Voice of Asia e paper December 9 2016

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FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Medicare Premiums Increase for Some Retirees Read on Page 18 or Call 832-806-1000

28 years dedicated service toCounties the community Serving Harris,ofFort Bend and Surrounding for 29 years Vol. 29 No. 49 Friday, December 9, 2016 • Published Weekly from Houston • 713-774-5140 24 Pages ( 2 sections) 50 cents E-mail: voiceasia@aol.com

Trump taps China Ambassador, consults Obama by Jennie MATTHEW

N

E W YORK, | AFP | 12/7/2016 - President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday selected a political ally with close ties to China as ambassador to Beijing, stressed his determination to create Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad speaks to members of the media American jobs in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, and revealed he 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Continued on Page 11

Mass grief as India political star Jayalalithaa buried Thousands of mourners paid an emotional final farewell Tuesday to Indian politician Jayalalithaa Jayaram

United launches nonstop service to Cuba from Bush airport Mayor’s Cuba launch

H

OUSTON - After months of planning and anticipation, the first flight from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Havana took off Dec. 3, 2016, connecting Cuba to Texas’ largest city and United’s premier Latin American gateway.

Report on Page 10

It marked the first direct flight from Houston to Cuba in more than 50 years, and the significance of that was not lost on those involved.

“This is an exciting time for all Americans, not just those of us living here in Houston,” Houston Mayor

Sylvester Turn told a gathering in Terminal E that celebrated the historic flight. “This is a dream come true for millions of people in the U.S. who have waited for more than 50 years Continued on Page 8

Pakistan plane carrying 48 crashes killing all on board

by Gohar ABBAS

aviation authority said.

S

Rescuers, including hundreds of villagers, pulled the charred remains from the wreckage of the aircraft, parts of which were found hundreds of metres away from the main site in Abbottabad district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

ADDHA BATOLNI, Pakistan | AFP | Wednesday 12/7/2016 A Pakistani plane carrying 48 people crashed Wednesday in the country’s mountainous north and burst into flames killing everyone on board, authorities said, in one of the deadliest aviation accidents in the nation’s history.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Flight PK661 came down after one of its two turboprop engines failed while travelling from the city of Chitral to Islamabad, the civil

An AFP reporter at the site near the village of Saddha Batolni said part of the plane was still on fire more than five hours after the crash, as rescuers picked up torn human remains with their hands and placed them in bags before they were taken by ambulance to Islamabad for identification.

“The bodies were burnt so badly we could not recognise whether they were women or men,” a villager in his thirties, who declined to give his name, told AFP. “We put into sacks whatever we could find...and carried them down to the ambulance.”

Continued on Page 10 Pakistani officials of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) look at the wreckages of crashed PIA passenger plane Flight PK661 at the site in the village of Saddha Batolni in the Abbottabad district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on December 7, 2016 (AFP Photo/AAMIR QURESHI)

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P

resident-elect Donald Trump’s motives for his unorthodox call with the leader of Taiwan remain mysterious, but some Republicans are hailing his improvisational diplomacy as a refreshing break with diplomatic rituals that date to the Richard M Nixon administration. It could lay the groundwork, they say, for a healthier relationship with China.

So far the messages from the Trump camp are mixed. Vice President-elect Mike Pence insisted on Sunday (December 3) that people were reading too much into the conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen, and that Trump was simply accepting congratulations from the “democratically elected leader of Taiwan.� But people advising the transition say Trump knew exactly what he was doing.

Certainly, the president-elect has done nothing to defuse the tensions stirred by the call. A string of vituperative Twitter posts by Trump over the weekend on China’s trade and military policies has fanned questions about whether he wants to reset the relationship with Beijing more fundamentally.

It is the policy of Voice of Asia to publish letters to the editor which evidence a variety of viewpoints. The opinions expressed in any particular letter to the editor are not necessarily those of the management. Voice of Asia welcomes letters in reply to issues raised in letters to editor. In as much letters to the editor are not articles written or researched by members of Voice of Asia, it is not the policy of the Voice of Asia to perform any investigation or confirmation of any facts or allegations contained in letters to the editor. Moreover, Voice of Asia reserves the right to edit letters to the editor as necessary to correct errors of fact, punctuation, spelling and to comply with space constraints.

