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Indo American Chamber of Commerce gala commemorates 20 years of fostering Indo-US ties US Ambassador to India, Kenneth Juster says there are “challenges and issues to confront” between the two nations

by Manu Shah

H

OUSTON - “Diplomacy, it is said, has no eternal friends, only eternal issues.

That may be the case for other countries but in my 20 years of experience, the US and India share common interests and a genuine friendship,” said US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster.

Ambassador Juster was the Keynote Speaker at the IACCGH 20th anniversary gala held at the Hilton Americas on June 15th. In a brilliant address to about 850 attendees, he put a lens on the existing strong US-India ties as well as candidly acknowledged the “challenges and issues to confront” between the two nations.

Ambassador Juster pointed out four future challenges Continued on Page 5

Ambassador Kenneth Juster presenting Trailblazers Award for Women in Nursing to Moani Thomas (center) and IANAGH. Acamma Kallel, MSN, Nurse Practitioner (IANAGH President) (far left) and Jagdip Ahluwalia are also seen.

Indian-American IT professional commits suicide, 3 family members shot dead: US police ment, which is probing the case, came to this conclusion after forensic autopsies were conducted on Sunday.

The family of four was found dead under mysterious circumstances with gunshot wounds, shocking the community.

The bodies of Chandrasekhar Sunkara, Lavanya Sunkara, 41, their 15-yearold and a 10-year-old sons were found in their home on Saturday morning.

Chandrasekhar Sunkara, 44

W

ASHINGTON: A 44-yearold Indian-American IT professional committed suicide by shooting himself while his wife and two minor sons were shot dead inside their home in Iowa, police said Monday after authorities conducted autopsies to unravel the mysterious death of all four members of the family.

The West Des Moines Police Depart-

"The manners of death for Lavanya Sunkara and the two boys are homicide. The manner of death for Chandrasekhar Sunkara is suicide," the police said in a statement.

"The State Medical Examiner's Office has determined the causes of death for all four family members to be gunshot wounds," they said.

The State Medical Examiner's Office has determined the causes of death for all four family members to be gunshot wounds.

"Officials are working with surviving family members to provide support.

Continued on Page 7

From Left to Right: Swapan Dhairyawan, President IACCGH, Houston Mayor, Sylvester Turner, US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, and Jagdip Ahluwalia, Excutive Director, IACCGH .

Seen on digital screen is Sanjay Ramabhadran. Photo credit: Bijay Dixit.

Celebrations of 5th International Day of Yoga and Indian Vegetarian Food Festival

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ASHINGTON, DC - The 5th International Day of Yoga (IDY) was celebrated on Sunday, 16 June 2019, at the iconic Washington Monument. An unprecedented number of yoga enthusiasts of all ages and from every walk of life took part in the event, including representatives from the White House, US Department of State and other Government agencies, prominent members of the diplomatic community including Ambassadors of Nepal, Mauritius and Myanmar, members of international financial institutions including the World Bank and IMF, cultural and academic institutions, thinktanks, media and the Indian diaspora.

Welcoming the participants to the Yoga Day celebrations, Ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla noted that yoga has been widely adopted by people all over the world, transcending linguistic and cultural boundaries, and has millions of practitioners in USA. He said that yoga promotes a message of peace and harmony between the spiritual and temporal aspects of the world, making them philosophically a part of India's civilizational ethos, echoed in the phrase, "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" meaning, "the World is One Family".

Source: Embassy of India, Washington, DC.

Participants at the Washington Monument. (Photo: Embassy of India)

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he debate over escalating tariffs on Chinese imports — and who ultimately pays them — obscures the strategic scope of U.S. trade negotiations aimed at restructuring global supply chains to create jobs and lower prices for consumers.

U.S. negotiators are trying to replace outdated trade agreements with more flexible and limited trade agreements. They believe that such pacts, combined with country-specific tariffs, will motivate U.S. importers to shift their supply chains to the U.S. or to countries that are not subject to tariffs.

The re-alignment will allow the administration to redistribute the overall U.S. trade balance in ways that lower costs and create jobs for Americans.

The United States-CanadaMexico Agreement (USMCA) illustrates the administration’s strategy. The trade pact requires 75 percent of auto parts and components be manufactured in North America, bringing automakers’ supply chains closer to home.

Separately, the agreement eliminates rules requiring companies to build data processing and storage facilities in countries where they do business.

In the first case, moving carmakers’ supply chains to North America will create jobs in the U.S. auto industry. Likewise, the new rules for digital processing and storage will enable

by David Leonhardt

A

bit of good news this morning: Last year, for the second straight year, the number of Americans killed in vehicle crashes fell.

The retail world is in a turbulent time. The ease and speed of online purchasing has made it practically unnecessary to enter a physical store. Almost every retailer is struggling to make their physical locations relevant to today’s consumers.

Investment in design, technologies, and research to understand new consumer behaviors is being done at an enormous rate.

The results stretch in every direction, from staff-less stores full of technology, to backdrops for social media selfies, to stores as conceptual art installations. Not one of these fully represents the future nor the ideal solution—the future of retail is human-inspired and holistically connected. People are thirsty for meaningful experiences, and consumers want a relationship with the brands they love. They want to see themselves in those brands and be part of a community.

This isn’t a new story. What is new, however, is the way brands create experiences that express their brand promise and meaningfully build an emotional relationship with their customers and broader audience. Audience, not just customers, is an important distinction. It speaks to a deeper commitment and expression of the brand—putting forward what you stand for and believe in, which connects to a greater population. This commitment connects people to the brand as it reflects their values. In turn, this builds loyalty, ambassadors and community.

Our growing societal desire for human interaction demands that we move beyond transaction to building relationships.

Brands must be thoughtful and intentional about what they stand for, and honest about what they are uniquely positioned to do. From there, they must then holistically design

and curate experiences to reinforce that at every touch. There are five foundational building blocks to making this happen: - Live Your Brand Live your brand promise both internally and externally. Let your values as a brand drive the experience you bring to your staff and customers. Spend time making sure you have alignment as an organization and think holistically how your beliefs translate into meaningful experiences. Patagonia, for example, lives its brand mission every day, from stores and staff engagement to its ambassadors, experiences and environmental commitment.

- Make It Matter Your customers can shop online, which means your physical store must do a different job.

The physical store can be an invitation to connect with others, browse and discover, and experience the brand in unexpected ways. Determine what matters to your customers and community and set the stage for those experiences. Shooting hoops or taking a class while testing the fit of your shoes at Nike SoHo, for example, is experiential.

Give your experience purpose by putting people first.

-

- Orchestrate Your Ecosystem

No matter if it’s a physical or digital moment, the customer experience is an opportunity to reinforce your brand. Every single touchpoint inside and outside a physical location must be intentionally designed to reinforce a consistent and congruent brand experience regardless of how, where, or when your customers interact with your brand. This may be an event, pop-up, a digital interaction or your physical store, each moment working together.

It is obvious to customers when the sections of your band are off the beat. It causes frus-

Tariffs remain an integral part of US negotiators' toolkit import prices unchanged.

Some U.S. companies are already relocating their supply chains. U.S. shoemaker Brooks Sports CEO Jim Weber said last month that the company plans to move China production to Vietnam to avoid raising prices. Google reportedly is moving some production of electronics components to Taiwan.

American overseas operations to store their data in “the cloud” in U.S.-based data centers. Keeping the servers in the U.S. ensures data security and increases business for domestic tech companies.

Although aggregate saving and investment policy sets the size of the overall trade balance, shrinking U.S. trade deficits with specific countries, and China, in particular, will allow more imports from and exports to other trading partners.

The ultimate goal is to attract a larger share of highpaying jobs to the U.S. Realigning trade relationships isn’t enough by itself. U.S. companies must do their share by investing in productivity enhancements to upgrade domestic operations, a move that will, in itself, create jobs.

Higher tariffs don’t necessarily mean that American consumers will pay higher prices for imported goods.

Many factors influence how tariffs affect consumer prices and the profits of importing and exporting businesses.

One widely cited study shows consumers may initially bear the brunt of the cost for a few months, but the authors acknowledge that over time, some of the burden may shift back to foreign exporters.

Another recent study estimates that Chinese exporters ultimately pay 75 percent of the tariff burden. A third influential study shows that the anti-dumping duties imposed on South Korea in 2012 and China in 2016 led to significant and rapid supply chain relocations that lowered prices for the Korean imports and left Chinese

While the U.S. has favored tariffs to redirect trade flows, China has relied on regulatory and legal provisions to limit U.S. inflows. Over time, as both countries recognize their co-dependence and need to achieve global scale in their key industries, the justification for trade barriers will diminish.

The challenge for negotiators is to put in place credible incentives promoting mutually beneficial trade without the overhang of tariffs and nontariff barriers. Until then, tariffs will remain an integral part of the U.S. negotiators' toolkit.

William Lee is chief economist at the Milken Institute.

The views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Milken Institute or its affiliates.

The Hill (06/18/19)

A Little Good News A public-health scourge is declining, thanks in part to technology.

It’s still far too high — terribly so, given our ability to reduce it if we tried. In the last few decades, nearly every other country has cut traffic deaths far more than the United States. The solution involves stricter enforcement of speed limits and drunken driving laws, as well as an aggressive attack on distracted driving. As I’ve written before, the United States now has the most dangerous roads of any affluent country.

Yet it’s still worth celebrating the good news, because it may help point the way toward more progress.

In 2018, 36,750 Americans

OpEd: The future of retail is human

by Jeffery Sharpe

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

tration, even mistrust, and most importantly, it leads to customers moving on to another brand.

This orchestration requires a systemic view and unrelenting execution to create a seamless experience that moves with your brand. Outside of retail, Meow Wolf’s orchestrated experience immerses its guests into a narrative far beyond some Instagram moment with intention and focus.

- Weave it Together Digital tools will soon be the cornerstone of the retail experience. Customers expect businesses to understand them as completely as they are understood by the apps on their phone. They expect to move seamlessly across channels to complete a purchase or even try something on. Increasingly, they expect physical spaces to recognize them, adapting to their needs rather than the other way around. Embrace the relationship your customers have with their devices and let technologies weave the experience together. Apple Pay moves across desktop, phone and watch from check-out to instantly providing shipping details. Technology is the thread to create a fluid experience.

- Ignite the Superpowers Your associates are cast members that play the most important role in the theater of your brand. The new sales associate is empowered by new tools and service interactions that elevate their relationship with your customer to a place of trust, advocacy and support. Arguably, this is the most important aspect to creating a deep brand connection—human to human.

This creates the magic behind your brand experience.

Our collaboration with Disney empowered their cast to bring delight and excitement to visitors with integrated Continued on page 8

were killed in crashes, the Transportation Department reported yesterday. That was down from 37,133 in 2017 and 37,806 in 2016, even as the number of miles that Americans were driving rose modestly in each year. In all, the fatality rate per mile fell 4 percent from 2016 to 2018.

This is a turnabout from the preceding two years — 2014 to 2016 — when the fatality rate rose by 8 percent, which was the worst increase since the 1970s. Distracted driving seems to have played a significant role in that increase.

Federal officials didn’t speculate about why the rate has since declined, but new safety technologies are likely to be one reason. As Christopher Mims of The Wall Street Journal wrote last week, “If you buy one of many new makes and mod­els of car to­

day, you might be surprised to find that, as a stan­d ard fea­t ure, it can do some­thing your pre­ vi­ous car couldn’t: It will take over when it thinks you’re mak­i ng a mis­t ake.”

In particular, many new cars include automatic emergency braking, a technology that has the potential to cut rear-end crashes, which have historically accounted for more than 1,500 deaths a year. By 2022, nearly all new vehicles in this country will have automatic braking, Mims wrote. Other increasingly common safety features include rear cameras; steering assistance that prevents lane drift; and a flashing light to warn about a car in the blind spot.

Vehicle crashes are one of today’s biggest public health scourges. They kill almost as many people each year as gun violence, which receives far

more attention. We’ve come to accept vehicle deaths — more than 100 every day — as unavoidable, even though many of them are not.

Amid all of the anxiety about driverless cars, technology is actually a big part of the solution. It can overcome human frailty and prevent a lot of crashes. Now if only we would also get serious about the other solvable parts of the problem.

David Leonhardt is a former Washington bureau chief for the Times, and was the founding editor of The Upshot and head of The 2020 Project, on the future of the Times newsroom. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, for columns on the financial crisis.

New York Times (06/18/19)

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FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

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Beauty meets perfection at Konark Festival in Houston Mrs. Das was outstanding with portraying multiple characters.

A fast paced duet full of vibrant energy was a Odissi Pallavi performed by students of Odissi Academy, Aarushi and Nishita.

Manipuri Classical Dance by Dr. Sohini Roy of Los Angeles and her team. Photographs courtesy Johnathan Ross.

T

he 3rd International Konark Festival concluded in Houston on Saturday, June 8 2019 at Wisdom High School. Dance, music and food of Eastern and Northeastern of India under one roof. This show was the first of its kind, a perfect showcase. More than 300 attendees thoroughly enjoyed this show which lasted over two and half hours. A short loss of time due to audio system malfunction did not deter the enthusiasm of the astute audience.

Hindustani Flute by Pandit Parshuram Das, Sitar by Pandit Srinivas Koumunduri supported in Tabla by Shri Govind Shetty played Alap, Jod, Dhalla, Vandish with Tritaal on Raag Yaman, for over twenty minutes set the tone and brought harmony to the environment.

Dance program started with an Odissi repertoire called Surya Strutee. A perfect mangalacharan/ introduction worshipping Sun God, audience, and mother earth. Five artists from Odissi Academy performed this item with Yoga in Odissi theme.

Batu was a group performance lead by world renowned Odissi dancer Mrs. Meera Das who came specifically for this

show from India.

Beautiful Manipuri classical dance was performed by Dr. Sohini Roy from Los Angeles, Dr. Rafia Rasu and Mrs. Rinku Bhatacharya.

Grand finale was another spell binding duet by Guru Madhusmita Mohanty and Guru Ramesh Jena with Naba Rasa (Nine different expressions human emotions) from Ramayana. It was a feat where Beauty Meets Perfection in Odissi Classical Dance, perhaps the best show in Houston.

Entire audience appreciated with a standing ovation.

Finishing touch was Festival of Food from East and Northeast of India. Families in Hous-

Assam’s Bihu Dance by ladies from greater Houston.

Superb costume and dance sequences based on Gita Govinda mesmerized the audience.

Assam Folk dance Bihu – was a show stealer from Northeast of India. Houston ladies presented a well coordinated item within few days of practice.

Ms. Liga Vildare and Pandit Parshuram Das through violin and flute paid a tribute to Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika and played a western number as well.

Solo performance by Mrs. Veda Chowdury enchanted the audience with her Sattriya Classical dance from Assam, and the item was Dasa Avatar of lord Vishnu.

Danseuse Mrs. Meera Das performed a solo item called Shree Rama Preyashi, This beautiful piece from Ramayana takes us to the time when Ravana in the disguised of a Sadhu abducts Devi Sita to his kingdom in Lanka and keeps her captive in the Ashoka-Bana amidst heavy security, and Hanuman’s role in discovering Sita.

All performers on stage. ton cooked 19 varieties of food from Assam, Bengal, Manipur, and Odisha.

This program was organized

by Odissi Academy, a 501.c.3 organization dedicated to pro-

moting Indian Classical Dance and Music in Houston, with supported by City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

The City of Houston has continuously provided an opportunity to artists all over the world to perform in Houston to create a cultural diversity in the region.

Please visit www.OdissiAcademy.com For more information

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Odissi Classical Dance by Gurus Ramesh Jena & Madhusmita Mohanty from Bhubaneswar India.

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 4

The Balavihar Class of 2019 graduates at Chinmaya Prabha

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital welcomes palliative care specialist Channon Hudgins, M.D

S

UGAR LAND— (June 14, 2019) — Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital is pleased to welcome palliative care specialist Channon Hudgins, M.D., to the medical staff, effective July 1.

Hudgins will join Asha Wurdeman, M.D., as an on-site palliative care physician, providing relief from the pain and stress of symptoms for patients suffering from serious, chronic illnesses.

Hudgins earned her medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. She completed residencies at Frankford Hospital in Philadelphia and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Regional Medical Center in Memphis.

Most recently, Hudgins completed a fellowship in palliative care at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Class of 2019: Graduation ceremony. Photo by Jayesh Mistry

by Shalini Somaraj

T

he cheerful and beautiful morning of May 27th heralded the graduation of 36 Bala Vihar seniors of the Class of 2019 who convened with joy at Chinmaya Smrti Hall with their families and friends, arrayed in resplendent traditional attires and bright colors.

The Graduation day started in an auspicious manner in Sri Saumyakasi Sivalaya with the priest Sri Ganeshji conducting a puja for the well-being of the youngsters ready to make the big leap in their lives from high school to university for postsecondary education. After the new graduates completed the puja, Brni. Shweta Chaitanya led the students to Swami Chinmayananda’s Pratima where they offered flowers at the lotus feet of Pujya Gurudev.

In this offering, the students were led by the respected Pujya Acharyas of CMH, Sri Gaurang Nanavaty and Smt. Darshana Nanavaty. As the students entered the Smrti Hall with folded palms, many parents in the assembled audience watched misty-eyed; this was the big day to honor the culmination of hard work and dedication that pointed to bright future prospects! Above all, for the BalaVihar class of 2019, this was a day of gratitude for the enrich-

ing spiritual education received in BalaVihar systematically taught from Pre-K to the 12th grade. Such a valuable cultural exposure was made possible with the blessings of Pujya Gurudev, the loving guidance of the Acharyas, and the commitment of BalaVihar teachers along with the support of all CMH volunteers.

