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NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
R.N.I. No 53449/91 DL-SW-01/4124/17-<strong>19</strong> (Monday/Tuesday same week) (Published Every Monday) New Delhi Page <strong>16</strong> Rs. 7.00<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> Vol - 28 No. 3 Email : info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com Founder : Dr. Govind Narain Srivastava ISSN -2349-1221<br />
erik solheim<br />
‘Modiism legacy’ transcends<br />
diplomacy to a <strong>new</strong> level<br />
Modi becomes first Indian PM to visit Palestine<br />
Palestine seeks Russia’s support<br />
over Jerusalem<br />
NDT Bureau<br />
Page 12<br />
erik solheim<br />
Teacher Professionalism<br />
Mark Parkinson<br />
Page 12<br />
NDT Special Bureau<br />
Page 2<br />
Facts about Food Muslims eat<br />
Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi<br />
Page 14<br />
Why should we practice <strong>min</strong>dfulness<br />
meditation<br />
Dr. Pramila Srivastava<br />
Page 13<br />
Improving Sino-Japanese relations;<br />
lessons for India<br />
Dr. Ankit Srivastava<br />
Page 3<br />
Is Canada home to anti-India Sikh<br />
extremists?<br />
Tarek Fatah<br />
Page 2<br />
1<br />
twitter@NewDelhiTimes<br />
facebook.com/<strong>new</strong>delhitimes<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
2<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
N<br />
Editorial<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
‘Modiism legacy’ transcends diplomacy to a <strong>new</strong> level<br />
◆◆<br />
By NDT Special Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
arendra Modi became the first Indian<br />
Prime Minister to visit the occupied<br />
West Bank for talks with Palestinian president<br />
Mahmud Abbas as part of a Middle East<br />
tour. He arrived at the West Bank city of<br />
Ramallah on <strong>February</strong> 10, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Modi and his entourage flew in by helicopter<br />
from Jordan, landing near Abbas’s Ramallah<br />
headquarters. And the helicopters were<br />
provided by Palestine’s arch enemy Israel<br />
Is Canada home to anti-India Sikh extremists?<br />
◆◆<br />
By Tarek Fatah<br />
Author & Columnist, Canada<br />
@TarekFatah<br />
tarek.fatah@gmail.com<br />
s Canada home to Sikh extremists<br />
I<br />
trying to pump fresh air into the dying<br />
embers of the so-called Khalistan movement<br />
that seeks the breaking up of India to create<br />
a separate Sikh country in Punjab?<br />
Are there such anti-India Sikhs in the federal<br />
cabinet and the Liberal Party and its Ontario<br />
wing?<br />
Mainstream Canadians outside the circus<br />
of identity politics could care less about<br />
the wholesale buying and selling at ethnic<br />
vote banks, but it’s time they should. India<br />
is no longer that far-away country of <strong>19</strong>85<br />
when Air India 182 was blown out of the<br />
sky by Sikh extremists, killing 268 Canadian<br />
citizens among the 3<strong>25</strong> murdered over<br />
Ireland.<br />
Today’s India is not just a beacon of<br />
democracy in a sea of tyrants that govern<br />
much of Asia and Africa, but its economy<br />
is boo<strong>min</strong>g, as is the trade between our two<br />
countries. Fears expressed by New Delhi can<br />
no longer be ignored. If they are, it will be<br />
our loss in Canada. It has been reported that<br />
the current debate about Canada hosting Sikh<br />
extremists erupted when the popular Indian<br />
weekly, Outlook — in its Feb.12 edition —<br />
ran a cover story, featuring a photo of Prime<br />
Minister Justin Trudeau, wearing traditional<br />
orange Sikh handkerchief on his head. The<br />
headline on the cover read, “Khalistan-II:<br />
Made in Canada.”<br />
Sources in India tell me the Outlook edition<br />
Modi becomes first Indian PM to visit Palestine<br />
and were escorted by Israeli air force! That<br />
denotes diplomacy of the highest order.<br />
Modi’s Palestine visit came weeks after<br />
he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benja<strong>min</strong><br />
Netanyahu in Delhi. Critics view the<br />
Ramallah visit as New Delhi’s keenness<br />
to balance its strengthening ties with the<br />
Jewish state. New Delhi has long backed<br />
the Palestinian territories’ quest for<br />
nationhood. Modi has also voiced support<br />
for an independent state existing peacefully<br />
alongside Israel. During the wonderful<br />
meeting, both Indian and Palestinian leaders<br />
discussed the full range of India-Palestine<br />
ties including information technology, health<br />
story came only after the government of<br />
India and Indo-Canadians noticed a sudden<br />
spike in anti-India extremist activities at Sikh<br />
temples across Canada. In one such step,<br />
Indian diplomats were barred from entering<br />
any Sikh temple anywhere in Canada.<br />
In his bilateral meeting with Trudeau on<br />
the sidelines of the recent World Economic<br />
Forum meeting in Switzerland, Indian Prime<br />
Minister Narendra Modi asked Trudeau<br />
to curb the rise of pro-Khalistan groups in<br />
Canada.<br />
The Outlook report includes a Q and<br />
A segment with Punjab Chief Minister<br />
Amarinder Singh, who last April refused<br />
to meet with Canada’s Defence Minister<br />
Harjit Sajan, calling him a “Khalistani<br />
sympathizer” — an allegation denied by<br />
Sajan.<br />
In a condescending rebuttal, Sajan said:<br />
“Canadians have the right to express<br />
(viewpoints), it’s called freedom of speech.”<br />
Hopefully, Trudeau read the gist of the<br />
Outlook story and paid heed to Modi’s<br />
request in Davos. Ideally, Trudeau should<br />
make an emphatic statement in Delhi on<br />
behalf of the Canadian state, denouncing<br />
anyone or any group that uses Canadian soil<br />
to cause harm to the integrity of India. Of<br />
course individual Canadians —extremist<br />
Sikhs and their Pakistani-Canadian allies<br />
— are free to speak and protest, but the<br />
Canadian government and its MPs cannot be<br />
seen as being soft in their approach to this<br />
menace.<br />
No longer should Trudeau or any Canadian<br />
politician send felicitation to events where<br />
and tourism. Modi was also the first Indian<br />
leader in history to visit Israel in July last<br />
year.<br />
Both Israel and India had then signed<br />
deals on cyber security and energy. India’s<br />
shocking refusal to support the United<br />
States move to recognise Jerusalem as<br />
Israel’s capital no doubt disappointed Israel<br />
but it was in perfect alignment with India’s<br />
support for the Palestinians.<br />
The Gulf is a critical region for New Delhi<br />
as more than half oil and energy supplies to<br />
India is sourced from the region. There is<br />
another huge stake here.<br />
A major part of Indian Diasporas - around<br />
nine million Indians - live and work here<br />
who send home billions of dollars in<br />
remittances annually that provides copious<br />
foreign exchange to Indian economy.<br />
Modi’s stand on Jerusalem in United Nations<br />
and subsequent Ramallah visit proves his<br />
capability for independent decision making<br />
on Palestine without being influenced by<br />
Israel.<br />
It is welcome that Palestinians have heartily<br />
welcomed Modi, regarded him a World<br />
Leader, awarding him with the highest<br />
Civilian award of the land! It is rumoured<br />
that Modi could very well have carried some<br />
special package from Netanyahu. Given<br />
the limited representative credentials of<br />
Mahmood Abbas - he was elected <strong>16</strong> years<br />
Sikh extremists parade floats glorifying<br />
Sikh militant leaders. For example, on April<br />
30, Trudeau addressed a parade for ‘Khalsa<br />
Day’, which included floats glorifying Sikh<br />
militant leaders Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale,<br />
Amreek Singh and former general Shahbeg<br />
Singh who were killed in the siege of the<br />
Golden Temple and Operation Bluestar in<br />
June <strong>19</strong>84.<br />
What I have gathered after speaking to<br />
many senior level Indian academics and<br />
politicians on both sides of the political<br />
divide is that India expects nothing short<br />
of a complete break between the Liberal<br />
Party and the opposition politicians and the<br />
Khalistan movement — not just in theory,<br />
but in practise, too.<br />
But early indications from the itinerary for<br />
Trudeau’s state visit to India on Feb. 17- 23<br />
show the Canadian prime <strong>min</strong>ister will not<br />
deviate the script of using his trip to cajole<br />
the Sikh vote bank by donning a ceremonial<br />
headdress and paying a visit to the Golden<br />
Temple in Amritsar.<br />
One Canadian Sikh lawyer in Brampton<br />
expressed her indignation at how Canadian<br />
politicians of all stripes use visits to the<br />
Golden Temple as a vote-getting tactic. “It<br />
is demeaning to Canada’s Sikhs that Mr.<br />
Trudeau seeks our votes not by arguing<br />
the merits of his policy platforms, but by<br />
dressing up to mimic Sikh identity and<br />
visit our holiest shrine in India,” she added,<br />
requesting anonymity.<br />
Perhaps someone in the PMO noticed that<br />
Trudeau could massage another vote bank in<br />
Canada if he paid a visit to a mosque. So<br />
ago and there have been no elections since.<br />
Modi’s initiative could lack the requisite<br />
traction.<br />
Modi - the master strategist and truly an<br />
outstanding world leader - is also a great<br />
statesman who has made India relevant<br />
on the international scene through a smart<br />
foreign policy. He has redefined diplomacy<br />
in the Middle East.<br />
The extraordinary diplomat in him has<br />
excelled in keeping both Israel and Palestine<br />
engaged. The world hopes that he even<br />
goes on to solve this long standing issue to<br />
bring peace to the region. His opponents<br />
unjustifiably criticize him but here is a man,<br />
who means business, always! Words may not<br />
be enough to appreciate his achievements.<br />
All this required a deft act of balancing Indian<br />
foreign policy, out-of-the-box diplomacy<br />
and lots of guts to maintain relationship with<br />
two countries that are constantly at war with<br />
each other. Good relations with everyone<br />
are the key to peaceful existence. World is<br />
curious to see more of Modi.<br />
Modi truly has great leadership qualities<br />
and is adept at taking intrepid decisions that<br />
makes him relevant; a man for all seasons<br />
who invariably stays on top of things.<br />
Detractors may disagree but he is the Prime<br />
Minister any country would be proud of. He<br />
has made international diplomacy an art of<br />
having all as friends. His diplomatic persona<br />
assures to leave ‘Modiism’ as a <strong>new</strong> legacy!<br />
the initial itinerary released in Jan. 22 was<br />
changed on Feb. 7 to include a visit to the<br />
majestic Jama Mosque in Delhi.<br />
It will be fascinating to see Mr Trudeau<br />
lecture the mosque’s clerics about genderequality<br />
after Syed Yahya Bukhari, president<br />
of the Jama Masjid United Forum, lashed<br />
out recently at a Muslim woman who led a<br />
mixed-gender congregation in the southern<br />
state of Kerala. Which begs the question: If<br />
Trudeau is so enamoured by Sikhism and<br />
Islam, why doesn’t he abandon his Catholic<br />
faith and join our ranks? And if he is still<br />
a Catholic, why is he not visiting a single<br />
one of the many historic Catholic churches<br />
of India?<br />
Sanjay Dixit, a senior Indian government<br />
officer who has served as an election<br />
observer in the Punjab elections of 2014<br />
told me that there is no appetite for an<br />
independent Khalistan among the Sikhs of<br />
Punjab.<br />
It is also intriguing that the banner men<br />
of Khalistan in Canada and the Ontario<br />
legislature keep feeding young Sikhs<br />
about the immense injustice committed on<br />
the Sikhs of Delhi in <strong>19</strong>84 when tens of<br />
thousands are said to have been killed by<br />
roa<strong>min</strong>g mobs. This is done to stir hatred<br />
against Hindus in Canada and India.<br />
One last message to Trudeau: India has<br />
arrested three would-be assassins who<br />
came to India to kill a Canadian journalist<br />
working in Delhi. Could you please find<br />
out more from the Indian authorities since<br />
your High Commissioner to India, Mr Nadir<br />
Patel, seems uninterested in the fate of this<br />
Canadian?<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com<br />
India’s only International Newspaper
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> 3<br />
D<br />
D<br />
Editorial<br />
◆◆<br />
By Dr. Ankit Srivastava<br />
Editor - in - Chief<br />
@AnkitNDT<br />
ankits@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Improving Sino-Japanese relations; lessons for India<br />
uring the visit of Japanese Prime<br />
Minister Shinzo Abe to India in the<br />
later part of 2017, there was much talk<br />
of co<strong>min</strong>g together of both countries to<br />
counter-balance China. Things changed fast<br />
and furious in next couple of months. China<br />
and Japan now show increasing signs of<br />
bonhomie.<br />
Preceding Abe’s India visit, Japan’s ruling<br />
party leader headed a delegation to the<br />
Belt and Road Forum for International<br />
Cooperation in May 2017. In December 2017<br />
another ruling leader attended the China-Japan<br />
ruling party exchanges mechanism in Xiamen<br />
that had the Belt and Road and China-Japan<br />
cooperation on the agenda. Both Japanese<br />
leaders met Abe in January, <strong>2018</strong> to talk<br />
through Japan’s strategy and reportedly<br />
suggested Fujian Province to be testing<br />
ground for Sino-Japan Japan cooperation<br />
on the Belt and Road initiative. Japanese<br />
Foreign Minister Taro Kono visited Beijing<br />
on 28th January to help improve bilateral<br />
ties further.<br />
Both the countries do not share the best of<br />
relations; irritants like the Diaoyu Islands<br />
and other historical disputes are too many.<br />
Both show keenness to formulate and<br />
implement an agenda for cooperation to<br />
resolve such issues.<br />
The Shinzo Abe government was indifferent<br />
◆◆By NDT Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
and even negative toward the Chinese<br />
overtures on Belt and Road initiative. Japan<br />
has not yet joined the China-initiated Asian<br />
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). But<br />
Abe is now showing willingness to join the<br />
Belt and Road initiative for cooperation.<br />
Japanese enterprises are also showing enhanced<br />
interest in the Belt and Road initiative and<br />
willing to work with Chinese companies in<br />
many infrastructure projects in Asia.<br />
The Japanese are working with Chinese<br />
manufacturer of solar power modules at<br />
a massive solar project in the United Arab<br />
Emirates to bring down power generation<br />
costs. Japanese company Nippon Yusen is<br />
interested in working together with Chinese<br />
companies in the operation of Hambantota, a<br />
China-built port in southern Sri Lanka.<br />
Japan is yet to join the AIIB, but exhibits<br />
flexibility to work with the bank. Since<br />
commencement of the AIIB operations in<br />
January 20<strong>16</strong>, its membership has increased<br />
from 57 to 84, investments poured into 24<br />
infrastructure projects in 12 countries, and<br />
loans exceeded $4.2 billion.<br />
Japan - led Asian Development Bank estimates<br />
that infrastructure development cost in Asia<br />
over the next 15 years could be staggering<br />
Photo Credit : Shutterstock<br />
$26 trillion, hence the China-based AIIB<br />
could be an ally, not rival, in financing those<br />
infrastructure projects. ADB and AIIB have<br />
already undertaken co - financing of four<br />
infrastructure projects in India, Bangladesh,<br />
Georgia and Pakistan amounting to $805<br />
million.<br />
China calculates that Japan’s participation<br />
in the Belt and Road initiative could benefit<br />
Beijing. The Development Research Center<br />
of the State Council puts the total funding<br />
requirement of Belt and Road infrastructure<br />
during 20<strong>16</strong> to 2020 at $10.6 trillion.<br />
Japan’s participation would lessen China’s<br />
burden, enhancing thereby the financing<br />
sustainability of Belt and Road projects.<br />
Chinese companies can pick up lessons on<br />
corporate social responsibility, from their<br />
Japanese enterprises that have long operated<br />
in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and South<br />
Asia. After Bangkok and Jakarta protests<br />
against Japanese economic do<strong>min</strong>ance in<br />
the <strong>19</strong>70s, Japanese Prime Minister Takeo<br />
Fukuda pronounced in <strong>19</strong>77 the doctrine of<br />
cooperation with South-East Asian countries.<br />
As equal partner, Japan contributed more to<br />
the local economy over last four decades and<br />
built a positive image for itself in countries<br />
along the Belt and Road route. Now China<br />
wants to cash on the Japanese goodwill to<br />
alleviate the fear of Belt and Road countries<br />
of being economically too dependent on<br />
China. Hambantota is not forgotten yet.<br />
Enmity notwithstanding, China is hell<br />
bent on improving relations with Japan to<br />
secure cooperation on the Belt and Road<br />
initiative. There is lesson here for India too.<br />
Economy and trade, not the membership of<br />
any regional grouping, should be the prime<br />
driver of our economic and foreign policy.<br />
Kabul is promptly losing control over territories<br />
in Taliban-infested Afghanistan<br />
espite US fight against terror in Afghanistan,<br />
it is a matter of great worry that Taliban<br />
python is constantly devouring Afghan<br />
territories. In fact, an official US report<br />
released on 30th January revealed steady<br />
decline in the number of districts controlled<br />
or influenced by the Afghan government<br />
since 2009. Conversely, the number of<br />
districts controlled or influenced by the<br />
militants has been rising.<br />
John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for<br />
Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in his<br />
report to the US Congress expressed concern<br />
that that this worrisome fact has disappeared<br />
from public disclosure and discussion. Set<br />
up in 2008 under a congressional mandate,<br />
SIGAR has been sending quarterly reports to<br />
Congress since 2009 on the US involvement<br />
in Afghanistan.<br />