But there is no dispute that several people involved in the Trump campaign have long favoured opening more formal channels between the US and Taiwan as a way to put pressure on China. And Republicans being considered for top jobs applaud what they view as Trump’s determination to use Taiwan as a chip in a geopolitical contest with China.

Although paid advertisements may appear in Voice of Asia Group Publications in print, online, or in other electronic formats, the Voice of Asia Group does not endorse the advertised product, service, or company, nor any of the claims made by the advertisement.

“He’s the first president since the Shanghai Communique who provides an opportunity to look fresh at the cross-strait relationship,� said Jon M Huntsman Jr, who served as ambassador to China under President Barack Obama. Huntsman was referring to the 1972 statement, issued after Nixon’s visit to China, which sharply constrained America’s dealings with Taiwan.

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Trump’s Taiwan call: a gaffe or a new start?

Pro-Taiwan groups in Washington played down their role in orchestrating the call

The question, as often with Trump, is whether he will have the discipline to see through these changes. Was the phone call the start of a calculated policy, or was it merely a oneoff gesture that will alienate China and leave Taiwan even more isolated?

Voice of Asia (USPS 010-215) (ISSN#10705058) is published every Friday (for a subscription rate of $30 per year) by Free Press LLC, 8303 SW Freeway, Suite # 325, Houston, TX 77074. Tel: 713-774-5140. Fax: 713774-5143. Periodical postage paid at Houston, Texas.

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Huntsman’s name has recently surfaced as a candidate for secretary of state, along with that of John R Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations under President George W Bush. Bolton met with Trump on the day he took the phone call from Tsai. Later, he said the US “should shake up the relationship� with China.

Trump seemed to take umbrage at the suggestion that he needed China’s approval to speak with Tsai. In two posts on Twitter, he wrote: “Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, left, speaking during a ‘USA Thank You’ tour event in Cincinatti, Dec. 1, 2016, and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen. Photo credit: Ihe New Indian Express. doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea? I don’t think so!�

That, in turn, prompted the Chinese government to stiffen its protests of Trump’s freewheeling diplomacy. After initially playing down the precedent-setting call, the Chinese warned Trump, in a front-page editorial in the overseas edition of People’s Daily, that “creating troubles for the China-US relationship is creating troubles for the US itself.�

China often uses the overseas edition of People’s Daily to test-run major policy pronouncements. In a pointed rejoinder to Trump, the editorial said that pushing China on Taiwan “would greatly reduce the chance to achieve the goal of making America great again.�

By going after China’s policies on trade and security, however, Trump appeared to be confirming his intent to take a tougher line with the Chinese leadership across a broader range of issues — and further dampened hopes in Beijing that he might step back from the campaign rhetoric he has used, including threats of punishing trade tariffs.

Such a stance would reflect his foreign policy advisers, who have criticised the Obama administration for being weak towards Beijing. Alex Grey, a member of Trump’s State

Department transition team, wrote an article, with another Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, in Foreign Policy magazine last month in which he described Obama’s treatment of Taiwan as “egregious.� “This beacon of democracy in Asia is perhaps the most militarily vulnerable US partner anywhere in the world,� Grey and Navarro wrote, declaring that the island needed a “comprehensive arms deal� with the US to “deter China’s covetous gaze.�

Reince Priebus, Trump’s designated chief of staff, also has a history with Taiwan. In October 2015, he met with Tsai in Taipei as part of a delegation from the Republican National Committee. After Trump selected Priebus, Taiwan’s foreign minister, David Lee, told a legislative session that the appointment was “good news for Taiwan.�

Restore balance Pro-Taiwan groups in Washington played down their role in orchestrating the call. But they welcomed it as a step to restore balance in the three-way relationship between Washington, Beijing and Taipei. They also said it need not provoke a confrontation with China. “It’s absurd that we talk about going to war with China to defend Taiwan, and our presidents can’t talk to each other,� said Randall Schriver, chief ex-

ecutive of the Project 2049 Institute, a Washington think tank that favours closer US ties with Taiwan. “The Chinese understand this,� Schriver continued. “They don’t want to see their efforts to isolate Taiwan rolled back, but they also don’t want a bad relationship with the US.�

