billion or 24 per cent surge in his wealth to $67bn.

“The only Asian in the Top 10, Ambani’s wealth increased mainly on the back of a good performance in his telecom business,” the Hurun Rich List said.

Ambani is restructuring Reliance Industries to facilitate the planned strategic investments in group businesses – Reliance Jio, Reliance Retail, refining and petrochemicals. The conglomerate aims to be a zero net debt company in 18 months and is in discussion to sell 20 per cent oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Aramco, at an enterprise value of $75 billion. RIL became the first Indian company to hit the milestone of achieving Rs 10 lakh crore market capitalisation.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos retains the top spot in the Hurun Global Rich List 2020 with $140 billion, down $7 billion, mainly due to the world’s largest divorce settlement with former wife MacKenzie Bezos, who makes the list in her own right with $44 billion.

Amazon is one of four companies, whose valuations have hit $1 trillion, the others being Microsoft, Apple and Google. Bezos bought a $165 million home, setting a new record for Los Angeles. In February, he pledged $10 billion to help fight climate change.

Bill Gates, dropped down to third place on the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, with $106 billion, despite growing his wealth $10 billion or 10 per cent. Last month, Gates announced a $100 million commitment to fight coronavirus which has triggered a global health emergency.

Over the past two decades, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given out more than $50 billion to global health and education. (IANS)

Google Assistant’s Text-to-Speech Feature Goes Live on Android

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterBusiness, Science & Technology 0

Back at CES, Google teased a new feature that allows the Google Assistant to read web pages aloud in more than 42 languages with just a simple voice command. Now Google’s Read It feature is finally ready to roll out.

In addition to being a big boon for accessibility or people trying to learn a new language, the Google Assistant’s Read It feature also boasts new, more natural-sounding speech technology with more expressive intonation, rhythm, and inflection. The goal for the GA team was to not only create a helpful tool, but to also make something that would make listening to text from news stories or recipes more enjoyable.

To activate Read It while browsing an article on an Android phone simply say “Hey Google, read it,” or “OK Google, read this page.” From there, the Google Assistant will begin reading the article aloud while also highlighting words as they are spoken in real-time and auto-scrolling down the page as needed. Users will also be able to choose between multiple voices and customize the Google Assistant’s speaking pace to best suit their needs.

For those that want to hear a story in another language, there will also be a translation menu in the Google Assistant so you can quickly switch to the language you want, with options including Spanish, Korean, Hindi and more.

On the back end, the Google Assistant doesn’t require websites to have any additional code or functionality for Read It to work. However, for developers who want to make things a bit easier, it’s possible to enable apps to read text aloud to users using Actions on Google. And for devs who would prefer to block the Google Assistant’s text-to-speech feature, they can add the nopagereadaloug tag to their webpage.

Unfortunately, there’s no word on when Read It will be available on iOS, Chrome OS, or even Chrome on the desktop, but for Android users, the Google Assistant’s new text-to-speech powers are slated to roll out live worldwide today.

One billion Android devices at risk of hacking

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterScience & Technology 0

More than a billion Android devices are at risk of being hacked because they are no longer protected by security updates, watchdog Which? has suggested.

The vulnerability could leave users around the world exposed to the danger of data theft, ransom demands and other malware attacks.

Anyone using an Android phone released in 2012 or earlier should be especially concerned, it said.

Which? says it was not reassured by Google’s response.

And the tech giant has not responded to BBC requests for a comment.

Google’s own data suggests that 42.1% of Android users worldwide are on version 6.0 of its operating system or below.

According to the Android security bulletin, there were no security patches issued for the Android system in 2019 for versions below 7.0.

Extrapolating this data, Which? concluded that two in five Android users worldwide were no longer receiving security updates.

It then tested five phones:

a Motorola X
a Samsung Galaxy A5
a Sony Xperia Z2
an LG/Google Nexus 5
a Samsung Galaxy S6

Which? asked anti-virus lab AV Comparatives to infect them with malware – and it succeeded on every phone, creating multiple infections on some.

It said it shared its findings with Google but the tech giant “failed to provide reassurance that it has plans in place to help users whose devices were no longer supported”.

More than a billion Android devices are at risk of being hacked because they are no longer protected by security updates, watchdog Which? has suggested.

The watchdog wants Google and others to provide far more transparency around how long updates for smart devices will be provided.

And it said the mobile industry needed to do a better job of giving support to customers about their options once security updates are no longer available.

Kate Bevan, Which? Computing editor, said: “It’s very concerning that expensive Android devices have such a short shelf life before they lose security support, leaving millions of users at risk of serious consequences if they fall victim to hackers.

“Google and phone manufacturers need to be upfront about security updates – with clear information about how long they will last and what customers should do when they run out.

“The government must also push ahead with planned legislation to ensure manufacturers are far more transparent about security updates for smart devices – and their impact on consumers.”

How to check whether your phone is vulnerable and what to do

If your Android device is more than two years old, check whether it can be updated to a newer version of the operating system. If you are on an earlier version than Android 7.0 Nougat, try to update via Settings> System>Advanced System update
If you can’t update, your phone could be at risk of being hacked, especially if you are running a version of Android 4 or lower. If this is the case be careful about downloading apps outside the Google Play store
Also be wary of suspicious SMS or MMS messages
Back up data in at least two places (a hard drive and a cloud service)
Install a mobile anti-virus via an app, but bear in mind that the choice is limited for older phones

Major Exhibition Exploring Primitivism in Modern Indian Art to Make U.S. Debut at DAG New York in March

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Primitivism and Modern Indian Art Features Over 70 works by Most Significant Figures of Art in India, Including Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher-Gil, Ramkinkar Baij, and Madhvi Parekh

DAG today announced the U.S. debut of Primitivism and Modern Indian Art, bringing together over 70 works by Indian modernist painters to explore the stylistic influence of primitivism and its motifs in non-Western contexts. Opening March 14 and curated by Dr. Giles Tillotson—a leading scholar in Indian art and architecture— the exhibition showcases works by some of the most recognized Indian masters, juxtaposing vastly different interpretations of the genre to demonstrate the breadth of primitivism in India. On view through June 6, Primitivism and Modern Indian Art builds on DAG’s ongoing commitment to representing the expanse of Indian art practice through the presentation of museum-quality exhibitions globally.

“The works featured in Primitivism and Modern Indian Art defy any common visual link with each other, demonstrating each artist’s own language of expression,” said Ashish Anand, CEO & Managing Director of DAG. “However, taken together, the works explore the evolution and overarching language of primitivism within art practice in India. Building on our previous exhibitions in New York, we’re pleased to present this highly-researched exhibition and series of masterworks that contribute important scholarship and new perspective on how this originally Western artistic movement manifested in such a unique manner within the realm of Modern Indian art.”

Primitivism and Modern Indian Art explores how a range of Indian artists incorporated primitivism into their own work in the 20th century, attaching a different range of values and meanings in the Indian context based on their artistic practices. The exhibition also explores the key elements that defined the primitivist style in modern Indian art, including a shift away from intricate and traditionally “sophisticated” stylistic elements, as well as the incorporation of visual elements drawn from folk art. The exhibition also demonstrates how Indian artists sought inspiration from primitive imagery drawn from within Indian culture.

Three artists featured in the exhibition—Rabindranath Tagore, Sunayani Devi, and Madhvi Parekh—were self-taught artists, who came to primitivism and included it in their work outside of a formal artistic education, representing a natural incorporation of primitivism in their practice. Additional artists, who had formal art educations honed at elite institutions—including Amrita Sher-Gil, George Keyt, and Jamini Roy— were trained in what was considered a more sophisticated style in the 20th century, but actively chose to adopt a more ‘native’ form of practice. The exhibition also features work by modernist sculptor Ramkinkar Baij and painter J. Sultan Ali, both of whom chose to incorporate singular elements of primitivism in their work.