The Emcee Smt. Manasa Kethireddipalli welcomed the gathering and invited Pujya Sri Gaurang Nanavaty to deliver the Convocation address to the students. Following the revered Hindu tradition from ancient Vedic times, Gaurang Uncle as he is lovingly known in the Chinmaya family, gave a befitting discourse based on Taittiriya Upanishad. In this sacred Vedic treatise, the preceptor gives clear instructions to the aspirants on characterbuilding and imparts to them rules of right conduct and right living.

Following the convocation address, the Acharyas ascended the stage accompanied by students Srijith Kambala and Vaishnavi Gade, for the ceremonial lighting of the lamp to symbolize the celebration of knowledge. Then, Smt. Leena Sawant did the honors of introducing the Class of 2019 as each student bowed, offered a lamp at the altar of Pujya Gurudev, and received

the Graduation trophy from the Acharyas. The presentation of the graduating class included highlights about their favorite quotes and activities in Chinmaya Mission as well as their future education plans.

Keeping with the ancient Hindu tradition of Guru Dakshina, a token of deep gratitude on the completion of spiritual education received from the revered Guru, students Rishi Kommalapati and Shruti Machiraju offered Guru Dakshina to the Acharyas on behalf of the Class of 2019.

The graduates then lined up in front of the assembled guests while Smt. Sucheta Karandikar sang ‘Abhinandanam’ to congratulate them. The gathering joined Rohith Narra in reciting the Chinmaya Pledge.

With joy and humility, the new graduates served a sumptuous lunch to teachers, sevaks, and guests who attended this memorable ceremony.

Amidst much cheer, hugs, and congratulations all round, the day drew to a beautiful close.

For more information about Chinmaya Mission Houston, Sri Saumyakasi Sivalaya and its activities visit www.chinmayahouston.org, www.saumyakasi.org or call temple 281 568 1690 or Jay Deshmukh 832 541 0059 or Bharati Sutaria 281933-0233.

Hudgins is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology with a certificate of added qualification in hospice and palliative care.

“My experience as a practicing OB-GYN physician for many years gives me a unique perspective on the challenges that a hospital stay can create for patients,” said Hudgins. “I made the decision to change my career focus because I believe strongly in the value of palliative care to help

Channon Hudgins, M.D., palliative care medicine. Photo credit: HMSLH

patients maintain their dignity and quality of life even as they undergo treatment for a serious illness or face a long hospital stay. I’m excited to be joining Dr. Wurdeman as we work together to grow the palliative care service at Houston Methodist Sugar Land.”

To learn more about Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, visit houstonmethodist.org/sugarland or our Facebook page at fb.com/ methodistsugarland for the latest news, events and information.

SLPD Targeting Impaired Driving during Holiday

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UGAR LAND - Sugar Land police will conduct a special drunk driving enforcement initiative during the week of July 4.

Convicted first-time DWI offenders face penalties that include fines up to $2,000, six months in jail and loss of driver's licenses for up to a year.

The enforcement period is funded by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) through a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant. The STEP grant provides overtime funds for enhanced DWI enforcement during holiday weekends when there have traditionally been more alcohol-related traffic incidents.

The STEP grant also provides overtime for year-round speed compliance in targeted areas, an extra resource that does not affect SLPD's normal operations. As part of this effort, SLPD also conducts a commercial motor vehicle enforcement.

"Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs is not worth the risk," said Sgt. Daryl Stroud, of SLPD's traffic division. "You are putting your life and the lives of others on the line."

Speeding continues to be the number one factor contributing to accidents within Sugar Land. The police department uses crash data, speed surveys and information supplied by residents to identify those areas where additional enforcement is needed.

GANGA TO KAVERI -When dances flow with the grace of rivers!

Dancers on stage in the finale. Photo credit Amitava Sarkar.

by Thara Narasimhan

I

ndian Performing Arts Samskriti recently presented an extraordinary program, GANGA TO KAVERI, conceived and produced by Churchill Pandian of Utsav Music, India at MATCH. This was one of Samskriti’s best and finest presentations, celebrat-ing the sacred rivers, through four different classical dance forms, to delineate the mythological stories associated with these rivers. Beautifully evocative dances per-formed to hymns in Sanskrit, songs in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada, set to mel-lifluous music by Bangalore’s famous Praveen D. Rao (brilliantly sung by Vari-jashree) all merged into the rivers on the stage in a harmonious confluence. Churchill Pandian, a celebrated journalist, artistic consultant and cultural event di-rector from Chennai, India, scored a perfect 100 with his wonderful idea of combining different genres of music and dance styles and bringing together young and highly talented dancers from within the US to present his novel theme.

Astha Dixit of Los Angeles, CA, a versatile actor and Kathak dancer, depicted Ganga and covered the holy places traversed through the Indo

Gangetic plain. Through graceful movements she brought to life images of the river flowing from the matted locks of Lord Shiva, across the mountains and through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, once the seat of powerful empires mentioned in the Ramayan and Mahabharat.

The final Ganga Arathi had a spiritual effect on the audience and had everyone par-ticipating in the prayer.

Bhavana Reddy stole the show with her vibrant dances in the lively incorporating the footwork on the brass plate, one of Kuchipudi’s hallmarks. The Rasalila of Krishna and the Gopis, the dancing on the hood of the ser-pent Kaliya, and Jayadeva’s “Dheera Sameere Yamuna theere”, were all portrayed to artistic perfection. Nitya Narasimhan chose the Bharatanatyam style to present the river Narmada.

With a beautifully evocative face and compelling expression of emotions, Nitya portrayed the origins of the river as well as little known stories of the unique Bana Linga, found only in this river, and of Ganga propitiating Narmada every year. It is on the banks of the Narmada that Adi Shankara met his Guru Govinda Bhagavadpada. Brahmaputra stands

apart as being one of the few ‘male’ rivers in India.

The river basin is made up of parts of India, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Performed in the Odissi style by Dr. Aparupa Chatterjee and her students, Yashaswini Raghuram, Divya Srinivasa, Swati Yarlagadda and Sadrita Mondal, the dance highlighted the mythological story of matricide committed by Parashurama. When the axe (which he used to cut off his mother’s head) stuck to his arm with blood and could not be removed, he cleansed himself and his arm in Bramha Kund where he broke the peak of the mountains to let Brahmaputra flow freely. The river, being the son of Brahma, cleansed him of his sin. Aparupa estheti-cally incorporated folk styles from the North Eastern regions of India into her presentation, giving it a beautiful new dimension. Considered a sacred river in South India, the River Kaveri is referred to as Dakshina Ganga, flowing from Karna-taka to Tamilnadu, and streaming by the magnificent temples of Brihadeeswara (in Tanjavur) and Sri Ranganatha (in Srirangam), before it reaches the Bay of Bengal.

Houston’s own Dr. Rathna Kumar

marvelously choreographed this dance in the Bharatanatyam style and it was performed by the Anjali Center’s Assistant Director Venugopal Josyula, Ananya Gokhale, Isha Parupudi, Jvalanti Prasad, and Keerthana Varma. Thyagarajan’s famous song on Kaveri was cleverly incorporated into the dance. The grand finale was the merging of all the rivers in a group dance of the five lead dancers who came together emphasizing the idea of “Natya Sangamam”, or artistic confluence. GANGA TO KAVERI carried the message that whatever form or path we may choose, the worship of any divine aspect ultimately reaches the Supreme Being.

Sanchali Basu, President of Samskriti welcomed the gathering and also was the em-cee of the evening. The delightful program was well attended

and appreciated by the august audience through every moment of it. “Samskriti” as the name implies “Classic Culture”, brings only ‘classy’ and one-ofa-kind presentations to Houston. The event is made possible by Grants from Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, and through the generosity of Enbridge Inc, Ekal Vidyalaya, Bhagavatula Foundation, Shri Sitaram Foundation, and Subhash and Saroj Gupta.

Samskriti’s next event is a Kuchipudi performance by two beautiful and talented dancers, Ashrita Keshav-Pritam (Chennai, India) and Pranamya Suri (Dallas, TX) on August 10, 2019, 4 PM at MATCH (Midtwon Arts and Theatre Center Houston), 3400 Main St, Houston, TX 77002.

For further information on Samskriti activities, please visit www.samskritihouston.org or call (832) 275-9658.

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VOICE OF ASIA 5

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FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

Tel: 713-774-5140

Indo American Chamber of Commerce gala commemorates 20 years of fostering Indo-US ties

Ambassador Kenneth Juster delivering his Keynote address.

Continued from Page 1

India will have to face: managing the rise of China, countering terrorism, promoting economic growth and modernizing its military. He spoke

small & medium enterprises; professionals, and businesses to global corporations.

As a member of the trade delegation led by Mayor Turner to India in 2018, Chamber

Dr. Durga Agrawal receives the Lifetime Achievement Award.

L-R: Subroto Mukerji, Pankaj Dhume, Dr Atul Varadhachary, Sanjay Ramabhadran, Rajiv Bhavsar, Joya Shukla, Tarush Anand, Jagdip Ahluwalia, Dr. Durga Agrawal, Swapan Dhairyawan, Ashok Garg, Brij Kathuria, Karen Francis, Somesh Singh. Photo (s) credit: Bijay Dixit,

Councilmember Himesh Gandhi receives the Rising Star Award.

of protecting a free and open Indo Pacific and “limiting the scourge of terrorism.” The US, he stated, wants to be a major partner in India’s economic growth and has given India STA 1 status– a license given “only to our closest allies” for the sale of high technology products.

For more information about the Chamber and its initiatives, visit www.iaccgh.com

India, he noted, is projected to spend $150 billion on military modernization in the next decade. The US is keen to assist India’s efforts in building up its indigenous defense base and capabilities and major U.S. defense companies are in India producing components for complex defense systems.

Describing the relationship as one of “natural allies, he remarked that the two countries will face any challenges with the strong people-to-people relations shared between the two nations.

LyondellBasell CEO Bob Patel, who did the honors of introducing the Ambassador, described him as “eminently qualified and the right man at the right time.” He pointed out that Ambassador Juster’s appointment was unanimously confirmed in two months which is “lighting speed in Washington DC.” Prior to the introduction, Bob Patel emphasized LyondellBasell’s commitment to protecting the environment.

Master of ceremonies and Chamber Past President Sanjay Ramabhadran welcomed the gathering which included several elected officials from the Federal, State and Local level. He drew attention to the “visionary leadership of the Chamber founders” and offered interesting figures about US-India trade ties. In 1999, when the Chamber was founded, trade between the US and India was pegged at 12 and a half billion dollars and unflatteringly described as “flat as a chappati.” Today, it’s a whopping 140 billion and growing exponentially. Texas accounts for about 15% of the trade while the Houston-India trade stands at $6.6 billion.

An Executive Director who “lives and breathes” the Chamber” Jagdip Ahluwalia spoke of the Chamber’s efforts in helping Houston and India discover business opportunities but added that the Chamber is also about local job creation, investment in the local economy, connecting

Ishya Kachru, 18, sang complex a mash-up song -"What about us" by Pink, "Fight song" by Rachel Platten and "We are the Champions" by Queen effortlessly, amidst thunderous applause at the event. She is working on her first album.

President Swapan Dhairyawan highlighted the considerable bilateral trade contacts derived from this visit and the “durable friendships and strong economic impact” the mission would have in the Mayor’s Office, Greater Houston Partnership, Houston First, NASA, Houston Airport System and Station Houston.

Brief remarks were made

by David MinceBerg, Director, Houston First and Ambassador Juan Sosa, Dean of the Consular Corps. Guest of Honor Mayor Sylvester Turner acknowledged the work done by the Chamber for the “vibrancy and vitality of this city,” and noted that progress can happen only “when everyone gets a seat at the table.”

Consul General Dr. Anupam Ray, whose “accessibility has endeared him to the community,” appreciated the friendship between India and the US and said it was not “a transactional one but one based on trust.”

Twenty years from now, India, he remarked, will be known as “a rich and powerful country, but should also be known as a kind, gentle and tolerant nation.”

Spotlighting the outstanding contributions of community members, the Chamber presented Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Dr. Dur-

ga Agrawal with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Council member Himesh Gandhi was honored with the Rising Star Award while the Business of the Year Award went to Hilton Americas, Houston. In a tribute to nurses, who form an integral part of the healthcare system, the Chamber presented the Trailblazers Award for Women in Nursing to Moani Thomas, a nurse who arrived on American shores 50 years ago and paved the way for many others and the twenty five year old Indo-American Nurses Association of Greater Houston whose President Accamma Kellel accepted on behalf of IANAGH. President Elect Tarush Anand, who described himself as a “second generation member,” – his father and uncle are longtime Chamber members, stated that his efforts as President would be directed at bringing in the next generation in meaningful ways to ensure the continuity of the Chamber’s relevance.

The National Anthems were rendered by Serene Kaggal and Eesha Dhairyawan.

An energetic dance by Infused Performing Arts and a Mashup sung effortlessly by Ishya Kachru formed the entertainment segment.

Jagdip Ahluwalia, Jacques D'Rovencourt, (General Manager, Hilton Americas-Houston) Rebecca Shindler (Hilton), Ambassador Kenneth Juster, Accamma Kallel, MSN, Nurse Practitioner (IANAGH President), Moani Thomas, Virginia Alphonso MSN,(IANAGH Secretary), Swapan Dhairyawan.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

VOICE OF ASIA 6

Masters of manipulation: the evolution of 'puppy dog eyes'

by Issam Ahmed

W

It involved dissecting the cadavers of domestic dogs and comparing them to those of wild wolves, our best friends' ancestors, whom they branched off from around 33,000 years ago (don't worry, no animals were killed for the research).

A separate part of the study saw scientists videotaping two-minute interactions between dogs and a human stranger, then repeating the experiment with wolves, to closely track how much they used a specific muscle around the eye that produced an inner eyebrow raise.

The researchers found two muscles around the eye were routinely present and well formed in the domestic dogs, but not the wolves, and only dogs produced high-intensity eyebrow movements as they gazed at the human.

"It makes the eye look larger, which is similar to human infants," Professor Anne Burrows of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, who was one of the co-authors, told AFP. "It triggers a nurturing response in people."

Since the muscles were robust in the dogs but not wolves, "that tells us

Facebook to unveil new cryptocurrency

during communication, and the dogs could be responding to this dynamic.

ASHINGT O N | AFP | Monday 6/17/2019 - Ever wondered how dogs learned to use their "puppy eyes" to bend us to their will?

It turns out our pet pooches have evolved humanlike eyebrow muscles, which let them make the sad faces that melt our hearts, according to a new study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Photo: fotyma / Getty Images

A final hypothesis is that exaggerated eyebrow movements expose the white sclera of the dogs' eyes, which humans also have and find appealing in other animals (other primates have darkened sclera to camouflage their

that that muscle and its function are selected," she added.

gaze).

The current study was led by Juliane Kaminski at the University of Portsmouth and also included researchers from Howard University in Washington and North Carolina State University.

Intriguingly, a Siberian Husky that was dissected did not possess one of the two muscles that were present in other dog breeds, which pulls the corner of the eyelid toward the ears.

It builds on past work, including a notable 2015 paper by a group of researchers in Japan that demonstrated that gaze exchange between humans and their pet dogs led to a mutual spike in the so-called love hormone oxytocin, similar to an effect seen between human mothers and their babies.

But the latest work could explain how dogs are able to capture our attention in the first place.

The paper also posits two other explanations for what is going on -- eyebrow movement may be significant for human-dog bonding "not just because it might elicit a caring response, but also because it might play a role during dog-human communicative interactions."

Humans tend to pay attention to the upper facial areas of fellow humans

- Ancient breeds vs toy dogs -

That may be because Huskies are an ancient dog breed, and the best living representative of what the link between dogs and wolves may have looked like.

Burrows said the main limitation of the study was the small number of cadavers -- four wild wolves and six domestic dogs -- and that this is a potential avenue for future study.

"We're also going to drill down into that interesting variation we saw in the Husky," she said. "So we would like to take a look at additional ancient breeds like the Malamute, the Samoyed, and compare that to the toy companion breeds like the Chihuahua and the Yorkie."

The work could also be extended to other animals humans have maintained close contact with, including horses, who appear to produce a similar movement, and cats.

Science suffers collateral damage as US, China tensions rise

by Poornima Weerasekara

B

EIJING, China | AFP | Tuesday 6/17/2019 - A rise in US visa denials for Chinese academics and intensified scrutiny of alleged links to Beijing over fears of potential espionage are having a chilling effect on long-standing research collaboration, researchers say.

American and Chinese scientists have co-authored thousands of papers each year, far outpacing the output from scientific collaborations between any other two nations, according to a 2018 survey by academic database Nature Index.

But it is getting tougher for researchers to work together on projects and share data for peer review, as American institutions tighten rules for accepting foreign funding and intensify vetting of foreign partners, several researchers told AFP on Tuesday.

The pressure is the result of a clampdown by Washington on what it describes as espionage and technology theft through academic contacts, with the White House warning last year that Chinese nationals studying or working in the United States could be manipulated or forced to "serve Beijing's military and strategic ambitions".

In one of the latest countermeasures, the US Department of Energy -- which conducts advanced research on everything from supercomputers to nuclear weapons -- blocked its scientists from participating in a foreign government's talent recruitment programmes, citing national security and competition concerns.

Its order, seen by AFP, did not mention a specific country, but officials pointed to Beijing's lucrative 'Thousand Talents' programme.

The initiative offers non-Chinese, and Chinese working abroad, high pay to deliver top-level technology to China.

The increased mistrust is bound to have an impact on research collaboration, academics and experts say.

An increasing number of young Chinese scholars are told they cannot participate in a project for security reasons, said an official at Pennsylvania State University, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the topic.

"Research collaboration between China and the US will be severely disrupted by the trade war-turnedtechnology war, which essentially is a talent war," said Cao Cong, professor of innovation studies at Notting-

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

The Mark Zuckerberg-led social network giant is expected to outline details of a virtual currency launching next year. (Photo Credit: AP)

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ONDON | AFP | Monday 6/17/2019 - Facebook is set Tuesday to unveil a bid to bring cryptocurrency payments into the mainstream, reportedly with the endorsement of governments and financial giants.

where the US site is banned.