Other China experts said they saw value in Trump’s desire to rethink old diplomatic protocols. As Trump has observed, it is difficult to explain to ordinary people why the US sells advanced weapons to Taiwan but the leaders cannot speak to each other. Some China scholars say it is not clear the policy serves the US all that well — nor is it clear that Beijing would not learn to live with a closer US relationship with Taiwan.

The trouble, said some, is that Trump needlessly antagonised China by trumpeting the phone call and then following it up with a series of defiant tweets. “It’s not the phone call that’s the problem; it’s the making it public that’s the problem,� said Shelley Rigger, a professor of political science at Davidson College who specialises in Taiwan.

That could put President Xi Jinping in a difficult position, forced to choose between playing down Trump’s attacks and risking a backlash at home, or raising the stakes by pushing back more forcefully and setting China on a potential collision course with the US

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Pratham Holiday Luncheon Dazzles Guests

Federal Judge Blocks New Overtime Regulations

H

OUSTON - On Friday, December 2, Pratham Houston held its annual holiday luncheon fundraiser at the Junior League of Houston, in a hall decorated with colorful blooms and filled to capacity with Pratham supporters dressed in their festive best.

The luncheon was Chaired

by Honorary Chair Shital Patel and co-chaired by Annu Naik and Dr. Vanitha Pothuri. The Emcee was Sharron Melton, Award winning journalist and former anchor, KTRK-TV. Ash Shah, President, Pratham Houston, narrated the great work being done by Pratham for the past 20 years and how funds raised at the Luncheon would benefit the innovative Women’s Entrepreneurship program. Ash emphasized how Pratham distinguishes itself as an extraordinary Charity organization with one of the lowest administrative expense, thereby receiving highest accolades from the reputed Charity Navigator. Also, he thanked his entire Board and Team for putting together an amazing luncheon event.

The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Rebecca Richards-Ko-

T

he last article referenced a change in the Department of Labor’s overtime regulations that were to go into effect on December 1, 2016. However, on November 22, 2016 a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas, involving a case filed by several states and various business organizations, granted a nation-wide injunction blocking the rule from going into effect.

The judge found that the DOL exceeded its authority with the “significant increase to the salary level” threshold to determine whether an employee may be classified as exempt (from $23,660 annually to $47,892 annually). This ruling may come as a surprise to many businesses that had already made pay changes in anticipation of the new regulations. An appeal has been filed and it is likely that a new ruling may come relatively soon; however, it is unclear as to how the DOL may respond in the near future or what President-elect Donald Trump’s position would be on the matter in the meantime.

Keynote Speaker Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Emcee Sharron Melton, Ash Shah, President, Pratham Houston and Asha Dhume, Vice President, Pratham Houston. Photo (s) credit Deborah Wallace, Barfield Photography.

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YOUR IMMIGRATION LAWYER

The People’s Lawyer

Answers to your Immigration Questions

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

www.peopleslawyer.net Richard M. Alderman Interim Dean of the Law Center

Sharlene Sharmila Richards

Landlord may insist on cash payments Q. I lease a few houses. I have had serious problems with bounced checks. Can I tell tenants I will only take cash and will not accept a check?

A. As a general rule, most people consider cash and a check the same thing. If the store clerk says “cash or credit,” a check is accepted as cash. As you discovered, however, they are very different. Only cash is legal tender that may be freely exchanged.

And although the vast majority of checks are paid, a check drawn on insufficient funds may bounce.

If a landlord wants to require cash, he or she has the right to insist on payment in cash. If you want to be paid in cash, however, you should make this clear to the tenant before the lease is signed and make it a term of the lease.

You also must give the tenant a written receipt for each rent payment.