Other artists featured in Primitivism and Modern Indian Art who eschewed recognizable tropes from modern Indian art in the 20th century to create a unique visual language hearkening back to primitive imagery, in spite of the sophistication of training at their command, include M. F. Husain, F. N. Souza, K. G. Subramanyan, Jogen Chowdhury, and Rabin Mondal. Primitivism and Modern Indian Art is accompanied by a comprehensive publication and is currently on view at DAG’s Mumbai gallery.

ABOUT DAG

DAG (formerly known as the Delhi Art Gallery) was established in 1993 in New Delhi, and over the past 25 years, has built a reputation for the quality of its collection that represents the expanse of Indian art practice. This extensive collection charts a historic continuum, from the early works of academic artists trained in Bengal and Bombay, to modernists from Baroda, Delhi and beyond, and includes artworks by some of India’s most celebrated artists, including Raja Ravi Varma, Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy, S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, F. N. Souza, Avinash Chandra and Chittaprosad. With the aim of taking Indian modernism to a wider audience, DAG now has gallery spaces in the historic Kala Ghoda in Mumbai, and the iconic Fuller Building in Manhattan, New York, in addition to its gallery in Delhi. It regularly participates in international fairs such as Art Basel Hong Kong, Armory New York, Art Dubai, Masterpiece London and India Art Fair.

The mandate of taking art to the people has led to museum-quality exhibition collaborations with stellar art institutions such as the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi, the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, Chandigarh and the Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. The most recent and monumental collaboration has been with the Archaeological Survey of India—with the Drishyakala museum at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Red Fort being inaugurated by India’s Prime Minister on 23 January 2019.

With the democratisation of Indian art as its core aim, DAG consistently hosts outreach programmes for students of schools and colleges, and also runs a pioneering programme for the visually impaired by allowing them to experience art through tactile aids.

Kerala has been adjudged India’s Best Wellness Destination

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment, Tourism 0

Kerala has been adjudged India’s Best Wellness Destination by the leading tourism magazine Outlook Traveller for the year 2020, in a robust validation of the state’s authentic Ayurveda and other traditional systems of holistic healing.

Mr P. K. Sooraj, Tourism Information Officer, received the award on behalf of Kerala Tourism from the former parliamentarian, columnist and author Mr Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda.
Kerala was also in the final round of awards for the best tourism state and the best wedding destination. The other tourist attractions of the state that made it to the final round were Jatayu Earth Centre, the world’s largest bird sculpture, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (both in the category of Best Tourist Attraction), Niramaya Retreats Cardamom Club, Thekkady (Best Hill Resort) and Coconut Lagoon, Kumarakom (Best Heritage Hotel).

The award winners who were asked about the favourite destination by the host replied Kerala as their favourite destination, which also was welcome recognition for Kerala at the event.

“Ayurveda has always been the USP of Kerala Tourism, bringing in tourists from all parts of the globe. In addition, the state provides a range of other relaxing therapies that rejuvenate people who are tired of monotonous city life,”said Mr Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism. “The Outlook Traveller Award is a huge recognition that will further bolster the state’s reputation as a destination for holistic healing.”

Kochi has bagged the top spot in the list of ‘Trending Destination’ in the world by Tripadvisor, pushing behind cities in countries such as Thailand, Morocco, Russia, Portugal and Austria, and has been ranked first among 25 other destinations in the world. The online travel company Tripadvisor noted: “These incredible spots (that travellers love) saw the biggest spikes in top reviews and ratings last year.”

The list was announced as part of Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best Award. “Look for spicy dishes flavoured with tamarind and coconut in Kochi, and don’t be surprised if your dinner is served up on a banana leaf. The region is a major banana-growing area, and traditional Kochi cuisine employs the fruit in many dishes, both sweet and savoury,” Tripadvisor noted about Kochi in its website while announcing the winners. It has further listed ‘Kerala Kathakali Centre,’ ‘Chottanikkara Temple’ and ‘Kerala Folklore Museum,’ apart from suggesting 631 other things to do in Kochi. Interestingly, Kochi is the only destination in India to bag a spot on this list.

According to the company, the awards are given on the basis of reviews, ratings and “saves” that travellers share from around the world every year.

SHAB-E-TAJ: Musical Odyssey in Memory of Ustad Vilayat Khan

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Love rises where the sun sets. The dome hides the dying embers of the day as Sultan Shahjahan and his Queen, always inseparable, rise from their graves to spend one final night together at their palace. What words will we hear whispered through the moonlit halls of their Taj Mahal? Will the lovers recount their memories? Will they hold each other silently and gaze into each other’s eyes until the eyes they see staring back at them have become their own? Or will they weep into each other’s arms — one final night in the face of ephemeral love?

In the legendary 1967 album, “A Night At The Taj,” Ustad Vilayat Khan and Ustad Imrat Khan answer this age-old question: what would we do if we had one more day with the person we love? Vilayat Khan voices Queen Mumtaz on his sitar and Imrat Khan replies as Shah Jahan from the deep notes of his surbahar. The final conversation between the Sultan and his Queen comes to life, as the dewdrops dry and the gift of timelessness fades with the rising sun.

Love has intrigued us since the dawn of time. From Helene to Eleanor, love has ravaged empires. Love has led armies to war and emperors to abandon throne. Love has inspired the Bhakti and Sufi movements, volumes of soul-stirring poetry, and an endless collection of passionate music. And love will continue to intrigue us. It only makes sense to extend the ethereal journey undertaken by the two late maestros and to continue to find the stories of love that mark our human condition.

On this fateful night, we will explore love and its many prisms. We will capture the angles at which love reflects, refracts and intersects. We will see the endless shapes of love reflected on the wall of a dimly lit cave. We will sing these shapes into existence. We will tell stories about these shapes through Dastangoi, the lost art of Urdu storytelling. We will listen in awe as TM Krishna, Hidayat Husain Khan, Danish Husain and Marina Ahmad undertake the voyage across this limitless sea to bring us pearls to relish the supreme and eternal human condition. We will experience an evening of exhilarating musical renditions, jugalbandis interspersed with storytelling and conversations, and the intimate mehfil-baithak will give rise to a unique theatrical experience. Like ‘A Night At The Taj,’ this will be a night to remember!

India Republic Day Celebrations on Long Island, NY

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

Hemstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin and his colleagues on the Town Board gathered with members of the Indian-American community to enjoy the Town of Hempstead’s 17th Annual India Republic Day Celebration at Town Hall. The festivities, complete with Indian food, traditional music and dancing, recognized the foundation of the Republic of India as well as local Indian-American leaders for their work supporting the religious, civic, and cultural life of Hempstead Town.

“The Indian-American community is such an intrinsic part of both the United States and Long Island,” said Supervisor Clavin. “I am happy to join with members of the community in celebrating the foundation of the Republic of India as well as the important contributions Indian-Americans make to our hometown.”

Supervisor Clavin honored two local Indian-American leaders for their work serving the community: Nachiketa Mitra and Bharti Desai. Nachiketa Mitra, a longtime devotee at the New York Kali Temple and a key member of the Mandir’s Working Committee, helped turn the Temple into a thriving, financially stable institution. Bharti Desai, a renowned artist, teacher, performer and actress, was the first female president of the Gujarati Samaj of New York and a dedicated volunteer known for teaching Indian culture to students through traditional Guajarati folk and Bollywood dances. The keynote speaker who helped recognize the honorees was Jessica Kalra, a local Indian-American attorney with a long history of public service and involvement in local charitable organizations.

“This celebration of Indian culture right here at Town Hall is a testament to the diversity found in America’s largest township, and the great multicultural communities that comprise our hometown,” said Councilman Dennis Dunne, who attended the event. “I am thankful for the contributions made by the honorees, as well as my Indian-American friends and neighbors, to Hempstead Town.”