The world's biggest social network is expected to outline details of a virtual currency launching next year that it hopes will avoid the rollercoaster volatility of "blockchain" technologies such as bitcoin.

Buffeted by the privacy storms, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has promised a new direction for Facebook built around smaller groups, private messaging and payments.

Facebook is setting up a consortium called "Libra" which, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been joined by more than a dozen companies including Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Uber.

The companies along with venture capitalists and telecommunications firms will reportedly invest around $10 million each into the consortium.

Facebook has been trying to ward off hostile regulatory scrutiny after a series of privacy abuses and the spread of fake news.

The consortium will be managed externally and seek to build trust among consumers by pegging the virtual coin to a basket of currencies including the dollar and euro, the Journal said.

Facebook has already sought blessings from the US Treasury and the Bank of England, the BBC reported last month.

Regulators have been reticent about cryptocurrencies, not only due to potential abuse by criminals but the wild swings in their value harming consumers.

With more than two billion users across its platforms, which include WhatsApp and Instagram, Facebook could have the clout to bring cryptocurrency out of the fringes and emulate the likes of WeChat in China,

Biological researcher He Jiankui (right) guides a laboratory staff member at the Direct Genomics lab on August 4, 2016 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. (Credit: Getty Images) ham University's China campus in the city of Ningbo.

Beijing has committed billions of dollars in recent years to narrow China's science and technology gap with the United States, Cao said.

But China is still "heavily dependent" on the US for technology transfers and training, he added, and the "cut off" will have an impact in coming years.

- Visa troubles The rising number of visa denials have prompted a warning from China's education ministry that students and academics could have their study or research plans foiled by refusals or delays.

One in eight Chinese applicants seeking US visas for academic or research purposes between January and March this year had difficulties securing them, a marked increase from last year, education ministry official Xu Yongji said.

Star quantum physicist Pan Jianwei was unable to attend a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February, where he was to collect the prestigious Newcomb Cleveland Prize, due to visa delays.

"I waited for four months before I got a visa in March," Pan told AFP. When it finally arrived, the award ceremony had long passed.

Yi Rao, a prominent Chinese neurobiologist who had worked at Harvard and Northwestern universities in the past, said his application for a US visa to attend a workshop by the National Science Foundation was denied last July without an explanation.

A State Department official said she could not discuss specific visa

cases due to US privacy laws.

The State Department has said the increased scrutiny was prompted by rising number of students who were co-opted by foreign intelligence while in the United States.

WeChat allows its users to chat, shop and play games without leaving its platform, generating more revenue by offering a one-stop portal.

- 'How do we tax it?' -

But it will need to overcome questions of trust and privacy, not least over how financial data will be stored. Some analysts are betting that the heavyweight Libra consortium will help to do that.

Facebook's crypto initiative could facilitate shopping, applications and gaming, and would leverage its broad userbase in Asia, RBC analyst Mark Mahaney said in a research note last week.

It "may prove to be one of the most important initiatives in the history of the company to unlock new engagement and revenue streams", he wrote.

But Cathy Mulligan, a cryptocurrency expert at London's Imperial College, said there were important unanswered questions about Facebook's plans.

"I think there are some interesting regulatory questions that pop up: firstly, Facebook is a global company -- are they creating a global currency?

That is a little bit difficult to manage," she told AFP on Monday during a visit to the UN headquarters in Geneva.

Definitions of money vary across countries, Mulligan noted.

"So how do we tax it? What implications does it have for spending money, how do you control and regulate flow?" she said, stressing also the privacy concerns after Facebook's data mishaps.

Google is investigating claims it steals lyrics from Genius Google will end its partner agreements if it finds third parties are scraping the web for lyrics.

G

oogle has responded to reports that it's stealing lyrics from Genius, explaining how it finds lyrics to show on its search pages. Google conceded its lyrics feature has been "under scrutiny this week," but said it pays music publishers for the rights to display their lyrics.

evidence" that Google has been copying Genius lyrics in its Lyrics OneBox. "This is a serious issue, and Google needs to address it," Gross reportedly said.

The cooling of ties is also complicating Beijing's efforts to recruit top Chinese and foreign talent, after US intelligence officials in December said the 'Thousand Talents' programme facilitated the theft of American technology and intellectual property.

Reports on the alleged lyrics thefts, which emerged in The Wall Street Journal last week, suggested that Genius can prove lyrics on Google are its own by looking at the apostrophes. Once the apostrophes are converted into Morse Code, they spell out "red handed," CNN added.

Tim Byrnes -- an Australian physicist who won nearly one million yuan ($144,000) from the programme in 2016 for a quantum computing lab at New York University's Shanghai campus -- said he now finds himself in a "precarious position".

Google said Tuesday, in a blog post called "How we help you find lyrics in Google Search," that it ensures songwriters are paid for their lyrics by working with music publishers who manage those rights. However, the tech giant added that publishers often don't have lyrics in digital text copies, so it works with third parties to get access to these.

"The lyrics displayed in information boxes on Google Search are licensed from a variety of sources and are not scraped from sites on the web," the statement emailed to CNET said.

"We're investigating this issue with our data partners and if we find that partners are not upholding good practices, we will end our agreements."

China is by far the biggest source of international students and scholars on US campuses, with 360,000 attending last year.

- 'Atmosphere of suspicion' -

"Possibly, some people awarded the Thousand Talents might not be able to apply for grants in the US in future due to fears of leaking intellectual property," Byrnes said.

Since it was launched in 2008, the programme has attracted more than 7,000 Chinese and foreign researchers to China -- mostly from the US -- according to its website.

But Byrnes said he was not asked to share any of his findings with the Chinese government.

"Everything we do is published in academic journals. Everything is disclosed not just to China but to the whole world," he said.

"But the current atmosphere of suspicion is threatening the openness of science."

"News reports this week suggested that one of our lyrics content providers is in a dispute with a lyrics site about where their written lyrics come from," Google said. "We've asked our lyrics partner to investigate the issue."

Google added that it will soon include third-party attribution on its digital lyrics text.

Genius provides annotated lyrics and song facts for songs across platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and even YouTube.

While Genius didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, its chief strategy officer, Ben Gross, told The Verge that there is "irrefutable

A Google spokesperson added in a statement that the company takes creator rights "very seriously."

One third-party provider, LyricFind, responded to the reports of theft in a blog post Monday.

LyricFind said it "invests heavily" in its own global content team to build a lyric database using text from artists, publishers and songwriters, which then works to stream, correct and synchronize the data.

"Some time ago, Ben Gross from Genius notified LyricFind that they believed they were seeing Genius lyrics in LyricFind's database. As a courtesy to Genius, our content team was instructed not to consult Genius as a source," LyricFind said. "Recently, Genius raised the issue again and provided a few examples. All of those examples were also available on many other lyric sites and services, raising the possibility that our team unknowingly sourced Genius lyrics from another location."

LyricFind said it offered to remove lyrics that Genius said were stolen, but that Genius didn't respond to the offer.

- CNET

DIASPORA

VOICE OF ASIA 7

Indian-Origin Imam's controversial tweets sparks row in UK news debate

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

Indian-American IT professional committed suicide...

Continued from Page 1

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ONDON: PTI, Jun 19, 2019 - An Indianorigin imam chosen by the BBC for a select panel of members of the British public to put their questions to the UK's prime ministerial hopefuls during a live television debate has triggered controversy over some of his past anti-Jewish remarks on social media.

Imam Abdullah Patel challenged frontrunner Boris Johnson and the four others remaining in the Conservative Party leadership race over tackling Islamophobia in Britain during the debate telecast by the BBC Tuesday night.

Johnson said he was "sorry for the offence" his comments about veiled Muslim women looking like "letter boxes" and "bank robbers" had caused, while Pakistani-origin minister Sajid Javid urged all his fellow candidates to commit to an external investigation into the issue of Islamophobia within the Tory party. However, by Wednesday morning the narrative had shifted against Imam Patel himself as some of his past messages from Twitter were unearthed.

"Every political figure on the Zionist's payroll is scaring the world about Corbyn. They don't like him. He seems best suited to tackle them," read one of his past tweets, seen as anti-semitic. He also tweeted a map of the US, suggesting Israel should be moved from the Middle East to North America as a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

A BBC statement said Imam Patel seemed to have deactivated and then reactivated his Twitter account and if the corporation knew of the views he had expressed in the past, he would not have been invited on to the programme.

"Had we been aware of the

Investigators are continuing to review evidence and conduct interviews," the police added.

Chandrasekhar, known as Chandra, hailed from Andhra Pradesh.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) said he was an IT professional in the Technology Services Bureau for the department.

Imam Abdullah Patel challenged frontrunner Boris Johnson and the four others remaining in the Conservative Party leadership race over tackling Islamophobia in Britain during the debate telecast by the BBC Tuesday night. (Photo: Facebook) views he expressed there he would not have been selected," said a BBC spokesperson.

very closely together. We actually visited a synagogue just a while ago," he said.

Amid the mounting controversy, Imam Patel was also suspended as Deputy Head of a girls' school at Gloucester in the west of England. AlAshraf Primary School said in a statement that he had been suspended "from all school duties" while it investigated comments attributed to him in the media.

He emerged as the one of the most commented-upon members of the public during the live TV debate, which saw Boris Johnson go head to head with foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, environment secretary Michael Gove, home secretary Javid and international development secretary Rory Stewart on a range of issues. Questioners from around the UK appeared on a big screen to quiz the candidates from a regional BBC television studio.

"The Trust has decided to suspend him from all school duties with immediate effect until a full investigation is carried out. The school and trust do not share the views attributed to him," said Yakub Patel, Chair of the Al-Madani Educational Trust, which runs the primary school.

Imam Patel himself denied his past Twitter statements were against the Jewish community, but directed at "Israel's policy".

"The criticism was not of the Jewish community because if you go through my tweets, you'd see support for the Jewish community. They're our brothers and sisters, and the Jewish community and I - especially in Gloucester - work

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the Sunkaras," the DPS said in a statement.

Officers with the West Des Moines Police Department were sent on Saturday morning to the 900 block of 65th Street, where they found the bodies.

"This tragedy will impact family, friends, co-workers, anyone that knew this family," Sergeant Dan Wade said in statement.

Police said other family members, two adults and two children, were staying in the

Lavanya Sunkara was found dead of a gunshot wound June 15, in her Iowa home. (Photo:Facebook) home as guests. When the bodies were discovered, one of the relatives ran outside looking for help and found a passerby, who called 911.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting in the investigation.

"You don't see something like this happen in the Indian community, let alone a heinous act

like this," said Shrikar Somayajula who has known the Sunkaras for over a decade.

"The family was a very friendly family and so it is really painful," said Somayajula.

"We have more questions than answers now as to why this happened and we will probably never find out why this happened," he said.

The debate followed the second round of voting in the Tory leadership race, which knocked out former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab from the running after failing to secure the minimum 33-vote threshold.

Johnson once again emerged as the winner of the round, with the race for second place set for another round of voting during the course of the week.

The final two candidates will be put to a postal ballot to the wider Tory party membership around the UK, who will then select the successor to take over from Theresa May at 10 Downing Street next month.

Photo courtesy of Sugar Land Skeeters

NIGHT OUT WITH THE SUGAR LAND SKEETERS

Constellation Field 1 Stadium Drive Sugar Land, TX 77498

Join AARP in Houston for a night at the ballpark. Come watch the Sugar Land Skeeters August 20th and September 20th with the whole family. Check in at the AARP table on the concourse when you arrive and receive a free baseball hat (while supplies last).

For more information on Houston-area activities visit aarp.org/houston.

Visit sugarlandskeeters.com and use the code Playball for a $5 discount on each ticket.

US/WORLD

VOICE OF ASIA 8

Convicted: the US sex US-Japan trade deal cult leader who attract- progress likely in ed the rich and famous 'months': US official

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ew York | AFP | 6/19/2019 - A US jury on Wednesday convicted a "self-help" guru of racketeering, sex trafficking and other crimes for his leadership of a cult-like organization of sex slaves he branded like cattle.

Keith Raniere, 58, coerced a string of women into having sex with him as the charismatic leader of a life-coaching group he founded in New York state.

Nxivm -- pronounced Nexium -- had proved a huge draw since its 2003 launch, attracting a coterie of rich and famous devotees like the "Smallville" actress Allison Mack, and spreading into cities across the United States.

But Raniere swapped the personal development training courses for sex sessions as the head of a group of up to 20 women -- the youngest of whom was just 15.

He was convicted after a sixweek trial on all seven charges, which also included extortion and sexual exploitation of a child, and faces up to a full life term when he is sentenced September 25.

"This trial has revealed that Raniere, who portrayed himself as a savant and a genius, was in fact, a master manipulator, a con-man and the crime boss of a cult-like organization," Richard Donoghue, a federal prosecutor in New York, said after the verdict.

Followers signed up for $5,000, five-day self-help courses but some were then financially and sexually exploited and had to follow a restrictive diet as Raniere -- known as "Vanguard" -- exerted his con-

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trol, the jury was told.

In 2015, he established a faction within the group called DOS, a pyramid structure in which the women were "slaves" and "Grand Master" Raniere sat at the top.

The "slaves" were made to have sex with Raniere, hand over personal information and compromising photos -and some of the women were branded with Raniere's initials as other members held them down.

- Ruined lives "His crimes, and the crimes of his co-conspirators, ruined marriages, careers, fortunes and lives," Donoghue said.

While the prosecution portrayed Raniere as a psychological manipulator, the defense asked the jury to focus on whether they saw Raniere's actions as legal, even if they found them immoral.

The defendant, who vowed through his legal team to appeal the convictions, insisted that all sexual relations within the group were consensual.

"I can't say I'm terribly surprised," defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said, however. "I told the jury in my opening statement that it was an uphill battle."

Five other people were initially charged in the case, including Mack, a German-born American actress who also appeared in the FX sitcom "Wilfred," and Seagram liquor company heiress Clare Bronfman.

They all pleaded guilty, however, and neither Mack nor Bronfman were required to testify. and Starbucks are just a few, but their approaches are good for who they are. They are not formulas to copy but instead invitations to learn from. It is critical that each brand invest in discovering their unique experience for their customers and staff, and from there, holistically and intentionally design each touchpoint to create purposeful and emotive experiences that put people at the center.

Good design, retail or otherwise, is a response to a human need and should ultimately elevate and improve the human experience. Success in retail going forward is not about a single design element or some trend, but about a systematic approach to the entire customer journey

W

ASHINGTON | AFP | 6/19/2019 Tokyo understands Washington's desire to negotiate greater access to the Japanese market and efforts to reach a new trade agreement should bear fruit soon, a top US trade official said Wednesday.

The testimony by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer comes a week before US officials are due to meet Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, according to Lighthizer.

He told a House of Representatives panel on taxes and trade duties that US farmers are now at a disadvantage in exporting to Japan, which has entered a new trade agreement with Europe and is also party to the Transpacific Partnership -- giving Australian and Canadian exporters an advantage over the United States.

President Donald Trump withdrew from the TPP on his first full day in office in 2017, claiming it would have led to job losses and further erosion of US manufacturing.

"We understand the nature of this problem and we have to resolve it because if we don't, these farmers are gonna lose that market, because of nothing they did, just because Japan gave more access to somebody else, and they may never get those markets back," Lighthizer said in a second consecutive day of congressional testimony.

"And the Japanese understand completely our position and I'm hopeful that we'll have something resolved in the weeks and and unlocking how a brand can respond and anticipate its customers' needs and aspirations.

Good design meets the customer where they are and creates an emotional connection that brings delight, ease and trust.

In return, that builds loyalty and increases engagement. At frog, we have been helping our clients move from transaction to relationships.

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FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

US Senate to vote on blocking Saudi arms sales

months ahead, but there's an enormous amount of urgency."

During a meeting in Tokyo last month with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump complained of the sizeable US trade deficit with Japan, which amounted to $67.2 billion in goods last year.

Trump expects to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 summit this week in an effort to rescue trade negotiations that appeared to collapse last month.

American officials accused their Chinese counterparts of backsliding on commitments made in the talks. Lighthizer said he was hopeful the talks could resume productively.

"My speculation is that some forces in China decided that they had gone too far, went out beyond their mandate," he said.

"I have trust and complete good faith in the people that I'm dealing with... My hope is we can get back on track."

If not, trade relations face the prospect of deteriorating drastically.

Lighthizer's office is currently holding public hearings on plans to impose steep tariffs on $300 billion more in Chinese imports, or all remaining Chinese goods not currently subject to punitive duties.

He also said the United States could respond "very strongly" to French plans to adopt a digital services tax that Lighthizer claimed could hit American companies "disproportionately."

Senator Robert Menendez, seen here in April 2019, says the Senate will vote on blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Getty Images North America/AFP/File)

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ASHINGTON | AFP | 6/19/2019 - The US Senate will vote Thursday on whether to block $8.1 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies, a lawmaker said, as legislators' outrage with the kingdom grows.

Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republicanled Senate, had agreed to allow votes on the 22 arms sales that critics say will aggravate the devastating war in Yemen.

"I want to thank the bipartisan group of cosponsors of these resolutions, the majority leader and our staffs for diligently working through this unprecedented process," Menendez said late Wednesday on the Senate floor.

President Donald Trump's administration took the extraordinary step of bypassing Congress to approve the

sale of aircraft support maintenance, munitions and other weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as a transfer of existing weapons to Jordan.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration was responding to an emergency caused by Saudi Arabia's historic rival Iran, which backs the Huthi rebels in Yemen.

Senators, including some Republicans, said there were no legitimate grounds to circumvent Congress, which has the right to disapprove arms sales.