The US Department of Defence (DOD) has<br />
classified the figures for Afghan National<br />
Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF)<br />
reconstruction instructing SIGAR not to<br />
release the data this quarter, even classifying<br />
and restricting information revealed in earlier<br />
SIGAR reports on ANDSF performance<br />
such as casualties, attrition, and capability<br />
assessments. SIGAR’s latest report indicates<br />
that the expanded authorities given to US<br />
forces in Afghanistan under <strong>new</strong> Afghan<br />
strategy of August have significantly<br />
increased US air strikes and special<br />
operations in support of the Afghan security<br />
forces.<br />
Afghan security forces are using A-29<br />
aircraft, supported by US Air Force B-52s,<br />
F/A-18s, A-10 Thunderbolts and F-22<br />
Raptors. The ammunitions US dropped in<br />
October 2017 marked a threefold increase<br />
from October 20<strong>16</strong>.<br />
The civilian casualties caused by sustained<br />
air campaign erodes support for the Afghan<br />
government while enhancing support for the<br />
insurgency. The recent United Nations report<br />
estimated over 8,000 civilian casualties<br />
between January and September 2017;<br />
October and November being two deadliest<br />
months due to precise munitions delivery of<br />
<strong>25</strong>0-pound bombs from the most advanced<br />
fighter aircraft F-22.<br />
The US casualties also doubled in the first<br />
11 months of 2017.The ANDSF experienced<br />
a decrease in casualties from insider attacks<br />
but American casualties from insider attacks<br />
have increased.<br />
These air strikes are yet to increase<br />
Kabul’s control over its population. The<br />
press briefing of Gen John Nicholson- the<br />
commander of US forces in Afghanistanconceded<br />
in November 2017 that 64 per<br />
cent of the Afghan population was under<br />
government control or influence, 12 per cent<br />
under insurgents and remaining 24 per cent<br />
are contested.<br />
The Afghan government has an unachievable<br />
goal of controlling 80 per cent of population<br />
within the next two years. Opium sale<br />
finances Taliban insurgency. SIGAR said<br />
that despite $8.7 billion in US aid for<br />
counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan, land<br />
under opium cultivation increased 63 per<br />
cent and opium production increased 87 per<br />
cent; both all-time highs.<br />
The Frankenstein’s monster of insurgency<br />
unleashed by US in <strong>19</strong>80s is now out to<br />
devour the creator. Washington needs to<br />
commit more to drag Kabul out of the<br />
monstrous grip it finds itself in.<br />
India’s only International Newspaper<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
4<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
T<br />
World<br />
UK unveils <strong>new</strong><br />
technology to fight<br />
extremist content online<br />
he British government is unveiling<br />
<strong>new</strong> technology designed to remove<br />
extremist material from social media,<br />
amid mounting pressure on companies like<br />
Facebook and Twitter to do more to remove<br />
such content from their platforms.<br />
The software, developed by ASI Data<br />
Science with funding from the government,<br />
was announced by Home Secretary Amber<br />
Rudd ahead of meetings with technology<br />
executives and U.S. Secretary of Homeland<br />
Security Kirstjen Nielsen this week in<br />
Silicon Valley. The program will be shared<br />
with smaller companies that don’t have the<br />
resources to develop such technology, the<br />
agency said.<br />
“I hope this <strong>new</strong> technology the Home Office<br />
has helped develop can support others to go<br />
further and faster,” Rudd said before the<br />
meetings. “The purpose of these videos is to<br />
incite violence in our communities, recruit<br />
people to their cause, and attempt to spread<br />
fear in our society.”<br />
Governments and law enforcement agencies<br />
have been pressing social media companies<br />
to do more to prevent extremists from using<br />
their sites to promote violence and hatred.<br />
British Prime Minister Theresa May has<br />
called on internet companies to remove<br />
extremist propaganda from their sites in less<br />
than two hours.<br />
But extremist content is only one type of<br />
objectionable content on the internet, with<br />
governments struggling to stem the flow<br />
of everything from child pornography to<br />
so-called fake <strong>new</strong>s. The importance of the<br />
battle was underscored during the 20<strong>16</strong> U.S.<br />
presidential election, during which Russian<br />
entities sought to influence to outcome by<br />
placing thousands of ads on social media<br />
that reached some 10 million people on<br />
Facebook alone.<br />
Social media companies have struggled<br />
to respond. Because the companies see<br />
themselves not as publishers but as platforms<br />
for other people to share information, they<br />
have traditionally been cautious about<br />
taking down material.<br />
Amid growing pressure, Facebook, Twitter,<br />
Google and its unit YouTube last year<br />
created the Global Internet Forum to Combat<br />
Terrorism, which says it is committed<br />
to developing <strong>new</strong> content-detection<br />
technology, helping smaller companies<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
combat extremism and promoting “counterspeech,”<br />
content meant to blunt the impact<br />
of extremist material.<br />
Unilever, a global consumer products<br />
company and one of the world’s largest<br />
advertisers has demanded results, saying it<br />
wouldn’t advertise on platforms that do not<br />
make a positive contribution to society. Its<br />
chief marketing officer, Keith Weed, said<br />
he’s told Facebook, Google, Twitter, Snap,<br />
and Amazon that Unilever wants to change<br />
the conversation.<br />
“Consumers ... care about fraudulent<br />
practice, fake <strong>new</strong>s, and Russians<br />
influencing the U.S. election,” he said at a<br />
digital advertising conference, according to<br />
excerpts of a speech provided by Unilever.<br />
“They don’t care about good value for<br />
advertisers. But they do care when they see<br />
their brands being placed next to ads funding<br />
terror, or exploiting children.”<br />
So far, though, the technology needed<br />
to detect and remove dangerous posts<br />
hasn’t kept up with the threat, experts say.<br />
Removing such material still requires<br />
judgment, and artificial intelligence has<br />
not proved good enough to deter<strong>min</strong>e the<br />
difference, for example, between an article<br />
about the so-called Islamic State and posts<br />
from the group itself.<br />
The software being unveiled is<br />
aimed at stopping the vast bulk of<br />
material before it goes online.<br />
Marc Warner, CEO ASI Data<br />
Science, which helped developed<br />
the technology, said the social<br />
media giants can’t solve this<br />
problem alone.<br />
“The way to fight that is to cut the<br />
propaganda off at the source,” he<br />
said. “We need to prevent all of<br />
these horrible videos ever getting<br />
to the sort of people that can be<br />
influenced by them.”<br />
Tests of the program show it can identify 94<br />
percent of IS propaganda videos, according<br />
to the Home Office, which provided some<br />
600,000 pounds ($833,000) to fund the<br />
software’s development.<br />
But experts on extremist material say even if<br />
the software works perfectly it will not even<br />
come close to removing all Islamic State<br />
material on line.<br />
Charlie Winter, Senior Research Fellow at<br />
the International Center for the Study of<br />
Radicalization at King’s College London,<br />
said the program only focuses on video and<br />
video is only a small portion of “the Islamic<br />
state corpus.”<br />
“I think it’s a positive step but it shouldn’t<br />
be considered a solution the problem,” he<br />
said. “There’s so much more that needs to<br />
be done.”<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
US intel sees signs of Russian<br />
meddling in midterms<br />
T<br />
hree of the nation’s top intelligence<br />
officials confirmed that they have<br />
seen evidence of Russian meddling in<br />
the upco<strong>min</strong>g midterm elections — part<br />
of what they say is Moscow’s escalating<br />
cyber assault on American and European<br />
democracies.<br />
“We have seen Russian activity and<br />
intentions to have an impact on the next<br />
election cycle,” CIA Director Mike Pompeo<br />
told the Senate intelligence committee.<br />
National Intelligence Director Dan Coats<br />
and Adm. Mike Rogers, the head of the<br />
National Security Agency, agreed that<br />
Russia’s interference is ongoing. “This is not<br />
going to change or stop,” Rogers said.<br />
They didn’t describe the activity, other<br />
than to say it was related to information<br />
warfare. “This is pervasive,” Coats said.<br />
“The Russians have a strategy that goes<br />
well beyond what is happening in the United<br />
States. While they have historically tried to<br />
do these types of things, clearly in 20<strong>16</strong> they<br />
upped their game. They took advantage, a<br />
sophisticated advantage of social media.<br />
They are doing that not only in the United<br />
States but doing it throughout Europe<br />
and perhaps elsewhere.” U.S. intelligence<br />
concluded Moscow interfered in the 20<strong>16</strong><br />
presidential election, which has led to the<br />
current FBI investigation into possible<br />
Trump campaign connections. Russia denies<br />
the allegations and President Donald Trump<br />
has called the FBI probe a witch hunt.<br />
The three testified in Congress on the same<br />
day that the intelligence community released<br />
its annual report on global threats. The report<br />
predicted Russian intelligence agencies<br />
will disse<strong>min</strong>ate more false information<br />
over Russian state-controlled media and<br />
through fake online personas to spread anti-<br />
American views and exacerbate social and<br />
political divides in the United States.<br />
Pompeo had said earlier that he expected that<br />
P<br />
Russia would insert itself in the midterms in<br />
which Republicans and Democrats will vie<br />
for control of the House and Senate. And last<br />
week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told<br />
Fox News that the U.S. is seeing “certain<br />
behaviors” of Russian meddling in elections<br />
in the Northern Hemisphere, including “in<br />
the U.S.” this year. But the latest testimony<br />
actually confirmed that it is occurring.<br />
Coats said the details of any meddling needs<br />
to be shared with the American people. He<br />
said there should be a national outcry — that<br />
people need to stand up and say, “We’re not<br />
going to allow some Russian to tell us how<br />
to vote, how to run our country.”<br />
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking<br />
Democrat on the committee, said it’s been<br />
more than a year since the 20<strong>16</strong> election, but<br />
the U.S. still has no plan to battle foreign<br />
interference in elections. He criticized<br />
Trump for not issuing more sanctions against<br />
Russia in response to the meddling.<br />
“He hasn’t even tweeted a single concern,”<br />
Warner said. It’s unclear what the U.S. is<br />
doing covertly to battle back.<br />
But Coats acknowledged that the U.S.<br />
is “behind the curve” in co<strong>min</strong>g up with<br />
policies to penalize those who hack<br />
America’s critical infrastructure, interfere<br />
with elections, under<strong>min</strong>e the government<br />
or hit financial institutions.<br />
Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said he thinks<br />
the American people are better prepared to<br />
deal with Russian influence campaigns in<br />
the upco<strong>min</strong>g midterms and beyond. They<br />
have started to look askance at social media<br />
and attempts to influence their opinion, he<br />
said.<br />
“The American people are smart people,”<br />
Risch said. “They realize that there’s<br />
people attempting to manipulate them, both<br />
domestically and foreign.”<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Polish PM pledges $10 m in aid to<br />
Syrian refugees in Lebanon<br />
oland’s prime <strong>min</strong>ister has visited a<br />
school and clinic for Syrian refugees<br />
in northern Lebanon, reiterating his<br />
country’s position that aiding those uprooted<br />
by the war should take place closer to their<br />
home.<br />
A statement issued by Mateusz Morawiecki’s<br />
office said he has declared $10 million<br />
to help Lebanon build housing for 1,000<br />
refugees from Syria.<br />
Morawiecki said aid to refugees close to the<br />
countries they want to return to is the most<br />
efficient form of aid.<br />
Citing security concerns, Poland’s conservative<br />
government rejected a European Union plan<br />
to distribute refugees currently in Greece<br />
and Italy to countries around Europe.<br />
Poland has come under criticism and<br />
warning of sanctions from EU leaders.<br />
Lebanon hosts over 1 million Syrian refugees<br />
and asks the international community to<br />
share the burden.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
India’s only International Newspaper
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> 5<br />
World<br />
Kosovo president slams<br />
international war crimes court<br />
K<br />
osovo’s president has called an<br />
international war crimes court<br />
with jurisdiction over potential Kosovar<br />
suspects a “historical injustice,” adding his<br />
government only reluctantly accepted it as<br />
the “price for its liberty.”<br />
In an interview with The Associated Press<br />
ahead of the 10th anniversary of Kosovo<br />
declaring independence from Serbia,<br />
Hashim Thaci slammed the court, based in<br />
The Hague, Netherlands, as akin to creating<br />
a court to judge Jews who were persecuted<br />
Special Chambers, to confront allegations<br />
that fighters with the Kosovo Liberation<br />
Army committed war crimes against ethnic<br />
Serbs from <strong>19</strong>98 to 2000. The court, which<br />
has jurisdiction over Kosovo citizens, has<br />
yet to hear any cases.<br />
U.S Ambassador to Kosovo Greg Delawie<br />
said that the court was meant to provide<br />
justice to the victims.<br />
“The special court is not about whether the<br />
Kosovo Liberation Army struggle was right<br />
T<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
US warns EU against defense<br />
market protectionism<br />
he United States is warning the<br />
European Union not to use its<br />
deepened military cooperation as an excuse<br />
to protect Europe’s defense industry, saying<br />
such practices could under<strong>min</strong>e NATO.<br />
The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey<br />
Hutchison, said that “we do not want this<br />
(cooperation) to be a protectionist vehicle<br />
for EU.”<br />
She said Washington is “going to watch<br />
carefully, because if that becomes the case<br />
then it could splinter the strong security<br />
alliance that we have.”<br />
by the Nazis in World War II.<br />
“Kosovo held a defensive war for its<br />
existence as a nation and attacked no one,”<br />
he said. “We have nothing to hide.”<br />
Kosovo’s bloody war for independence<br />
ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign<br />
in June <strong>19</strong>99, which stopped a bloody<br />
Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian<br />
separatists. The war left 13,000 dead and<br />
20,000 Albanian women raped, according to<br />
Thaci.<br />
Under U.S. and European pressure, Kosovo’s<br />
government agreed in 2015 to set up the<br />
Kosovo war crimes court, known as the<br />
Italy court sends<br />
right-to-die case to<br />
Constitutional Court<br />
A<br />
court in Milan has asked Italy’s<br />
Constitutional Court to rule in the<br />
case of a right-to-die advocate who brought<br />
a well-known DJ to an assisted suicide clinic<br />
in Switzerland to die after he was paralyzed<br />
in a car crash.<br />
or not, if the KLA was good or was bad. It<br />
is about crimes committed by individual<br />
people against other individual people and<br />
the victims were all ethnic groups,” he told<br />
the AP. Thaci said war crimes by the Serb<br />
army, paramilitary and police have remained<br />
uninvestigated. Some Kosovar lawmakers<br />
tried last year to amend the law and extend<br />
the court’s jurisdiction over Serbs, their<br />
former adversaries in the war, but they<br />
appear to have stopped the efforts since.<br />
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia<br />
in 2008, recognized by 115 nations but not<br />
by Serbia.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
EU leaders — 22 of whose nations are also<br />
members of the U.S.-led NATO alliance<br />
— agreed last year to jointly develop or<br />
purchase military equipment like drones.<br />
Washington is concerned now that the<br />
bidding process might exclude U.S. firms.<br />
EU countries also drew up a list of criteria<br />
and binding commitments to set their<br />
cooperation in stone, rather than rely on<br />
the vaguer promises of the past. On top<br />
of that, they agreed to use EU funds to<br />
finance Europe’s battle-groups — small,<br />
expeditionary forces that can rapidly be<br />
deployed to crisis hotspots.<br />
Hutchison called for a transparent contract<br />
bidding process. “We want the Europeans<br />
to have capabilities and strength, but not<br />
to fence off American products of course,<br />
or Norwegian products, or potentially U.K.<br />
products (once Britain leaves the bloc),” she<br />
said.<br />
NATO and the EU have been trumpeting<br />
their cooperation on things like crisis<br />
management, the development of military<br />
equipment, maritime security and coping<br />
with hybrid warfare and cyberthreats.<br />
They have constantly underlined that their<br />
aim is to complement, rather than compete<br />
with, each other.<br />
“More European defense spending and<br />
capabilities can strengthen NATO and<br />
contribute to fairer burden-sharing, but<br />
only if the EU’s efforts are developed as<br />
a complement and not an alternative to<br />
NATO,” alliance Secretary-General Jens<br />
Stoltenberg said on 13th <strong>February</strong>, on the<br />
eve of a meeting between U.S. Defense<br />
Secretary Jim Mattis and his European and<br />
Canadian counterparts in Brussels.<br />
A senior Pentagon official also said that<br />