The Tuesday, February 18th celebration was preceded by the raising of the National Flag of India over Town Hall in January by Supervisor Clavin, Town Board members and Indian-American leaders.

“The amazingly positive impact Indian-Americans have on our township cannot be understated,” Supervisor Clavin stated. “I am committed to furthering the great friendship between Hempstead Town and the Republic of India, and look forward to working with community leaders on ways we can strengthen this bond.”

DRAUPADI UNLEASHED Romantic Film Set in 1930s British India Releases in Eight U.S. Cities on March 20th

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Set in 1930’s India, DRAUPADI UNLEASHED centers on sixteen-year-old Indira, who finds herself torn between true love, her duty to follow through with an arranged marriage and the powerful allure of a mysterious guru. Through her heartbreaking journey to self-discovery, long-held secrets are brought to light, and Indira discovers the strength within herself to break free. In a story that mixes magical realism and gorgeous surroundings with the harsh realities of a patriarchal society, this beautifully-told tale of a young woman at a crossroads in her life offers a rare look at aristocratic Indian society in the early part of the 20th Century – one that will resonate with audiences today.

Based on the novel by the same title by Nisha Sabharwal (also co-director), DRAUPADI UNLEASHED is written for the screen and directed by Tony Stopperan, produced by Hello Desi and distributed by Passion River Films.

The cast includes: Salena Qureshi as Indira; Dominic Rains as Amar; Cas Anvar as Manu; Anna George as Amma; Azita Ghanizada as Masumi; Melanie Chandra as Sita; Paras Patel as Pran; Pooja Batra as Mohini; Taaha Shah Badusha as Gautam; and, Abi Bais as Chandar.

Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, is out!

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

Known for his genre-bending edgy, and envelope pushing content cinema, acclaimed film-maker Dibakar Banerjee has now directed and produced a thriller, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, that is set to release on March 20.

The film will see Arjun play the role of a Haryanvi cop, while Parineeti essays the role of an ambitious girl from the corporate world whose lives suddenly intertwine. Dibakar is presenting Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra in an all new avatar and the trailer reveals how audiences will be presented with numerous and totally unexpected edge-of-the-seat twists in this gritty film.

Produced by Dibakar Banerjee Productions, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar is being released worldwide by Yash Raj Films. Watch now : https://youtu.be/vHiLZkR6rSg

‘Bollywood Boulevard’ kicks off nationwide spring tour

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEntertainment 0

MELA Arts Connect is once again bringing the vibrancy, emotion, and heart-pounding beat of Hindi cinema with ‘Bollywood Boulevard: A Journey Through Hindi Cinema.’

With over 50 songs spanning a century from the likes of A.R. Rahman and R.D. Burman; choreography that captures the countless dance styles and moves of Helen and Hrithik Roshan; and romantic leads based on classic heartthrobs like Raj Kapoor and Nargis, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, this live music, dance, and multimedia production takes audiences on a journey from the birth of India’s famous film industry to Bollywood’s present-day blockbusters.

Co-produced by Heena Patel, executive director of the MELA Group and Rushi Vakil, who is also the music director and composer, the production is beginning its spring tour later this month. Since its premiere at Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors in 2017, “Bollywood Boulevard: A Live Journey Through Hindi Cinema” has performed at prestigious venues across the U.S.

The production is choreographed by Rohit Gijare, a New Jersey native, known for bringing together Indian classical and folk dance forms with modern western dances.

The tour will be accompanied by a travelling exhibition, supported by the India Center Foundation. The exhibition will explore the cultural phenomenon of Bollywood, its influences and impact on trends over a 100 plus years of Hindi cinema.

“Whether you are a die-hard fan or Bollywood Boulevard, there is something for you in this show. It’s non-stop entertainment for the whole family,” Patel says.

Tickets are on sale now at individual venues. Group sale tickets are also available upon request to venues. For more information on Bollywood Boulevard, please visit bollywoodblvdshow.com.

Himalayan towns running dry, say experts

March 10, 2020 Staff ReporterEnvironment 0

A recent study covering 13 towns across four countries — India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan — in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region shows the Himalayan towns are facing increased water insecurity in the wake of inadequate urban planning coupled with a rapidly changing climate.

The study — the first-of-its-kind on the Hindu Kush Himalayan — shows that the interlinkages of water availability, water supply systems, rapid urbanization, and consequent increase in water demand (both daily and seasonal) are leading to increasing water insecurity in towns.

This water insecurity is attributed to poor water governance, lack of urban planning, poor tourism management during peak season, and climate-related risks and challenges.

The study, published in the journal ‘Water Policy’, also shows that communities are coping through short-term strategies such as groundwater extraction, which is proving to be unsustainable.

The authors are Anjal Prakash and David Molden.

While Prakash is the Research Director and Adjunct Associate Professor with the Bharti Institute of Public Policy of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, Molden is the Director General with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an intergovernmental organization based in Kathmandu in Nepal.

There is a lack of long-term strategies for water sustainability in urban centres, and this requires the special attention of planners and local governments, says the study.

Urbanization has pulled people from rural areas in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region into nearby urban centres.

Although only three per cent of the total Hindu Kush Himalayan population lives in larger cities and eight per cent in smaller towns, projections show that more than 50 per cent of the population will be living in cities by 2050.

This will naturally place tremendous stress on water availability.

The study shows that the water demand-supply gap in eight of the surveyed towns is 20 to 70 per cent.

There is a high dependence on springs (ranging between 50 and 100 per cent) for water supply in three-fourths of the urban areas.

Under current trends, the demand-supply gap may double by 2050. A holistic water management approach that includes springshed management and planned adaptation is, therefore, paramount for securing safe water supply in the urban Himalaya.

Along with springshed management, other options could be explored in the wake of rising water demand and use.

From the case studies of the Himalayan towns, it is evident that increasing urbanization and climate change are two critical stressors that are adversely affecting the biophysical environment of the urban Himalaya.

With development plans and policies focusing more on rural areas, issues surrounding urban environments have been sidelined.

Across the region, the encroachment and degradation of natural water bodies (springs, ponds, lakes, canals, and rivers) and the growing disappearance of traditional water systems (stone spouts, wells, and local water tanks) are evident, says the study.

The degradation and reclamation of water bodies affect wetland ecosystems and reduce retention capacities that prevent flooding.

Consequently, urban drainage and flood management systems are being impaired.

Trump Given Rousing Welcome in India

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterIndia, Politics, U.S. 0

President Trump was on a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.

Trump’s two-day visit was designed to partially tickle his vanity, but, as importantly, it was to boost his chances of returning to office in the 2020 US general election, trying to gain the support both politically and finically among the affluent Indian American community.

He visited three cities in India: the national capital, Delhi; Agra, where he saw the Taj Mahal; and Ahmedabad, the main city in the western state of Gujarat, where he addressed an audience of more than 100,000 people in an event aptly called “Namaste Trump”.

President Trump and first lady Melania visited the Taj Mahal Monday, hours after the U.S. leader gave a rousing speech to more than 110,000 at a cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, India.

The president and first lady strolled around the grounds of India’s most famous attraction, taking in the sights. It was a rare occasion of the president visiting a cultural site on an international visit.

Trump, who once owned the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. and foreclosed the same after declaring bankruptcy, had never visited the Indian site until now. The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were also on hand, taking photos in front of the building.

The first day of the visit was all about optics – tens of thousands, if not ten million, lined up the streets to greet him on his way from the Ahmedabad airport to the Motera cricket stadium in Gujarat, the home state of Modi.

At the stadium, he addressed more than 100,000 people. He evoked Bollywood, cricket and saints – good enough topics to get Indians interested. The rally, titled “Namaste Trump,” was a sequel to the “Howdy, Modi” event Trump held with prime minister Narendra Modi in Houston last September.