But it will remain a long haul for Congress to come up with a two-thirds vote to overcome a potential veto by Trump.

Critics say that the weapons will help Saudi Arabia mount its offensive in Yemen, where millions remain on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe.

Man worships Donald Trump in Telangana, erects statue

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YDERABAD - PTI | Jun 19, 2019,- Hyderabad: An admirer of Donald Trump's "strong leadership" and "bold attitude" in Telangana has erected a sixfoot-tall statue of the US president at his home and worships him like a "god".

As tensions over trade-related issues heat up between India and the US, Bussa Krishna, a 32-year-old farmer from Konne village in Jangaon district, unveiled the Trump statue and applied 'tilak' and garlanded it before performing "Abhishekam" and "Aarti" by chanting "Jai Jai Trump."

Krishna said he 'worships' Trump because he is a strong leader and he likes his bold attitude.

He said he wants to meet Trump some day. His mother said Krishna spent Rs 1.3 lakh to install the statue and even organised feast for villagers. On June 14, when Trump celebrated his 73rd birthday, Krishna pasted a poster of the US president outside his home to wish him.

Next week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting India and in his preview to the visit he has said the US is "open" to discuss trade issues but has also pushed India to give American firms access to local markets.

 IMMIGRATION LAW  PERSONAL INJURY/ ACCIDENT  CRIMINAL DEFENCE  FAMILY LAW Mala Sharma has received “10 Best Attorneys” by American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys and “Top 40 Under 40” for Civil Plaintiff Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers. Sharda Sharma, JD, CPA has received “Top 40 Under 40” by the National Advocates. Mr. Sharma has received the Client’s Choice Award by AVVO. Anjali Sharma has been selected Immigration Law “10 Best Atto Attorneys” by the American Institute of Legal Counsel Immigration.

Licensed in both Texas State and Federal Court

Over 45 Years of Combined Experience

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VOICE OF ASIA 9

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

Chaos and tragedy in Indian Rishabh Pant replaces Shikhar Dhawan in India World Cup squad 'brain fever' outbreak

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OUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom | AFP | 6/19/2019 - Injured India opener Shikhar Dhawan was Wednesday ruled out of the rest of the World Cup, with wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant approved as a replacement.

The in-form batsman suffered a fractured finger while facing Australia's Pat Cummins in India's second match of the tournament at the Oval on June 9.

Dhawan carried on batting and scored a century to earn the man-of-the-match award as India beat the reigning champions by 36 runs.

But the 33-year-old left-hand-

Bihar's healthcare system is in a dire state: for every 100,000 people there are fewer than two health workers. (AFP/File Photo)

by Abhaya Srivastava

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U Z A F FA R PUR, India | AFP | Wednesday 6/19/2019 - The stench of urine, chlorine, vomit and death fills the main hospital in Muzaffarpur, the epicentre of a brain fever outbreak in India that has killed over 100 children since June 1.

Doctors are not sure what the cause is, but one theory is that the culprit is a toxin found in lychees eaten by children of poor families who go to bed with empty stomachs.

One of the distraught parents crowding the chaotic corridors of the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) is Dilip Sahni, 25, a construction worker and father of three.

He brought his daughter Muskan, aged four-and-a-half, to the SKMCH early in the morning, only 24 hours after she fell ill.

There almost 100 other children are being treated, many sharing beds.

"When her mother went in to wake her yesterday at 11 am, she was shocked to see her hands and legs tightened and her teeth sticking together," Sahni told AFP. "Her mother started screaming for help, and we rushed her to the Kejriwal hospital. At midnight the hospital doctors told us to take her to SKMCH," he said.

"Early morning we shifted her here but her condition has been deteriorating," Sahni said before breaking down.

Not long afterwards came the news that little Muskan had died.

She was very likely just the latest victim in a health crisis blamed on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the dirtpoor, baking hot eastern state of Bihar.

The onset is lightning fast, its young victims quickly developing a high fever, seizures, and vomiting. All often, if treatment is not swift, leading to death.

A total of 118 children have died so far this month, authorities said Wednesday.

"Obviously it is tough to make ends meet and raise three children. But I try my best.

She was a healthy and playful child," Sahni had said when he had brought his daughter in.

"The night before she had eaten bread, she did not have any lychees. It was 10 days ago she had the fruit," he said.

- 'Dying with worry' As the hospital guards scream at parents not to crowd the wards, Raju Kumar, 35, a father of five, has just admitted his two-and-half-year-old son to the intensive care unit.

"I am dying with worry. So many dead bodies of little children I have seen standing here.

I am just praying my son is saved somehow," Kumar, who owns a clothes shop, told AFP. "He fell unconscious suddenly the day before yesterday. We rushed him here immediately," he says, holding his fourmonth-old baby in his arms.

Another being admitted is Krimta Kumari, a girl around nine years old sat on her father's lap in a yellow T-shirt, visibly flushed with fever and unable to keep her eyes open or speak properly.

Just then, there is a power cut, leaving mothers in colourful saris and gold nose studs to

try and cool their sick children in the sweltering hospital with hand-held fans.

Bihar, home to almost 100 million people, has also been hit by a heatwave, with temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) killing 197 people this summer -- including 97 since Saturday.

- Sleepless nights Not only is Bihar poor, its healthcare system is in a dire state. For every 100,000 people there are fewer than two health workers, compared to the average for India of around nine, according to the Hindustan Times daily.

"We as doctors are trying our best to save the lives of as many children as possible," said Srikant Prasad Bharti, an overworked junior paediatric doctor at the SKMCH. "No one talks about how

many sleepless nights we have been spending to look after the sick kids. No one is talking about the children who have been cured. It is easy to blame hospitals and doctors," he complained.

This is not the first outbreak of AES in Bihar. But fatalities had fallen sharply since 2014, when 355 children died. There were just 33 deaths last year, the Hindustan Times reported.

"This is happening because the children come from very poor socio-economic backgrounds. The parents couldn't care less whether their children have taken their meals or not," Bharti says.

"The children wander around in heat and eat rotten or unripe lychee and go to bed on empty stomachs. This leads to a sudden drop in blood sugar levels and leads to seizures and convulsions."

Out of the World Cup -- India's Shikhar Dhawan. (AFP Photo) er did not field and has not featured in the World Cup since his

century at Surrey's headquarters in south London.

Pakistan politician does livestream with cat whiskers, ears

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ESHAWAR, Pakistan | AFP | 6/15/2019 - A politician in northwestern Pakistan was given paws for thought after his press conference was streamed live on Facebook with the "cat filter" turned on, giving him onscreen whiskers and ears.

The online stream of regional minister Shaukat Yousafzai speaking with journalists went viral on Friday after a member of his social media team accidentally activated the filter on the social network.

Comments started pouring in as Facebook users noticed pink cat-like ears and whiskers had appeared on the heads of the minister and two accompanying officials.

There's "a cat in the cabinet" one said. Others were more literal: "Shaukat Yousafzai looks like a cat -- Meow meow

Facebook users noticed pink cat-like ears and whiskers had appeared on the heads of the minister and two accompanying officials (AFP Photo/FAROOQ NAEEM). meow,".

The video -- seen by an AFP reporter -- was deleted minutes after the press conference from the official Facebook page of Pakistan Tehreek-e-

Insaf (PTI) party, which is in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Images from the press conference were still available on social media.

VOICE OF ASIA 10

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

VOICE OF ASIA 11

Fort Bend View

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

Section 2

Sugar Land, Katy, Stafford, Missouri City, Richmond, Rosenberg and Meadows Place

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

•

www.voiceofasia.news

FB's Lunches of Love awarded $100,000 to fight child hunger

Fort Bend ISD Board approves potential agreement with county to build a cemetery for “Sugar Land 95” UGAR LAND - The Board of Trustees of the Fort Bend Independent School District unanimously approved on Monday, June 17, a potential agreement with Fort Bend County to build a cemetery for the so-called “Sugar Land 95.”

perintendent Charles Dupre talked about next steps toward reinterring the remains.

The members approved that Board President Jason Burdine negotiates a final version of the agreement with the county. After that, the commissioners court will vote on the agreement. That vote could take place next Tuesday, June 25, according to county attorney Roy Cordes.

Dupre said the school district has changed the footprint of the technical school so there will be no construction atop the cemetery.

a cemetery and memorial site in Sugar Land for the remains of 95 African Americans who worked under the Texas convict lease system in the late 1800s. The group has been dubbed the “Sugar Land 95.”

The remains were discovered in February 2018 while construction crews worked on building Fort Bend ISD’s James Reese Career Center and Technical Center.

In June of that year, Judge James Shoemake, of the Fort Bend County 434th District Court, gave the school district permission to exhume the remains for analysis. Experts concluded they were those of African Americans who were forced to work after the eradication of slavery in the United States, as part of the convict lease system, which started in Texas around 1867, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Currently the remains are being kept in a protected site, near where they were originally found.

The Texas Legislature passed a bill this year allowing Fort Bend County to own and operate the cemetery and Gov. Greg Abbott signed it. The passage of the bill was necessary because it allows a county of more than 500,000 residents to own and operate a cemetery, something that previous state law didn’t permit.

- Support of elected officials Fort Bend ISD, along with county officials and state lawmakers gathered on Monday to celebrate the new law.

State Representatives Ron Reynolds and D.F. ‘Rick’ Miller, who sponsored the bill in the Texas House, attended the event along with State Senator Borris Miles and U.S. Congressman Al Green.

After the event, Fort Bend ISD Su-

“Basically the agreement we are negotiating with them would involve the transfer of land and the cemetery into the county’s possession,” he said.

Asked about whether the county would pay the school district for the land, Dupre said they are “still discussing the terms of that agreement, so I’d rather get not into the details.”

As for a timeline, Dupre said that the final agreement would not be announced until the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court has “taken action on it, which could be anytime in the next two weeks to two months.”

“We’re still negotiating many of the terms,” he added.

Fort Bend County Judge KP George also declined to talk about whether a final agreement will entail the county paying the school district for the land.

“This is all still under negotiation, so I don’t want to comment on something our lawyers are working on,” he told News 88.7.

Dupre said the land in question is about three fourths of an acre to an acre and that “it’s become even more clear during the last year that our community wants the bodies reinterred originally back in their final resting place.”

Ken DeMerchant represents Precinct 4 on the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, and is one of the people negotiating terms with the school district.

DeMerchant told News 88.7 that all the parties agree on the main goal of reinterring the remains where they were discovered, but the current negotiation is about a “little verbiage here and there.” He declined to elaborate and didn’t say either whether the county will pay the school district for the land.

However, he said that if a final agreement is reached between the county and the school district it’s possible there will be a reburial ceremony and a memorial park will be built adjacent to the cemetery.

- Houston Public Media

Tel: 713-774-5140

New resources for survivors of sexual assault in Fort Bend County

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The next step is for the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court to also vote on the agreement.

S

•

OUSTON - Texas ranks third in the nation for food insecurity and many children facing hunger rely on school lunch as their only meal of the day. Fort Bend nonprofit Lunches of Love helps fill the gap when children are out of school and would otherwise not know where and when their next meal would come.

Lunches of Love will be able to serve more than 4,300 children in Fort Bend County after receiving the most public votes during the Reliant Gives public voting campaign. Reliant employees surprised the nonprofit today with a donation of $100,000.

Launched in 2016, Reliant Gives Vote, Reliant’s crowd-sourced, charitable giving program reached $1 million in donations with this campaign.

Since then, funds have been awarded to 24 deserving nonprofits, impacting over 140,000 lives across the state of Texas.

The program allows the public to vote and direct company donations to three nonprofits, which are nominated by employees. The nonprofit with the most votes receives $100,000. The organization with the second most votes was Shriners Hospitals for ChildrenHouston and the organization with the third most votes was Bo’s Place.

“These three organizations each make a powerful and unique impact in Houston, filling needs in our community that are so critically important,” said Elizabeth Killinger, Reliant president. “I’m so grateful to our thoughtful employees for nominating such deserving organizations and I’m thrilled our company can support causes that are important to both our employees and communities.” $100,000: Lunches of Love provides free nutritious sack lunches to children in Fort Bend County that depend on breakfast and lunch provided by their

TxFNE CEO Khara Breeden (center), Fort Bend District Attorney Brian Middleton (left) and Fort Bend County Judge KP George (right) spoke about the importance of reaching survivors. (Photo Credit: Gabrielle Keene/Houston Public Media)

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ICHMOND - The organization Texas Forensic Nurse Examiners (TXFNE) is providing new resources for survivors of sexual assault in Fort Bend County.

The organization plans to open 12 new free clinics in Fort Bend County by the end of the summer. The clinics will provide medical exams and emotional support for survivors.

Khara Breeden, CEO of the TXFNE, said that sexual assault survivors have been driving 30-45 minutes into

school, during extended school holidays (spring break, summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas) and weekends.

Hunger impairs children’s health in significant and long-lasting ways, including impeded growth and development, poor immune systems,

Fort Bend ISD schools named to 2018-19 Texas Honor Roll

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ORT BEND ISD (June 18, 2019) – Nearly two dozen Fort Bend ISD schools were named to the 2018-19 Texas Honor Roll by the Educational Results Partnership and the Institute for Productivity in Education. It is the only school recognition program in the state that uses only student achievement outcomes as the criteria.

The list recognizes public schools that demonstrate consistently high levels of student achievement, im-

T

Quail Valley Middle School students Shalina Effendi and Olivia Munsey presented their project “Corrie Ten Boom’s Hiding Place” in the Group Exhibit category. Sartartia Middle School students Ved Ganesh, Harrison

Breeden said the organization wants to eventually have clinics all over Texas.

- HPM

mental health and lower test scores.

The $100,000 donation will provide 133,333 lunches to children in Fort Bend County and allow the organization to add a sustainable garden at the facility to teach children about fruits and vegetables. - Businesswire

The Star campuses include: Barrington Place Elementary

•

Meadows Elementary

•

Oyster Creek Elementary

provements made over time, and reductions in achievement gaps. High schools that received a distinction are also recognized for college and career readiness.

•

Seguin Elementary

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Sugar Mill Elementary

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Dulles Middle School

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Garcia Middle School*

The “Scholar” distinction is given to schools that have high academic achievement, and the “Star” distinction is given to those that have high achievement and success in closing achievement gaps, and also have a significant socio-economically disadvantaged student population.

•

Sugar Land Middle School

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Kempner High School

Ko, Alexander Nguyen, Evan Zhang, and Andy Zhao presented their work “The Muckrakers: Muck, Media and Reform” in the Website category.

National History Day is a nonprofit organization that encourages middle and high school students to engage in historical research. Through state and local affiliates, students present their findings through creative presentations and writing. Visit nhd.org to learn more.

“Meeting the victim where they’re at and taking the steps to address the barriers that have existed for these patients has been and always will be the mission of our organization,” said Breeden. She added survivors are often also traumatized by lack of support.

•

Fort Bend ISD teams compete in National History Day Contest

wo Fort Bend ISD teams competed at the National History Day contest, held this month at the University of Maryland, College Park, representing Quail Valley and Sartartia middle schools.

the Houston area to get an exam.

Sartartia Middle School students Ved Ganesh, Quail Valley Middle School students Harrison Ko, Alexander Nguyen, Evan Zhang and Andy Zhao. (Photos: FBISD) Shalina Effendi and Olivia Munsey.

*Garcia Middle School was also named a STEM campus for its high performance in science, technology, engineering and math.

The Scholar campuses include: •

Colony Meadows Elementary

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Commonwealth Elementary

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Cornerstone Elementary

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Madden Elementary

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Sienna Crossing Elementary

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Sullivan Elementary

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Walker Station Elementary

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Fort Settlement Middle School

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Sartartia Middle School

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Austin High School

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Clements High School

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Dulles High School

VOICE OF ASIA 12

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

BOLLYWOOD - HOLLYWOOD Section 2

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www.voiceofasia.news

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Email: voiceasia@aol.com

Thief saws off Marilyn Monroe statue in Hollywood

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OS ANGELES | AFP 6/18/2019 - 1 A statue of Marilyn Monroe that sat atop an artwork in Hollywood that celebrates women in film has gone missing in what authorities are calling the "Marilyn caper of 2019."

The 76-year-old actor, who recently finished shooting for "Chehre", took to Twitter to share the news. (Photo credit:PTI)

The statue, which illustrates the legendary actress in her iconic pose from "The Seven Year Itch," was perched atop the Ladies of Hollywood Gazebo on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Amitabh Bachchan shoots 'Gulabo Sitabo' in Lucknow

Authorities said a witness saw a man climb the Eiffel Tower-shaped structure late Sunday and use a saw to remove the statue.

Police said investigators had recovered some prints at the scene but had yet to make any arrests on Tuesday.

The artwork located at the beginning of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, features large statues of Mae West, Dorothy Dandridge, Anna May Wong and Dolores Del Rio -- women from

Marilyn Monroe memorabilia pictured at The Hollywood Museum's "Marilyn Monroe: The Ultimate Hollywood Icon" on August 6, 2004. (Getty Images/AFP/ File Photo) different cultures who influenced the film industry.

The statue of Marilyn Monroe IS striking a pose in her flying skirt.

'Avengers' dominates MTV awards as Larsen honors stunt doubles

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UMBAI - Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Tuesday started filming for his next "Gulabo Sitabo" here.

The 76-year-old actor, who recently finished shooting for "Chehre", took to Twitter to share the news. "One done another begun. Travel, location change, look change, crew change, colleagues change, city change and story change. From Lucknow today 'Gulabo Sitabo' and the look? Well,

show was pre-recorded on Saturday in a cavernous hangar at Santa Monica Airport in southern California.