Q. I have been paying $400 a month rent. I offered to pay $100 a week to make it easier on me instead of the lump sum, and the landlord said, “no problem.” My office was closed Thanksgiving and I did not get paid, so I could not pay my rent. My landlord came to my apartment and took my AC and DVD player without me knowing. I changed my locks so he can’t do this again. What can I do now?

A. First read your lease. If you have a written lease, it may have a clause allowing the landlord to take some of your property, without notice,

until rent is paid. The provision, called a landlord’s lien, must be underlined or printed in conspicuous bold print. If he does take your property, the landlord must leave a notice that he went inside and specifically list every item he took. The notice must be left within a conspicuous place inside the apartment. The notice must state the amount of the delinquent rent and the name, address and telephone number of the person the tenant can contact. The notice must also state that the property will be returned upon paying the delinquent rent. If the landlord has not followed all these rules, you could be entitled to one month’s rent or $500, whichever is greater, and the return of your property. Without a written lease, containing the lien, the landlord has no right to just take your property.

I also should point out that you do not have the right to change the locks to keep the landlord out. The landlord, however, has no right to lock you out, even if you are late in rent. To see much more about your rights as a tenant, check out the landlord tenant section under “ Legal Topics” on my website, www.peopleslawyer. net Q. I just found out the apartment unit next to mine rents for substantially less than I pay. It is exactly the same apartment.

Is this legal?

A. A landlord, just like any other business, can base the price on what the market will bear. As demand for apartments increases and supply stays the same, it is not unusual for rent to increase. As long as the landlord does not illegally discrimi-

nate, for example, by charging different rent based on things like, race, age, sex, or religion, he is free to charge every tenant a different rate.

Q. I am being harassed by a debt collector for a credit card bill. I know I owe the money and I am trying to pay, but they want more than I can afford. The debt collector told me that if we do not work something out by next week, he would sue. He said if he wins, I would lose my house. What can I do to stop this? I don’t know what my family will do if we lose our house.

A. As you are aware, everyone should pay his or her bills. But Texas law protects those people who cannot pay by making some property “exempt” from creditors. This means that even if a creditor sues you and wins, you can keep “exempt” property. Under Texas law, your urban homestead, which is your house and up to ten acres of land, is “exempt” and may not be taken. You may be sued for the credit card debt, but you will not lose your home. In fact, the debt collector’s threats to take your home violate both state and federal debt collection laws.

I suggest you let the debtor collector know you know your legal rights and see if you can him to agree to a payment plan. To learn more about what might happen if you are sued, look at the debt collection section on my website, below. If the debt collector continues to make these threats, speak with a consumer law attorney.

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Now that the 2016 elections have passed and Donald J. Trump will be the President who will take office on January 20th, 2017, immigrants and intending immigrants to the United States have many questions about how the new policies under President Elect Donald Trump would affect their status, their jobs, their businesses and both their immigration as well as the immigration of their families to the United States. President Elect Donald Trump’s immigration plan as outlined in his transition website indicates a ten-point plan for dealing with immigration. The proposals are as follows: First, is the plan to build a wall on the southern border between Mexico and the US. Although the President has authorization to build border fences under the Secure Fences Act of 2006, in order to build a wall that would span more than 2000 miles across the US southern border, Congress would have to approve funding for such a wall. It is estimated that this would cost the US Government $25 billion dollars. In addition to this huge financial burden, there are also logistical problems with building such a wall. For example, the geography and terrain of some of the stretches and the fact that some areas affected are privately owned or are archaeological sites would pose serious difficulties for the construction of a wall. It is therefore unclear if such a wall will be built.

Second, is the plan is to end what is known as ‘catch and release’. The current policy is to catch and then release nondangerous illegal immigrants pending their immigration court hearings. ‘Catch and release’ was implemented as we presently lack detention facilities to hold all immigrants who are caught and have to wait for their court hearings. There is also a very severe case backlog in the immigration courts and there are no enough Immigration Court judges to hear all these cases immediately. If Donald Trump’s administration is to end ‘catch and release’, it will need to build more detention facilities to hold these immigrants pending court hearings and significantly increase the number of Immigration Judges to deal swiftly with the cases.