Mentioning Pakistan and Kashmir is a line foreign leaders try not to cross when visiting India – but Trump did. He said he had excellent relations with Pakistani PM Imran Khan and once again offered to mediate in the Kashmir issue.

Trump’s motorcade passed seemingly endless crowds in Ahmedabad with many cheering and waving American flags on the way to the 110,000 capacity Sardar Patel Stadium where the rally was conducted. Large billboards were spread throughout the route showing Modi alongside Trump and his wife Melania.

When Modi handed the podium to Trump, the president thanked those in attendance for the welcome he received, adding that he and Melania would remember the hospitality given.

Trump was in India this week visiting a nation that is increasingly subsumed by Hindu nationalist fervor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now a Trump ally, has been linked with the movement since he was chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat.

Modi is accused of attempting to establish a Hindu-dominated society there, where Muslims would effectively be second-class citizens, and of complicity in a 2002 riot that reportedly led to the deaths of 1,000 Muslims. Since he was elected prime minister in 2014, the movement has spread nationally.

Modi is now pushing a citizenship law that specifically discriminates against Muslims. India’s status as the world’s largest secular democracy is very much in the balance.

As President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sat down to a dinner on Tuesday of cajun-spiced salmon, mutton biryani, marinated leg of lamb and hazelnut apple pie, protesters took to the streets to voice dissent against the proposed citizenship law—and were greeted by police and Hindu counter-protesters.

New Delhi became a battlefield for the worst communal violence the city has seen in decades, and there was a dissonant and surreal spectacle of toasts and chumminess unfolding at the regal Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace, where Trump was being hosted.

“America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people,” Trump said. He announced that he will sell $3 billion worth of state of art helicopters and other equipment to the country.

Trump also refused to comment on the ongoing protests and religious intolerance. In fact, he went a step further than expected. He praised Modi’s efforts in giving religious freedom to every community in India. Trump insisted that Modi, who hosted the U.S. president at a huge rally in India on Monday, “wants people to have religious freedom.”

“The prime minister was incredible in what he told me. He wants people to have religious freedom and very strongly,” Trump told reporters at a press conference toward the end of his two-day trip to India.

“He said that, in India, they have worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom. And if you look back and you look at what’s going on, relative to other places especially, but they have really worked hard on religious freedom,” Trump added.

Just as when White nationalist shot and killed dozens in a Black majority Church, and Trump failed to condemn such violence, it was not unusual for him to condemn the violence in India, during his visit.

The strength of secular democracies, like the United States and India, is that they theoretically grant the full rights of citizenship to anyone who subscribes to ideas about human life and flourishing that transcend religious and ethnic divides. But in this age of extreme inequality and growing tribalism, we are beginning to lose our grip on the American—and, perhaps, the Indian—Idea. As Orwell told us, this descent into unreason is at the core of nationalist fervor.

But these visits are not just about theatrics and atmospherics. They are also about forcing a change in American leaders’ general approach to India.

Trump wanted to show people in the US that he was hugely popular abroad and that he was capable of negotiating good deals out of a country he once described as the “king of tariffs”.

On the other hand, the Indian PM desperately needed some good headlines after being under the spotlight due to his controversial decision to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy and the ongoing protests against his new citizenship law. In the end, both leaders had their wishes fulfilled despite not achieving much that would benefit either country and the peoples of these two great nations.

Miss World America WA Shree Saini nominated for “The Best Dance Talent” in the Oscar awards of pageant world

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Fashion 0

At the 2020 “Global Beauty Awards”, thousands would be considered for the best in pageant world awards. A few hundred will be selected for preliminary nominations and then after a rigorous screening, a few will be given the honor of becoming a final nominee.

Shree Saini won “Best Pageant Titleholder” last year. Miss Universe was in that same nomination. This time, Shree shared on her social media that she has been nominated for BEST TALENT, which was given to her for her dance performance. Her recent dance routine earned her the award of “Miss World America Best Talent 1st RU award”.

“My dance journey began when I was only 3 years old, but a substantial part of my dance journey was filled with both physical and emotional hardships. When I was 12, I was diagnosed with a complete heart block. I had to get a pacemaker surgery. The average age of a pacemaker recipient is age 80. Cardiologists told me I could never dance again,” Shree noted on her social media.

Instead of giving up, Shree Saini went back to dance class with her left arm tied up in a cast and practiced up to 6 hours a day in order to regain her strength. Saini noted on media that even though “dance is a very competitive, cut-throat, high stakes sport”, she wants to “encourage teachers, students, parents to always be uplifting, emphatic, especially when it’s difficult. Real Love takes courage.”

The Global Beauty Awards – The GBAs (“Awards”) are under the jurisdiction of NW Productions, LLC, an entertainment and media production company founded by David and Maureen Francisco. The Awards represent members from EVERY pageant system and the beauty, fashion, entertainment, sports, educational and business industries. Just like the Emmys, Grammys, etc., the Awards celebrates individuals including delegates, titleholders, producers, directors, stylists and others that strive and achieve excellence in their respective fields. This annual production is the pinnacle of pageantry recognition.

“The Global Beauty Awards is the most exciting, cherished and memorable night for the entire pageant world. My favorite part of the show is being reunited with my pageant family and being inspired to DO MORE, SERVE MORE. I salute you both!” Saini said.

Adline Castelino to represent India at Miss Universe pageant

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterFashion 0

Adline Castelino was announced as the winner of Liva Miss Diva Universe 2020 title at an event held on Mumbai on Saturday February 22. She will now represent India at Miss Universe pageant. Adline was crowned Miss Diva Universe 2020 by Miss Universe India 2019 Vartika Singh and Miss Supranational India 2019 Anntonia Porsild, who congratulated her on the win. There were 20 contestants competing for the coveted title.

Aavriti Choudhary was crowned as LIVA Miss Diva Supranational 2020 and will represent India at Miss Supranational 2020, while Neha Jaiswal was the LIVA Miss Diva 2020 – Runner – Up.

The event was judged by Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Miss Universe 2000 Lara Dutta, designers Shivan and Narresh, Miss Supranational 2014 Asha Bhat, Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2006 Jacqueline Fernandes, designer Nikhil Mehra and designer Gavin Miguel. Malaika Arora hosted the grand finale.

With the victory, Adline will be representing India at Miss Universe platform to be held later this year. Adline Castelino was born in Kuwait city to Alphonsus Castelino and Meera Castelino of Udyavar, Udupi. As a 15-year-old teen, Castelino moved to Mumbai. She did her schooling from St Xavier and graduated from Wilson College of Business Administration.

She is a professional model, and also works with VSP, an organization that functions to provide a sustainable livelihood for framers to curb farmer suicides and inequality. Castelino states that the cause is close to her heart as her grandparents were farmers. Adline was driven to work for the cause as her grandmother died at the age of 22 due to lack of medical facilities. She believes that it is a miracle that she is getting an opportunity to represent the country on an international stage and calls it a dream come true.

Ekal’s Monumental “Parivartan Kumbh” With 110,000 Delegates

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity 0

From February 16th to 18th, Lucknow, India witnessed the most monumental public Convention in its history that was attended by over 110,000 delegates on expansive ‘Ramabai Park’ grounds. Headlined as “Parivartan Kumbh” (meaning, ‘Transformation’), it was hosted by “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation” (‘Ekal’, as it is popularly known) to highlight the ‘Parivartan’ (change) it has brought to over 105,000 rural and tribal areas across India.