Here is the full list of winners: BEST MOVIE: "Avengers: Endgame" BEST SHOW: "Game of Thrones" BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MOVIE: Lady Gaga — "A Star Is Born" BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SHOW: Elisabeth Moss — "The Handmaid's Tale" BEST HERO: Robert Downey Jr. — "Avengers: Endgame" BEST VILLAIN: Josh Brolin — "Avengers: Endgame" BEST KISS: Noah Centineo & Lana Condor — "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" REALITY ROYALTY: "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta"

what can I say..." he wrote. The film, directed by Shoojit Sircar, marks the first collaboration between Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana. Set in Lucknow, the film is billed as a quirky family comedy, penned by Sircar's longtime collaborator Juhi Chaturvedi.

The film was earlier supposed to hit the theatres in November, but will now release on April 24, 2020. "Gulabo Sitabo" is produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar.

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE: Daniel Levy - "Schitt's Creek" BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Noah Centineo — "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" BEST FIGHT: Captain Marvel vs.

Minn-Erva - "Captain Marvel" BEST REAL-LIFE HERO: Ruth Bader Ginsburg — "RBG" MOST FRIGHTENED PERFORMANCE: Sandra Bullock — "Bird Box" BEST DOCUMENTARY: "Surviving R. Kelly" BEST HOST: Nick Cannon — "Wild 'n Out" MOST MEME-ABLE MOMENT: Colton Underwood jumps the fence "The Bachelor" BEST MUSICAL MOMENT: Shallow - "A Star Is Born"

Brie Larsen added to the Marvel superheroes' haul by picking up the best fight award, praising her stunt workers as the "living embodiment of Captain Marvel" as she brought them up on stage. (Photo: AFP)

by Andrew MARSZAL

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OS ANGELES | AFP | 6/17/2019 - Box office-busting "Avengers: Endgame" dominated the MTV Movie and TV Awards Monday, as "Captain Marvel" star Brie Larsen led tributes to real-life heroines by ceding the spotlight to her stunt doubles.

"Endgame," the second-highest grossing film of all time, picked up the best movie award, as well as best hero for Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man and best villain for Josh Brolin as Thanos.

Oscar-winner Larsen added to the superheroes' haul by picking up the best fight award, praising her stunt workers as the "living embodiment of Captain Marvel" as she brought them up on stage.

Joanna Bennett and Renae Moneymaker, who also trained Larsen for the first female-led Marvel Studios/ Disney superhero film, said it was an "honor" to work on the film and "be a part of bringing such a strong female character to life."

A wide-ranging awards show also paid tribute to women beyond Hollywood such as trailblazing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the subject of documentary "RBG", who won a new category for best real-life hero.

And in the evening's most poignant moment, victims of sexual abuse were honored by the producers of "Surviving R. Kelly," which won best documentary.

"Survivors walked through the fire and then stood again to tell this story," said Lifetime network executive Brie Miranda Bryant.

The docu-series has led Chicago

prosecutors to publicly seek out potential victims of R&B star Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty to felony sex crime charges.

"This isn't just a trophy to us because this really speaks to the important cultural impact that this generated from this documentary," Bryant added.

Newcomer Noah Centineo was the night's biggest individual winner, scooping awards for breakthrough performance and best kiss alongside Lana Condor for Netflix teen romance film "To All The Boys I've Loved Before."

But it was a disappointing night for "Game of Thrones", which won best show but lost out in three other categories.

The epic fantasy's final season was widely panned by critics and audiences.

The MTV Movie and TV Awards have been taking a sideways look at Hollywood since 1992, honoring films and their actors with "golden popcorn" statuettes.

The nominees are decided by producers and MTV executives, while the winners are chosen by the public, who vote online.

As a result, the awards have historically recognized commercial favorites, in contrast to the Oscars and other events based on critical or industry acclaim.

Police drop case that triggered India's #Metoo movement

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UMBAI | AFP | 6/13/2019 - Indian police said Thursday they had no evidence to support the allegations of sexual harassment made by an actress against a Bollywood star last year that sparked the country's #MeToo movement.

The case against multiple-awardwinning actor Nana Patekar -- one of the few #MeToo cases in India to have been investigated by police -was now closed, they said.

"There was no evidence that we could find against the accused," Mumbai police senior inspector Shailesh Pasalwar told AFP. Former Miss Universe contestant Tanushree Dutta first alleged in 2008 that Patekar had touched her inappropriately during the making of a romantic comedy the same year.

She made no formal complaint at the time and no action was taken against Patekar, who has repeatedly denied the accusations.

But, emboldened by the global #MeToo campaign, Dutta repeated the allegations in an interview last summer and in October went to police in Mumbai to report the claim.

It also gave non-competitive awards to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jada Pinkett Smith.

It triggered a belated #MeToo movement in India, which saw women share accounts of alleged harassment by several powerful men in the worlds of Bollywood, business, journalism, politics, comedy and even cricket.

For the second year running, the

Dozens of men lost their jobs -- in-

This year it added off-beat new categories for "most meme-able moment" and "reality royalty."

www. voiceofasia.news Read the latest articles and news on BOLLYWOOD /HOLLYWOOD & ENTERTAINMENT Visit : www. voiceofasia.news

Indian police said they had closed a case alleging sexual harassment by Bollywood actor Nana Patekar due to lack of evidence Indian police said they had closed a case alleging sexual harassment by Bollywood actor Nana Patekar due to lack of evidence. (AFP/File Photo) cluding India's former junior minister M.J. Akbar after at least 20 women accused him of sexual harassment during his time as a newspaper editor.

made by a former staff member against the country's top judge, Ranjan Gogoi, saying it lacked substance.

Very few cases ended up being probed by police, however, and several accused tried to turn the tables on their accusers by suing them for defamation.

Vidyut Jammwal acquitted in assault case

Akbar -- who denies the allegations against him -- has taken one of the complainants, Priya Ramani, to court.

Dutta said last year that she received legal notices from Patekar after repeating her claims against him.

In May, a Supreme Court panel dismissed a sexual harassment claim

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idyut Jammwal known for his role in Commando was recently acquitted by the Bandra magistrate court in a 12-yearold assault case. His was accused for attacking a businessman back in 2007.

The court has stated that "lack of evidence" is the main cause of acquittal.

On the night on which the incident took place, August 31 and September 1, 2007, Jammwal was partying and celebrating with his friends at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai. In accordance with the complaint filed with the police, Rahul Suri, a Juhu-based businessman, supposedly accidently pushed Jamwal’s friends while they were exiting the hotel. This, according to their narrative, led to a fist fight between them, and Suri alleged that Jammwal too beat him up and smashed and shattered a bottle on his head.

Jammwal was initially charged with voluntarily causing grievous harm, rioting, armed with a weapon and being part of an unlawful assembly. -NDTV

LEGAL

VOICE OF ASIA 13

Section 2

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

www.voiceofasia.news

Personal Injury – Using Technology To Your Advantage In An Auto Accident

by Sharlene Sharmila Richards, Immigration Lawyer Email at srichardslaw@aol.com

Sharlene Sharmila Richards

I

n this day and age when almost everyone has a smart phone and many times in public more than half the people are looking down and staring at a screen, it is all too easy to denounce technology. However, the same technology may be used to your advantage if you are ever involved in an auto accident. Before going any further, it is crucial to know that Texas law prohibits texting while driving. It is also good practice to limit cell phone use to wireless technology while driving.

Thus, if you or anyone you know have been involved in an auto accident, know your rights! Here are steps to take:

best, pay the least amount that is unjustifiable in any accident. A qualified attorney will fight insurance companies in order to get the best compensation you deserve for your damages, including past and future damages, lost wages, pain and suffering, etc. The attorney will evaluate all cases and explore all options for our clients to seek the highest compensation.

4. Get medical treatment for any injuries. Most injuries surface the day after the accident with soreness, pain, foggy mind, etc.

5. When you get home, back up your phone with videos and pictures to your iCloud or computer.

Make sure you save all pictures so that you have them for future reference.

About Mala Sharma Mala Sharma has been practicing family law and personal injury with her family at the Law Offices of Sharma & Associates, founded in 1997. Mala is President Emeritus of the Houston Northwest Bar Association, Board member of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association and South Asian Bar Association. She is also a member of the Houston Bar Association.

6.

Call your attorneys at Sharma & Associates, P.C. at 281-893- 8644 to get the most you deserve!

1. Call the police and get a police report filed! Wait for the police to arrive.

How long do you need to save these pictures? Under Texas, there is a statute of limitations of 2 years for all auto injuries arising out of the negligence of another.

Thus, you should save the pictures and videos for at least two years. Why do you need these pictures and videos? You may need these pictures to dispute traffic tickets. Make sure to discuss with your attorneys how to get them in evidence in Court. Secondly, you may have been injured in the accident. These photos and videos will be evidence to establish your injuries or damages. All insurance companies do what they do

2. Carefully and accurately document the accident scene either with photos, videos, or both.

Document any damage to your vehicle and the other vehicle. Make sure to accurately depict the location of the vehicles, traffic conditions, weather conditions, time of day, number of people in each vehicle, any witnesses, injuries.

3. Get the name, phone number, license plate number, driver’s

Disclaimer: This material is available for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. If you require advice on any particular legal question, you may contact Sharma & Associates at 281-893-8644 or by email at mala@sharmalaws.net to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.

Willy, Nanayakkara & Associates ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW

IMMIGRATION ATT ORNEYS

INTEGRITY

DIGNITY

COMPETENCE

ATTORNEYS

CHIRANJAYA “ CHIRO” NANAYAKKARA

GEORGE R. WILLY Principal Attorney

JAMES W. PARKER

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Any advice provided in this article is general in nature and not intended to constitute legal advice for any specific case. Please consult with an immigration lawyer about the specific circumstances of your case.

My Bio Sharlene Sharmila Richards is a licensed Immigration Lawyer practicing in Houston, Texas. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2000 and is a member of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and a member of the US Supreme Court.

If you require advice or assistance, you may contact her at telephone number 713-623-8088 or by email at srichardslaw@aol.com to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.

Q: My husband came here to the United States 6 months ago and he already filed for a change of status from B-2 Visitor to E-2 Treaty Investor. That applicant or petition is still pending. I am here in the US as a B-2 Visi-

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A: Since the Visitor visa is for use for short visits to the US, you will need to demonstrate that you do intend to return to your home country at the end of your visit or after your sister’s wedding has taken place. The consular officer will evaluate factors such as whether you maintain a residence in your country, your family ties there, employment, age etc. to determine the likelihood of you returning to your home country. In addition, you will also have to show that you have sufficient funds to cover the expenses that you will incur during your stay in the US. As such, you will need to provide a bank statement showing the funds at your disposal or alternatively, provide an Affidavit of Support from a U.S. Citizen or a U.S. Permanent Resident sponsor on Form I-134 Affidavit of Support.

It is also recommended that your brother and his fiancée provide a letter of invitation to you and which has the details of the wedding, where you will be staying, when

A: It may be best to apply to either extend your B-2 stay for another 6 months or apply to change your B-2 stay to that of B-1 for business activities as the B-1 is the correct status to have if you are looking at investing in the US. The application form to use is Form I-539 Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. For your dependent spouse, please do not forget to complete Form I-539A Supplemental Information for Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. These Forms can be found at www.uscis.gov. The filing fee is $370.00. There is also a biometrics fee of $85.00 for this Form. Each applicant will need to pay the biometrics fee. In your case, it would be an additional $170.00 for both you and your wife. Be prepared to provide documentation evidencing your financial ability to support yourself here and also to show that you have sufficient funds to invest in the purported business. You must file the Form I-539 prior to the expiry of your authorized stay.

A: You may wait until your husband’s E-2 case has been approved and then apply for change of status to E-2 dependent. But in order to do this, your change of status application must be filed before the expiry of your authorized stay. Or you may go ahead and file for a change of status to E-2 now but be aware that the approval of your E-2 dependent status is conditioned upon the approval of your husband’s E-2 status.

In terms of documents, you will need copy of the following: biographic page of your passport, your B-2 visa, I-94, your Marriage Certificate (if not in English, it must be accompanied by an accurate English translation) and either the receipt of the filing of your husband’s E-2 petition or the approval notice, whichever is applicable.

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Q: I am planning to visit the U.S. to attend my sister’s wedding to her US Citizen fiancée. I already submitted my DS-160 Nonimmigrant Visa Application for a Tourist Visa. How I can prepare so that I can receive the Visitor visa?

Q: My wife and I arrived here in the US as visitors on B-2 Tourist visa and were given 6 months authorized stay. We have decided we wish to remain in the US and are interested in exploring the possibility of investing in a business in the US and to apply for a change of status to E-2 Treaty Investor.

We have another month left on our authorized stay and have been here for 5 months already. We need a little more time to find the business to buy and to transfer our investment from our home country.

What do you recommend?

tor and I have two months left on my authorized stay.

What is the process for me to apply to change to E-2 Dependent? What documents do I need to submit for the change of status as E-2 dependent?

www.richardsimmigration.com

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A: To apply for a B-1/-B-2 Tourist visa, please go to the online DS160 visa application website at https://ceac.state.gov/ GenNIV/Default.aspx. You will have to complete and submit the DS-160 application online. Do not forget to also have ready a passport sized photo in jpeg form to download to the application before you submit it. There is no fee to submit the online application but be prepared to pay a fee prior to your interview at the U.S. Consulate. After you have submitted the DS-160 nonimmigrant visa application, the U.S. Consulate will contact you to arrange for your visa interview.

they expect you to arrive in the US. Also, be prepared to have your return ticket available to show the consular officer of your intent to return to your home country.

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VOICE OF ASIA 14

Section 2

Young Life

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“GET INSPIRED HOUSTON” – College and High School students begin their journey to become community leaders

The college undergraduate students take lead on various projects.

Sewa International Houston student members.

by Arun Dev Kumar

W

hat does it take to become a community leader? How do we identify a community leader? These are questions that theoretically have many answers but Sewa International Houston knows how to breed them. As flag bearers to the motto of selfless service Sewa International has relentlessly served the community in many areas including education, family services, public health and Disaster Relief & Rehabilitation (R&R) but perhaps its most significant contribution over the years has been its Get Inspired Houston (GIH) & LEAD Internship programs.

Every summer Sewa Inter-

national as part of its volunteer & community building outreach onboards College undergrads and High School students under six cohorts that set a baseline for developing well rounded young community leaders that emerge at the end of the 2-month internship.

The college undergraduate students take lead on various projects assisted by 2-3 High school students in Youth Education, Public Health, Family Services, Grant Writing, PR & Media and Event Management. Students from various backgrounds and across state & city boundaries come together to put in over 200 hours during the summer across Sewa’s flagship projects which include ASPIRE after-school tuto-

rial program, Disaster R&R at Rosharon in Brazoria county and Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM).

Running three after school programs for kids from lowincome immigrant and refugee communities at no cost to the families; the ASPIRE program presents interns with tasks to create fun- curriculums that teaches these kids English and draw their creativity to learn.

The most recent batch of GIH interns also came out to support the Hurricane Harvey rehabilitation efforts in the Brazoria County where Sewa GIH interns volunteered through the day to support building over 60 homes. Additionally, interns as part of Disaster R&R will also

Secrets to overachievement, from Priyanka Chopra Jonas

be presenting Emergency preparedness checklists and documentation. In addition to these they will also execute specific projects like planning vaccination drives and assist SDM camps under public health and planning field trips from scratch under event management.

Sewa thrives on ambitious volunteers and openly welcomes creative ideas from the interns to run their own special projects that they are passionate about. This year Sewa onboarded 10 GIH interns from universities like University of

D

The teenager will not be executed and could be released by 2022, according to campaigners including the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights which has tracked his case for years.

T

Celebrated actor, author and humanitarian Priyanka Chopra Jonas is a true overachiever.

As the new G2 Overachievers spokesperson, she is sharing tips for discovering the overachiever in all of us: • Think Bigger: Look for simple ways to maximize the impact of your everyday activities. When donating to charity, investigate matching programs to make your dollar go further. Planning to volunteer at a food pantry?

First, talk to staff to determine what days of the week you’re needed most. Picking up groceries for dinner? Ask an elderly neighbor what he or she needs from the store. With a little planning, seemingly small tasks can have a big impact.

• Lead by Example: For Priyanka, the goal is to “inspire the next generation of children to be more kind and more compassionate.” For the past several years, Pilot Pen has recognized exceptionally inspiring individuals through the annual G2 Overachievers Grant, which is designed to enhance the reach of unique and impactful individu-

als and their projects.

Previous honorees include Jacqueline Norvell, a full-time legal secretary, single mother and founder of Brown Bag Lady, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to providing meals, resources and compassion to the city’s homeless. Previous Student Grant winner, Erin Manuel, has raised over $16,000 since the age of 7, selling hand-crafted bookmarks, sculptures and other crafts in order to provide aid for health, education and food programs in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

This year, Priyanka has joined Pilot Pen to help select and award the G2 Overachievers $100,000 grant -- double the amount of last year’s grant -- to someone who goes above and beyond his or her 9-to-5 role to make the world a better place.

She will also help select and award the winners of the 2018 $50,000 G2 Overachievers Grant and $15,000 G2 Overachievers Student Grant.

• Have the Right Tools: What are your goals? What issues matter most to you? Overachievers know it’s helpful to jot down thoughts, ideas and solutions. As Priyanka says: “I have to have a pen in my hand when I think.”

The written word is powerful and capturing ideas as they arise

makes them more tangible -- just be prepared for them to strike at any time and have great tools on hand, like Priyanka’s favorite, the Pilot G2 gel ink pen.

Whether writing down goals or creating a business plan, G2 is America’s number one selling pen and a preferred pen of overachievers everywhere.

• Recognize Unsung Heroes: You may know overachievers from your job, school or neighborhood, making positive changes, big and small. Make sure they know their work matters. “So much of philanthropy is a thankless job,” Priyanka shares. “Most people who do it don’t expect much back.”