Washington is concerned that EU defense<br />
cooperation might eventually draw resources<br />
away from NATO, which the U.S. and allies<br />
like Britain see as Europe’s top security<br />
apparatus.<br />
“Thus far we don’t see signs that that is<br />
actually going to be a concern,” said the<br />
official, Katie Wheelbarger. “But we just<br />
want to make sure that there has to be full<br />
transparency, so it’s implemented right, so,<br />
therefore, future initiatives will be based on<br />
a positive example.”<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
Marco Capaldo said that he was grateful<br />
that the Constitutional Court might finally<br />
establish that Italians have a right to die.<br />
Capaldo, a lawmaker with the Radical<br />
party, helped bring Fabbio Antoniani, a disc<br />
jockey known professionally as DJ Fabo, to<br />
Switzerland in <strong>February</strong> 2017 after he asked<br />
to die.<br />
Antoniani had been left paralyzed, blind and<br />
unable to breathe on his own after a 2014 car<br />
accident.<br />
Euthanasia is illegal in Italy, but several<br />
high-profile right-to-die cases in recent years<br />
have put the issue on the political agenda.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
India’s only International Newspaper<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
6<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Delhi/NCR News<br />
Delhi HC orders IndiGo, SpiceJet<br />
D<br />
to shift operations to T-2<br />
◆◆By NDT Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
elhi High Court has asked Indigo,<br />
Spicejet airlines to partially shift<br />
operations from Ter<strong>min</strong>al 1 (T1) to Ter<strong>min</strong>al<br />
2 (T2) at Indira Gandhi International (IGI)<br />
Airport.<br />
A bench of judges comprising of Justice<br />
Hima Kohli and justice Rekha Palli, however,<br />
directed IndiGo and SpiceJet to approach<br />
Delhi International Airport Ltd within a<br />
week.The airport regulator shall in another<br />
week decide when the airlines have to shift<br />
their operations.<br />
The bench, however, gave one last<br />
opportunity to the two airlines to suggest<br />
any other sector that they were willing to relocate,<br />
in place of the three prime sectors of<br />
Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru shortlisted<br />
by DIAL. “We grant a last opportunity<br />
of one week to IndiGo and SpiceJet to<br />
approach DIAL to suggest other sectors that<br />
they would be ready and willing to shift<br />
from T-1 to T-2, as long as they collectively<br />
meet the yardstick of one-third passenger<br />
traffic volumes of their operations at T-1.<br />
In the event such a request is received by<br />
DIAL within the stipulated timeline, the<br />
same shall be considered and a decision<br />
taken under written intimation to both the<br />
airlines within one week from the date of<br />
receipt”, the judgment reads.<br />
In case no such proposal is made, DIAL<br />
shall fix a deadline for shifting one-third of the<br />
flight operations of these airlines from T-1<br />
to T-2, under written intimation to them.<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Delhi Metro<br />
successfully<br />
conducts trial<br />
run on Pink line<br />
T<br />
◆◆By NDT Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
he Delhi Metro has said that the trials<br />
and testing on the 20.6-kilometer long<br />
Majlis Park- Durgabhai Deshmukh South<br />
Campus section of Pink Line of Phase 3<br />
has been successfully completed. In a press<br />
release dated 12 <strong>February</strong>, Delhi Metro Rail<br />
Corporation (DMRC) stated that The trials<br />
and testing on the 20.6 kilometre long Majlis<br />
Park- Durgabhai Deshmukh South Campus<br />
section of line 7 (Pink Line) of Phase 3 has<br />
been successfully completed and most of the<br />
mandatory clearances required for inviting<br />
the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety<br />
(CMRS) to inspect the section including<br />
Fire Safety Clearance, License for Working<br />
Lifts, Preli<strong>min</strong>ary Independent Safety<br />
Assessment (ISA) Reports for Signalling<br />
and Platform Screen Doors, clearances from<br />
the Department of Telecommunications etc<br />
have been received by DMRC. The papers<br />
for scrutiny and detailed exa<strong>min</strong>ation by<br />
CMRS are under submission to his office<br />
and after these are cross checked, exa<strong>min</strong>ed<br />
and scrutinised in depth by the office of<br />
CMRS, further action is expected.<br />
In addition, since the application involves<br />
volu<strong>min</strong>ous data of civil, electrical,<br />
signalling and track, DMRC may also have<br />
to supply any additional information further<br />
sought by the office of CMRS. After this<br />
entire process, it is expected that a suitable<br />
date for inspection of the section will be<br />
indicated”.<br />
The section has 12 stations including three<br />
interchange stations: Azadpur, Netaji<br />
Subhash Place and Rajouri Garden. The<br />
Metro train will also cross Dhaula Kuan at<br />
a height of 23.6 metres (as high as a seven<br />
storey building) to reach South Campus<br />
from Majlis Park.<br />
The construction of this section posed many<br />
challenges for the DMRC. As part of Delhi<br />
Metro’s one of the most challenging corridors<br />
of Phase 3, the construction of this section<br />
had to be completed by managing heavy<br />
traffic at various points on the Patparganj,<br />
Anand Vihar, Welcome, Jaffrabad and<br />
Maujpur. The construction in running drain,<br />
land acquisition at Patparganj, Anand Vihar,<br />
Welcome, Jaffrabad and Maujpur also posed<br />
a bottleneck during construction. Major<br />
utility diversions like shifting of water<br />
pipelines at Jaffrabad were avoided by realigning<br />
of station foundations. Electrical<br />
installations were shifted for the construction<br />
of Anand Vihar ISBT station.<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com<br />
India’s only International Newspaper
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> 7<br />
Delhi/NCR News<br />
SC to begin final hearing on Delhi<br />
unauthorised constructions in April<br />
T<br />
◆◆By NDT Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
he Supreme Court has said it would<br />
start, from April 2, the final hearing<br />
on validity of the Delhi Laws (Special<br />
Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent<br />
legislation, which protects unauthorised<br />
construction from being sealed in the<br />
national capital. The apex court said that it<br />
will be a day-to-day hearing to decide the<br />
issue expeditiously.<br />
In December 2017, Indian Parliament passed a<br />
bill amending the National Capital Territory<br />
of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second<br />
Act, 2011.<br />
The 2011 Act providedfor the following:<br />
(i) relocating slum dwellers and Jhuggi-<br />
Jhompri clusters in accordance with the<br />
provisions of the Delhi Shelter Improvement<br />
Board Act, 2010 and the Master Plan for<br />
Delhi, 2021; (ii) regulating street vendors in<br />
accordance with the policy for street vendors<br />
outlined in the Master Plan for Delhi, 2021;<br />
(iii) regularising unauthorised colonies,<br />
village abadi areas (and their extensions);<br />
(iv) creating a policy for farm houses<br />
constructed beyond permissible limits, and<br />
(v) creating a policy or plan for all other<br />
areas of the National Capital Territory of<br />
Delhi in keeping with the Master Plan for<br />
Delhi, 2021.<br />
The Act sought to achieve this by December<br />
31, 2017.<br />
The Bill passed by Parliament has extended<br />
this deadline up to December 31, 2020.Till<br />
now; over 1,500 commercial establishments<br />
have been sealed across the city.<br />
A<br />
◆◆By NDT Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
RTI reply show AAP’s expenditure<br />
four times that of previous govt<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
ccording to a RTI reply the AAP<br />
government has spent an average of Rs<br />
70.5 crore annually in the past three years on<br />
advertisements -- four times more than the<br />
previous government`s expenditure on print,<br />
electronic and outdoor advertising.<br />
In the first year after assu<strong>min</strong>g office<br />
in <strong>February</strong> 2015, the Arvind Kejriwal<br />
government spent Rs 59.9 crore on<br />
advertisements, Rs 66.3 crore the next year<br />
and Rs 85.3 crore up to December 31, 2017,<br />
the Directorate of Information and Publicity<br />
(DIP) said in a reply to an RTI.<br />
The average annual expenditure of the AAP<br />
government on advertisements from April<br />
2015 to December 2017 was Rs 70.5 crore.<br />
The Congress` average was Rs 17.4 crore in<br />
the last five years of its rule (2008-2013).<br />
In the run-up to celebrating its three years<br />
in office, the government in the first two<br />
weeks of <strong>February</strong> carried advertisements<br />
flashing pictures of the chief <strong>min</strong>ister or<br />
other <strong>min</strong>isters. The highlights included<br />
inauguration of community toilets,<br />
excellence awards distribution for students,<br />
a government meeting on “smart gaon”, and<br />
invitation of applications for scholarship<br />
schemes.<br />
The AAP government’s spending on<br />
advertisements increased by about 300%<br />
compared to the Congress government, said<br />
the RTI reply.<br />
Refugees, human displacement do<strong>min</strong>ate<br />
major Indian art fair<br />
A<br />
s you enter the maze, painted panels<br />
with portraits of suffering refugees line<br />
your path. The sound of crashing waves fills<br />
your ears. Light flickers.<br />
This is “The Flow,” an art installation by<br />
New Delhi-based artist Subba Ghosh, a work<br />
inspired by the world’s ongoing refugee<br />
crisis, and the millions of people driven<br />
from their homes by conflict and poverty.<br />
Human displacement, the suffering<br />
of refugees and the notion of identity<br />
do<strong>min</strong>ated the <strong>2018</strong> India Art Fair, an<br />
important platform for contemporary artists<br />
that provides a carefully curated glimpse<br />
into the South Asian art scene through the<br />
years.<br />
The themes are universal, the artistic<br />
expressions deeply personal.<br />
the critically acclaimed Bangladeshi artist<br />
Tayeba Begum Lipi, looking inward is as<br />
important as looking outward.<br />
Known for hard-hitting work that draws on<br />
fe<strong>min</strong>ist issues and gender rights, Lipi uses<br />
stainless steel razor blades to create objects:<br />
a metallic mask, handcuffs, a clutch.<br />
the modern art masters who remain the bestsellers<br />
and account for most global sales of<br />
Indian art. Works by masters like F.N. Souza,<br />
Ram Kumar and M.F. Hussain remain much<br />
sought-after by art lovers, said gallery owner<br />
Nakul Chawla.<br />
Many of that generation of artists have died<br />
Female artists are increasingly fueling that<br />
growth.<br />
The India Art Fair celebrated the enigmatic<br />
Hungarian-Indian painter Amrita Sher-<br />
Gil, one of India’s best-known modern<br />
artists, who died in <strong>19</strong>41 at age 28, with<br />
a rare collection of photos of her taken<br />
by her father. Often called India’s Frida<br />
Kahlo, Sher-Gil’s work is among the most<br />
expensive by Indian female painters, and is<br />
a favorite with collectors.<br />
Art experts say that while men still do<strong>min</strong>ate<br />
the top end of the Indian art market, women<br />
are beginning to sell at comparable prices.<br />
Among those women is Bharti Kher, who<br />
is known for using bindis, the decorative<br />
forehead dots worn by Indian women, in<br />
many of her works.<br />
Paintings, experimental photographs, abstract<br />
expressionist art and mixed-media projects<br />
pushed the boundaries of form, filling a<br />
sprawling fair grounds in the heart of the<br />
Indian capital. Seventy-eight galleries from<br />
18 countries participated in this year’s fair,<br />
which ended on 12th <strong>February</strong>.<br />
One of her pieces sold at auction last year<br />
for more than $150,000, the most expensive<br />
Indian contemporary artwork sold in 2017.<br />
Feroze Gujral, a New Delhi-based art patron<br />
and collector, said there was growing critical<br />
appreciation for female artists.<br />
The young Indian artist Sudipta Das hung<br />
200 paper sculptures of migrants from the<br />
ceiling, suspended in the air to symbolize<br />
their physical and emotional situation. The<br />
work, “Soaring to nowhere,” took more than<br />
two months to finish.<br />
A fourth generation Bangladeshi migrant,<br />
Das said her work not only visualizes the<br />
notion of belonging and identity for the<br />
dispossessed, but also captures the pain of<br />
their everyday lives. “Within that pain also<br />
they are living their life,” she said. For<br />
“Some part of my work is making objects<br />
and doing sculptures. Those are very much<br />
intimate with my own life,” she said. “When<br />
I work with the community, then gender is a<br />
big issue in my work.”<br />
The fair is deeply important to younger<br />
artists looking to make their names, but it’s<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
or are no longer painting. “To get a hand on<br />
extremely priceless works is getting very<br />
hard,” Chawla said.<br />
According to the market analysis firm<br />
ArtTactic, the South Asian market grew by<br />
13 percent in 2017, with sales estimated at<br />
$223 million.<br />
“It’s really about output and work,” she said.<br />
While there are still fewer big-name female<br />
artists, they increasingly do<strong>min</strong>ate the<br />
larger art world: heading art collectives and<br />
museums, managing artists and galleries,<br />
collecting, curating, representing auction<br />
houses.<br />
“They are everywhere,” said Das, the young<br />
Indian artist.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
India’s only International Newspaper<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
8<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Neighbourhood News<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
T<br />
B<br />
US Cautiously Welcomes Pakistan’s<br />
Actions Against Sanctioned Terrorists<br />
he United States has cautiously<br />
welcomed the steps Pakistan has taken<br />
this week to ban individuals and groups on<br />
the United Nations Security Council list of<br />
“terrorists.” But U.S. officials are not saying<br />
whether the move is enough for Washington<br />
to ease up on its push to add Pakistan to an<br />
international terrorism-financing watch list.<br />
“We look forward to additional information<br />
on how these steps are being implemented<br />
and what concrete steps are being taken to<br />
counter the groups, which is crucial,” a State<br />
Department spokesperson said.<br />
According to a Reuters report this week,<br />
the U.S. and Britain put forward a motion<br />
with the Financial Action Task Force, an<br />
international anti-money laundering watch<br />
group, to put Pakistan on its grey list.<br />
Later, the report said the two countries<br />
had convinced France and Germany to cosponsor<br />
it.<br />
A plenary meeting of the task force will<br />
begin in Paris on <strong>February</strong> 18.<br />
A senior Pakistani official said the country<br />
is complying with the UNSC regulations<br />
and is also briefing the member countries<br />
on the steps Pakistan is taking to address the<br />
terrorism financing issue.<br />
“Our envoys have already arrived in<br />
different member countries and briefing<br />
them,” the official added.<br />
Hafiz Saeed<br />
Of particular concern to the U.S. is Hafiz<br />
Saeed, and groups linked to him. Saeed is<br />
listed as a “terrorist” by the U.S. and the<br />
UNSC for his alleged involvement in 2008<br />
UK’s top diplomat meets Myanmar’s Suu Kyi on<br />
Rohingya crisis<br />
ritish Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson<br />
met Myanmar leader Aung San Suu<br />
Kyi to discuss the Southeast Asian nation’s<br />
Muslim ethnic Rohingya <strong>min</strong>ority and how<br />
almost 700,000 of them can be repatriated<br />
safely after fleeing to Bangladesh to escape<br />
violence perpetrated largely by Myanmar’s<br />
military.<br />
A statement from Myanmar’s Foreign<br />
Affairs Ministry said Johnson and Suu Kyi<br />
discussed repatriation and developments in<br />
Rakhine, the western Myanmar state from<br />
where the Rohingya have fled over the past<br />
few months. Johnson arrived in Myanmar<br />
from Bangladesh, where he visited with<br />
Rohingya refugees.<br />
“Discussed importance of Burmese<br />
authorities in carrying out full & independent<br />
investigation into the violence in #Rakhine<br />
& urgent need to create the right conditions<br />
for #Rohingya refugees to return to their<br />
homes in Rakhine,” Johnson wrote on his<br />
Twitter account of his meeting with Suu<br />
Kyi, who also serves as foreign <strong>min</strong>ister.<br />
The meeting took place in Naypyidaw,<br />
Myanmar’s capital. The Rohingya have<br />
long faced severe discri<strong>min</strong>ation and were<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com<br />
terror attacks on the Indian financial capital<br />
Mumbai that killed more than 150 people,<br />
including Americans. The U.S. has a bounty<br />
of $10 million for information leading to his<br />
prosecution.<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
Groups linked to Saeed, such as Lashkar<br />
e Taiba, which, according to the UNSC,<br />
morphed into Jamaat ud Dawa and later<br />
Falah i Insaniat Foundation, also are listed<br />
as terrorist entities accused of involvement<br />
in militancy in India and Afghanistan.<br />
Until now, Saeed, and the latter of these<br />
two groups, were on a terrorism watch list<br />
in Pakistan but not banned. They could<br />
raise funds and operate charitable entities.<br />
Saeed was put under house arrest by the<br />
government several times, but he managed<br />
to get relief from the courts who said there<br />
was not enough evidence to convict him.<br />
Pakistan amended its anti-terrorism law to<br />
automatically ban individuals and entities<br />
sanctioned by the UNSC. Pakistan’s Interior<br />
the targets of violence in 2012 that killed<br />
hundreds and drove about 140,000 people<br />
— predo<strong>min</strong>antly Rohingya — from their<br />
homes to camps for the internally displaced,<br />
where most remained until last year’s fresh<br />