Although rooted in education, in past 31 years, Ekal has significantly come a long way and evolved into economic empowerment of rural folks, village development, social-life improvement and digital connectivity. Initially, the rural-tribal children struggled to incorporate basic functional literacy in their daily chores. There wasn’t any trace of modernity either, affecting their lives. Now, the little ones, with digital ‘Tablets’ in hand, are aspiring to touch the Moon in their routine folklores. The main objective of this historic gathering was not only to highlight this willful reformation, but also, to emphasize villager’s confident strides towards contemporary ‘main stream’.

February 16^th, saw a mammoth rally comprising representation from most of the Ekal villages in day-long awe-inspiring various village artistry sessions. The unprecedented gathering was also addressed by Didi Ma Sadhvi Ritambharaji. Currently, Ekal has 105,000 schools in the same number of rural regions all over India, including Jammu-Kashmir & Nepal, that are grooming 2.8 Million children each year. Internationally, it has presence in ten countries – biggest among them is in USA. Ekal-USA provides, not only financial assistance, but also, gives active support in fields of ‘technology-transfer’ and healthcare.

February 17th was the inauguration day of this congregation and it was officiated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Hon. Adityanath Yogiji at the huge ‘Ambedkar Auditorium’ in ‘Ram Lohiya College’ in presence of capacity crowd. This day was devoted to honoring outstanding achievements of Ekal alumni who brought social, economic or cultural transformation to their own lives under most hardship conditions and had managed to become the toast of the ranking society. Board members of Ekal’s international chapters, generous Donors and special-project initiators were also felicitated. This entire event was organized and conducted by village youths. There were numerous stalls on the grounds displaying products from Ekal villages that are now integral part of its cottage industries.

The closing ceremony on February 17th was presided over by Defense Minister, Hon. Rajnathji. During this entire event there were deliberations on where Ekal wants to be in Yr.2025? In 2017, Ekal had already resolved to reach out to all of India’s 650,000-plus rural tribal regions. So, in addition to its main objectives, it was decided on this momentous occasion to make rural areas more ‘women & youth-centric’ to develop village’s and villager’s full potentials. On the social front, Ekal wants to create alcohol-free environment and overcome downside of caste, creed & religion, so that Gandhiji’s dream of ‘Su-Swaraj’ (ideal Admin – life) becomes a reality.

With this task in mind, Ekal has decided to create units of 10 youths in each village, called ‘Swaraj Senani’ (comprehensive nation building teams) that would keep track of progress and development in their village and also tap into governmental schemes & entitlements for the benefit of their brethren. Accordingly, the steps are already being taken at every level of Ekal to handover the baton for the new age to younger generation. A ceremony representing the new dawn was performed by ‘Ekal Abhiyan’ Chairman, Bajrang Bagraji, by handing over the Parivartan-flag to a youth group that defined rural and urban areas. Ranjani Saigal, Executive Director of Ekal-USA, confirmed that this entire 3-day event had pronounced presence of youths and every aspect of it was flawlessly administered, managed and executed by them.

As a departure from usual Bollywood-singers for its fund-raising events, Ekal-USA this year, has invited an array of diverse rural entertainers with exceptional artistry, as the headliners for the concerts. Their performances under the banner of ‘Bharat Ke Rang, Ekal Ke Sang’ have already started in southern parts of USA. This unique concert is a spectacular splendor of ethnic music, dances and dramas by enormously talented rural-tribal artistes. In 2017, if one can recall, the similar variety programs were sold-out wherever they took place. For performance in your town, kindly visit www.ekal.org.

Houston is priming up to welcome the most prominent face of Yoga

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterCommunity, Health 0

Patanjali Yogpeeth USA President Shekhar Agrawal recently announced that none other than Yogrishi Swami Ramdev himself will be in Houston on the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th June to personally conduct a 3-day Yoga Chikitsa (Therapy) and Meditation Camp at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

The last time Swami Ramdev held a camp in Houston was in 2008 where more than 3,000 people attended the 5-day yoga session. A recent survey revealed that there are 40 million “yogis” in the US and the number is growing exponentially. The resounding interest in the practice of yoga since June 21 was declared the International Day of Yoga in 2015 is expected to attract substantially more crowds this time.

Organizers say the camp will include pranayama (breathing techniques) asanas (physical poses) for fitness and meditation to declutter the mind. This will be done through demonstrations, guided practice and commentary by Swami Ramdev. Trained yoga teachers and interpreters on the floor will assist the attendees in following the exercises.

For over three decades, Swami Ramdev, with his supple body and gravity defying poses, has been guiding legions of people to take charge of their health with the practice of yoga. Millions of people flock to his yoga camps or tune in to his YouTube videos or daily telecasts to follow his simplified instructions in their own living rooms. Steeped in ancient yoga wisdom, he has helped millions cure themselves of various ailments and if not cure, at least, control their blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, obesity and medication by practicing yoga, natural healing and herbal remedies.

Patanjali Yogpeeth USA will be working in unison with other organizations in the city to reach out to a wider section of yoga seekers and enthusiasts so they can obtain the benefit of Swami Ramdev’s presence in Houston.

The 5000 year old practice, according to Swami Ramdev, can play a critical part in shaping a healthy body and mind and calls for no expensive equipment other than the willingness of an individual to practice it consistently. Incidentally, this Brand Ambassador of yoga hasn’t missed a single day of practice since he was 9 years old. His Divya Yog Mandir Trust and Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar, India, established in 1995 and 2006 respectively, along the banks of the holy river Ganga, are world renowned institutions for scientific research and treatment with Yoga, spiritualism and Ayurveda, and cater to about 10,000 patients every day.

Since 2008, under the guidance of Swami Ramdev, Patanjali Yogpeeth (USA) Trust has conducted 12 Yoga Teacher training workshops in cities across the US and trained more than 700 teachers. Many Patanjali Yoga teachers conduct free yoga classes in temples and community centers.

Scientific research is now backing what Swami Ramdev has been saying all along. “Good health, he is fond of quoting, is the birthright of every human being and yoga and meditation can make the world disease-free.” With this goal in mind, the organizers are encouraging yoga aspirants to take full advantage of the three day camp that is “scientific, secular and universal” and use this tool to transform one’s own health.

For more details, visit www.pyptusa.com or contact Shekhar Agrawal at pyptusa@gmail.com

C.D.C. Officials Warn of Coronavirus Outbreaks in the U.S.

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

Clusters of infection are likely in American communities, health officials said. Some lawmakers questioned whether the nation is prepared.

The coronavirus almost certainly will begin spreading in communities in the United States, and Americans should begin preparations now, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a news briefing.

In the event of an outbreak, communities should plan for “social distancing measures,” like dividing school classes into smaller groups of students, closing schools, canceling meetings and conferences, and arranging for employees to work from home.

“We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad,” Dr. Messonnier said.

China’s battle to contain the epidemic has shown signs of success, with a plunge in the rate of new infections. But this positive trend was overshadowed by the sudden appearance of clusters of infections in Iran, South Korea and Italy, underlining the threat of a global pandemic racing out of control.

The emergence of these new hubs underscored the lack of a coordinated global strategy to combat the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 80,000 people in 37 countries, causing at least 2,600 deaths.

“We cannot hermetically seal off the United States to a virus,” Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and humans services, told a Senate panel on Tuesday. “And we need to be realistic about that.”

Stocks plunged for the second day in a row, down nearly 3 percent by Tuesday afternoon, a decline that put the S&P in the red for the year.

As recently as last Wednesday, the index was at a record high. But since then, growing outbreaks in Europe and elsewhere in Asia have raised fears that the virus will continue to be a drag on drag on the global economy.

Indian-origin MP sworn in UK’s attorney-general

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterPolitics 0

Goa-origin Braverman (nee Fernandes), 39, was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015 from Fareham; re-elected in 2017 and 2019. Suella Braverman, who was appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the cabinet role of attorney-general for England and Wales on February 13, was sworn in to the key role at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday.