Celebrate these good works and encourage an overachiever’s mission by nominating them for next year’s G2 Overachievers Grant or Student Grant, which is now officially open for submissions. To learn more or submit a hand- written nomination for yourself or someone you admire, visit G2Overachievers. com.

Overachievers can come from all backgrounds and all ages.

With courage, perseverance, and the right tools, anyone with a vision can make a positive impact on the world.

- StatePoint

For more information about the program, please visit www. sewaaspire.com

UBAI, United Arab Emirates | AFP | 6/17/2019 - A Saudi Shiite teenager who was arrested at the age of 13 and faced the death penalty will not be executed, activists said Monday, after his case drew international criticism.

Some of those offences dated back to when Qureiris, who is from the kingdom's minority Shiite community, was 10 years old, they said.

he definition of an overachiever is someone who goes above and beyond their daily responsibilities to make a positive impact on the world.

The Houston chapter of Sewa International follows Sewa’s mission of selfless service by promoting volunteerism, aiding the local community and helping humanity in distress. So, to answer-- What does it take to become a community leader?

How do we identify them?

I believe it is the motivation and passion for volunteerism and benevolence towards the community and the greater humanity at this tender age, exemplified by Sewa’s GIH & LEAD interns. But most importantly it is the nurturing ground such as the one Sewa provides through this internship program that make leaders for the community & by the community.

Saudi arrested at 13 will not be executed: campaigners

Saudi prosecutors had sought the death sentence for Murtaja Qureiris, now 18, for a series of offences including participating in anti-government protests, rights groups reported this month.

Pilot Pen G2 Overachievers grant spokesperson, Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

Houston, Rice, St. Mary’s college, Arkansas Tech, UT and UTSA to take point on these projects and they will be supported by 28 LEAD – high school interns.

The teenager has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, which includes time already served since his arrest and four years suspended, CNN reported citing a Saudi official.

Murtaja Qureiris was detained in 2014 and received an initial 12year sentence [Amnesty International] authorities were seeking the death penalty for someone arrested under the age of 13 in the first place," said Amnesty International's Middle East research director Lynn Maalouf.

of detained women activists.

"Use of the death penalty against people under 18 at the time of the crime is a flagrant violation of international law."

Some of them were minors at the time of their alleged crimes, activists said.

That effectively leaves him with three more years in jail.

Last week, Austria's government said it would implement a vote by MPs calling for the closure of a controversial Saudi-funded centre for religious dialogue in Vienna amid concerns over Qureiris's possible execution.

"The news that Murtaja Qureiris will not face execution is a huge relief for him and his family, but it is utterly outrageous that the Saudi Arabian

Riyadh faces intense international scrutiny over its human rights record since journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder last October and the ongoing trial

In April, 37 people, mostly Shiites, were executed in what experts called one of the largest mass executions of the minority sect in the kingdom's history.

Saudi Arabia has long been criticised for being one of the world's top executioners.

Rights experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the fairness of trials in Saudi Arabia, governed under a strict form of Islamic law.

People convicted of terrorism, homicide, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking face the death penalty, which the government says is a deterrent for further crime.

Far-right UK student jailed over Prince Harry online posts

L

ONDON, United Kingdom | AFP | Tuesday 6/18/2019 A far-right university student who called Prince Harry a race traitor and created an image of him with a pistol to his head was on Tuesday jailed in Britain for more than four years.

Michal Szewczuk, 19, posted the image, which also featured a blood-splattered swastika, on microblogging platform Gab in August last year, months after the prince married mixed-race actress Meghan Markle.

The post included the phrase "See Ya Later Race Traitor".

Szewczuk, who was jailed for four years and three months, pleaded guilty to two counts of encouraging terrorism and five counts of possession of terrorist material, including the White Resistance Manual and an Al-Qaeda manual.

The teenager moved to Britain from Poland when he was 10, and now lives in Leeds in northern England.

He was sentenced at the London's Old Bailey court alongside 18-year-old Oskar

Dunn-Koczorowski, who admitted two counts of encouraging terrorism after the pair engaged in the same online chatrooms.

Judge Rebecca Poulet called the posts "abhorrent as well as criminal by reason of their clear intention to encourage terrorist acts".

"Individuals were urged to go out and commit appalling acts of violence on others for no reason that can ever be understood by any right-thinking individuals," she added.

Dunn-Koczorowski received an 18-month jail term.

VOICE OF ASIA 15

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month

June is National Safety Month

Section 2 Tel: 713-774-5140

Brain disease kills 97 Indian children, ‘heat curfew’ imposed as severe heat rages in Bihar state

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ATNA, India - The Indian state of Bihar grappled Monday with twin crises, with a brain virus potentially linked to lychees killing almost 100 children and extreme heat leaving 78 people dead.

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The heatwave — India's second-longest on record — prompted authorities in part of the northern state, one of the country's poorest, to impose curfewlike restrictions.

Daytime temperatures across large parts of India have hovered above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for the past 32 days, just one short of a record 33-day period in 1988.

Temperatures touched 50.3 degrees Celsius in the town of Churu in the northern desert state of Rajasthan recently, just below India's record of 51 degrees.

Bihar, home to almost 100 million people, has seen temperatures hovering around 45 degrees for several days.

Severe heat there has killed 78 people -- most of them aged above 50 -across three districts since Saturday afternoon, local official Sandeep Kumar told AFP. More than 130 others were undergoing emergency treatment for heatstroke in various hospitals.

Authorities in Gaya district which has borne the brunt of the heatwave invoked an Indian law to prohibit residents from going outdoors for nonessential work.

The district magistrate also banned construction work and any outdoor programme between 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Heatstroke is usually caused by prolonged exposure to sun or from physical exertion in high temperatures.

It has left more than 36 people dead in southern India in recent weeks.

Large parts of India are also reeling from drought, with annual monsoon

Temperatures in an Indian desert city hit 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) for the second time in three days as a deadly heatwave maintained its grip on the country. (File/AFP). rains late in coming.

Last week four passengers on a train travelling from Agra -- the city of the Taj Mahal -- to Coimbatore in the country's south died from heatstroke.Bihar, home to some of India's worst health indicators, has also been struggling with an outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), a viral infection, since the start of this month.

entourage around the SKMCH for an inspection.

A doctor told a local TV channel that the SKMCH was ill-equipped to handle the rush of patients, most of whom were wheeled in semi-conscious. The outbreak of the disease has happened annually during summer months in the same districts since 1995, typically coinciding with the lychee season.

Eighty children have now died in the state's biggest government-run hospital -- the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), in the city of Muzaffarpur -- and 17 others at a private facility, health official Ashok Kumar Singh said.

Several years ago US researchers had said the brain disease could be linked to a toxic substance found in the fruit.

Most of the victims had suffered a sudden loss of glucose in their blood, Singh told AFP.

They also said more study was needed to uncover the cause of the illness, which leads to seizures, altered mental state and death in more than a third of cases.

TV channels showed distraught parents sitting next to their children, several of whom were cramped on one bed.

One parent heckled India's Health Minister Harsh Vardhan as he took his

Known locally as Chamki Bukhar, the disease claimed a record 150 lives in 2014.

Outbreaks of neurological illness have also been observed in lycheegrowing regions of Bangladesh and Vietnam.

'Invisible pandemic': WHO offers global plan to fight superbugs

by Nina Larson

G

ENEVA, Switzerland | AFP | Tuesday 6/18/2019 - The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global campaign Tuesday to curb the spread of antibiotic resistant germs through safer and more effective use of the life-saving drugs.

The UN health agency said it had developed a classification system listing which antibiotics to use for the most common infections and which for the most serious ones, which drugs should be available at all times, and which should be used as a last resort only.

The aim is to prevent antibiotic resistance, which happens when bugs become immune to existing drugs, rendering minor injuries and common infections potentially deadly.

Such resistance can develop naturally, but overuse and misuse of the drugs

U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury Expand Access to Quality, Affordable Health Coverage Through Health Reimbursement Arrangements

dramatically speeds up the process.

"Antimicrobial resistance is an invisible pandemic," WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines, Mariangela Simao, said in a statement.

"We are already starting to see signs of a post-antibiotic era, with the emergence of infections that are untreatable by all classes of antibiotics," she said.

Discovered in the 1920s, antibiotics have saved tens of millions of lives by defeating bacterial diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and meningitis.

But over the decades, bacteria have learned to fight back, building resistance to the same drugs that once reliably vanquished them -- turning into so-called "superbugs".

- 'Urgent' health risk The WHO campaign pointed to num-

bers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimating that some 2.4 million people could die over the next 30 years in Europe, North America and Australia due to superbug infections.

According to a recent report by the International Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, more than 50 percent of antibiotics in many countries are used inappropriately.

This includes antibiotics, which work only against bacterial infections, prescribed to treat viruses.

At the same time, many low- and middle-income countries see vast gaps in access to effective and appropriate antibiotics.

Nearly one million children die each year from pneumonia that could have been treated if they had access to antibiotics, WHO pointed out.

oday, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury issued a new policy that will provide hundreds of thousands of employers, including small businesses, a better way to provide health insurance coverage, and millions of American workers more options for health insurance coverage. The Departments issued a final regulation that will expand the use of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). When employers have fully adjusted to the rule, it is estimated this expansion of HRAs will benefit approximately 800,000 employers, including small businesses, and more than 11 million employees and family members, including an estimated 800,000 Americans who were previously uninsured.

Under the rule, starting in January 2020, employers will be able to use what are referred to as individual coverage HRAs to provide their workers with tax-preferred funds to pay for the cost of health insurance coverage that workers purchase in the individual market, subject to certain conditions.

These conditions strike the right balance between employer flexibility and guardrails meant to protect the individual market against adverse selection, and include a notice requirement to ensure employees understand the benefit. Individual coverage HRAs are designed to give working Americans and their families greater control over their healthcare by providing an additional way for employers to finance health insurance.

This regulation is in response to President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order on “Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States,” and is part of the Trump Administration’s work to deliver more health coverage choices and lower healthcare costs for Americans. Full implementation of the HRA rule, the Association Health Plan rule, and the short-term, limited-duration insurance rule is projected to provide insurance to nearly 2 million people, on net, who would otherwise be uninsured.

Many businesses have struggled with the high costs and complex bureaucracy of providing health insurance coverage, leading to less coverage for workers. Over the last decade, a significant number of small businesses have stopped offering any health insurance to their employees.

As a result, a smaller percentage of Americans working in small businesses are being covered by employer health benefits, and many are left uninsured. Moreover, 80 percent of employers that provide coverage only offer one type of health plan to their employees, leaving workers and their families with no choices and plans that may not meet their needs.

The HRA rule makes it easier for small businesses to compete with

Sudhir Mathuria HEALTHLIFE 360 713-771-2900 larger businesses by creating another option for financing worker health insurance coverage. The rule enables businesses to better focus on serving their customers and growing their businesses—and not on navigating and managing complex health benefit designs.

The HRA rule also increases workers’ choice of coverage, increases the portability of coverage, and will generally improve worker economic well-being. This rule will also allow workers to shop for plans in the individual market and select coverage that best meets their needs. Because HRAs are tax-preferred, workers who buy an individual market plan with an HRA receive the same tax advantages as workers with traditional employer-sponsored coverage. Further, by increasing employee options and empowering more people to shop for health plans in the individual market, the final rule should spur a more competitive individual market that drives health insurers to deliver better coverage options to consumers.

In addition to allowing individual coverage HRAs, the HRA rule creates an excepted benefit HRA. In general, this aspect of the rule permits employers that offer traditional group health plans to provide an excepted benefit HRA of up to $1,800 per year (indexed to inflation after 2020), even if the employee doesn’t enroll in the traditional group health plan, and to reimburse an employee for certain qualified medical expenses, including premiums for vision, dental, and short-term, limited-duration insurance. This provision will also benefit employees who have been opting out of their employer’s traditional group health plan because the employee share of premiums is too expensive.

Source: HHS Press Release.

To enroll in Small Business group plan, Medicare Advantage Plan, Medicare Supplement Plan or Medicare Prescription Drug plan contact Sudhir Mathuria at 713-771-2900.

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HEALTH - DIET & EXERCISE

VOICE OF ASIA 16

The definitive guide to intuitive eating

H

ave you tried (and failed) every fad diet in the book? When it comes to nutrition, there's such a wealth of information available that it can be overwhelming. But before you start to lose hope, there's a new school of thought which advocates doing away with dieting altogether.

Sounds too good to be true?

Bear with us.

Forget paleo and cast keto aside, intuitive eating is the hot new nutrition craze on the block, but how does it work and what are the health implications? We speak to nutritionist Laura Holland and specialist dietitian and nutritionist Rachel Clarkson about learning to eat intuitively: What is intuitive eating?

OK, it's not actually brand new, but following a wave of restrictive diet trends, intuitive eating is making a comeback.

The term was first coined in 1995 when dietitian Evelyn Tribole and nutritional therapist Elyse Reschin published the book Intuitive eating. It is an approach to nutrition that has no rules, and weight loss is not the main agenda. You essentially follow your instincts and listen to your body's hunger and fullness cues.

'Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach to eating, removing the idea of restriction and focusing on internal body cues such as fullness and satiation,' says Clarkson. 'There is no diet plan, counting calories or anything for that matter – just full awareness of how you feel, and

you eat accordingly.'

Intuitive eating involves becoming aware of how your body responds to different foods and making decisions about what to eat based on intrinsic knowledge.

'The intention is to eat in a way that truly nourishes and nurtures your body,' explains Holland. 'How do you measure this? By how good you feel, physically, mentally and emotionally.'

How do you follow intuitive eating?

There's no set structure for following intuitive eating, and it might take a while for you to get used to listening to your body and responding accordingly with your food choices.

If you have spent a lifetime dieting, it might take some time to unlearn the traditional diet rules such as "carbs are bad".

'There is no short-cut,' says Holland. 'You have to be conscious and aware of how your body feels and responds to food.'

Holland outlines the following key principles of intuitive eating to help you get started: • Slow down Give yourself the time to connect with your body and acknowledge the connection between the food you eat and how you feel.

• Keep a food journal This is an excellent way to facilitate this dialogue. Every evening make a note of what you consumed and then run

6 Calorie bombs to avoid when dining out

your attention back through the day, noting down how you felt… did you feel bloated or were you comfortable? Were you light and energised or heavy and tired? Did you get super hungry? Or were you content and comfortable with what you ate, or did you feel guilty and if so, why?

Once you begin to build intelligence over a number of days you can the start connecting the dots and understanding your body more, which puts you in the perfect position to make decisions about foods and drinks that really do nurture you.

It may be as subtle as noticing that one coffee per day makes you feel balanced and comfortable, but when you have two you easily feel anxious and uncomfortable. Or, when you have salad for lunch you feel bloated, but if you have soups or something warm and cooked you don’t.

What are the benefits of intuitive eating?

Intuitive eating may appeal to people who have a complex relationship with food. 'This approach can be very helpful if you have experienced disordered eating and if you want to mend your relationship with food,' says Clarkson.

'On a practical level, it also means that you start eating food that actually suits your body, helps you to feel good and in doing so restores the internal balance necessary for your health and wellbeing,' adds Holland.

What are the disadvantages

Mindfulness profits as meditation apps mature

When dining out, Jessie James Decker orders a salad to avoid the bread basket.

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here’s nothing better than a night on the town. But when you’re trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle, restaurant menus aren’t always your friend.

Here are six foods to avoid -- some are sneaky, some are loaded with calories and sugar

of intuitive eating?

Unlike some restrictive fad diets, intuitive eating doesn't come with as many health risks.

But as it's more of a mindset shift than a diet plan, it can take a bit of time to adjust to a new way of thinking about food.

'It is a complete departure from a diet mindset,' says Holland. 'It is very easy to allow what you "think" you "should" be eating to take over true body wisdom and intuition.

'There is a level of connection, stillness and awareness that is needed for this to happen, along with a loving intention, willingness to be guided and trust in your own body.'

'I would seek the advice of an experienced dietitian in the area to minimise risks,' adds Clarkson. 'For example if you attempt to understand the techniques, you could over-consume high energy foods which may lead to weight gain and health implications. ' The verdict on intuitive eating

Headspace app logo. (Courtesy of headspace.com)

P

ARIS: From the Zen capital of LA to the Champs Elysees comes the calming voice of a British Buddhist monk-turned entrepreneur, introducing American-style online mindfulness to the stressed-out French.

“Relax your muscles, breathe,” Andy Puddicombe, the bronzed co-founder of the app Headspace, intones by videoconference to a roomful of participants gathered on Paris’s chic shopping artery.

The Englishman and his French team are hoping to replicate the US success of Headspace with a French-language version, in a market where New Age philosophies from the “Anglo-Saxon” world are often viewed askance.

Its path has been helped by the success of French mindfulness app Petit Bambou, which launched in 2015 — five years after Headspace — and claims more than three million users in France for its free and paid platforms.

Both apps use guided meditations for an array of situations — from coping with bereavement to just getting through a difficult day at work — with support from online counsellors, funky animations and videos.

In France, as in the US, Britain and elsewhere, companies have been signing up to subscriptions for their employees.

Petit Bambou says it has secured “hundreds of licenses” from companies such as Deloitte and railways group SNCF, and that it has nothing to fear from Headspace, which along with rival Calm dominates the US market.

In a Paris studio, working on voice recordings for the app, Petit Bambou co-founder Ben-

jamin Blasco said his company was in any case aiming for the long haul.

“We broke even three years ago. We will not sacrifice anything on the altar of marketing,” Blasco told AFP. “We do not try at all costs to keep people in the app,” he said, but to solicit a two-way exchange and tailor therapy to the user’s needs.

“Meditation is not a miracle tool, rather a mental hygiene: what’s essential is regular practice,” Blasco said.

Investors are certainly buying in to the concept. Calm — which like Headspace was cofounded by a British emigre to California, Michael Acton Smith — raised $88 million from a fundraising round in February.