violence, the scale of which has led to<br />
accusations that Myanmar’s army carried<br />
out ethnic cleansing or even genocide.<br />
Myanmar’s government has denied carrying<br />
out any large-scale or organized abuses<br />
against the Rohingya.<br />
The government refuses to recognize the<br />
Rohingya as a legitimate native ethnic<br />
<strong>min</strong>ority. Most Rohingya are denied<br />
citizenship and its rights.<br />
“I pay tribute to the hospitality and<br />
compassion shown by the government of<br />
Bangladesh, who are facing an enormous<br />
challenge in providing humanitarian<br />
assistance to the Rohingya community,”<br />
Johnson said that after visiting Rohingya<br />
refugees at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh,<br />
on the border with Myanmar. “While I<br />
welcome steps by both the Burmese and<br />
Bangladeshi governments towards ensuring<br />
that these people can return home, it is vital<br />
that the Rohingya refugees must be allowed<br />
Ministry issued a notice ordering a seizure of<br />
all assets, “movable, immovable, and human<br />
resource” associated with these groups.<br />
The government of the Punjab province,<br />
where the groups are headquartered, has<br />
started taking over se<strong>min</strong>aries and health<br />
facilities operated by JuD or FiF, according<br />
to local media reports.<br />
In January, the Securities and Exchange<br />
Commission of Pakistan issued a circular<br />
warning companies against donating money<br />
to entities sanctioned under UNSC.<br />
Terrorism finance list carries heavy penalty<br />
While the FATF does not have the power to<br />
sanction a country, getting on its grey list<br />
can put a tremendous financial burden on a<br />
country’s economy.<br />
Banks rely on a network of correspondent<br />
banks in multiple countries for international<br />
transactions. When a country is on the grey<br />
list, the correspondent banks become more<br />
wary of the monetary flow with them.<br />
To avoid landing in trouble for supporting<br />
terrorism financing or money laundering,<br />
they put in precautionary measures and<br />
the listed country’s banks have to pay the<br />
additional cost.<br />
“Every time your bank interacts with the<br />
outside world, the cost would go up,” said<br />
Khurram Hussain, a financial columnist<br />
in Pakistan’s English language daily The<br />
Dawn.<br />
He pointed out that this would not just raise<br />
the cost of doing business for Pakistan, it<br />
also could drive down remittances from<br />
to their homes in Rakhine voluntarily, in<br />
safety and with dignity, under international<br />
oversight, and when the conditions in Burma<br />
are right,” he said.<br />
Myanmar was previously known as Burma.<br />
Myanmar’s Catholic cardinal said it’s<br />
likely that Rohingya Muslim refugees in<br />
Bangladesh won’t ever go home, and that<br />
“the elements of ethnic cleansing” that<br />
drove them out are now apparent.<br />
Two months after Pope Francis visited<br />
Myanmar and Bangladesh, Cardinal Charles<br />
Bo said that even though the Myanmar<br />
government was making plans to receive<br />
Rohingya back, many would opt to go<br />
Pakistanis living overseas. Pakistan gets<br />
more than $13 billion in remittances every<br />
year, most of them from Pakistanis working<br />
in the Middle East.<br />
Hussain said these people are very sensitive<br />
to the cost of remitting money and would<br />
switch to informal means of sending money<br />
home.<br />
In addition, this could raise the cost<br />
for Pakistan of borrowing money from<br />
international markets.<br />
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said<br />
putting Pakistan on the grey list would help<br />
the terrorist outfits by “adversely impacting<br />
funding of our security operations that<br />
Pakistan is paying out of our own pocket.”<br />
He also said Pakistan has a “collective will<br />
and plan to root out terrorism and extremism<br />
from our society,” but greylisting the country<br />
would help the terrorist outfits because it<br />
would send a signal to the population that<br />
the agenda was “foreign and West driven.”<br />
The U.S. accuses Pakistan of taking action<br />
against terrorists that threaten its own<br />
security but not against those active in either<br />
India or Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad<br />
denies.<br />
“We stand ready to work together with<br />
Pakistan to combat terrorist groups<br />
without distinction. We will continue these<br />
conversations with the Pakistani government<br />
in private,” said a State Department<br />
spokesperson.<br />
Credit : Voice of America (VOA)<br />
elsewhere. He cited security fears, continued<br />
discri<strong>min</strong>ation and economic necessity.<br />
Bo, who was at a Vatican conference on<br />
human trafficking, defended Suu Kyi, who<br />
has come under severe criticism for inaction<br />
in curbing abuses of the Rohingya, saying<br />
she has no constitutional right to speak out<br />
against the military.<br />
While saying more proof was needed, Bo<br />
acknowledged in an interview with The<br />
Associated Press that “the elements of ethnic<br />
cleansing” against Rohingya existed.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
India’s only International Newspaper
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> 9<br />
Canada News<br />
Canadian PM Trudeau<br />
and LA mayor toast<br />
friendship with hike<br />
C<br />
apping off a three-day swing through<br />
California that’s mostly been focused<br />
on business and trade, Canadian Prime<br />
Minister Justin Trudeau toasted his<br />
country’s friendship with Los Angeles by<br />
taking a brisk morning hike with Mayor Eric<br />
Garcetti.<br />
Dressed in shorts and athletic shirts, the two<br />
men spoke with reporters before walking<br />
through Griffith Park. The appearance came<br />
the morning after Trudeau gave a speech<br />
about the importance of the North American<br />
Free Trade Agreement at the Ronald Reagan<br />
Presidential Library in Simi Valley.<br />
A California Highway Patrol officer<br />
accompanying the prime <strong>min</strong>ister was<br />
injured in a crash that happened shortly<br />
after Trudeau’s motorcade left the library.<br />
Garcetti said that the officer is expected to<br />
recover from a broken clavicle.<br />
Trudeau’s vehicle was not involved and<br />
he was not injured. Asked by a reporter if<br />
the officer’s injury was overshadowing the<br />
purpose of his trip, Trudeau said the message<br />
that the two countries share close ties has not<br />
been lost.<br />
“That emphasis that we are working<br />
together for the betterment of our citizens<br />
is a message that does continue and does<br />
resonate,” he said. The two men made<br />
statements in English, French and Spanish.<br />
Garcetti warmly welcomed Trudeau to Los<br />
Angeles and said that Canada was a major<br />
trading partner for the city.<br />
“It’s very important for us in this moment,<br />
when there is so much supposed division in<br />
the world to reinsure that there is friendship<br />
and strength,” Garcetti said. “We see<br />
friendship as a strength and conflict as a<br />
weakness.”<br />
The two men, both in their 40s, then set<br />
off at a brisk pace. They chatted with<br />
other hikers and posed for a “selfie” with<br />
one group. Trudeau said the hike was<br />
“awesome” and “beautiful.” Trudeau came<br />
with an unambiguous message that NAFTA<br />
is a success that needs to be modernized and<br />
not abandoned. The next round of talks over<br />
the trade pact is set to begin in Mexico later<br />
this month. President Donald Trump called<br />
the 24-year-old agreement a job-killing<br />
“disaster” on the campaign trail, and he has<br />
threatened to pull out unless the deal requires<br />
more auto production in the U.S., while<br />
shifting additional government contracts to<br />
U.S. companies. Trudeau argued that the<br />
deal has sent benefits both ways across the<br />
border. But he added: “President Trump and<br />
I agree about this: Too many people have<br />
been left behind, even as our economies<br />
surged.”<br />
Trudeau was in San Francisco, where he<br />
picked up promises of investments and<br />
jobs during his first official visit to the city.<br />
Among them, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff<br />
announced the online business software<br />
company will invest another $2 billion in its<br />
Canadian operations.<br />
The speech was a centerpiece on his swing<br />
in which he warned Canada won’t be<br />
muscled into a trade deal that is unfavorable<br />
to his country, while promoting the country<br />
as a destination for California technology<br />
firms uneasy with shifting U.S. immigration<br />
policy.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
India’s only International Newspaper<br />
In US swing, Trudeau mixes<br />
job deals with defense of<br />
NAFTA<br />
C<br />
anadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau<br />
came with an unambiguous message on<br />
his latest US visit: the North American Free<br />
Trade Agreement is a success that needs to<br />
be modernized, not abandoned.<br />
With the next round of talks over the trade<br />
pact set to begin in Mexico later this month,<br />
Trudeau used a speech at the Ronald Reagan<br />
Presidential Library to cast the deal as part<br />
of a long history between the two countries<br />
that has been beneficial for both.<br />
Yet he also echoed frequent criticism<br />
from President Donald Trump, who has<br />
threatened to pull out of NAFTA, that too<br />
many workers are being left behind in the<br />
global economy.<br />
“We need to collectively do a much better<br />
job of ensuring the benefits of trade are<br />
shared more broadly,” Trudeau said.<br />
The speech was a centerpiece on his swing<br />
in which he warned Canada won’t be<br />
muscled into a trade deal that is unfavorable<br />
to his country, while promoting Canada<br />
as a destination for California technology<br />
firms uneasy with shifting U.S. immigration<br />
policy.<br />
After the speech, a California Highway<br />
Patrol motorcycle officer who was part of<br />
Trudeau’s motorcade crashed and was sent<br />
to a hospital with moderate injuries, the<br />
Ventura County Fire Department said. The<br />
vehicle carrying the prime <strong>min</strong>ister was not<br />
involved and he was not hurt.<br />
Trudeau picked up promises of investments<br />
and jobs during his first official visit to San<br />
Francisco. Among them: Salesforce CEO<br />
Marc Benioff announced the online business<br />
software company will invest another $2<br />
billion in its Canadian operations.<br />
Trump called the 24-year-old agreement a<br />
job-killing “disaster” on the campaign trail,<br />
and he has threatened to pull out unless the<br />
deal requires more auto production in the<br />
U.S., while shifting additional government<br />
contracts to U.S. companies.<br />
Trudeau argued that the deal has sent benefits<br />
both ways across the border.<br />
He said 9 million jobs in America are tied<br />
to trade and investment with Canada and<br />
“the truth is that both Canada and the United<br />
States are winning. And so is Mexico. And<br />
that’s exactly how we should keep it.” But<br />
he added: “President Trump and I agree<br />
about this: Too many people have been left<br />
behind, even as our economies surged.”<br />
But an agreement, he warned, will take “a<br />
willingness to compromise on all sides.”<br />
The location of the speech carried symbolic<br />
weight, alluding to the longstanding trade<br />
relationship between the U.S. and Canada.<br />
In <strong>19</strong>88, Reagan and then-Prime Minister<br />
Brian Mulroney signed the first free trade<br />
agreement — a precursor to NAFTA. In his<br />
speech, Trudeau made repeated references<br />
to the historic connections between the two<br />
countries and argued that backing away<br />
from NAFTA could unspool deep ties across<br />
the continent — with an unknown cost.<br />
The liberal Trudeau argued that differing<br />
political views need not stand in the way of<br />
trade agreement, alluding to the Republican<br />
president.<br />
Reaching agreements has always required<br />
“persistence and no shortage of sunny,<br />
Reagan-esque optimism on both sides,” he<br />
said.<br />
Uncertainty over Trump’s immigration<br />
policies has provided momentum for<br />
Trudeau’s economic pitch to Silicon Valley,<br />
where many companies that rely on foreign<br />
workers have become uneasy. On his visit to<br />
Northern California, Trudeau promoted his<br />
country’s fast-track employment permit for<br />
certain workers, dubbed the “global skills<br />
strategy visa.”<br />
Trudeau also met with Amazon Chief<br />
Executive Jeff Bezos as Bezos considers<br />
possible locations for a second headquarters.<br />
Toronto, which has created a governmentsponsored<br />
innovation hub for tech<br />
companies, was the only one of several<br />
Canadian cities that made the shortlist.<br />
Trudeau’s stop in San Francisco highlighted<br />
the already strong ties between Canada<br />
and California, particularly in research,<br />
academia and technology.<br />
While much of the attention on the North<br />
American Free Trade Agreement has focused<br />
on physical commodities such as vehicle<br />
manufacturing, dairy and timber, skilled<br />
workers have also become increasingly<br />
mobile between the U.S., Canada and<br />
Mexico.<br />
Google built its latest DeepMind artificial<br />
intelligence facility at the University of<br />
Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
No <strong>new</strong> remains<br />
found in Toronto<br />
yard tied to<br />
alleged killer<br />
T<br />
oronto police said that they found<br />
no additional human remains in the<br />
backyard of a house where they earlier<br />
discovered planters containing the remains<br />
of six men, but say they still are hunting for<br />
more victims of a suspected serial killer.<br />
Police spokesman Meaghan Gray said that<br />
investigators had finished their excavation of<br />
backyard at a home suspect Bruce McArthur<br />
had used to store items for his landscaping<br />
business.<br />
“We did not locate any additional remains,”<br />
Gray said.<br />
Gray said they will also search the main<br />
drain of the property for potential evidence.<br />
But she said police will primarily now focus<br />
on looking through planters found at that<br />
property and elsewhere around the city.<br />
McArthur has been charged with the<br />
murders of five men, all connected with the<br />
city’s Gay Village district. Police say they<br />
expect to file more charges.<br />
“We still have properties that we are<br />
searching, that long client list of Mr.<br />
McArthur’s that we are making our way<br />
through,” Gray said.<br />
Authorities have checked at least 30 other<br />
places the landscaper was known to have<br />
worked, including some of Toronto’s<br />
wealthiest neighborhoods, and have<br />
collected at least 15 planters.<br />
Police say they are thinking of excavating a<br />
second property in Toronto but have not yet<br />
made a decision on that.<br />
Investigators say the 66-year-old McArthur<br />
is believed to have met his victims in<br />
Toronto’s Gay Village and on gay dating<br />
apps for older and large men with names<br />
such as “SilverDaddies” and “Bear411.”<br />
Edward Royle, a lawyer for McArthur, has<br />
declined comment on the case, which is due<br />
back in court. He has yet to enter a plea.<br />
McArthur was arrested Jan. 18 and charged<br />
with two counts of murder in connection with<br />
the disappearances of Andrew Kinsman, 49,<br />
and Selim Esen, 44, who were last seen in<br />
the Gay Village. Not long after that, he was<br />
charged with the murders of three more<br />
men: 58-year-old Majeed Kayhan, who<br />
went missing in 2012, 50-year-old Soroush<br />
Marmudi, who went missing in 2015, and<br />
Dean Lisowick, who went missing between<br />
May 20<strong>16</strong> and July 2017.<br />
Police said they will eventually look at<br />
hundreds of missing person cases and try to<br />
deter<strong>min</strong>e if they were victims of McArthur.<br />
They are also running down tips that have<br />
come in from around the world.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
10<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Z<br />
S<br />
Africa News<br />
6 African nations among the worst<br />
to be young in a war zone<br />
ix African nations are among the 10<br />
worst in the world to be a child in a war<br />
zone, a <strong>new</strong> report says.<br />
The Save the Children report released on<br />
15th <strong>February</strong> looks at factors including<br />
attacks on schools, child soldier recruitment,<br />
sexual violations, killings and lack of<br />
humanitarian access and is based on analysis<br />
by the Norway-based Peace Research<br />
Institute Oslo.<br />
Syria tops the list followed by Afghanistan,<br />
Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan,<br />
Iraq, Congo, Sudan and Central African<br />
Republic.<br />
Almost 360 million children worldwide, or<br />
one in six, live in affected areas, the report<br />
says. In addition, conflicts are grinding on<br />
longer than before.<br />
“Crimes involving children are not lesser<br />
crimes and need to be pursued with the<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com<br />
same vigor that we expect when war<br />
crimes are committed,” said Tirana Hassan,<br />
crisis response director with Amnesty<br />
International. “Concern and outrage are not<br />
enough.”<br />
The <strong>new</strong> report comes just ahead of the<br />
Munich Security Conference, which brings<br />
together global leaders to discuss security<br />
policy.<br />
Children living in conflicttorn<br />
countries like South<br />
Sudan, where civil war has<br />
entered its fifth year, say<br />
they’re traumatized.<br />
“When you expose children<br />
to bad things like killing<br />
and death it’s very bad for<br />
the child,” one former child<br />
soldier named Roda told The<br />
Associated Press in the town<br />
of Yambio last week. The AP<br />
is using only her first name to<br />
protect her identity.<br />
Three years ago, at age 14, she said she was<br />
abducted from school and forced to fight<br />
for the opposition. She spent the next three<br />
years praying she’d stay alive. Although she<br />
was one of over 300 child soldiers released<br />
this month, she said she still has nightmares<br />
of being recaptured.<br />
More than <strong>19</strong>,000 children have been<br />