Third, is zero tolerance for criminals aliens. The Obama administration prioritizes the deportation of only those immigrants who have been convicted of serious offences such as aggravated felons and those convicted of

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multiple offences. It is unclear exactly what Trump envisages under his zero tolerance policy but it is possible that foreign nationals who commit even minor offences and traffic offences could be tracked down and deportation proceedings initiated.

Fourth, is removing or blocking funding for sanctuary cities.

There are currently over 200 US cities that basically ignore federal law when it comes to prosecuting illegal immigrants.

Although as President, Donald Trump will have authority to reduce or cut funding to these cities, it appears that many mayors of those cities have strongly opposed changing their policies regarding the prosecution and reporting of illegal or undocumented immigrants to the immigration authorities.

Fifth, is to cancel Executive Orders deemed unconstitutional and enforce all immigration laws. As President, Trump has authority to cancel all executive orders of President Obama. The most notable one is DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA has provided relief from deportation and work permits to more than 800,000 immigrants who were brought here as children under the age of 16. If DACA is cancelled, those affected will lose their work permits and technically could be placed in deportation unless Congress intervenes and passes legislation to protect their status. It is likely that this could still happen. Enforcing all immigration laws would mean that Trump will have to deport an estimated 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants. It is estimated that it would cost the US Government a hefty price of between $400 to $600 billion and will take many, many years to carry out.

Sixth, is to suspend issuance of visas for citizens of any country where there are inadequate security screenings until effective vetting mechanisms can be put in place. Visa applicants from war torn countries such as Syria may be affected as Trump said that he will suspend visas for any individuals or groups deemed to be detrimental to the interest of the United States.

It is to be noted that presently asylum seekers and refugees to the US already undergo rigorous screening which involves the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, National Counterterrorism Center/Intelligence community, State Department etc. It is unclear how much more vetting can be undertaken of these individuals.

Seventh, is to ensure that countries take their citizens back when they are deported by refusing to issue visas to citizens of that country for non-

compliance. It is unknown what kind of backlash or diplomatic ramifications that would cause to US Citizens applying for visas or entry to such countries.

Eighth, is to complete the biometric entry-exit tracking system. Although we currently have a system that tracks the entry of all non-citizens to the US, we do not have one which sufficiently determines whether they have departed the US upon the expiration of their authorized stay. Implementing the system may prove to be challenging and impractical and would also require significant funding.

Ninth, is to turn off the “jobs and benefits magnet”.

This clearly will require the mass implementation of EVerify, a national database which will allow employers to check whether potential hires are authorized to work.

Presently, E-Verify is primarily a voluntary program and only Federal contractors are required to subscribe to the program during the duration of the contract with the Federal Government.

Tenth, is to reform legal immigration with the purpose of serving the interest of the US and its domestic workers.

One of his more notable proposals is to cut down on the abuses of the H-1B program, raise the H-1B wage to discourage H-1B hiring and to possibly require that employers demonstrate that local labor is unavailable before they are allowed to hire foreign workers. This will place an onerous burden on many employers who often require these workers on a temporary basis, increase the cost of such hiring and affect the input of talented individuals from abroad.

Disclaimer: 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. 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.

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VOICE OF ASIA

VOICE OF ASIA 5

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

FORT BEND VIEW Email: voiceasia@aol.com

Chinese musicians to perform Dec. 10

Tel: 713-774-5140

Fort Bend ISD invites students to participate in District’s Second Annual Film Fest

www.voiceofasiaonline.com

Join FBISD in observing Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 5-9

ort Bend ISD’s Digital Learning Department is bringing the “silver screen” to the classrooms and invites FBISD students to participate in its second annual Film Fest. Presented by FBISD’s Digital Learning Department, and made possible by the Fort Bend Education Foundation, the Film Fest gives student participants an opportunity to showcase their creative talents in story telling through film.

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The North America Youth Chinese Orchestra in performance. (Facebook) ort Bend County Libraries will host a free musical performance of “Asian Melody” by the North America Youth Chinese Orchestra on Saturday, Dec. 10, beginning at 2 p.m. at the University Branch Library, 14010 University Blvd. in

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Sugar Land.