Goa-origin Braverman (nee Fernandes), 39, was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015 from Fareham; re-elected in 2017 and 2019. A pro-Brexit campaigner, she also chaired the European Research Group comprising Conservative MPs favouring a hard Brexit.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by justice secretary Robert Buckland, chief justice Ian Burnett and the chair of the Bar Council, Amanda Pinto. She is the second woman appointed to the role in British legal history.

Braverman said: “It is a privilege to be sworn in as attorney general and a moment I will cherish as the second woman to be appointed to this historic role. Restoring confidence in the criminal justice system is my top priority”.

She was previously parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Exiting the European Union from January to November 2018.

Braverman studied Law at Cambridge and gained a Masters in Law from the University of Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne and qualified as a New York attorney. Called to the Bar in 2005, she specialised in public law and judicial review.

From 2010-2015 she was on the attorney general’s panel of treasury counsel. She has defended the Home Office in immigration cases, the Parole Board in challenges by prisoners and the Ministry of Defence in matters relating to injuries sustained in battle.

The attorney general has a number of independent public interest functions, besides overseeing departments such as the Crown Prosecution Service, Serious Fraud Office and the Government Legal Department.

Other responsibilities include acting as principal legal adviser on questions of EU and international law, human rights and devolution issues; bringing proceedings for contempt of court; and legal aspects of all major international and domestic litigation involving the government.

Most Americans will need a new ID to fly, starting in October

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterTravel, U.S. 0

Think your driver’s license is enough to get you through airport security in the United States and onto your domestic flight? Maybe not.

Some two-thirds of US state driver’s licenses are not compliant with a post-9/11 security law set to go into effect on October 1. Those who are not compliant will not be able to fly if they don’t have other forms of “REAL ID-compliant” identification.

Concerned about the impact on travel, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security loosened the restrictions this week, allowing the various state agencies to accept identity documents electronically.

“Ensuring every state is REAL ID compliant by October is one of the Department’s top priorities,” said DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, in a press release. “While progress has been made, the real work is still ahead because approximately two-thirds of all licenses are presently not compliant with REAL ID.

“Rest assured, our Department will continue to examine other viable options to improve upon this process and continues doing everything it can to inform Americans of the requirement to obtain a REAL ID before the full enforcement deadline later this year.”

While Wolf says this “pre-submission” of documents will result in a faster application process, it’s not clear how much faster it will be.

That’s because, as Wolf says, “an in-person visit is still required, as is showing up with physical copies of your documents.”

Starting October 1, travelers must have a “REAL ID-compliant” driver’s license, US passport, US military ID or other acceptable identification to fly within the United States.

The REAL ID Act, which established minimum security standards for the issuing of state licenses and their production, prohibits federal agencies from accepting licenses from states not meeting those minimum standards for certain activities.

To get a REAL ID-compliant state driver’s license, the DHS requires applicants provide documentation showing their full legal name, their date of birth, their Social Security number, two proofs of address of principal residence and lawful status. States may impose more requirements.

If you can’t produce acceptable identification, your US airport’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint will not clear you for flight. The TSA is part of the Department of Homeland Security. That could lead to serious backups at US airports starting October 1.

While many states have been issuing compliant documents for years, travelers shouldn’t assume their driver’s licenses and other documents meet the requirements. For example, Georgia became compliant in 2012 and California became compliant in 2018, but their driver’s licenses issued prior to those times in those states are not compliant.

Check if your state driver’s license or identification card is REAL ID compliant simply by looking for a star in the upper right-hand corner. Some state departments of motor vehicles will confirm REAL ID status online.

Still a backlog

The Department of Homeland Security reported this week that 48 of 50 states in the US are REAL ID compliant, up from January 2017, when only 26 states were. The two remaining states that haven’t started issuing new IDs are Oklahoma and Oregon.

Collectively, those 48 states have issued more than 95 million REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses and ID cards.

While the US Travel Association applauded the government’s “pre-submission,” decision, “the challenge remains that tens of millions of Americans do not yet possess REAL ID-compliant identification,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, USTA executive vice president of public affairs and policy, in a statement.

A post 9/11 measure

The REAL ID Act’s requirement were part of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Since the act’s 2005 passage, the federal government has implemented TSA Pre-Check and other programs that offer more security than REAL ID, said Barnes. That’s why the USTA is lobbying federal authorities to accept membership in those programs as a substitute for REAL ID. (DHS hasn’t said yes, at least not yet.)

US House Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Arizona) and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Florida) have introduced legislation that would allow the TSA to accept membership in its Pre-Check program as a substitute for REAL ID.

Officials at USTA, which represents major airlines, hotels, state and local tourism boards and other travel industry members, worry that their members will lose customers who suddenly can’t fly within the US starting October 1, 2020.

A US passport qualifies as a REAL ID.

Jeff Haynes/AFP/Getty Images

REAL ID-compliant state driver’s licenses or other state photo identity cards
US passport
US passport card
DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
US Department of Defense ID, including IDs issued to dependents
Permanent resident card
Border crossing card
State-issued Enhanced Driver’s License
Federally recognized, tribal-issued photo ID
HSPD-12 PIV card
Foreign government-issued passport
Canadian provincial driver’s license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card
Transportation worker identification credential
US Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Authorization Card (I-766)
US Merchant Mariner Credential

Check the Department of Homeland Security website for more information.

Migrants to face tougher US green-card hurdle under new rule

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterIndia, Politics, Travel, U.S. 0

A new federal regulation that took effect throughout the US could make it more difficult for legal immigrants dependent on government assistance to obtain permanent residency permits, known as green cards.

The so-called “public charge” rule, which went into effect on Monday, also applies to applicants for extension of non-immigrant stay in the US or change of non-immigrant status, reports Efe news.

Amid a months-long legal battle, President Donald Trump’s administration will start enforcing the regulation, which may transform the current US immigration system into one with a heavier emphasis on criteria such as a migrants’ income, age or academic training.

Although court appeals were still pending, the measure was implemented after the US Supreme Court on February 21 lifted an injunction that had been imposed by an Illinois district court.

The high court had earlier lifted injunctions against the policy that had been imposed by courts in the states of New York, California, Washington and Maryland.

The rule will not apply to immigrants who already have green cards nor to those applying for citizenship.

Refugees and people seeking or have been granted political asylum were also among those excluded from the restrictions.

Trump’s run to the White House in 2016 was fuelled in part by his vow to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and take other steps to crack down on illegal immigration.

Although the President enjoys strong backing from within his own Republican Party just over eight months prior to the 2020 general election, some former supporters-turned-critics say he has not done enough in that regard.

But many Republicans also want a partial – or even total – crackdown on legal immigration, warning that conservatives will not be able to win national elections in the future due to a steadily increasing number of traditionally Democratic-voting Hispanics in Texas and other states.

Why most young women are stressed about their sex lives

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterHealth 0

More than half of young women in Australia experience some form of sexually-related personal distress — feeling guilty, embarrassed, stressed or unhappy about their sex lives.

A study conducted Monash University reported, for the first time, an overall picture of the sexual wellbeing of Australian women between the ages of 18 and 39.

Results showed 50.2 per cent of young Australian women experienced some form of sexually-related personal distress, with one in five women having at least one female sexual dysfunction (FSD).

A concerning 29.6 per cent of women experienced sexually-related personal distress without dysfunction, and 20.6 per cent had at least one FSD.

The most common problem was low sexual self-image, which caused distress for 11 per cent of study participants.

Arousal, desire, orgasm and responsiveness dysfunction affected 9 per cent, 8 per cent, 7.9 per cent and 3.4 per cent of the study cohort, respectively, revealed the findings published in the international journal, Fertility and Sterility.