recruited to armed groups since South<br />
Sudan’s war erupted in 2013 and over<br />
2,300 children have been killed or injured,<br />
according to UNICEF.<br />
Rights groups say children in South Sudan<br />
have lost their innocence.<br />
The government said it doesn’t mean to<br />
make life “uncomfortable for the children”<br />
and that others share the blame.<br />
“It’s the responsibility of the international<br />
community and (the United Nations mission<br />
in South Sudan),” government spokesman<br />
Ateny Wek Ateny told the AP.<br />
He blamed the U.N.’s protection of civilian<br />
sites, where more than 200,000 civilians<br />
shelter, for “aggravating the children’s<br />
situation” by having them live in harsh<br />
conditions.<br />
The U.N. has said it is committed to<br />
protecting children and that the ongoing<br />
fighting has severely affected them.<br />
Save the Children is calling on world leaders<br />
to do more to hold perpetrators to account.<br />
“Crimes like this against children are the<br />
darkest kind of abuse imaginable and are a<br />
flagrant violation of international law,” said<br />
Carolyn Miles, the aid group’s president and<br />
CEO.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dies at 65<br />
imbabwean opposition leader Morgan<br />
Tsvangirai died on 14th <strong>February</strong> at<br />
age 65, ending a long campaign to lead his<br />
country that brought him jailings, beatings<br />
and accusations of treason.<br />
Tsvangirai died in a Johannesburg hospital,<br />
said Elias Mudzuri, a vice president of the<br />
Movement for Democratic Change party.<br />
The opposition leader had been battling<br />
colon cancer for two years.<br />
Tsvangirai for years was longtime ruler<br />
Robert Mugabe’s most potent challenger<br />
and even became prime <strong>min</strong>ister in an<br />
uncomfortable coalition government for a<br />
few years. Mugabe, 93 and in power for 37<br />
years, resigned in November after pressure<br />
from the military and ruling party.<br />
In January, the ailing Tsvangirai suggested<br />
that he would be stepping down, saying he<br />
was “looking at the im<strong>min</strong>ent prospects of us<br />
as the older generation leaving the levers of<br />
leadership to allow the younger generation<br />
to take forward this huge task.”<br />
His death leaves the opposition in disarray<br />
just months before national elections. An<br />
opposition alliance had endorsed him as its<br />
candidate, even as his deputies tussled to<br />
act as party leader while he was out of the<br />
country for treatment.<br />
Those power struggles are now likely to<br />
intensify, which may give an edge to the<br />
ruling party, ZANU-PF, and its candidate,<br />
President Emmerson Mnangagwa.<br />
“We are still mourning. This is not the time<br />
to talk about that,” MDC party spokesman<br />
Obert Gutu said.<br />
Tsvangirai came tantalizingly close to<br />
the presidency in 2008 when he won the<br />
most votes in the election. But the results,<br />
delayed nearly a month as Mugabe’s<br />
officials “verified” the count, gave him just<br />
47 percent, shy of the more than 50 percent<br />
majority needed to win outright. Tsvangirai<br />
boycotted the runoff, citing widespread<br />
violence against his supporters, handing<br />
Mugabe the victory.<br />
Negotiations then led to the coalition<br />
government, an uneasy alliance that ended<br />
in 2013 when Mugabe won elections amid<br />
charges of intimidation and rigging.<br />
Being Mugabe’s most pro<strong>min</strong>ent opponent<br />
brought Tsvangirai considerable hardship.<br />
He was jailed several times and charged<br />
with treason. He suffered a fractured skull<br />
and internal bleeding when he and more<br />
than a dozen other leaders of his party were<br />
arrested and beaten with gun butts, belts and<br />
whips in 2007.<br />
In an earlier incident Tsvangirai was<br />
almost thrown from his office window by a<br />
government agent.<br />
“Morgan Tsvangirai will be remembered<br />
as one of Zimbabwe’s great patriots,”<br />
opposition figure and human rights lawyer<br />
David Coltart said . “Although, like all of us,<br />
he made mistakes none of us ever doubted<br />
his commitment to transform Zimbabwe<br />
into a modern, tolerant state.”<br />
Born March 10, <strong>19</strong>52 in the rural Buhera<br />
area southeast of the capital, Harare,<br />
Tsvangirai was the oldest of nine children.<br />
After graduation from secondary school<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
he worked at the Bindura Nickel Mine<br />
for 10 years, eventually beco<strong>min</strong>g plant<br />
supervisor. It was during the years of the<br />
nationalist war against white <strong>min</strong>ority-ruled<br />
Rhodesia. Tsvangirai later said he did not<br />
join the guerrilla fighters because his salary<br />
supported the education of his younger<br />
siblings.<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
When Zimbabwe became independent in<br />
<strong>19</strong>80, Tsvangirai joined Mugabe’s ZANU-<br />
PF party and became active in trade unions,<br />
rising to become secretary general of the<br />
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The<br />
labor organization had been a rubber stamp<br />
supporter of Mugabe and ZANU-PF, but<br />
under Tsvangirai’s leadership it became a<br />
vocal critic of Mugabe’s government.<br />
The labor federation became a key<br />
component of an emerging network of antigovernment<br />
civil society groups including<br />
lawyers, students and churches demanding<br />
an end to worsening human rights abuses<br />
and deepening economic problems.<br />
In <strong>19</strong>99 he founded the MDC, which<br />
attracted support from blacks and whites and<br />
in rural and urban areas. The party quickly<br />
became a serious challenge to Mugabe’s<br />
party.<br />
Tsvangirai was also leader of the National<br />
Constitutional Assembly, a coalition of<br />
civil society groups that successfully<br />
campaigned in a 2000 referendum against a<br />
<strong>new</strong> constitution they alleged gave Mugabe<br />
too many powers. Most of the organization’s<br />
leaders joined Tsvangirai’s MDC. Nine<br />
months after its formation, the MDC won<br />
57 seats in parliament, five short of the<br />
ruling party’s 62, the first time Mugabe’s<br />
party came close to losing its parliamentary<br />
majority.<br />
Tsvangirai then continued for years as<br />
the country’s opposition leader, facing<br />
significant repression from Mugabe and<br />
ZANU-PF. Shortly after beco<strong>min</strong>g prime<br />
<strong>min</strong>ister in 2009, Tsvangirai suffered a<br />
serious blow when his wife, Susan, died<br />
when the car they were travelling in<br />
overturned. Without his wife, Tsvangirai<br />
lost domestic stability and became involved<br />
in romances that were widely publicized by<br />
the Zimbabwean press.<br />
His time as prime <strong>min</strong>ister was criticized as<br />
being marked by his search for a <strong>new</strong> wife<br />
and also by his enjoyment of the trappings<br />
of power, but Tsvangirai was also credited<br />
with encouraging stability, civility and<br />
international goodwill. His long struggle as<br />
Mugabe’s main challenger was credited with<br />
helping to keep a measure of democratic<br />
space open in Zimbabwe.<br />
“Thank you for making it possible for people<br />
like me to find the courage to say enough is<br />
enough,” said pastor Evan Mawarire, who<br />
led large anti-government protests in 20<strong>16</strong>.<br />
“Zimbabwe owes you a great debt.”<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Tunisia’s central<br />
bank head<br />
resigns amid<br />
pressure<br />
T<br />
he governor of Tunisia’s central bank<br />
has resigned after Prime Minister<br />
Youssef Chahed set in motion a process to<br />
remove him from his post.<br />
Chedli Ayari tendered his resignation, a<br />
week after the European Parliament put the<br />
North African country on a list of non-EU<br />
nations believed to pose a risk of money<br />
laundering and terrorist financing.<br />
Tunisian media accused the Central Bank<br />
of Tunisia, under Ayari’s direction since<br />
2012, of turning a blind eye to “obscure<br />
transfers” received from non-governmental<br />
organizations and political parties.<br />
Ayari’s critics also hold him responsible for<br />
the fall in the value of the Tunisian dinar<br />
and the decline in the central bank’s foreign<br />
reserves, which have reached their lowest<br />
level in over 20 years.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
India’s only International Newspaper
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> 11<br />
North America News<br />
New Texas group opposes<br />
bipartisan efforts to end cash bail<br />
A<br />
<strong>new</strong> Texas nonprofit promoting crime<br />
victims’ rights is opposing bipartisan<br />
efforts to end cash bail systems that have<br />
gained traction around the country — hitting<br />
back at one of the few issues that unified<br />
powerful advocates on both the right and<br />
left.<br />
Formally kicking off, the Texas Alliance for<br />
Safe Communities said it wants to strengthen<br />
public safety and curb violent crime by<br />
pushing in the Republican-controlled<br />
Legislature and beyond for cri<strong>min</strong>al justice<br />
system accountability while preserving<br />
“judicial discretion.”<br />
The group hopes to halt bail system overhauls<br />
favoring assessments of defendants’ danger<br />
to the public. Supporters of such changes<br />
say defendants deemed little risk should<br />
be eligible to be released from jail on<br />
“unsecured” bonds that don’t require cash<br />
payments — rather than traditional, cash<br />
bond systems where defendants forfeit<br />
payments if they fail to show up in court.<br />
“Texas communities are under assault by<br />
activist judges and misguided bureaucrats<br />
deter<strong>min</strong>ed to let violent cri<strong>min</strong>als get out<br />
of jail free,” said Mark Miner, who was<br />
spokesman for former Texas Gov. Rick<br />
Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign and now<br />
holds the same role for the alliance.<br />
Similar groups defending cash bonds have<br />
popped up in other states and are often<br />
sponsored by bail bond companies worried<br />
about losing business. Miner said bail bond<br />
interests “are assisting with funding as the<br />
group is beginning.” He said two of its five<br />
founding board members have links to the<br />
industry. “They are part of the organization,<br />
but they’re not the only part,” Miner said of<br />
bail bond interests, adding that the alliance<br />
expects to attract members of other victims’<br />
groups, police organizations and “many<br />
ordinary citizens.”<br />
Bail system reform has been approved in<br />
New Jersey and New Mexico, and discussed<br />
in California, Florida and elsewhere. It’s<br />
been applauded by conservatives anxious<br />
to reduce prison costs, like the powerful<br />
Austin think tank the Texas Public Policy<br />
Foundation, as well as groups including the<br />
American Civil Liberties Union, that argue<br />
current bail rules — like the prison system<br />
as a whole — disproportionately punish<br />
<strong>min</strong>orities and poor people.<br />
“Money bail doesn’t have anything to do<br />
with public safety because there’s not really<br />
a correlation between how much money<br />
someone has and whether they’re a risk<br />
India’s only International Newspaper<br />
to the public,” said Marc Levin, the Texas<br />
Public Policy Foundation’s vice president<br />
for cri<strong>min</strong>al justice policy.<br />
Billionaire industrialists Charles and David<br />
Koch haven’t been as vocal about bail<br />
reform, but have promoted a variety of wider<br />
cri<strong>min</strong>al justice reform efforts, including<br />
initiatives meant to reduce prisoners’<br />
recidivism rates.<br />
A proposal mandating risk assessments<br />
for bail-eligible cri<strong>min</strong>al defendants was<br />
approved by the Texas Senate last year but<br />
stalled in the state House. Still, a lawsuit in<br />
Harris County, Texas’ largest, prompted a<br />
federal judge to rule in October that county<br />
bail requirements violated the rights of poor<br />
defendants accused of <strong>min</strong>or crimes — and<br />
to order jails to release within 24 hours<br />
nearly all offenders facing misdemeanor<br />
charges.<br />
An appeals court panel mostly upheld the<br />
previous decision but found some of its<br />
conclusions “overbroad” and ordered the<br />
24-hour deadline pushed back to 48 hours.<br />
That was a small win for the Alliance for<br />
Safe Communities, which had said that<br />
because misdemeanor defendants released<br />
in Harris County didn’t have to put up a cash<br />
bond or hire a bail bond service, 43 percent<br />
failed to appear for subsequent court dates.<br />
County officials, though, have questioned<br />
the accuracy of that figure, pointing to<br />
confusion in jail reports — including<br />
inmates possibly being double-counted.<br />
The alliance has produced two online<br />
ads it contends highlight the dangers of<br />
ending cash bail. They include the case of<br />
a Harris County man suspected of killing<br />
his girlfriend in October, days after he was<br />
previously jailed on assault charges but<br />
released after saying he couldn’t afford<br />
$5,000 bail.<br />
“The other side has been very well-financed,<br />
but on one side of the issue,” Miner said.<br />
Houston Police Officers Union President<br />
Joe Gamaldi said cash-free bonds should be<br />
extended to people jailed for <strong>min</strong>or offenses<br />
like shoplifting, but not violent cri<strong>min</strong>als or<br />
repeat offenders.<br />
“Not every case is the same,” Gamaldi said,<br />
citing the same 43 percent failure-to-appearin-court<br />
figure from Harris County. “When<br />
you paint everything with a broad brush, this<br />
is what happens.”<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Report details harm to<br />
Cuba diplomats but offers<br />
no cause<br />
D<br />
octors are releasing the first detailed<br />
medical reports about the hearing,<br />
vision, balance and brain symptoms suffered<br />
in what the State Department has called<br />
“health attacks” on U.S. diplomats in Cuba.<br />
Still missing: A clear diagnosis of just what<br />
happened to trigger their mysterious health<br />
problems.<br />
All together, the symptoms are similar to the<br />
brain dysfunction seen with concussions,<br />
concluded a team of specialists from the<br />
University of Pennsylvania who tested 21<br />
of the 24 embassy personnel thought to be<br />
affected.<br />
Whatever the cause, the Havana patients<br />
“experienced persisting disability of a<br />
significant nature,” the Penn team concluded.<br />
Cuba has insisted there were no attacks.<br />
The Journal of the American Medical<br />
Association released the report, although<br />
key findings were first disclosed by The<br />
Associated Press in December. The mystery<br />
began in late 20<strong>16</strong> when U.S. embassy<br />
personnel began seeking medical care for<br />
hearing loss and ear-ringing that they linked<br />
to weird noises or vibrations — initially<br />
leading investigators to suspect “sonic<br />
attacks.”<br />
Now, officials are carefully avoiding that<br />
term, as doctors involved in the probe<br />
wonder whether the sounds were a byproduct<br />
of something else that might help explain<br />
the full symptom list: memory problems,<br />
impaired concentration, irritability, balance<br />
problems and dizziness.<br />
The report makes clear that the findings<br />
are preli<strong>min</strong>ary, essentially a listing<br />
of symptoms and tests. And important<br />
complications remain, including that there’s<br />
no information to compare the patients’<br />
brain or hearing health before they went to<br />
Cuba.<br />
“Before reaching any definitive conclusions,<br />
additional evidence must be obtained and<br />
rigorously and objectively evaluated,” JAMA<br />
associated editor Dr. Christopher Muth<br />
cautioned in an accompanying editorial. He<br />
noted that many of the symptoms overlap<br />
with a list of other neurologic illnesses.<br />
“It really looks like concussion without the<br />
history of head trauma,” report co-author Dr.<br />
Douglas Smith of Penn’s Center for Brain<br />
Injury and Repair, said in a podcast provided<br />
by JAMA. He said that sound, heard by 18<br />
of the 21 patients, couldn’t be to blame:<br />
“There is no known mechanism for audible<br />
sound to injure the brain. We have to suspect<br />
that it’s a consequence of something else.”<br />
The mysterious case has sent U.S.-Cuba<br />
relations plummeting from what had been a<br />
high point when the two countries, estranged<br />
for a half-century, restored relations under<br />
President Barack Obama in 2015.<br />
The <strong>new</strong> report outlined the battery of testing<br />
the patients underwent, including some<br />
findings that can’t be even unconsciously<br />
altered, bolstering the doctors’ belief that the<br />
symptoms were not mass hysteria. At least<br />
six people had a change in work performance<br />
noted by supervisors and colleagues, the<br />
JAMA report found.<br />
Viruses or chemical exposures are unlikely,<br />
Smith’s team wrote, although they couldn’t<br />
be “systematically excluded.” Advanced<br />
MRI scans spotted “a few” changes in what<br />
are called white matter tracts of the brain in<br />
some patients, with three showing more than<br />
would be expected for their age, the report<br />
said. But the authors acknowledged those<br />
abnormalities could be due to something<br />
earlier in life.<br />
For many the symptoms lasted months, and<br />
doctors designed customized rehabilitation<br />
therapy that did seem to help.<br />
Dr. S. Andrew Josephson, neurology chairman<br />
at the University of California, San Francisco,<br />
who wasn’t involved in the study, called the<br />
work “a really important step” because it<br />
carefully describes the medical findings and<br />
shows they are remarkably similar across<br />
the group of patients.<br />
“It moves you closer to understanding what<br />
the possible causes may be,” he said.<br />
The State Department, which wasn’t<br />
involved in writing the article but reviewed<br />
it to ensure it did not contain any classified<br />
information, issued a health alert citing the<br />
article “in order to inform U.S. citizens and<br />
medical providers.”<br />