Using the violin and flute, as well as Chinese instruments such as the pipa, guzheng, and zhong ruan, the musicians will perform a variety of traditional Chinese musical pieces. Call 281-633-5100 for details.

25th annual Child Advocates of Fort Bend Christmas Home Tour

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he Fort Bend tour runs Dec. 9 and 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a candlelight tour on Dec. 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. It will feature five homes in Sugar Creek, Telfair, Riverstone and the Belknap Brookside neighborhood, a first for Telfair and Belknap Brookside.

Tickets are $25 and are available online at cafb.org or in person at the Sienna Plantation HomeFinder Center, Riverstone Information Center and Fort Bend County Randalls stores.

The event includes holiday decorations, festivities, homemade cookies and refreshments, and a wreath raffle.

To participate, students in grades K-12 are asked to create and submit original videos in one of six categories: Documentary, Narrative, Animation, 60-second Short (music video or book trailer), Campus Challenge and the 48-Hour Challenge (which ran Dec. 3-5). Students can contact their campus Digital Learning Specialist or Broadcasting teacher for advice when creating their video.

All entries should be submitted February 1-15, 2017. Students will showcase their work at the second annual Fort Bend ISD Film Fest Awards Ceremony, which will be held in April.

(Stay tuned for more details.) During the Film Fest, several awards will be presented, including Best Picture awards for the highest scoring videos at each level, as well as awards for winners of the 48-Hour Challenge.

Last year, approximately 530 FBISD students submitted more than 240 entries into the competition. Click here to view some of the winning films from last year.

Visit the Film Fest webpage to learn more about contest rules, categories and more. You can also follow Digital Learning on Twitter, @FBISDFilmFest, for contest updates.

ort Bend ISD joins school districts across the nation in observing Computer Science Education Week, December 5-9. The annual observance is held to inspire students in grades K-12 to take interest in computer science.

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Industry reports indicate that computing jobs are the #1 source of new wages in the United States, but unfortunately, fewer than half of all schools teach computer science. Currently, there are approximately 500,000 job openings in the field. These jobs are in every industry in all states, and are projected to grow at twice the rate of all other jobs.

During Computer Science Education Week, FBISD teachers will lead students in several activities (including Hour of Code and Hour of Code Skype Events, Go Bananas with EasyCode and TI Codes), to help introduce them to computer science. Last year, more than 100 million students across the U.S. participated in the Hour of Code activity, which was the highest participation in the program’s history.

To learn more about Computer Science Education Week in FBISD, click here. You can also follow FBISD’s Digital Learning on Twitter @DigitalFBISD to see what our students are learning this week.

Pete Olson visits the Honor Roll School .S. Rep. Pete Olson visited Nov. 28 with third grade students at The Honor Roll School in Sugar Land. Olson and the students discussed the responsibilities of each branch of the United States government.

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COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 6

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Samunder “Ocean” Club of Houston HH Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 96th Birthday Celebration

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amunder (“Ocean”) Club of Houston is a membership of 164 Indian maritime professionals living in and around Houston, mostly Ship Captains or Chief Engineers. They are employed in almost every sector of Houston’s Oil and Gas Industry, including exploration drilling, dynamic positioning systems, refining and marketing, classification societies, naval architects, ship management companies, ship owners, and oil majors.

Established in 1993, Samunder Club has two main aims; to improve the image of the Indian mariner in Houston, and share itas members’ vast collective bank of technical expertise with the wider industry. Members conduct free coaching lectures to Middle School, High School students, and technical seminars to maritime academies (e.g. Texas A&M) to guide and mentor students. They also conduct 2 major industry-wide Technical Forums, one in the Summer and one in the Fall.

His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 96th birthday celebrations were held in Surat, India.

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URAT, India (December 7, 2016) - A 11-day celebration on the occasion of His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 96th birthday was held at Swaminarayan Nagar, Surat, India.

Captain TK Joseph (seated), Principal Emeritus of Lal Bahadur Shastri Nautical and Engineering College, Mumbai, attended as Guest of Honor at Samunder Club’s Annual Dinner on December 2nd at Signature Manor. All the people standing around Captain Joseph were his past students!