“It is of great concern that one in five young women have an apparent sexual dysfunction and half of all women within this age group experience sexually-related personal distress,” said Susan Davis, senior author and Professor of Women’s Health at Monash University.

“This is a wake-up call to the community and signals the importance of health professionals being open and adequately prepared to discuss young women’s sexual health concerns.”

The study, funded by Grollo Ruzzene Foundation, recruited 6,986 women aged 18-39 years, living in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

All women completed a questionnaire that assessed their sexual wellbeing in terms of desire, arousal, responsiveness, orgasm, and self-image.

Participants also evaluated whether they had sexually-associated personal distress and provided extensive demographic information.

Sexual self-image dysfunction was associated with being overweight, obese, living together with partner, not married, married and breastfeeding.

Professor Davis said if untreated, sexually-related personal distress and FSD could impact relationships and overall quality of life as women aged.

Women who habitually monitored their appearance, and for whom appearance determined their level of physical self-worth, reported being less sexually assertive and more self-conscious during intimacy, and experienced lower sexual satisfaction.

Every Child on Earth Faces ‘Existential Threats’ From Climate Change, Report Finds

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterEnvironment, Science & Technology 0

Every child on Earth faces an uncertain future due to the effects of climate change and not one country is doing enough to ensure its children’s sustained wellbeing, a new report says.

The findings, compiled by over 40 child and adolescent health experts in a commission convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the medical journal The Lancet, show that the health and future for every child and teen in the world is under threat. Climate change, ecological degradation and advertising practices that push harmful products toward youth are just some factors that have created an uncertain future for children, the report says.

“Despite improvements in child and adolescent health over the past 20 years, progress has stalled, and is set to reverse,” said Helen Clark, co-chair of the Commission and the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, in a UNICEF statement about the report. “It has been estimated that around 250 million children under five years old in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential, based on proxy measures of stunting and poverty. But of even greater concern, every child worldwide now faces existential threats from climate change and commercial pressures.”

In the short term, survival rates for children are among the highest they’ve been in history, Stefan Peterson, chief of health at UNICEF and one of the study’s authors, tells TIME. But, he says, rampant inequality and marketing practices have threatened the future of overall developments in nutrition and survival.

“The gains are not shared equally within countries and between the countries of the world,” he says, adding that children are increasingly exposed to marketing tactics for unhealthy foods, drugs and gambling — products that are harmful to health and further drive climate change. “It’s threatening children, and by extension, humanity.”

The report includes an index of 180 countries that compares findings on three measures of child wellbeing: flourishing, sustainability and equity. These three categories include factors like health, education, nutrition, sustainability, greenhouse gas emissions, and income gaps.

“The poorest countries have a long way to go towards supporting their children’s ability to live healthy lives, but wealthier countries threaten the future of all children through carbon pollution, on course to cause runaway climate change and environmental disaster,” the authors write in the report. “Not a single country performed well on all three measures of child flourishing, sustainability, and equity.”

The study ranked Norway, South Korea and the Netherlands as the highest based on these factors. Chad, Somalia, Niger, Mali and the Central African Republic ranked the lowest.

But when the study authors took into account the per capita carbon emissions of the countries and compared it with performance on child flourishing, the countries where children face the some of the worst odds emit less carbon than countries where children have a higher chance of surviving and flourishing. The United States, Australia, Saudi Arabia are among the 10 worst carbon emitters globally. The current level of carbon emissions is pushing the world closer to dangerous levels of climate change.

“There’s a huge global inequity here in that children who benefit least from carbon emissions are the ones paying the biggest price in other parts of the world,” Peterson says.

Peterson and the dozens of other health professionals that worked on the report recommend reframing societal priorities to put children at the center of new policies. This includes a significant financial investment to ensure their health. Beyond monetary investments in healthcare, the authors urge people across all sectors, from housing to energy to transport, to work together to ensure future survival. They also encourage taking children’s voices into account. “Citizen participation and community action, including the voices of children themselves, are powerful forces for change that must be mobilized to reach the [Sustainable Development Goals],” they write.

How Modi keeps the American Christian leadership at bay while befriending Trump

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterCulture/Religion, India, Politics, U.S. 0

On the surface, President Trump appears committed fully to the idea of Religious Freedom. He has been very vocal about the issue on many forums that include the United Nations. To his credit, he has appointed Mr. Sam Brownback, a conservative Catholic, to the position at the State Department as the Ambassador of Religious freedom. Evangelical leaders in the U.S. are some of the most ardent supporters of this President anywhere because of his clear commitment to the cause. To the delight of his Evangelical base, he has not only spoken against the ‘Johnson Amendment’ that prohibits Clergy from commenting on politics from the pulpit but also issued an Executive order that lessens its enforcement power and limits its bureaucratic oversight.

However, a different picture emerges if one delves deeply into the inner workings of this President concerning this very issue. As someone who has participated in the Religious Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C., I witnessed the selective application of this issue firsthand that suits his political purposes. There were many speakers from countries like China and Iran who detailed the suppression of religious freedom in those countries and the persecution of the faithful by the authorities. However, India rather conspicuously was missing any representation at the conference.

The weaponization of religion by the current Administration – so they can preserve their power -has reached a fever pitch in India, where minorities are being lynched for their dietary habits and churches are being torched by the Hindutva radicals. When questioned about this absence, an official of the State Department could only respond by saying that India was invited but declined to participate. It is hard to believe that speakers from authoritarian regimes of China and Iran somehow found their way to the conference, but Indian representatives willing to speak on the matter could not be found! Upon questioning, Mr. Brownback feigned his ignorance in this regard and said someone from India should have been present. However, according to several sources, White House appears to have given special instructions to the State Department not to bring the current BJP government’s shabby record on religious freedom to the table.

Now that President Trump is on the way to India to meet with Prime Minister Modi, whom he considers his strategic partner, it is important to examine how the wellbeing of the minority Christians in India, as well as the interests of American Christian leadership, may have been undermined by this Administration for either political expediency or plain business interests.

Firstly, let us take the case of ‘Compassion International,’ a Christian Charitable organization in the U.S. that has done incredible work around the World, including India, by clothing, feeding, and educating impoverished children by allowing their upward mobility. The Modi Government has decided to throw out the organization while knowing fully well that they are jeopardizing the futures of 145000 poor children only because the organization is considered ‘Christian.’ If the country is so opposed to foreign funding, why then the Hindu organizations like ‘Eka Vidyalaya,’ a Sangh Parivar affiliated outfit in the U.S. continue to collect funds from all Americans including Christians?

To add insult to injury, Mr. S. Jaishankar, the diplomat, turned politician who is the current Minister of External Affairs, is said to have invited the lead attorney for the organization and gave him a tongue-lashing at his office lambasting the organization and accusing its leadership of engaging in proselytizing. The organization had vehemently denied these charges often raised by anti-minority zealots who could care less about the lives of the lower caste and poor folks around them. Moreover, it is genuinely disappointing to see a diplomat who had such a rich multi-cultural global experience, including being Ambassador to the United States, to behave with such arrogance and lack of empathy.

Another arena where American Christian leadership is unfairly treated by India is in the issuance of visas to those who aspire to visit their fellow Christians to attend a conference or a convention. In a shocking display of bad faith, only a few months ago, nine leaders from the New York Council of Christian churches headed by Rev. Peter Cook, who traveled to India with valid visas were denied entry at the Chennai airport. And after subjugating them to a grueling 12-hour questioning, they were deported back to the United States. ‘The team was there to meet some people and learn,’ said Mr. Cook, who is also the Executive Director of the New York State Council of Churches. They were even denied the basic courtesy of making a phone call to their would-be hosts. According to one of the team members, an immigration official went as far as to pronounce, ‘we don’t want Christians to come here’!