“We encourage private U.S. citizens who<br />
have traveled to Cuba and are concerned<br />
about their symptoms to share this article<br />
with their doctor,” the State Department<br />
said.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
12<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Editorial<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Palestine seeks Russia’s support over Jerusalem<br />
W<br />
◆◆By NDT Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
ithin three days of Indian Prime<br />
Minister Modi’s visit to Ramallah,<br />
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas set<br />
out on a visit to Russia in a bid to secure<br />
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support<br />
following Washington’s recognition of<br />
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. His visit came<br />
within two weeks of a similar visit by Israeli<br />
Prime Minister Benja<strong>min</strong> Netanyahu to<br />
Moscow. According to reports from Interfax<br />
<strong>new</strong>s agency, Mahmoud Abbas told Russian<br />
President Vladimir Putin that he could no<br />
longer accept the role of the United States<br />
as a mediator in talks with Israel because<br />
of Washington’s behavior. “Given the<br />
atmosphere created by the United States’<br />
actions, we refuse any cooperation with the<br />
United States as a mediator,” Abbas told<br />
Putin. “In case of an international meeting,<br />
we ask that the United States be not the only<br />
mediators, but just one of the mediators.”<br />
Palestinians see the Trump ad<strong>min</strong>istration’s<br />
recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli<br />
capital at the end of 2017 as an out-of-sync<br />
step that broke with years of international<br />
diplomacy. Washington’s decision meant a<br />
denial of Palestine’s claim to East Jerusalem<br />
and put paid to their hopes of projecting the<br />
city as the capital of an eventual Palestinian<br />
state. Abbasis naturally miffed since and<br />
refuses any contacts whatsoever with<br />
Trump. Of course he is officially scheduled<br />
to visit the US to speak at the United<br />
Nations Security Council on <strong>February</strong><br />
20. The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki<br />
Haley, has accused Abbas of lacking the<br />
courage needed to forge a peace deal with<br />
Israel thattook control of East Jerusalem in<br />
the <strong>19</strong>67 Six-Day War, annexed it and later<br />
declared it the indivisible capital of Israel.<br />
Abbas in turn has rejected any mediation<br />
by Washington in the Israeli-Palestinian<br />
conflict and has promised his people to work<br />
towards full recognition of a Palestinian<br />
state by the United Nations.<br />
Critics view Abbas’s Moscow visit ‘an<br />
attempt to cosy up to Russia - a consistent<br />
ally - and to stop Netanyahu leading<br />
Moscow astray thro.ugh improved Russia-<br />
Israeli ties,’ which, after Netanyahu’s visit,<br />
seems positioned on a more stable platform.<br />
During his Russian visit on January 29,<br />
Netanyahu along with Putin attended a<br />
memorial ceremony at the Jewish museum<br />
in Moscow for the victims of Nazi camps.<br />
While Netanyahu accused Iran of wanting to<br />
‘destroy’ the Jewish state, Putin likened anti-<br />
Photo Credit : Shutterstock<br />
Semitism to ‘Russophobia’ and said Russia<br />
and Israel were ‘cooperating closely’,<br />
against ‘attempts to falsify history’.<br />
Given this background, Abbas’s Moscow<br />
visit appears a ‘necessary political gesture’<br />
but can do little in the practical sense<br />
with no break-through expected from this<br />
visit. The Russian offer in 20<strong>16</strong> to host<br />
one-on-one talks on Israel-Palestine issue<br />
without preconditions between Abbas and<br />
T<br />
◆◆<br />
By Mark Parkinson<br />
@Mark_Parkinson<br />
markp.india@gmail.com<br />
markparkinson.wordpress.com<br />
oo often in education there’s an<br />
inconsistency that’s a little hard to<br />
explain. On the one hand, most are quick to<br />
state as a truism that the key to better quality<br />
of education for every child is the teacher.<br />
However, these words don’t tend to be<br />
backed with adequate and effective action to<br />
raise the professionalism of teachers.<br />
That the professionalism needs to be higher<br />
is the case, backed by recent research by<br />
the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation<br />
and Development – the same body<br />
that runs the PISA tests), and not limited to<br />
teachers in any one country or part of the<br />
world.<br />
I believe we can put some of the blame<br />
on the fixed industrial model that plagues<br />
education. When the teachers are seen as<br />
interchangeable widgets in an industrial<br />
process or production line, this is not a<br />
conducive <strong>min</strong>dset to think positively about<br />
how to enhance the skills levels, attitude,<br />
motivation and purpose of the individual<br />
teacher.<br />
This article shares the key findings from the<br />
recent OECD research. I think it’s appropriate<br />
that they haven’t tried to simplify or suggest<br />
that there is one simple solution that can be<br />
applied every where. Professionalism is a<br />
sophisticated set of standards, expectations<br />
Teacher Professionalism<br />
Netanyahu never materialised. Russian<br />
Foreign Minister has recently estimated the<br />
chances of direct talks between the two sides<br />
as ‘close to zero’.<br />
The Palestinians currently have strong<br />
emotions towards Trump. There has been<br />
rumour in recent months that the US is<br />
about to publish some ‘major deal’ that<br />
could satisfy all. However nobody has seen<br />
or heard of such a document or even any<br />
statement. Abbas may be hoping against<br />
hope that as US-Russia relations dip to<br />
a record low for the post-Cold War era,<br />
it could get even worse and then Russia<br />
could do something to spite the US. In the<br />
meanwhile Trump had a telephonic talk<br />
with Putin regarding Israel-Palestine peace<br />
agreement.<br />
On November 29, 2012, after a vote by<br />
the General Assembly, the United Nations<br />
designated Palestine as a non-member<br />
observer state. That enabled the Palestinians<br />
to join international organizations and the<br />
International Cri<strong>min</strong>al Court. Today, more<br />
than 130 countries recognize Palestinian<br />
statehood. However Palestine is yet to<br />
become a full UN member state.<br />
Jerusalem being a holy place for all the<br />
Muslims has never remained just as a<br />
Palestinian issue. All the Shias and Sunnis<br />
seem united on Jerusalem. Both Russia<br />
and China, however, should stay clear of<br />
Palestine issues not to complicate the matter<br />
further. Abbas’s Moscow visit takes the<br />
moral responsibility of hammering out a<br />
solution off India’s shoulder a bit.<br />
and common norms that all members buy<br />
in to. This isn’t about lessening autonomy<br />
or scope for creativity. In fact, commitment<br />
to continuous improvement, innovation and<br />
contribution of <strong>new</strong> and innovative ideas to<br />
the profession are important components<br />
of what it should man to be a professional<br />
teacher.<br />
The Journal – OECD – Teacher Professionalism<br />
Needs Improvement Worldwide<br />
When looking at the findings, I can see<br />
them from the perspective of teachers in<br />
the Indian private school system. Teachers<br />
do get pre-service training whilst in-service<br />
development is often rather ad hoc. However,<br />
we know that the quality and standards of<br />
that pre-service development are woefully<br />
inadequate.<br />
Talk of major overhaul of the B.Ed syllabus<br />
has gone on for years with little meaningful<br />
change. Worse, vat numbers of the colleges<br />
given licence to run B.Ed courses are substandard<br />
money-making operations with<br />
lack of consistency, standards or awareness<br />
of international best practices. For this<br />
reason, I’ve often seen that better results<br />
can be achieved taking teachers without the<br />
B.Ed who have more worldly professional<br />
experience, training them on the job and<br />
merely requiring them to get the B.Ed within<br />
3 years to satisfy the rules and requirements.<br />
The fifth of the observations is an interesting<br />
one, that I’ve seen in practice. There tends to<br />
be more professional development available<br />
to teachers working with younger children<br />
than for those in secondary and higher<br />
secondary.<br />
This often comes because of<br />
perceptions from both sides (the<br />
teachers and management) that<br />
for those teachers, niceties like<br />
theory or science of learning are<br />
mere flim-flam and that their job<br />
is to know the syllabus material<br />
and to target all of their time and<br />
energies on putting as much of it<br />
as possible in to the pupils’ heads<br />
long enough for it to stick to<br />
produce the best possible results<br />
in competitive exa<strong>min</strong>ations.<br />
People who are merely dispensers of<br />
gobbits of knowledge don’t require much<br />
professional development! In fact, its<br />
sometimes seen as a distraction and a waste<br />
of their time.<br />
The four recommendations make a lot of<br />
sense and are quite strongly in aligment<br />
with ideas that I’ve been developing lately<br />
in looking at the whole ‘end to end’ process<br />
of recruiting and developing professional<br />
educators who rise above the average.<br />
Acknowledging that the pre-service training<br />
available to them isn’t all it might be, we<br />
have to go further to counteract this negative<br />
effect. High impact induction, proper<br />
mentoring and buddying systems and setting<br />
them on the right path as lifelong learners are<br />
critical factors, after recruiting for attitude,<br />
EQ, child-centricity and commitment to<br />
the role. Talent with the sciope to grow in<br />
to leadership roles should be identified<br />
Photo Credit : Shutterstock<br />
early and nurtured. This isn’t always easy<br />
in single stand-alone schools. Groups can<br />
do it. otherwise, schools should learn to<br />
collaborate more in this area, perhaps where<br />
they are not in direct competition.<br />
Then, the teacher professional networking<br />
can be taken to higher levels. Today,<br />
teachers have the scope to network with<br />
fellow professionals anywhere in the world.<br />
Within schools, we need a culture where<br />
teachers don’t feel threatened by each<br />
other’s presence in their classrooms and we<br />
need to be training teahers in action research<br />
– especially in countries where there is little<br />
or no education research co<strong>min</strong>g out of<br />
universities. In short, if we start to really act<br />
like we mean it when we say that teachers<br />
are the key to raising the bar, there is much<br />
we can do. That work needs to start now.<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com<br />
India’s only International Newspaper
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> 13<br />
Think - Tanks<br />
India’s only International Newspaper<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Why should we practice <strong>min</strong>dfulness meditation<br />
“T<br />
O<br />
◆◆<br />
By Dr. Pramila Srivastava<br />
@PramilaBK<br />
ps.a@iins.org<br />
o understand the immeasurable, the<br />
<strong>min</strong>d must be extraordinarily quiet,<br />
still”<br />
Jiddu Krishnamurti<br />
According to the Buddhists traditions,<br />
meditation is a means of transfor<strong>min</strong>g the<br />
<strong>min</strong>d. They have practices and techniques<br />
that encourage and boost concentration,<br />
positivity a feeling of Zen in all aspects of<br />
our lives. Mindfulness meditation is often<br />
seen as a method to rewire our <strong>min</strong>ds and<br />
subsequently our bodies to learn <strong>new</strong><br />
patterns and habit, it allows us to nurture and<br />
develop more positive ways of being. A lot<br />
of people I’ve met tell me that meditation is<br />
a waste of time: they would rather be doing<br />
something at the gym or at work. Sitting<br />
quietly for 20 <strong>min</strong>utes is very difficult for<br />
a lot of people and hence the dismissal as it<br />
being a fad.<br />
Meditation can be spiritual or just an<br />
emotional form of expression. Its benefits<br />
are so large that it can literally change your<br />
entire life. People underestimate the power of<br />
<strong>min</strong>dfulness and meditation, but as someone<br />
professionally has encountered a lot of<br />
people dealing with anxiety, <strong>min</strong>dfulness is<br />
the difference between depressed or having<br />
◆◆<br />
By International Institute<br />
for Non - Aligned Studies<br />
@iinsNAM<br />
iins@iins.org<br />
a happy life. So if you don’t believe me, I<br />
will let science do the talking research has<br />
shown that meditation is very beneficial for<br />
our mental and physical health. Here are the<br />
different ways it can change your life.<br />
Change our immune system<br />
Yes, <strong>min</strong>dfulness meditation can boost<br />
your immunity in this modern world where<br />
we simple living has been exchanged<br />
for a heavy price, we are surrounded by<br />
pollution, toxins, viruses etc and having a<br />
strong immunity makes a big difference.<br />
A research showed that just 8 weeks of<br />
meditation activated the left hemisphere of<br />
the brain and when they studied the immune<br />
responses between the two groups, one who<br />
had meditated daily for 8 weeks and the<br />
other group which didn’t they discovered<br />
that the group who had meditated had more<br />
antibody titers to the vaccine which basically<br />
means they had better immune function and<br />
the effects of that lasted for months.<br />
Decreases pain and inflammation<br />
Living with pain has becomes the <strong>new</strong><br />
reality for a lot of people young and old,<br />
people resort to painkillers and various<br />
other means to reduce the pain. One<br />
skeptical researcher tried out the efficiency<br />
of <strong>min</strong>dfulness on reduction of emotional<br />
and physical pain and the results blew his<br />
<strong>min</strong>d, he found out that out of all the groups<br />
<strong>min</strong>dfulness showed the best result beating<br />
even the score of medication. He found out<br />
that while morphine reduces physical pain<br />
by 22%, people who practiced <strong>min</strong>dfulness<br />
meditation showed a 27 % decrease in pain<br />
intensity and a 44% reduction in emotional<br />
pain. Using MRI results he found out that the<br />
<strong>min</strong>dfulness group was using a different part<br />
of the brain region to cope with pain. Similar<br />
results were found for inflammation in the<br />
body as well. In each study <strong>min</strong>dfulness<br />
based meditation outperformed all other<br />
techniques. Though a doctor should be<br />
consulted before switching to any other<br />
technique. Integrating <strong>min</strong>dfulness based<br />
meditation in our day to day lives is a<br />
practice that could save us a lot of pain.<br />
Helps us go from negative to positive<br />
Mindfulness meditation is clinically known to<br />
help combat depression and other symptoms<br />
of the same. When we are depressed one<br />
of the main symptoms is having a constant<br />
negative thought factory in our <strong>min</strong>d,<br />
we cannot process the positive and only<br />
continue to see the negative. Meditation<br />
helps increase positive emotions and also<br />
helps reduce symptoms of depression.<br />
Anxiety another cause and symptom of<br />
depression also can be reduced with the<br />
help of <strong>min</strong>dfulness based meditation. Just<br />
taking that 20 <strong>min</strong>utes or 45 <strong>min</strong>utes to quiet<br />
the <strong>min</strong>d and focus on the positive helps<br />
us to overcome the negative in our lives.<br />
There are so many other proven benefits<br />
to mediation like boosting our social life,<br />
meditation helps us increase our emotional<br />
intelligence and by doing so we can make<br />
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better social connections. It helps us become<br />
more compassionate and that helps forge<br />
that beautiful connection of the <strong>min</strong>d body<br />
and soul.<br />
If you think that meditation requires a lot<br />
of time think again, even taking 10-20<br />
<strong>min</strong>utes every day to meditate can make a<br />
huge difference. It will be difficult in the<br />
beginning but we soon learn to take some<br />
quiet time for ourselves, sit in the right<br />
posture and allow the rest of the world to<br />
quite the <strong>min</strong>d and focus on our breathing<br />
and get out chaotic <strong>min</strong>d in control.<br />
Mindfulness meditation is a lifestyle, it<br />
is not to be done once in a while, it can<br />
be done using religion or it can just with<br />
breathing exercises and positive thinking.<br />
It doesn’t have to be elaborate it can be fit<br />
into any lifestyle; <strong>min</strong>dfulness meditation is<br />
a way for our <strong>min</strong>d, body and soul to forge<br />
a connection, so why wait. One researcher<br />
asked Dalai Lama as to the <strong>min</strong>imum amount<br />
of time a person should practice meditation<br />
and he replied a ‘lifetime’.<br />
NAM encouraging Trade Flow among Members<br />
ne of the key reasons for the formation<br />
of the Non –Aligned Movement was<br />
to declare solidarity between nation states<br />
with a shared history of oppression and<br />
facing similar challenges of technological<br />
and economic development. The cold<br />
war which became the pretext of this <strong>new</strong><br />
solidarity also influenced many political and<br />
cultural changes in many nation states.<br />
The need for NAM back then during Cold<br />
War ushered in with factions dividing the<br />
world into two grabbing for power creating<br />
a vacuum between US led West and Soviet<br />
Union leading the East turning other nations<br />
as mere pawns to their own game of power<br />
and authority on the global chessboard.<br />
However, NAM came into existence<br />
bringing a balanced outlook and catering<br />
and protecting also while strengthening the<br />
developing countries. But in the present<br />
where the relevance of NAM has been<br />
questioned again and again, Non-Aligned<br />
Movement has a very relevant and vital part<br />
to play with certain important issues facing<br />