The Founding Fathers of Samunder Club and their wives pose with Captain Joseph Lobo, President of Samunder Club. L-R: Captain Kiran Ketkar, Ratna Chand, Chief Engineer Sudheer Chand, Captain Hemant Vyas, Chuni Vyas, Khorshed Mistry, Captain Adil Mistry, Dr. Vis, Captain Joseph Lobo

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For ten days, the 400-acre celebration site became an attraction for all eyes primarily because of the extraordinary exhibitions and evening cultural programs. The cultural village was the creation of volunteers from all over India – 18,000 volunteers offered their services day and night. Pramukh Swami Maharaj passed away on August 13, 2016, in Sarangpur. Volunteers put in their best to pay homage to their beloved guru in the creation of the cultural village.

The festival hosted over 1.5 million visitors as well as 60,000 students and 2,000 teachers from 125 schools. The festival ground included a large entrance gate, a grand Mandir made from fiberglass and eight exhibitions showcasing Indian culture, heritage and values.

Each evening, a spectacular light and sound show on the mandir itself revealed the social and spiritual significance of mandirs in our modern world. The 11day celebration also featured a women’s cultural program, blood donation camp as well as an anti-addiction drive. During the celebration, 44 youths were

initiated into sadhu-fold.

The culmination of the festivities was the celebration of Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 96th birthday on December 7, 2016.

The programs focused on Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s grand and divine social and spiritual works. Through skits, video shows, cultural dances and speeches, the program portrayed Swamiji’s tireless travels for the uplift of mankind, creation of mandirs like Swaminarayan Akshardham and disaster-relief programs conducted by BAPS. Pramukh Swami Maharaj traveled from large cities to remote villages to foster love, peace, harmony, spirituality and faith within individuals - irrespective of race, class, creed or color. His inspiring call, “In the joy of others, lies our own...” reflects the spirit of his life and work. The birthday celebration was a celebration of his life and work as a humble servant of society who spent his life using the power of his inner goodness to lift others up. The birthday celebration was also unique in itself. The date (December 7), day (Wednesday), Tithi as per Hindu calendar (Magsar Sud atham) and Nakshetra at the time of his birth in 1921 matched exactly today.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Vijay Rupani, praised the personality of Pramukh Swami Maharaj and his mammoth con-

tributions for the welfare of Gujarat. He also announced that the upcoming International sports stadium in Palanpur area of Surat would be named as Pramukh Swami International Stadium.

Shri Amitbhai Shah, President of BJP, spoke glowingly about how he had experienced peace whenever he met Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

To commemorate the universal works of His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the Government of India paid tributes by releasing postage stamps of Pramukh Swami Maharaj and Swaminarayan Akshardham.

Thereafter, His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj, the current spiritual leader of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, blessed the congregation of 200,000, saying, “Pramukh Swami Maharaj lived a universal life. He worked for the all-round betterment of all, regardless of the background.

His humility was unparalleled; he respected all and cared for people of all classes and denominations. He emphasized unity and family cohesion for a progressive and happy society.”

A grand aarti was performed by the 200,000 devotees and well-wishers. Grand celebrations for his birthday have been planned across North America on December 11 and December 18. More details on www.baps. org

DIASPORA

VOICE OF ASIA 7

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Researchers receive prestigious Eminent Medical Fellow Award to Health System Impact Award for Texas Professor, Samba Reddy improving diagnosis H

by Julia Bernstein

Journal.

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“Diagnosis is one of the most important tasks performed by physicians,” said Singh. “It is gratifying to do research that aims to make a difference in patient outcomes and improves the system in which we practice. We are grateful that our work has received such an honor.”