Visas are indeed considered a privilege, not a right; however, protocol and courtesy call for reciprocity. Hindu religious leaders from India appear to have unlimited access to visit or serve their fellow faithful in this country. The number of religious visas issued to Hindu temples and other religious institutions by the U.S. stand at an all-time high. However, an American Christian leader does not even have an option to apply for a visa on such a ground. If one dares to take a tourist visa and attend any of the church meetings, he/she risks not only being deported but will be banned from an entry back to India for their lifetime.

It is not only the American Christian leadership that is put under the grind but also Indians who have immigrated to this country and acquired U.S. Citizenship. Many of them took the opportunity to avail themselves of the Overseas Citizenship (OCI) card, believing that it would give them privileges on par with Indian citizens except for voting or owning agricultural lands. However, as Dr. Christo Philip from Houston found out, one of his frequent trips to India turned out to be a nightmare. He was stopped at the airport and deported back to Spain, where the flight originated, ending up in prison for a day and losing his OCI status. He was falsely accused of evangelizing though, as a medical doctor, his primary interest was to serve the needy people over their health concerns at some of the remotest parts of India. Although the Delhi high court has finally restored his OCI status, the Judge involved may have paid a higher price and said to have been reassigned since then.

The current OCI application contains obvious conditions preventing ‘Missionary work’ and ‘Journalism’ and combined with the provision in the newly passed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) empowering the bureaucracy to cancel OCI card for any ‘violation of the law’ has sent shivers down the spine in the Indian Christian leadership in America. Mere participation of religious activity while visiting India could now be construed as a violation of the OCI agreement, and there are plenty folks in the RSS cadre and in the bureaucracy who are more than willing to collude in making such a participation a violation of the law that may also be beyond any judicial review. The provision of ‘journalism’ may shield the Government from any form of criticism from OCI cardholders who may want to pen their experiences in any of the media outlets.

Let me also quote from a letter recently sent by a multi-faith group to President Trump highlighting the plight of an American Pastor named Bryan Nerren that shows Religious persecution is not restricted to Indian citizens only. “In October 2019, police arrested U.S. pastor Bryan Nerren in Bagdogra airport in India. The police arrested him on the grounds of failing to declare funds, this followed after the officers in New Delhi interrogated him, asking him if he was Christian and if the money was for Christians or Hindus, they cleared him at the airport in New Delhi only to have him arrested in Bagdogra. The pastor was compliant and said he would fill out the customs form but was instead arrested. Authorities confiscated the pastor’s funds and passport, and while he has now been released, he is still waiting to receive his passport. Senator Alexander and Senator Blackburn are working on his case. The boldness of the authorities’ arrest and discrimination of a U.S. national because of his faith – shows that actors of religious persecution in India, afforded government impunity, further embolden state and non-state extremists to continue their discriminatory and abusive actions towards non-Hindus”.

The ill-treatment of the Christian leadership by the officials is not just limited to American Christians but includes leaders from other countries as well. Considering that India, which has 30 million of its citizens living abroad and more at home are looking for opportunities around the World, what the Modi government has done to a Spanish Nun who lived in India for five decades and serving the poor is deeply shameful. Sister Enedina, 86 years old, a member of the Daughters of Charity, was denied the renewal of her visa and was told by the Government that she had ten days to leave the country. She flew August 20 from New Delhi to Spain. It should also be noted that the Modi administration has so far not extended an invitation to Pope Francis, who is eager for such a visit, despite appeals from various Christian and secular quarters.

In many of the incidents highlighted above, so far, Trump Administration appears to have taken a wait and see attitude in dealing with the Modi Administration. In light of President’s remarks at the United Nations General Assembly that it is necessary to “increase the prosecution and punishment of crimes against religious communities”, the world is waiting to see whether he will raise the issue privately with Modi during the state visit, make a public statement in support of constitutional rights similar to Obama, or remain silent. Then we will have a much clearer idea whether religious freedom is merely a political football or a sincere goal of the Trump Administration.

(Writer is a former Chief Technology Officer of the United Nations)

Popularity of Trump on rise in India but some of his policies not-so-welcome: Pew survey

February 26, 2020 Staff ReporterIndia, Politics, U.S. 0

The popularity of US President Donald Trump in India is on the rise but some of his policies and trade attitudes do not garner the same warm reception(Bloomberg)

The popularity of US President Donald Trump in India is on the rise but some of his policies and trade attitudes do not garner the same warm reception, a latest Pew Research survey said on Thursday ahead of his maiden presidential trip to the country.

President Trump will pay a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He would be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.

Based on face-to-face interviews, 2019 Global Attitudes Survey of 2,476 respondents conducted from June 24-October 2, 2019 in India, Pew said that the majority of Indians have confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to the world affairs.

“And while Trump himself receives positive marks from the Indian populace, Indian public opinion toward some of his specific policies and trade attitudes in general do not garner the same warm reception,” Pew Research said in a survey report released on Thursday.

According to the report, Trump’s image in India has gained favour since his candidacy in 2016, jumping from 14 per cent confidence to 56 per cent over three years. Much of this movement is accompanied by more people now offering an opinion about the US president, it added.

“These latest numbers resemble those of Trump’s predecessor: Before Barack Obama left office, 58 per cent of Indians had confidence in him in world affairs, while nine per cent had no confidence and 33 per cent did not offer an opinion,” Pew said.

Those who associate more with the BJP are more likely than supporters of the Indian National Congress opposition party to voice confidence in Trump, it said.

However, when asked about their views of Trump’s policy on increasing tariffs or fees on imported goods from other countries, about half of Indians (48 per cent) say they disapprove. A quarter approve, and roughly another quarter do not offer an opinion.

Those who most identify with the BJP are just as likely as the Congress supporters to disapprove of this measure and less likely to provide an answer, Pew said.

The Pew Research Center is a non-partisan American think-tank based in Washington. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the US and the world.

Sri Srinivasan assumes charge as the Chief Justice of U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia

February 19, 2020 Staff ReporterPolitics, U.S. 0

Justice Sri Srinivasan has taken charge as the Chief Justice of U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, the nation’s second highest court on February 13, after Judge Merrick Garland, 67, the Chief Judge of this influential court, completing his seven year term, formally stepped down and passed on the gavel to Srinivasan, making him the first South Asian American to lead a powerful federal circuit court.

Ascension to the post was based on age and years of service on the bench. Srinivasan will turn 53 on Feb. 23. Srinivasan, who was also Obama’s shortlist for the Supreme Court, according to the Washington Post, “shares Garland’s moderate style in his rulings and in his demeanor in questioning lawyers who argue before the court.” It said that Srinivasan “is similarly well-liked by colleagues and is viewed as slow to talk but quick to listen on a court known for its collegiality.”

Of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices, four are alumni on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, including Brett Kavanaugh, who was replaced by Neomi Jehangir Rao, both President Trump’s nominees.

The Washington Post while acknowledging that “the title of chief judge comes with a higher profile and administrative headaches” it did not envisage any “additional judicial authority on a court where judges sit on panels of three.”

In announcing the end of Garland’s tenure as Chief Judge and the ascension of Srinivasan to this position, the Court said that “Judge Garland will continue as an active member of the court,” which he has served on for the past three decades.

The Indian-born Srinivasan, who migrated to the U.S. with his parents and two sisters at age 4, was nominated by President Obama on June 11, 2012, nearly 10 months after the President appointed him Principal Deputy Solicitor General, replacing yet another trailblazing Indian American, Neal Kumar Katyal.

President Obama in nominating Sri, as he’s popularly known, said, “Sri is a trailblazer who personifies the best of America,” and noted that “Sri spent nearly two decades as an extraordinary litigator before serving as Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States.”

“Now,” Obama predicted, “he will serve with distinction on the federal bench,” and pointed out, “Sri will in fact be the first South Asian American to serve as a circuit court judge in our history.”