the Southern countries on the globe.<br />
The Movement has not only sought a<br />
greater role in increasing the assertion of the<br />
developing world in the international order,<br />
but has also striven for active participation<br />
of its member state in international financial<br />
institutions, so as to ensure transparency<br />
and bridge the divide between the global<br />
North and the Global South. One of the<br />
major contributions of the Non–Aligned<br />
Movement towards this objective is the<br />
conceptualizing of the New Economic<br />
International Order (NEIO).<br />
Developing countries have lost their<br />
growth due to asymmetric global economic<br />
order. They have lagged due to technology<br />
deficiency, exploitation of their resources<br />
by developed countries and ever increasing<br />
debt burdens.<br />
They have fallen under dependency in<br />
under the unequal impact of globalization.<br />
Born out of the African-Asian Solidarity<br />
Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, in<br />
<strong>19</strong>55, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),<br />
created officially in Belgrade in <strong>19</strong>61,<br />
allowed the Third World Countries to affirm<br />
an autonomous political existence and call<br />
for more equitable economic exchanges<br />
between North and South.<br />
NAM has co-sponsored a number of<br />
resolutions presented by the Group of 77<br />
on issues such as trade and development,<br />
cooperation for industrial development,<br />
environment and sustainable development,<br />
human settlements, population, external<br />
debt, food and sustainable agricultural<br />
development, an Agenda for Development<br />
and re<strong>new</strong>al of the dialogue on strengthening<br />
international economic cooperation for<br />
development through partnership.<br />
NAM has urged the developing countries to<br />
review their development policies in view of<br />
the global economic situation. This involves<br />
issues like how the global south can rely<br />
less on exports to the West and rely more on<br />
domestic and regional demand and on South-<br />
South trade and investment, and promote a<br />
strong role of the state in economic policies,<br />
along with devising appropriate policies for<br />
industry, agriculture and services, including<br />
financial policy in developing countries.<br />
NAM has urged the need for South-South<br />
coordination and cooperation. As North-<br />
South relations go through difficult or<br />
tumultuous times, South-South solidarity<br />
and action is even more urgent. NAM has a<br />
critical role to play in this.<br />
From its inception, the idea of South-South<br />
cooperation was very much based on a model<br />
But within the broader concept of South-<br />
South co-operation, there is also a specific<br />
development co-operation dimension. It<br />
typically combines aid with investment and<br />
enhanced market access opportunities. The<br />
southern actors are delivering “expertise<br />
and financial support to foster the economic<br />
and social welfare of other developing<br />
countries”.<br />
(in arrangement with<br />
News from Non-Aligned World)<br />
www.iins.org<br />
One year<br />
Five year<br />
Rs. 350 Rs. 1500<br />
A-2/59 Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi - 110029 India<br />
Ph. No : +91-11-2610<strong>25</strong>20, Fax : +91- 11- 26<strong>19</strong>6294<br />
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Photo Credit : Shutterstock<br />
of solidarity among developing countries<br />
and collective self-reliance through various<br />
co-operation agreements to address common<br />
development challenges.<br />
The emergence of a number of large<br />
developing countries as major players on the<br />
international stage has brought the question<br />
of South-South co-operation to centre-stage<br />
once again. South-South ties, be it economic<br />
or political, are more important now than<br />
they have ever been.<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
14<br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
R<br />
A<br />
Technology & Health<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com<br />
◆◆By Smt. Maneka<br />
Sanjay Gandhi<br />
@ManekaGandhiBJP<br />
ecently the Hyderabad based Muslim<br />
se<strong>min</strong>ary Jamia Nizamia, started in<br />
1876, issued a ban on Muslims eating prawn,<br />
shrimp, and crabs, calling them Makruh<br />
Tahrim (abo<strong>min</strong>able)<br />
According to Islam, there are three<br />
categories of food : Halal (allowed) , Haram<br />
(prohibited, Makruh (strictly to be avoided<br />
as abo<strong>min</strong>able)<br />
Most Muslims eat meat, every kind. In fact<br />
the religion defines itself by the eating of<br />
meat – even though the Holy Prophet was<br />
a vegetarian. However, most Muslims have<br />
no idea of what they are allowed to eat.<br />
The maximum they know is that butchery<br />
is divided into two – Muslims eat Halaal<br />
and non-Muslims eat Jhatka. (It is another<br />
matter that the animals slaughtered in India<br />
are neither halaal nor jhatka and make a<br />
mockery of both religions) If you have<br />
Muslim acquaintances, you could pass this<br />
on to them.<br />
There are four categories of food -<br />
1. Halal - lawful.<br />
A halal slaughter involves a sharp knife. The<br />
animal should not see before it is slaughtered;<br />
the animal must be well rested and fed<br />
before slaughtering, and the slaughtering<br />
may not take place in front of other animals.<br />
The jugular vein of the neck should be cut in<br />
order to drain all the blood of the live animal<br />
and the butcher should invoke Allah’s name<br />
saying “Bismillah” in order to take the<br />
animal’s life to meet the lawful need of food.<br />
Only vegetarian animals are allowed to be<br />
killed. Birds that eat seeds and vegetables<br />
are permitted. Birds that eat forbidden items<br />
like insects are only permitted if insects are<br />
◆◆<br />
By Dr. Wasim Rasool<br />
Wani - Consultant<br />
Endodontist<br />
Specialist at Dantah<br />
smile is one of the main ways we<br />
interact positively with others and<br />
express happiness. If you are ashamed to<br />
smile in public due to discoloration of your<br />
teeth, you could be holding yourself back<br />
from many social situations. There are many<br />
factors that can cause discoloration of teeth.<br />
Teeth can develop discoloration by stains<br />
on the external surface or by changes on the<br />
tooth material. Discoloration is generally<br />
divided into three main categories:<br />
• Extrinsic discoloration – it occurs<br />
when the outer layer of tooth (enamel)<br />
is stained by dental plaque and calculus,<br />
food and beverages, tobacco, chromogenic<br />
bacteria, topical medications, and metallic<br />
compounds.<br />
• Intrinsic discoloration – it occurs when<br />
inner structure of tooth (dentin) darkens<br />
or becomes yellow. It is caused by dental<br />
materials (eg, tooth fillings), dental caries,<br />
trauma, infections, medications, nutritional<br />
deficiencies and other disorders like<br />
complications of pregnancy, anemia and<br />
bleeding disorders and genetic defects and<br />
hereditary diseases which affect enamel and<br />
Facts about Food Muslims eat<br />
not a major part of their diet. Insects such as<br />
Locusts are permitted, all others forbidden.<br />
Fruits and Vegetables must be inspected<br />
before eating to see that they have no insects.<br />
Fish killed by removal from water, or by a<br />
blow, are permitted. Shellfish are forbidden.<br />
Cheeses coagulated with acid or vegetable<br />
enzymes are permitted. Grains are permitted,<br />
provided they have not been prepared using<br />
animal fats or other forbidden ingredients.<br />
Vinegar which is not made from fermenting<br />
alcohol is permitted.<br />
Photo Credit : Shutterstock<br />
2. Haram - forbidden, unlawful.<br />
Haram is an Arabic term meaning “forbidden”.<br />
Acts that are haram are prohibited in the<br />
religious texts of the Quran and the Sunnah.<br />
If something is considered haram, it remains<br />
prohibited no matter how good the intention<br />
is, or how honourable the purpose is.<br />
In Islamic law, dietary prohibitions are said<br />
to help with the understanding of divine will.<br />
Muslims are prohibited from consu<strong>min</strong>g<br />
flowing blood. Meats that are considered<br />
haram, such as pork, dog, cat, monkey,<br />
or any other haram animals, can only be<br />
considered lawful in emergencies when a<br />
person is facing starvation and his life has<br />
to be saved through the consumption of<br />
this meat. However, these meats are NOT<br />
considered a necessity or permissible if his<br />
society possesses excess food. All carnivores<br />
with fangs such as lions, tigers, wolves,<br />
dogs, cats are haram. All birds with talons<br />
such as hawks, falcons, vultures, eagles are<br />
haram. Domesticated donkeys are haram.<br />
Animals which are commanded to kill such<br />
as mice, scorpions, snakes, are haram. In fact<br />
all reptiles, amphibians (frogs) and rodents<br />
are haram. Any animal that has died before<br />
being slaughtered in the Islamic manner, or<br />
has not been properly slaughtered, is haram.<br />
Animals that are slaughtered in the name of<br />
anyone but Allah are prohibited.<br />
Intoxicants, or Khamr, are prohibited in<br />
Islam. The Prophet forbade the trading,<br />
export, import, gifting of intoxicants, even<br />
with non-Muslims. It is not permissible for<br />
a Muslim to work in, or own, a place that<br />
sells intoxicants. This is not just alcohol but<br />
intoxicants, such as tobacco, paan, dokha,<br />
and khat. A Muslim is not even allowed to<br />
sit at a table where alcohol is being served.<br />
Heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and any other<br />
substances which cause intoxication, are<br />
also forbidden.<br />
Nutmeg, asafoetida, vanilla extract and<br />
gelatine are also forbidden, either due to<br />
being intoxicants containing alcohol (vanilla<br />
extract) or other forbidden items such as pig<br />
parts (gelatine). This actually rules out most<br />
confectionary, as it contains nutmeg, vanilla<br />
extract and gelatine.<br />
Anything made from a human part is haram.<br />
(But all commercial biscuits use melted<br />
human hair called L Cysteine. And most of<br />
the world’s supply comes from the Hindu<br />
temple of Tirupati where the hair has been<br />
consecrated to the Hindu goddess).<br />
Carnivorous animals, birds of prey and land<br />
animals without external ears (i.e. snakes,<br />
reptiles, worms, insects etc.) Since all birds<br />
eat insects as the larger part of their diet ,<br />
this should technically rule out all of them<br />
including chickens. But only Muslims run<br />
roadside chicken shops. Foods conta<strong>min</strong>ated<br />
with blood or by-products, or any of the<br />
Tooth Discoloration<br />
dentin development or maturation.<br />
Symptoms<br />
Symptoms include brown, black, gray,<br />
green, orange, and yellow stains or even<br />
metallic sheen may be present.<br />
Prevention<br />
Rinsing mouth with water after having foods<br />
and drinks like wine, coffee that can stain<br />
your teeth is recommended. Brushing your<br />
teeth after every meal will help prevent<br />
some stains. Effective tooth brushing twice<br />
a day with a tooth paste helps to prevent<br />
extrinsic stains. Most tooth pastes contain<br />
abrasive, a detergent and an anti-tartar agent.<br />
Some tooth pastes may also contain tooth<br />
whitening agents. Intrinsic stains which<br />
are caused by damage to nerve and blood<br />
vessels inside the tooth (pulp) due to injury<br />
can be prevented by undergoing root canal<br />
treatment which removes the pulp before<br />
it gets decayed or darkened. To prevent<br />
intrinsic stains in children, avoid water that<br />
contains a high fluoride concentration. You<br />
can check the concentration of fluoride in<br />
your drinking water supply by calling the<br />
public health department.<br />
Treatment<br />
Dental treatment of tooth discoloration<br />
involves identifying the cause and implementing<br />
therapy.<br />
• Diet and habits: Extrinsic staining caused<br />
by foods, beverages, or habits (eg, smoking,<br />
chewing tobacco) is treated with a thorough<br />
dental prophylaxis and cessation of dietary<br />
or other contributory habits to prevent<br />
further staining.<br />
• Professional tooth cleaning: Some<br />
extrinsic stains may be removed with<br />
ultrasonic cleaning and rotary polishing with<br />
an abrasive prophylactic paste. Repeated use<br />
of these modalities is not recommended as<br />
their excessive use may lead to enamel wear.<br />
• Enamel microabrasion: this technique<br />
involves rotary application of a water<br />
soluble paste containing weak hydrochloric<br />
acid and silicon carbide particles. It results<br />
in smooth and glazed enamel surface. It can<br />
be used in removal of superficial intrinsic<br />
discoloration which are caused by Fluorosis<br />
and decalcification secondary to orthodontic<br />
brackets and bands.<br />
• Bleaching: It is a safe, easy and inexpensive<br />
treatment modality. Bleaching is helpful<br />
in patients with yellow, orange or light<br />
brown extrinsic discoloration. In-office<br />
power bleaching is done by the dentist by<br />
applying the light activated bleaching gel<br />
over the enamel of affected teeth for 30 to 45<br />
<strong>min</strong>utes. This technique results in significant<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
above products, is illegal.<br />
3. Mashbooh, Mushtabahat - questionable<br />
or doubtful.<br />
There is a grey area called mushbooh. If one<br />
does not know the Halal or Haram status of<br />
a particular food or drink it should not be<br />
consumed.<br />
4. Makrooh - inappropriate, distasteful<br />
or offensive.<br />
Although makruh actions are less severe<br />
than haram, it is recommended to avoid<br />
perfor<strong>min</strong>g them. This will give a Muslim<br />
a better chance of reaping Allah’s rewards.<br />
Makruh food, deter<strong>min</strong>ed by the Quran,<br />
states that man should only eat pure food,<br />
and anything that is impure is regarded as<br />
makruh. This includes food that is spoiled or<br />
rotten. Into this comes now prawn , shrimp,<br />
crabs – all of which are carrion eaters.<br />
So, a Muslim should look out for :<br />
Soup stock made of bones as these are likely<br />
to have pig in them, unless specially stated.<br />
Any cosmetic (lipstick etc.), or food dye of<br />
a pink/red colour as these are usually made<br />
from crushed and dried female insects called<br />
Cochineal beetles. Lard, which is usually fat<br />
from swine and is used in pastry. Gelatine,<br />
which is obtained by boiling the bones, and<br />
other waste parts of animals, and forms the<br />
basis of most sweets and jelly.<br />
I am not even going into the emulsifiers used<br />
in food like Diglycerides and others (E470<br />
to E483) which can be obtained from pork,<br />
or non-halal sources, or magnesium stearate<br />
which is used in medicine tablets. Even<br />
digestives have pepsin: a digestive enzyme<br />
made from pig stomachs.<br />
To join the animal welfare movement<br />
contact gandhim@nic.in,<br />
www.peopleforanimalsindia.org<br />
whitening effect of teeth. Follow up<br />
treatments may be needed for this therapy.<br />
• At home Bleaching: Stains can also be<br />
removed by applying at-home bleaching<br />
gel in a mouth guard prescribed by dentist.<br />
These gels are weaker in comparison to<br />
those used by dentists in in-office power<br />
bleaching techniques, so treatment may take<br />
longer to get desired results – usually two to<br />
four weeks.<br />
• Nonvital bleaching: It is done after root<br />
canal treatment of the teeth which are<br />
discolored by pulp degeneration due to tooth<br />
injury. Dentist places the bleaching agent<br />
inside the tooth foe as long as one week.<br />
Two to three sittings may be needed to get<br />
the desired effect.<br />
• Surgical care: teeth discolored by dental<br />
caries or dental materials need removal of<br />
the dental caries and old restorative materials<br />
followed by proper restoration of the tooth.<br />
For generalized intrinsic discolorations partial<br />
or full coverage dental restorations (la<strong>min</strong>ate<br />
veneers) may be needed. Tooth discoloration is<br />
mainly a cosmetic problem. Call your dentist<br />
if you’re unhappy with the appearance of your<br />
teeth. Any change in a child’s normal tooth<br />
color should be evaluated by a dentist.<br />
By Dr. Wasim Rasool Wani - Consultant<br />
Endodontist & Specialist at Dantah<br />
India’s only International Newspaper
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> 15<br />
Entertainment & Lifestyle<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
At 31, Ryan Coogler ascends to the top with<br />
‘Black Panther’<br />
R<br />
yan Coogler was feeling overwhelmed<br />
by “Black Panther.”<br />
It was only his third feature film and, at<br />
just 30-years-old, he was making it with<br />
Hollywood’s most powerful studio under<br />
enormous cultural expectations and with<br />
$200 million to get it right.<br />
And he really didn’t want it to “suck” (his<br />
word).<br />
The Oakland, California, native got into<br />
filmmaking almost on a lark when a creative<br />
writing professor at St. Mary’s College in<br />
Moraga, California, where he was attending<br />
on a football scholarship, suggested he look<br />
into screenwriting. He had thought he would<br />
play football and be a doctor, maybe, to<br />
help his community. But this idea of being<br />
a filmmaker took hold, and after making a<br />
splash at the USC School of Cinematic Arts,<br />
he had solidified himself as one of the most<br />
promising and vibrant young directors to<br />
watch.<br />
His first feature, the indie “Fruitvale Station,”<br />
about the final 24 hours of Oscar Grant<br />
III, put him on the map after winning the<br />
Sundance Grand Jury and Audience prizes<br />
in 2013, a handful of critics groups awards<br />
and a Film Independent Spirit Award. His<br />
second, the “Rocky” spin-off “Creed,” put<br />
him on another level.<br />
The $35 million film grossed over $173<br />
million worldwide and reinvigorated a<br />
franchise for Warner Bros.<br />
It’s the kind of one-two punch that made<br />
people who didn’t even know him at the<br />
time, like actress Danai Gurira, feel proud.<br />
“I had been at Sundance the same time he<br />