That gave it a valuation of $1bn, which Smith noted made Calm the first “mental health unicorn”.

“Unicorns” are start-up companies with a billion-plus valuation.

But like Headspace, Calm has its sights set further afield.

In Britain it has enlisted actor and TV presenter Stephen Fry to record bedtime stories for use on a popular feature that helps users get to sleep.

“America is only 4.5 percent of the total global population, so there are a lot of other people that can enjoy the product and help the company grow,” Smith told CNBC after the investment round.

According to figures from Marketdata, the US mindfulness market as a whole including the dozens of apps on offer topped $1 billion in 2017, and should double that by 2022.

Helped by the growth in

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

apps, a survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found 14 percent of Americans had meditated in 2017, a threefold increase in five years.

Headspace alone says it has 50 million users worldwide, and has raised $75 million from investors in total, despite marketing a product that preaches “digital detox”.

While it sounds great in theory, the jury is still out on the efficacy of this new approach to eating.

'There isn’t enough scientific literature published in the area to prove efficacy, however some dieticians have seen great

and some are just easy to overdo.

1. The Bread Basket: Besides water, the pile of bread delivered to your table is one of the few things you’ll get for free.

But it’s not completely free.

Each roll, when slathered with butter, can amount to around 140 calories. Here’s a tip from South Beach Diet ambassador, Jessie James Decker, “I like to order a fresh salad to start my meal so that I’m not quite as hungry. It allows me to avoid the bread.”

2. Margaritas and Daiquiris: Even a lime margarita -- without strawberry, mango or other flavors -- can be close to 300 calories with an astounding 36 grams of sugar. If you go for a second round, you’ve downed 600 calories before the appetizers even arrive. Opt for a seltzer with lime or glass of white wine instead.

3. Guacamole: Avocado is loaded with healthy fats that can help you stay full, have been shown in studies to burn off belly fat and benefit heart health. Add lycopene from the tomatoes and guacamole seems like a great choice. But serving size matters. A proper serving is just a quarter cup, which at most restaurants, gets scooped onto one or two chips.

And those chips aren’t helping, either. With chips and dip together, “tableside guacamole” served at major chain restaurants can be almost 1500 total calories.

4. Caesar Salad: But it’s

benefit with their patients,' says Clarkson. 'Some of the theory around not restricting foods or placing them into "good" and

salad! Right? Technically, yes.

But it’s covered in cheese and creamy dressing that can be up to 180 calories per serving.

Croutons alone can deliver 93 calories in just a half-cup serving. Add protein, and you could be consuming almost half a day’s worth of calories. Your best bet? Stick to garden salads with vinaigrette dressing on the side.

5. Chicken Wings: Wings pack a big caloric punch for being so small. That’s because they’re more skin than meat, and most buffalo sauces have a pretty simple recipe: half melted butter, half hot sauce. A “small” order of medium-heat wings from a top chain has 820 calories and a jaw-dropping 45 grams of fat. That’s more fat than you’ll find in four servings of butter. Split an order and make it your meal or skip the wings and get grilled tenders with dipping sauce on the side.

6.

Anything “Loaded,” “Double-stuffed,” “Creamy,” “Cheesy” or “Fried”: All those terms are missing one word -- “over.” They’re overloaded, overstuffed and usually oversized. An order of “loaded” potato skins at one popular restaurant has almost 1400 calories and nearly 100 grams of fat.

For more healthy tips, visit palm.southbeachdiet.com.

Eating out is a favorite pastime for many. So, don’t give it up. Simply learn to navigate menus, sticking to items that keep you on track.

-StatePoint

"bad" food groups can be extremely helpful to improve relationships with food.'

-Netdoctor

The paradox is not lost on Richard Pierson, the company’s other British co-founder.

“Although there is the irony that the phone is probably causing us a lot of our stress, our hope is that by using Headspace, you’ll be able to teach yourself the techniques that you need to learn in order to be able to use your phone in a more mindful way,” he said at the Paris launch.

Many of the techniques in mindfulness apps are rooted in Buddhism and have long been familiar to practitioners in Asia. But what, if any, science underpins the apps?

Boosters got new backing with a US scientific study released in late April that looked at the effects of an experimental mindfulness app aimed at smokers.

The app helped many participants cut their smoking or give up altogether, by helping to rewire impulses in the brain linked to addiction.

The world of mindfulness “has become a business, but there is an ethical dimension,” commented Dominique Steiler, a professor at the Grenoble Ecole de Management who specialises in the “well-being” economy.

Apps “are a good way to get started”, but users should be encouraged ultimately to sever the smartphone cord and meditate alone, he said.

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LIFESTYLE & LEISURE

VOICE OF ASIA 17

Heiress and legendary socialite Gloria Vanderbilt dies at 95

York and Long Island.

N

EW YORK | AFP | 6/17/2019 - American heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, a designer and artist who became one of the most chronicled socialites of her era, died Monday after a battle with stomach cancer, her son announced. She was 95 years old.

"As a teenager she tried to avoid the spotlight, but reporters and cameramen followed her everywhere," Cooper said. "She was determined to make something of her life, determined to make a name for herself, and find the love she so desperately needed."

A regular of best-dressed lists and gossip columns, Vanderbilt's A-list coterie included Charlie Chaplin and Truman Capote, who is said to have drawn inspiration from the lithe, raven-haired heiress for the iconic character Holly Golightly -- played in the film version by Audrey Hepburn -- of his 1958 novella "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

The great-great granddaughter of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, she was thrust into the spotlight as the "poor little rich girl" at the center of a sensational custody battle in the 1930s, before finding fame in her own right for her line of designer blue jeans and it-girl fashion.

"Gloria Vanderbilt was an extraordinary woman, who loved life, and lived it on her own terms," her son, the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, said in a tribute read on air.

Artistic and glam, Vanderbilt was well-known for her tumultuous love life that included four marriages and racy escapades with a slew of suitors including Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Marlon Brando.

"It is fantastic how Vanderbilt she looks! See the corners of her eyes, how they turn up?" her father, aristocrat Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, is said to have exclaimed after her birth in Manhattan on February 20, 1924.

Baby Gloria Laura Madeleine Sophie was left with a multi-million dollar trust fund after Reginald -- the descendant of wealthy Dutch and English shipping and transportation barons -- drank himself to death slightly more than a year later.

Her notoriously unstable mother -Gloria Laura Mercedes Morgan, who wielded the reins of the trust fund -swept Vanderbilt away to Paris to be raised by a nanny, while she became a mainstay of the party circuit with her twin sister.

But Vanderbilt's philanthropist and artist aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whit-

Mumbai man held for possession of Rs 1.7 cr worth whale vomit

M

UMBAI, Jun 18 (PTI) A 53-year-old man who had come to sell 1.3 kg of ambergris (whale vomit) worth Rs 1.7 crore, was arrested in Mumbai, police Tuesday.

Ambergris is a waxy substance that originates as a secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, found floating in tropical seas and used in perfume manufacture.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of police and forest department officials laid a trap Saturday in the Cama Lane of suburban Vidyavihar area and nabbed Rahul Dupare, police said.

"We seized 1.3 kg of ambergris, worth Rs 1.7 crore, from him. It is a prohibited item. We have registered a case under relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and have arrested Dupare," a police official said.

The sperm whale is an endangered species protected under the Wildlife Act. Ambergris is soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether and certain volatile and fixed oils.

Bella Hadid apologizes after being accused of racism

S

upermodel Bella Hadid is apologizing to fans who were offended by a recent post on her Instagram Story.

The controversy started after Hadid, 22, posted a photo on her Instagram Story featuring her shoe up against an airport window. In the background are airplanes from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Critics were upset as in the photo, her foot was positioned so that she showed the sole of her foot towards the flags on the plane’s tails which is disrespectful in Arabic culture, spurring the hashtag #BellaHadidIsRacist. Several on Twitter also called for brands that work with Hadid, like Dior and Calvin Klein, to stop using her in their ad campaigns.

A representative for Hadid did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Hadid apologized in both English

- 'Big fat hopes' -

The socialite-in-waiting dabbled in art, modeling, poetry and acting in a bid to carve out an identity beyond her lavish inheritance. Eager to grow up quickly, she married for the first time at age 17, to a mob associate of the boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano.

by Maggy Donaldson

"She was a painter, a writer, and designer but also a remarkable mother, wife, and friend. She was 95 years old, but ask anyone close to her, and they'd tell you, she was the youngest person they knew, the coolest, and most modern."

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

Her myriad artistic endeavors led Life magazine in 1968 to dub her "a feminine version of the Renaissance Man." ney -- founder of New York's famed Whitney Museum of American Art -sued for custody in 1934.

as most Americans suffered under the Great Depression.

She won after a highly publicized trial that at moments heard the young girl weep and wail, and aired sordid testimony of greed and debauchery

Back stateside, Vanderbilt grew up pampered by servants, chauffeurs and tutors in her aunt's mansions in New

- Feminine Renaissance Man -

Indian Houdini drowns after 'magic' act goes wrong

K

OLKATA, India | AFP | 6/17/2019 - Indian police on Monday recovered the body of a magician who drowned while trying to replicate an underwater Houdini-inspired stunt -- tying himself up with chains and ropes and being lowered into a river.

Rescue workers found the body of Chanchal Lahiri late Monday in the Hooghly river, the deputy commissioner of the port division of Kolkata police, Syed Waquar Raza, told AFP The 40-year-old Lahiri, who was known by his stage name "Jadugar Mandrake" (Wizard Mandrake), was lowered by winch into the river in Kolkata on Sunday in a yellow and red costume.

But the 40-year-old -- his legs and his arms tightly bound -- failed to emerge from the water, to the horror of onlookers including his family and team members.

Authorities had initially believed that the vanishing act could be part of the stunt but immediately mobilised help to rescue him.

Lahiri told AFP before the attempted escape act that he had successfully pulled off a similar stunt 21 years ago at the same venue in the eastern city.

"I was inside a bulletproof glass box tied with chain and locks and dropped down from Howrah bridge. Then I

J

Now the thick trunk of the 150-yearold tree is the central feature of their residence, growing through the middle of the building in the city of Jabalpur.

"We are nature lovers and my father insisted that we keep the tree," said Yogesh Kesharwani, whose parent built the house in 1994 with the help of an engineer friend.

"The tree is some 150 years old. We knew it was easy to cut the tree but difficult to grow one like it," he told AFP. The fig tree, known as peepal in Hindi, is considered sacred by many in India and cutting one down is considered inauspicious.

Her brand expanded to include other apparel along with fragrances and linens, growing to a reported $100 million-a-year business.

"I'm not knocking inherited money," she told The New York Times in 1985, "but the money I've made has a reality to me that inherited money doesn't have."

Her final marriage to Wyatt Emory Cooper in 1963 produced two more sons, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper and Anderson Hays Cooper.

She suffered major personal tragedy -- her last husband died during heart surgery in 1978, and Vanderbilt endured the horror of losing one of her sons to suicide 10 years later.

The Vanderbilt family has said Carter had been troubled by depression and may have experienced a psychotic episode due to a medication he was taking.

The 23-year-old arose in the middle of the night, apparently confused, and leapt to his death, they said. Vanderbilt rarely spoke of the tragedy.

"Her private self, her real self was more fascinating and lovely than anything she showed the public," Anderson Cooper said of his mother. "She trusted too freely, too completely and suffered tremendous losses, but she always pressed on, always worked hard, always believed the best was yet to come."

She was open about her numerous love affairs with single and married men, which she detailed in a 2005 memoir. She also wrote poetry, short stories and novels -- including erotica she penned in her 80s.

"You must always have great, secret, big fat hopes for yourself in love and in life," Vanderbilt is known to have said. "The bigger, the better."

came out within 29 seconds," he said.

He admitted it would be tough to free himself this time.

"If I can open it up then it will be magic, but if I can't it will be tragic," he said.

He also said he was undertaking the death-defying stunt to "revive interest in magic".

When Lahiri tried another stunt at the river in 2013, he was assaulted by onlookers who saw him escape from a locked cage via a door that was clearly visible.

He was beaten and punched and his long flowing golden-brown wig was pulled off by the crowd.

Almost a decade earlier, he declared he would walk on the river waters but had to beat a hasty retreat when the act went wrong.

Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American stuntman who became a sensation in the early 20th century with daredevil feats including escaping from a crate lowered into the East River in New York in 1912.

Indian family branches out with novel tree house ABALPUR, India | AFP | Tuesday 6/18/2019 - When the Kesharwanis decided to branch out and expand their family home, they came up with a novel way of dealing with an ancient giant fig tree in their garden -- they built the house around it.

She made fashion waves in the 1970s with a line of designer denim carrying her signature on the back pocket, which she modeled herself and promoted on tours nationwide.

After her first failed marriage she tied the knot three more times, first to the conductor Leopold Stokowski, with whom she had two sons, and then to director Sidney Lumet.

destroying anything.

The four-storey building is a local landmark because of its unique facade.

Leafy branches jut out from the windows, dwarfing the building and prompting curious looks from passersby.

"When the house was first built, engineering students used to come here to try and understand the unique

Indian stuntman Chanchal Lahiri, known by his stage name 'Jadugar Mandrake', has drowned after being lowered into the Hooghly river and failing to re-emerge.

(Photo: AFP)

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The tree has never caused any practical problems to the family, insisted

"We believe that 350 million gods and goddesses reside in one peepal tree. The tree is also mentioned in the Geeta," a Hindu religious text, said Kesharwani.

The fig tree, known as peepal in Hindi, is one of the most worshipped trees in India and cutting it down is considered inauspicious by many

His wife can pray without having to leave home, sitting before the tree in the mornings.

The family also wanted to send the message that people can put down roots in the middle of nature without

Kesharwani. and Arabic on her Twitter and Instagram Story, saying that photo had “nothing to do with politics.” -People

Yogesh Kesharwani stands on the first floor of their home in Jabalpur, built around a fig tree. (Photo: AFP / Uma Shankar Mishra)

"We don't even realise that the tree exists because it doesn't come in our way. It just stands there silently."

SMALL BUSINESSES

VOICE OF ASIA 18

B

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ACCOUNTANTS BOOK-KEEPING

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

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Week of June 21, 2019 21 March to 20 April Do you have any romantic regrets? Take care of them under the Sagittarius full moon at the start of the week. You seem wiser now, and getting closure is your specialty. Ethereal Neptune is comfortable in Pisces, the sign it rules, until it goes retrograde late in the week.

21 April to 20 May Look around your workplace. It’s time to repair anything broken or replace whatever has outlived its usefulness. Expect a boost in energy. You should enjoy positive contacts with co-workers and the public. It’s also an ideal time to be involved in business-related volunteer.

21 May to 20 June This week holds a few surprises for you. Aspects in your career sector urge you to put a lot of energy and effort here. You may be a lot busier than usual and under the gun with deadlines. In any case, you won’t have much time for fun.

21 June to 22 July Think about taking supplements more regularly. You may be prone to picking up a cold or other infection, especially from your partner. Try zinc, vitamin C, or echinacea to keep problems at bay. You sometimes have a haphazard approach to staying well.

23 July to 22 August There’s some seriously passionate energy in the air during the full moon in fiery Sagittarius at the beginning of the week. If you’ve been playing hard to get, you might want to stop running! Vague Neptune goes retrograde in Pisces later in the week, so you won’t be able to hide from certain feelings.

23 August to 22 Sept Finish all you can early. An exuberant, restless energy can see you wasting time and spending more time playing than working. You could make big points on the job if you dress your best and wear a big smile. This is a lucky time for team meetings.

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STATEPOINT CROSSWORD THEME: SUMMER FUN

astrology.com

23 September to 22 Oct You have energy in your house of work. This makes it easer to get through long days if you’ve been getting tired, or power through tough presentations, meetings, or paperwork. Mete out your reserves throughout the day so you don’t blow it all before lunch.

23 October to 21 Nov Be extra careful if you’re doing any projects at home. You might be tempted to take a risk and suffer a slight accident as a result. If you’re working on plumbing or electrical wiring, make sure you know what you’re doing. If not, call in the experts.

22 November to 21 Dec You love to travel and learn about new cultures when the moon is full in your sign at the start of the week. A new romance blossoms despite all the differences between you. The creative Pisces moon gives you some great romantic ideas.

22 December to 20 Jan The energy is expansive now.

Expect to enjoy any contact with people outside the office.

Co-workers will appreciate your interest and willingness to make a personal connection, even on the job. You may want to mentor or protect the people under you.

21 January to 19 Feb Aspects in the sector of your chart governing cash flow indicate a time of renewal for your beleaguered bank account.

You could use some luck now, but maybe you will settle for some serious energy concentrated here. You will have a great deal more energy for planning your money life.

20 February to 20 Mar This is the perfect time to reach a new level of wellness. Your energy is high this week, and there’s nothing keeping you from enjoying life. You might feel more eager to exercise than usual. The cosmos is encouraging you to see what you can do.

ACROSS 1. '70s hairdo 5. Used for Chinese cooking 8. Part of URL 11. *____-and-slide

DOWN 1. *Bonfire residue 2. Mess up 3. Capital of Latvia

12. Cone-shaped quarters

4. Porto, to many English-speaking tourists

13. Formerly known as dropsy

5. Painful expression

15. "Les Misérables" author

6. Poppy product

16. Hissy fit

7. *In need of a breeze

17. Sink hole

8. Like Beethoven

18. *It varies widely in different regions

9. Fail to mention

20. One from the Magi

12. Sleeping sickness vector

21. Native American emblem 22. Lavatory, abbr.

23. Like #21 or #37 in this crossword 26. Borrower's warranty 29. Geological time period 30. Experienced sailor 33. Wraths 35. Turning abstract into real 37. Zippo 38. Carl Jung's inner self 39. It's considered abominable 40. Ticks off 42. Mightier than sword?

