DIASPORA
Vol 1, Issue 9, June 16-30, 2021
Indian-origin journo wins Pulitzer for Kashmiri Pandit Kevin exposing China's Muslim detention Kishore Kaul readying Muslims from Uighur and camps for California Guv race other minority ethnicites By Arul Louis
were interned.
New York, June 12: Indianorigin journalist Megha Rajagopalan has won the US' top journalism award, the Pulitzer Prize, for innovative investigative reports harnessing satellite technology that exposed China's mass detention camps for Muslim Uighurs and other minority ethnicites.
"I'm in complete shock, I did not expect this," she said.
The award in the international reporting category that she shared with two colleagues from an internet media, BuzzFeed News, was announced on Friday by the Pulitzer Board. Another journalist of Indian-origin, Neil Bedi, won a Pulitzer in the local reporting category for investigative stories he wrote with an editor at the Tampa Bay Times exposing the misuse of authority by a law enforcement official in Florida to track children.
Floyd, the African-American who died in police custody in Minneapolis last year. The video clip made on her smartphone went viral and set off prolonged nationwide protests against police brutality and led to measures in many states and cities to reform policing. The sight of a policeman kneeling on the neck of dying Floyd as he repeated, "I can't breathe", appealed to America's conscience and led to a broader consideration of the problems faced by African-Americans.
This is the 105th year of the Pulitzer Prizes awarded by a board at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in New York recognising the outstanding work.
The Board said her that her video "spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists' quest for truth and justice".
In recognition of the proliferation of citizen journalism in the internet age, teenaged non-journalist, Darnella Frazier, was awarded a Pulitzer Special Citation for her courage in filming the killing of George
Rajagopalan and her colleagues used satellite imagery and 3D architectural simulations to buttress her interviews with two dozen former prisoners from the detention camps where as many as a million
According to the publication, she and her colleagues, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek, identified 260 detention camps after building a voluminous database of about 50,000 possible sites comparing censored Chinese images with uncensored mapping software. Rajagopalan, who had previously reported from China but was barred from there for the story, travelled to neighbouring Kazhakstan to interview former detainees who had fled there, BuzzFeed said. "Throughout her reporting, Rajagopalan had to endure harassment from the Chinese government," the publication said. The series of stories provided proof of Beijing's violation of Uighurs' human rights, which some US and other Western officials have called a "genocide". Bedi and Kathleen McGrory were given their award for exposing "how a powerful and politically connected sheriff built a secretive intelligence operation that harassed residents and used grades and child welfare records to profile schoolchildren", the Pulitzer Board said.
Tamil Eelam state can be 'political, economic, defence base for India': the Rajya Sabha, said that Israel and India created Vaiko the Indian government Bangladesh, the Union Chennai, June 11: MDMK general secretary and firebrand leader Vaiko has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make efforts to conduct a referendum among the global Tamil diaspora for a sovereign state of Tamil Eelam which alone could be the political, economic and defence base for India.
should safeguard the wishes of the Tamil people and take steps to conduct the referendum for a separate Tamil Eelam. Vaiko said: "If India fails to safeguard the Tamil Eelam it would lead to the country losing its dominance in the Indian ocean and paving the way for China's presence in the region".
The MDMK leader said that the foreign policymakers opinion that Sri Lanka would lean more towards China if India become proactive on the Tamil Eelam issue is a myth and a delaying tactic.
In a letter written to the Prime minister on Thursday, the Tamil nationalist leader, who is also a Member of
Vaiko who is known for his vocal support for the cause of Tamil Eelam said that just like Jews created
Vaiko in the letter also said, "Even now Sri Lanka is a vocal supporter of China and that Sri Lanka
www.indianabroad.news
government should take a referendum under the observation of the UN for a separate Tamil Eelam.
/IndianAbroadNews
By Nikhila Natarajan New York, June 12: Kevin Kishore Kaul, a Kashmiri Pandit who arrived in South Dakota on a student visa 30 years ago is wading into a crowded field of candidates betting that California will likely hurtle into a recall election for Governor in 2021. Kaul, an electrical engineer from Regional Engineering College in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, who made his millions as an entrepreneur in the US West Coast, is upbeat about his chances - if the recall election happens. "I have a good shot at it" he told IANS over phone from Long Beach, Los Angeles. "We've got commitments for more than $1 million." Kaul said he filed his documents in late May, signalling intent to enter the gubernatorial race. Weeks ago, California officials announced that current Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom would face an almost certain recall election that could send him packing. Newsom's tough virus restrictions that shuttered would lean more towards China if India stands with Tamil Eelam is a foul cry put forward by the foreign policymakers aimed at delaying tactics." The leader said that China has already taken over the rights of the Hanbanthotta port for 99 years and the surrounding areas are also with the Chinese. He said that around 3 lakh Chinese labourers are in Sri Lanka and added that a portion of them would be Chinese spies.
/indianabroadnews
schools and sunk businesses sparked calls for the recall last year. California, the most populous state in the US, is one of nearly 20 states that provides for the recall of elected state officials. By April 2021, recall advocates had cobbled together more than the necessary 1.6 million petition signatures to put the election on the ballot. The review process is now on to certify the recall for the ballot. In the election, likely this Fall, voters would be asked whether Newsom should be recalled and who should replace him. If their answer to the first question is a yes, the candidate with the most votes becomes the next Governor. More than 20 Republican challengers are preparing to take on first term Governor Newsom, a dear friend of Vice President Kamala Harris. Kaul's LinkedIn profile lists him as Founder and Chairman of US Global Business Forum. Before travelling to the US, Kaul worked with the Indian Navy and at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai. Drawn by the appeal of a quickie MBA in South Dakota, Kaul says he came to the United States in September 1991. He found the place "too cold", dropped out of his MBA and headed further west. Kaul got some early breaks with big construction projects; his business website is splashed with pictures of him with the Obamas, Clintons and other A-listers. Kaul plans a "big launch" for his Governor run on his 60th birthday, this August.
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