was there with ‘Fruitvale Station.’ I had so<br />
much respect and pride,” Gurira said. “I<br />
had never met him but I was proud of him,<br />
of what he’d done and how he’d moved<br />
forward in the world and told stories that<br />
needed to be told.”<br />
Still, “Black Panther” was going to be a<br />
huge leap, even if odds that it would “suck”<br />
were slim. Coogler, 31, was used to making<br />
personal films at his own speed. This was a<br />
different beast — with visual effects, a huge<br />
ensemble cast and set pieces that would<br />
make any veteran filmmaker wake up in a<br />
cold sweat. “This is the first project that I<br />
ever did that I felt like I had to make peace<br />
B<br />
with the fact that I would never be caught<br />
up in my work,” Coogler said. “I had to<br />
figure out how to let myself rest. You could<br />
work 24 hours a day and it still wouldn’t be<br />
enough on a film like this. There’s so much<br />
happening and so many decisions to be<br />
made.”<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
“I had to learn to be more efficient,” he<br />
added. “I got to learn how to do in 30<br />
<strong>min</strong>utes what it took me two hours to do on<br />
the last movie.”<br />
To help, Coogler surrounded himself<br />
with a handful of constants, like his muse<br />
Michael B. Jordan, cinematographer Rachel<br />
Morrison, production designer Hannah<br />
Beachler and editor Michael Shawver, and<br />
got used to trusting those he hired to go off<br />
and do their jobs while he did his, knowing<br />
that he couldn’t get hung up on details like<br />
what color someone’s shoes would be. That’s<br />
what Oscar-no<strong>min</strong>ated costume designer<br />
Ruth E. Carter was there for, after all.<br />
And Jordan, who starred in both “Fruitvale<br />
Station” and “Creed,” said Coogler handled<br />
the pressure well.<br />
“I didn’t have as much time as I usually have<br />
with him. He had so many other things to<br />
tackle,” Jordan said. “But other than that<br />
he’s the same guy and that’s what makes<br />
Ryan Ryan. He’s unapologetically who he<br />
is 24-7. And he’s consistent. A lot of people<br />
can’t say that about themselves. We’re still<br />
blasting music in between set-ups and takes<br />
and everybody on the crew was feeling like<br />
a big family. It was awesome.”<br />
On “Black Panther,” Jordan just wanted to<br />
be there to support his friend when he needed<br />
it — Coogler always did it for him. “Every<br />
movie that we’ve done I’ve been in some<br />
physically uncomfortable situations whether<br />
it’s being freezing cold out somewhere or<br />
taking a punch or being in some extreme<br />
situation. Ryan? If I’m cold he’s going<br />
to be cold. If I’m in some thin T-shirt or<br />
shirtless or in the elements, he’s going to<br />
take his shirt off too and be right there with<br />
his actor,” Jordan said. “He’s willing to do<br />
whatever it is, whatever the actor is going<br />
through so we can do it together. That’s a<br />
testament to him, man, teamwork, just being<br />
there for each other. I think that’s rare. And<br />
it makes you want to follow him even more.<br />
He’s a great leader.”<br />
Even recruits to the Coogler universe like<br />
Daniel Kaluuya and Letitia Wright felt part<br />
of the “family.” “I don’t have the work, the<br />
credentials such as my other cast mates,”<br />
said Wright. “I’m still piecing my career<br />
together. But he never made me feel less<br />
than, he never made me feel like I’m a<br />
<strong>new</strong>comer.”<br />
Kaluuya felt similarly.<br />
“He sees people. He sees the content of<br />
their character. And he’s smart, he’s deeply<br />
intelligent. You can see it in his films. Not<br />
every 30-year-old could do this,” Kaluuya<br />
said. “He’s a special, special director.”<br />
Coogler ultimately began to trust that the<br />
Marvel Studios execs actually did want him<br />
to make his own decisions and the deliver<br />
the film he always wanted to. Now he just<br />
hopes what he’s made isn’t going to fade.<br />
“The fear I have is that you make something<br />
that’s like dispensable, disposable,<br />
something somebody watches and forgets. I<br />
like movies that you can go back to. Movies<br />
that feel like they were always around, as<br />
soon as you see it, it feels like it was always<br />
there,” Coogler said. “The worst thing in the<br />
world is to make this movie and be like, “Oh<br />
that was ok and. on to the next.” Especially<br />
not for this one. It’s like you’ve got one shot,<br />
you’ve got to get this right.”<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
UK film industry promises action on<br />
harassment, bullying<br />
ritain’s film industry announced a<br />
plan to tackle bullying and sexual<br />
harassment, backed by stars including<br />
Emma Watson, Gemma Arterton and James<br />
Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.<br />
Organizations including the U.K.’s film<br />
academy, the British Film Institute, and<br />
unions have united behind a set of principles<br />
in response to “urgent and systemic issues.”<br />
They said the goal is “to eradicate bullying<br />
and harassment and support victims<br />
more effectively.” The measures include<br />
procedures for reporting and investigating<br />
abuse, a commitment to take “appropriate<br />
action” against bullies and abusers, and a<br />
confidential support line.<br />
Films will have to sign up to the principles to<br />
receive funding from the BFI, which hands<br />
out tens of millions of pounds (dollars) to<br />
<strong>new</strong> productions each year.<br />
Former “Harry Potter” star Watson said the<br />
principles “are not just about protecting<br />
individuals but are also an important step in<br />
embracing a greater diversity of voices” in<br />
the industry. Scores of entertainment figures<br />
have been accused of sexual harassment and<br />
abuse since women came forward to accuse<br />
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein last<br />
year.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
Metallica, Afghan<br />
ensemble win <strong>2018</strong><br />
Polar Music Prize<br />
A<br />
merican heavy metal band Metallica<br />
and Afghanistan’s National Institute<br />
of Music have won the <strong>2018</strong> Polar Music<br />
Prizes, a Swedish award.<br />
It is the first time a heavy metal band gets<br />
an award given each year for significant<br />
achievements in music.<br />
The award panel said Metallica had “through<br />
virtuoso ensemble playing and its use of<br />
extremely accelerated tempos” taken rock<br />
music “to places it had never been before.”<br />
It said the Afghan ensemble “revives Afghan<br />
music, and shows you can transform lives<br />
through music.”<br />
Drummer Lars Ulrich, who co-founded<br />
Metallica, said getting the prize “puts us in<br />
very distinguished company.”<br />
They have been invited to receive their<br />
awards, including a cash prize of 1 million<br />
kronor ($124,000) each, on June 14 from<br />
members of the Swedish royal family in<br />
Stockholm.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
Producer Ryan<br />
Murphy signs<br />
exclusive Netflix<br />
deal<br />
T<br />
V and movie producer Ryan Murphy<br />
is expanding his empire to Netflix. The<br />
strea<strong>min</strong>g service says Murphy signed a deal<br />
to produce <strong>new</strong> series and films exclusively<br />
for it starting in July. Details of the multiyear<br />
deal were not disclosed.<br />
Murphy has been producing TV shows<br />
for the Fox broadcast network and FX<br />
cable channel, including “Glee,” ‘’9-1-1,”<br />
‘’American Crime Story” and “American<br />
Horror Story.” He will continue working<br />
on the Fox and FX shows produced by 20th<br />
Century Fox Television, a spokesman for<br />
Murphy said.<br />
Two <strong>new</strong> shows that will premiere on<br />
Netflix, “Ratched” and “The Politician,”<br />
also will be produced by Fox, his spokesman<br />
said. Murphy’s big-screen credits include<br />
“Running with Scissors” and “Eat Pray<br />
Love.”<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
India’s only International Newspaper<br />
www.NewDelhiTimes.com
<strong>16</strong><br />
<strong>19</strong> - <strong>25</strong> <strong>February</strong>, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Sports<br />
PyeongChang <strong>2018</strong> Winter<br />
Olympics : Promoting<br />
Sustainable Development<br />
T<br />
◆◆By NDT Bureau<br />
@NewDelhiTimes<br />
info@<strong>new</strong>delhitimes.com<br />
he Declaration of the 2030 Agenda for<br />
Sustainable Development acknowledges<br />
the role of sports for social progress.<br />
The Declaration states that “Sport is<br />
also an important enabler of sustainable<br />
development. We recognize the growing<br />
contribution of sport to the realization of<br />
development and peace in its promotion of<br />
tolerance and respect and the contributions it<br />
makes to the empowerment of women and of<br />
young people, individuals and communities<br />
as well as to health, education and social<br />
inclusion objectives.”<br />
Photo Credit : Shutterstock<br />
As part of this objective, Sustainability<br />
Report for the PyeongChang <strong>2018</strong> Olympic<br />
and Paralympic Winter Games was released<br />
by Pyeongchang Organising Committee for<br />
the <strong>2018</strong> Olympic and Paralympic Winter<br />
Games (POCOG) in April 2017.<br />
It may be mentioned that PyeongChang<br />
<strong>2018</strong> are the first Winter Games in history<br />
to receive the ISO20121 certification – an<br />
international standard for the establishment<br />
of a sustainable management system that<br />
<strong>min</strong>imizes the burdens on local communities<br />
while maximizing positive impacts.<br />
With a view to achieving its sustainability<br />
objectives, POCOG put into action five key<br />
themes encompassing the environmental,<br />
economic and social aspects of the Games:<br />
“Low-Carbon Green Olympics”, “Stewardship<br />
of Nature”, “Good Life”, “Proud People with<br />
Tradition and Culture”, and “Globalizing<br />
PyeongChang: Opening to the World”.<br />
During the launch of the report, POCOG<br />
President Lee Heebeom said: “The international<br />
community has set forth sustainable<br />
development as a <strong>new</strong> paradigm for<br />
humanity to face unseen challenges due<br />
to climate change and resource depletion,<br />
and the Olympic and Paralympic Games is<br />
expected to take a leading role in realizing<br />
sustainability.<br />
Many initiatives have been undertaken<br />
to promote the sustainability efforts.<br />
One such example is the Wind Village<br />
project- one of the PyeongChang <strong>2018</strong><br />
Sustainability Partner projects conducted<br />
by KT (the telecommunication partner for<br />
the PyeongChang <strong>2018</strong> Winter Games)<br />
has been revitalising the local economy<br />
by creating <strong>new</strong> jobs to the local residents<br />
and expanding the sales channels of locally<br />
produced products utilising advanced<br />
technology.<br />
Moreover, the electric vehicles that are used<br />
as operation fleet during the PyeongChang<br />
20<strong>19</strong> Olympic Winter Games may also<br />
contribute to mitigating the environmental<br />
impacts of the event.<br />
In a significant development, United<br />
Nations offices in the Republic of<br />
Korea (UNDP, UNESCAP, UNHCR,<br />
UNICEF, OHCHR, WFP and UNGC)<br />
have used the <strong>2018</strong> PyeongChang<br />
Winter Olympics as a tool to raise<br />
public awareness of the Sustainable<br />
Development Goals (SDGs) and the<br />
PyeongChang <strong>2018</strong> sustainability<br />
efforts.<br />
The “PyeongChang <strong>2018</strong> Olympics &<br />
SDGs Talk Concert” – the centrepiece<br />
of the campaign took place on 6<br />
<strong>February</strong> <strong>2018</strong> in Seoul.<br />
The Talk Concert was a joint effort of<br />
the UN offices in Korea, the PyeongChang<br />
Organising Committee for the <strong>2018</strong> Olympic<br />
and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG)<br />
and the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of<br />
Korea.<br />
One of the key speakers at the conference<br />
was refugee athlete Yiech Pur Biel. He shared<br />
his view on Goal <strong>16</strong> out of the 17 SDGs --<br />
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.<br />
“To talk about the Sustainable Development<br />
Goals we must start it with peace,” Biel said,<br />
noting that there are more than 2.5 million<br />
refugees from South Sudan, with seven<br />
million people there in need of emergency<br />
aid. “Because without peace, there’s no<br />
development in a country,” he stressed.<br />
“It’s important to provide refugees with<br />
such basic necessities as shelter and food,<br />
but it must begin with peace. When we have<br />
peace, we might have justice and we might<br />
have development.”<br />
Sustainable Development is one of the key<br />
goals of the <strong>2018</strong> Winter Olympics and it<br />
is a welcome sign that UN agencies at the<br />
regional level are extending their full support<br />
towards the realisation of the Sustainability<br />
Report for the PyeongChang <strong>2018</strong> Olympic<br />
and Paralympic Winter Games.<br />
NEW DELHI TIMES<br />
Premier League TV growth halted as<br />
UK rights sold for $6bn<br />
T<br />
he Premier League’s inflationary<br />
bubble burst when the $6 billion sale<br />
of British television rights produced a drop<br />
in the value of matches.<br />
The past two domestic deals both produced<br />
70 percent jumps in the value of rights,<br />
fueling spiraling wages and transfer fees<br />
and cementing the competition’s status as<br />
the world’s richest league. But the auction<br />
of 20<strong>19</strong>-2022 rights left two of the seven<br />
packages still up for sale as Sky emerged the<br />
big winner and rival broadcaster BT saw its<br />
position weakened.<br />
The sale of <strong>16</strong>0 games has raised 4.464<br />
billion pounds ($6.2 billion), compared with<br />
5.14 billion pounds for <strong>16</strong>8 fixtures from<br />
20<strong>16</strong> to 20<strong>19</strong>. The league will be looking<br />
to the sale of overseas rights to provide an<br />
upsurge in revenue for its 20 teams, who split<br />
the foreign income equally. While remaining<br />
the biggest broadcaster of most games in<br />
Britain with four packages, Sky boasted how<br />
it was now paying <strong>16</strong> percent less per fixture<br />
in its 3.579 billion pound, three-year deal to<br />
show 128 games per season. That equates<br />
to savings of almost 600 million pounds for<br />
the European pay TV giant while showing<br />
an additional two games a year from the<br />
league it helped to grow from its inception<br />
in <strong>19</strong>92. But while Sky’s price per game<br />
drops from 11 million pounds to 9.3 million<br />
pounds, BT had to agree to pay 9.2 million<br />
pounds — up from 7.6 million pounds — for<br />
one package of 32 games. The broadcaster,<br />
which was launched in 2013 by Britain’s<br />
former telephone monopoly, has lost 10<br />
games and will only screen games now on<br />
Saturday lunchtimes. BT said it “remained<br />
financially disciplined” while bidding.<br />
The Premier League increased the number<br />
of games available for live broadcasting in<br />
Britain to 200, with only overseas channels<br />
able to air all 380 fixtures a year live in a bid<br />
to maintain large attendances at stadiums.<br />
The Premier League said “multiple bidders”<br />
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remain interested in the two remaining<br />
packages that allow broadcasters to show<br />
every game in four rounds of matches. It is<br />
the first time an entire schedule of fixture<br />
can be aired live domestically, and there is<br />
intrigue over whether digital companies like<br />
Amazon, Netflix or Facebook will use them<br />
as a chance to gain a foothold in the Premier<br />
League.<br />
“To have achieved this investment with two<br />
packages of live rights remaining to sell is<br />
an outcome that is testament to the excellent<br />
football competition delivered by the<br />
clubs,” Premier League chairman Richard<br />
Scudamore said. “It provides them with<br />
certainty and will underpin their continued<br />
efforts to put on the most compelling<br />
football, invest sustainably in all areas,<br />
and use their popularity and reach to have<br />
a positive impact on the sport and beyond.”<br />
The 20<strong>19</strong>-2022 Chinese rights have already<br />
been sold to online video strea<strong>min</strong>g service<br />
PPTV for $700 million in the league’s<br />
biggest-ever global deal. In 2015, the<br />
American rights were sold through 2022 to<br />
NBC in a six-year deal worth $1 billion.<br />
The auction comes amid uncertainty at Sky<br />
with regulators in Britain assessing the<br />
attempt by Rupert Murdochs’s 21st Century<br />
Fox to buy the 61 percent of the broadcaster<br />
it does not already own. The Walt Disney<br />
Co. has also bid $52.4 billion to take over<br />
the majority of Fox in a deal that Disney<br />
envisages leading to full ownership of Sky.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
Photo Credit : AP Photo<br />
Sayers added to Australia<br />
test squad after Bird injury<br />
U<br />
ncapped fast bowler Chadd Sayers has<br />
been added to Australia’s squad for its<br />
test tour to South Africa as a replacement for<br />
Jackson Bird who has a hamstring strain.<br />
The 30-year-old Sayers angered chairman<br />
of selectors Trevor Hohns when he publicly<br />
complained that he was not informed by<br />
telephone of his original omission from the<br />
squad.<br />
Hohns said it was not his practice to contact<br />
players individually when<br />
teams were named.<br />
Sayers has spoken with<br />
Hohns since and his callup<br />
suggests the air has<br />
been cleared.<br />
The South Africa test<br />
series begins on March 1.<br />
Captain Steve Smith<br />
said Bird’s injury is<br />
“disappointing for Jackson.<br />
But it’s exciting for Chadd at the same<br />
time. They both stand the seam up nicely<br />
and Chadd’s been rewarded for what he has<br />
done in (Sheffield) Shield cricket for the last<br />
couple of years.”<br />
Sayers, from South Australia, has 246 firstclass<br />
wickets at an average of 24.11 and<br />
has been the leading wicket-taker in the<br />
Sheffield Shield over the past 18 months.<br />
Credit : Associated Press (AP)<br />
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