43. *Popular July 4th event 45. Climb Kilimanjaro, e.g.

47. Bigheadedness 48. Hawaiian veranda 50. Vegetarian's protein source 52. *It won't last long in the heat 55. Canada's favorite tree 56. UN civil aviation agency 57. Another spelling for #54 Down, sing.

59. Listens to #19 Down 60. Accepted behavior 61. Copenhagen native 62. Flower precursor 63. D.C. time 64. Church part

10. *A farmer's ____ 13. Hoover's middle name 14. *Blast from past in movie watching 19. ____-boots 22. Car nut 23. Bald eagle's nest 24. Do like ivy 25. Yogurt-based dip 26. Cobbler's concern 27. Nonsense 28. Red Sea nation 31. Actress Hathaway 32. Mammoth site, e.g.

34. *Summer castle material 36. *Light bearer 38. Very, in music 40. Big fuss 41. Kidnapper's demand 44. Fits of shivering 46. *Noisy insect 48. El Pollo ____, pl.

49. Not together 50. Off-limits 51. Newspaper piece 52. Conifer 53. Like 2016 54. Ages and ages 55. Flash dancers 58. Born, in society pages

SOLUTION: SUMMER FUN

on Page 20

CLASSIFIED

VOICE OF ASIA 19

Top tips for moving with a pet

Y

our furball is part of the family, so if you’re like most, you don’t make major life decisions without thinking of your pet’s needs — including where you live and how you move into a new home.

When people decide on new homes and communities, pet priorities are often equal to or more important than human-focused amenities, according to the 2019 Mayflower Mover Insights Survey. American pet owners say one-third of their overall decision to move was related to their pets. What’s more, survey respondents cited a willingness to pay significantly more in living costs per month (32 percent) and even forgo perks like shorter commutes and updated kitchens in favor of pet-friendly features.

Pets may get the priority for perks when their humans relocate, but moving is still a stressful activity for animals.

Half of pet owners reported their pets struggled to adjust to new homes. However, there’s good news: more than nine in 10 owners say their pets adjusted to new settings in less than a month.

And, more than 90 percent agree that wherever they and their pets are together is instantly home.

Moving with a pet? Consider the following: • Yard Matters: Dog owners consider yard size 85 percent of the time, and 82 percent of dog and cat owners consider a fenced-in backyard. If you’re looking to let your dog off-leash or allow

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

Houston Community College Request for Proposals (RFP)

Invitation for BID (IFB)

ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN

Sale Or Lease Of Two Parcels Of

CONSULTANT SERVICES

Land Containing Approximately

Project No. 19-59

received in Procurement Operations (3100 Main Street, Room No. 11B01, Houston, Texas 77002) until 2:00PM (local time) on

your cat into the yard, prioritize homes with fencing and plenty of space for pets to exercise.

• Walking Trails: Don’t just consider the house when homeshopping. Look for neighborhoods offering proximity to parks, dog runs, walking trails and other amenities that make dog-walking safe and enjoyable.

• Scope Out Pet Services: Try not to leave a gap in veterinary care or pet services. If you’re moving far enough away to require a new veterinarian, identify who that will be in advance.

If anything arises as you’re settling into your new home, you won’t want to deal with the added stress of researching where to take your sick pet. Likewise, get recommendations for services such as dog walkers, pet sitters or dog boarding so you and your pet can hit the ground running in your new community.

• Anticipate Bumps: A move

can be difficult on pets — dog owners reported their dogs had trouble adapting to new neighborhoods, while cats had more trouble adjusting to new houses.

Nine out of 10 dog and cat owners recommend being patient, spending more time with pets and showing them where everything is in the new home.

• Pack Pet Gear Wisely: Make moving day a breeze by keeping all your pet supplies — food, medications, etc. packed in an easy-to-access box that’s clearly labeled. Consider keeping several days’ supply with you and transporting these necessities in your car.

1.1479 Acres (Rosalie Property) Project No. 19-60

Sealed proposals will be

PHOTO SOURCE: (c) Monkey Business / stock.Adobe.com

Houston Community College

Sealed bids will be received in Procurement Operations (3100 Main Street, Room No. 11B01, Houston, Texas 77002) on July 23, 2019 until 2:00pm (local

July 24, 2019.

time).

Documents can be ob-

Documents can be ob-

tained at: www.hccs.edu/

tained at: www.hccs.edu/

about-hcc/procurement/

about-hcc/procurement/

Dual-Credit Math Teacher Dual-Credit Math Teacher Waller Independent School District

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Dual-Credit Math teacher required to teach students grades 9-12 in partnership with a local community college. The candidate will be expected to provide instruction in mathematics in the areas of algebra, trigonometry and pre-calculus for dual credit.

The Candidate must have a minimum of a master’s degree in mathematics, statistics or related field with a minimum of 18 graduate hours in mathematics. A valid Texas teaching certificate for mathematics for grades 7-12 is required. Submit resumes and transcripts to Mike Brooks via email at: mbrooks@wallerisd.net

READ DAILY! 15 - 30 minutes of reading daily helps your brain focus better. Grab a novel!

A Community message from Voice of Asia Group

Planning a move? For tips and insights, visit mayflower.com.

With a bit of extra preparation, you can pave the way for a smooth move for everyone in your family, including your pet.

- Statepoint

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Email Obituaries to us at: voiceasia@aol.com Deadline for publication: Tuesdays by 5pm.

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TRAVEL & CULTURE

VOICE OF ASIA 20

Paris rediscovers appetite for its world-beating 'bouillons'

Four passengers die in ‘unbearable’ heat on Indian train

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EW DELHI: AFP, June 11, 2019 -Four people died in ‘unbearable’ heat while traveling by train in northern India, which has been in the grip of a heatwave for two weeks, officials and passengers said Tuesday.

Singh said the Kerala Express train had no technical problems, but the tourists were not in air-conditioned coaches.

The four died Monday while traveling from Agra — the city of the Taj Mahal — to Coimbatore in the country’s south.

“Shortly after we left Agra, the heat became unbearable and some people started complaining of breathing problems and uneasiness,” the passenger was quoted as saying by News18 television.

“Heat seems to be a factor,” Indian Railways spokesman Ajit Kumar Singh told AFP, “it is really unfortunate.”

“When the train was approaching Jhansi, we got a call from the on-board staff that one of the passengers is unconscious,” Singh said.

“We rushed medical staff to the station but they found that three of the passengers were already dead.”

A fourth person died later in hospital.

Temperatures have hovered around 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in Jhansi, in northern Uttar Pradesh state, in recent days.

A passenger who was a part of the group that boarded in Agra said the train was stiflingly hot.

“Before we could get some help, they collapsed.”

One of the dead was 81 years old, the channel said.

Much of India has been sweltering in temperatures that have risen above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in northern Rajasthan state. A number of deaths from heatstroke have been reported.

Temperatures touched 50.3 degrees Celsius in the Rajasthan town of Churu recently, just below India’s record of 51 degrees.

'Sand mafias' threaten Morocco's coastline

by Fiachra Gibbons

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ARIS, France | AFP | Monday 6/17/2019 - Every weekend a queue snakes down the street not far from the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

This is not some horde of clueless foreigners easy prey for the tourist traps that dot Pigalle and Montmartre.

These are savvy and often stylish Parisians eager to sit down to one of the best value meals in the French capital.

Earlier this month the Bouillon Pigalle's egg mayonnaise was voted the best in the world by a jury of French gastronomes, beating Michelin threestar restaurants and the version served up by President Emmanuel Macron's kitchen at the Elysee Palace.

For just 1.80 euros ($2) you can feast on this simple but exquisite French culinary classic.

So it is easy to see why the crowds are flocking there and to a clutch of other older and grander "bouillon" restaurants, which serve classic French comfort food at modest prices.

These places, where you can eat well amid Art Nouveau splendour for as little as 20 euros for three courses, are having something of a revival.

"What is not to like about this?" declared Edouard, the moustachioed patriarch of the Bordier clan, with three generations of his family from the Paris suburbs seated around the table at Bouillon Julien.

- Enormous desserts "Just look at this," he said, pointing at the enormous cream profiterole before him and then sweeping his hand out to take in the restaurant's original Belle Epoque decor.

"And they say the French no longer know how to live!" he laughed.

The South Korean fashionistas at the next table, where singer Edith Piaf once dined daily, told AFP that it was their "favourite and cheapest meal" since they arrived.

The United Nations Environment Programme says "sand mafias" supplying the construction industry are depleting some of Morocco's beaches. (AFP/File Photo)

by Hamza Mekouar

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OHAMMEDIA, Morocco | AFP | Monday 6/16/2019 - Beneath an apartment block that looms over Monica beach in the western coastal city of Mohammedia, a sole sand dune has escaped the clutches of Morocco's insatiable construction contractors.

Here, like elsewhere across the North African tourist magnet, sand has been stolen to help feed an industry that is growing at full tilt.

A report last month by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on the global over-exploitation of this resource accuses "sand mafias" of destroying Morocco's beaches and overurbanising its coastline.

"The dunes have disappeared along the entire city's coastline," lamented environmental activist Jawad, referring to Mohammedia, on the Atlantic between Rabat and Casablanca.

The 33-year-old environmental activist leads Anpel, a local NGO dedicated to coastal protection.

"At this rate, we'll soon only have rocks" left, chipped in Adnane, a member of the same group.

More than half the sand consumed each year by Morocco's construction industry -- some 10 million cubic metres (350 million cubic feet) -- is extracted illegally, according to UNEP. "The looters come in the middle of the night, mainly in the low season," said a local resident in front of his grand home on the Monica seafront.

"But they do it less often now because the area is full of people. In any case, there is nothing more to take," added the affable forty-something.

Sand accounts for four fifths of the makeup of concrete and -- after water -- is the world's second most consumed resource.

Beaches and rivers are heavily exploited across the planet, legally and illegally, according to UNEP. - 'Official complicity' In Morocco, "sand is often removed from beaches to build hotels, roads and other tourism-related infrastructure", according to UNEP. Beaches are therefore shrinking, resulting in coastal erosion.

"Continued construction is likely to lead to... destruction of the main natural attraction for visitors -- beaches themselves," the report warned.

Theft of sand from beaches or coastal dunes in Morocco is punishable by five years in prison.

Siphoned away by donkey, delivery bike and large trucks, the beaches are being stripped from north to south, along a coastline that runs from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic.

"On some beaches, the sand has nearly disappeared" in parts of the north, said an ecological activist in Tangiers.

"There has been enormous pressure on the beaches of Tangiers because of real estate projects," he said.

To the south, the UNEP report noted, "sand smugglers have transformed a large beach into a rocky landscape" between Safi and Essaouira.

Activist Jawad points to "small scale looting, like here in Mohammedia".

But "then there is the intensive and structured trafficking by organised networks, operating with the complicity of some officials".

While the sand mafias operate as smugglers, "key personalities -- lawmakers or retired soldiers -- hand out permits allowing them to over-exploit deposits, without respect for quotas", he added.

- Organised mafia A licensed sand dredger spoke of "a very organised mafia that pays no taxes" selling sand that is "neither washed nor desalinated", and falls short of basic building regulations.

These mafia outfits have "protection at all levels... they pay nothing at all because they do everything in cash", this operator added, on condition of anonymity.

"A lot of money is laundered through this trade".

A simple smart phone helps visualise the extent of the disaster.

Via a Google Earth map, activist Adnane showed a razed coastal forest, where dunes have given way to a lunar landscape, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Casablanca.

Eyes fixed on the screen, he carefully scrutinised each parcel of land.

"Here, near Safi, they have taken the sand over (a stretch of) seven kilometres. It was an area exploited by a retired general, but there is nothing left to take," he alleged.

Adnane pointed to another area -exploited, he said, by a politician who had a permit for "an area of two hectares".

But instead, he "took kilometres" of sand.

Environmental protection was earmarked as a priority by Morocco, in a grandiose statement after the country hosted the 2016 COP22 international climate conference.

Asked by AFP about measures to fight uncontrolled sand extraction, secretary of state for energy Nezha El Ouafi pointed to "a national coastal protection plan (that) is in the process of being validated".

The plan promises "evaluation mechanisms, with protection pro-

FRIDAY, June 21, 2019

One, Kim Bo-young, liked its thick paper tablecloths so much she wondered aloud about making a dress out of them.

Bouillons were invented to serve up cheap soups and stews at speed to busy Parisians in the 19th century.

"Bouillon" means broth in French, and it was from the restorative quali-

Bouillons were invented to serve up cheap soups and stews at speed to busy Parisians in the 19th century. (AFP/File Photo) ties of their principal dish that the word "restaurant" comes.

thing in the least trendy about what they were doing.

Bouillon Julien went back to its roots last year and lowered the prices for its clever hearty food after restoring the frescos and mosaics in its beautiful 113-year-old interior.

"We have just kept doing what we always did.

- Rabbit terrine for 5 euros Walking through the mahogany dining hall with its glade-green walls is like "going back in time", said Kim, 32, tucking into a rabbit terrine with nuts and ravigote sauce for 5.20 euros.

It is a similar story at Chartier -- the daddy of all Parisian bouillons which has been going since 1896 -- where the white-aproned waiters write down the orders on the paper tablecloth before totting up the bill with head-spinning speed.

Chartier opened a second enormous restaurant earlier this year in Montparnasse in the south of the city with a stunning brass and tiled interior that dates from 1903.

Serving traditional starters like snails and leek vinaigrette at unbeatable prices, the hip French gastronomic guide Le Fooding saw it as further proof of the trend towards "le retrofoodisme" that has seen French diners re-embrace butter.

Its director Alexandre Cammas said the bouillon revival was a part of a wider return to comfort food.

- Food that's a 'big hug' "This is cooking that gives you a big hug in contrast to (top-end) cuisine which can be very refined and cold," he told AFP. But Chartier boss Yann Hulin bristled at the thought that there was any-

"If there is a trend, it is to copy us," he said, in a swipe at Bouillon Julien and Bouillon Pigalle, which is setting up a second dining room that will feature Alsatian food at a historic brasserie famous for its frescos near Republique next year.

Hulin said that having been made to pay through the nose for trendy food, the public want to be served quickly and "eat good and cheap food, that is prepared simply and well".

The high turnover of diners allowed Chartier and the other bouillons to keep their prices down, he added.

In another twist on the trend, the Mamma group also have diners queueing around the block at its Paris eateries for back-to-basics Italian trattoria food, with one restaurant-cum-street market set over 4,500 square metres (48,400 square feet).

Jean-Christophe Le Ho, of Bouillon Pigalle, said sourcing quality ingredients direct from producers also cuts out the middleman.

He said his nostalgic menu was about rediscovering the joy of eating traditional French dishes that are being threatened by fast food, pizzerias and sushi joints.

A century ago, Paris had 250 bouillons before their numbers withered to just one.

But the "strong demand we have found... for these dishes our grandmothers made" shows they very much have a future, Le Ho insisted.

China’s largest ever Picasso exhibition opens

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EIJING | AFP | Monday 6/17/2019 - The largest Picasso exhibition ever held in China opens on Saturday, featuring more than 100 works — many of them from the artist’s early years.

The “Birth of a Genius” exhibition brings together the best of the Picasso Museum Paris, Laurent Le Bon, the museum’s president told AFP. Featured works include paintings, sculptures and drawings, and are accompanied by photos of the young Pablo in Barcelona and Paris.

The first Picasso exhibition in China was held in 1983, timed to coincide with a Beijing visit by then French president Francois Mitterrand. Just 33 pieces of art were put on display.

This year’s exhibition, which runs until September 1 at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, focuses on the artist’s first 30 years.

“We have tried to show the great masterpieces like the blue Self Portrait, for example, that hardly ever leave the museum, and display them alongside a more multidisciplinary Picasso,” Le Bon said.

The Spanish artist’s “blue period” from 1901 to 1904, which focused especially on the poor and marginalized, such as prostitutes and drunks, features prominently in the selected works, added exhibition curator Emilia Philippot.

“These are very political subjects in a way,” she said.

Transporting all the works to China brought its own challenges.

The insurers for the works, which are valued at more than 800 million euros ($900 million) insisted that the pieces travel on seven separate planes, the organizers said.

grammes and (a) high status", she said.

Meanwhile, environmental activists are pleading against the "head in the sand approach" over the scale of coastal devastation.

The exhibition is titled “Picasso Birth of a Genius.” (Photo: Wang Zhao/AFP)

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea exhibition aims to protect region’s vital marine environment

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EDDAH: Visitors were plunged into the fascinating underwater world of the Red Sea at an awareness exhibition aimed at helping to protect the unique marine environment.

The Red Sea Research Center, based at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), has been staging an interactive display at the Red Sea Mall in Jeddah to highlight the importance of the marine ecosystem to the entire region.

The exhibition, which runs until June 24 and is part of the 41-day Jeddah Season summer festival, is designed to raise awareness of Red Sea conservation projects.

KAUST scientists and researchers were on hand to guide adults and children through the exhibition and introduce them to the Red Sea’s vast array of wildlife.

Children had the chance to feel and hold sea creatures in special tanks and were asked to sign a pledge to contribute to the preservation of the Red Sea by helping prevent pollution of the marine environment.

Micheal Berumen, director of the Red Sea Research Center, told Arab News of its mission to educate not only KAUST students, but also the public.

“The Red Sea is a resource that needs to be protected, appreciated, and celebrated by everybody living by the coast.

“It has a big impact to see a model of a whale shark, and it has a big impact to see creatures in the tank, but it is another level when you actually get to hold it,” said Berumen.

“And if you watch, it is actually the kids who are most excited about the exhibit.”

Berumen added that by targeting children, the center aimed to get them passionate about nature and hopefully spawn the marine biologists of the future.

“We really want to be sure that the people here understand how special the Red Sea is, and the unique resources we have right in our backyard.”

The exhibit is its latest exhibition is the biggest to date.