OUSTON, TX - Nov 21, 2016 - Dr. Hardeep Singh and his Houston VA Patient Safety Center team are the recipients of the 2016 VA Health Services Research and Development Health System Impact Award, which honors VA-funded research that has directly and significantly impacted clinical practice or policy within the VA health care system. Singh is chief of the Health Policy, Quality and Informatics Program at the Houston VA Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety and associate professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

The team’s research, aimed at reducing missed and delayed diagnoses, has impacted patient safety in the VA outpatient setting by strengthening communication and follow-up of test results, identifying and reducing diagnostic errors and refining use of the VA Computerized Patient Record System. The team has developed “trigger tools” to identify patients with missed or delayed follow-up of test results, safety assessment guides for electronic health records and decision-support software to improve patient follow-up.

This research has gained national and international recognition and established Singh and his team as a global leader in patient safety and diagnostic error reduction. The 2015 Institute of Medicine (now the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine) report, “Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare,” was heavily influenced by several of the team’s publications in its description of what is known about diagnostic error and recommendations to improve the diagnostic process.

Additionally, the team’s work has had tremendous impact on the public and has been highlighted by the New York Times, Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and Wall Street

At the VA, he recently codeveloped the national policy and guidance on communication of test results to patients and providers, now in place at all 150-plus VA facilities and impacting care for millions of veterans.

Singh and his Houston VA Patient Safety Center team are part of the Houston VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, based at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine. Established in 2007, the Patient Safety Center includes experts from cognitive psychology, computer science, human factors engineering, social sciences, internal medicine and clinical informatics and has the support of the VA National Center for Patient Safety.

Through several multidisciplinary research projects, the team has examined many cognitive and systems factors related to improving diagnosis.

Together, they developed computerized algorithms to allow identification of patients at risk of having delayed diagnoses for various forms of cancer and several toolkits and strategies to help clinicians safely manage diagnostic test results.

The imperative of improving the safety of the diagnostic process is now an international one. The World Health Organization recently recognized diagnostic errors as a high-priority problem in primary care and invited Singh to help develop a guidance document on the topic. Singh recently led an article in BMJ Quality & Safety, “The

OUSTON, Texas; December 5, 2016). Dr. Samba Reddy has been bestowed with a prestigious international award -- Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society (FAES) – a lifetime professional honor in recognition of his accomplishments and dedication to excellence in epilepsy throughout the globe.

Dr. Hardeep Singh Global Burden of Diagnostic Errors in Primary Care,” which recommended that WHO convene relevant leaders, experts, policymakers and clinicians to address the common challenges and opportunities to reduce diagnostic error.

Singh has received considerable national recognition for his work, receiving the AcademyHealth Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award for highimpact research in 2012 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama in 2014.

SOURCE: Baylor College of Medicine News

Consulate to hold Open House The Indian Consulate, San Francisco will hold an “Open House” every fortnight starting from January 2017 to address the grievances of the people on issues related to visas, passports and OCI cards. The same will be held from 10 AM to 1 PM on the first Wednesday and 2 PM to 5 PM on the third Wednesday of every month w.e.f. January 2017. If these happen to fall on a holiday, the Open House will be held on the first working day thereafter. Complaints and grievances pertaining to grant of visas, passports and/or OCI cards will be attended to in the ‘Open House’.

Epilepsy is a chronic brain disease in nearly 65 million people worldwide, including 3 million Americans and 7 million Indians. People with epilepsy experience devastating seizures, or debilitating side effects from medications – both strikingly affects their quality of life and job prospects. Dr. Reddy’s persistent scientific research for the past 20 years is translational and saving thousands of lives.

He was inducted with honors into the FAES class on December 3,2016 at the AES Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas,

which was the largest meeting on epilepsy in the world attended by more than 5000 delegates and neurologists from across the globe. The FAES credential is peer recognition that demonstrates professional accomplishment and dedication in epilepsy.

“Your commitment to the epilepsy community and the American Epilepsy Society are commendable. Thanks to your efforts and leadership, we collectively are able to advance the science and care for people with epilepsy.” said Dr. Michael D. Privitera, MD, President, American Epilepsy Society.

Dr. Reddy is the first Indian to win a record “hat trick” top biomedical awards in USA (three major fellowships in consecutive years: 2014 AAPS, 2015 AAAS, 2016 AES). He is a distinguished pharmacologist, who has been serving on many scientific panels in Washington, DC

Dr. Samba Reddy Dr. Reddy is a Professor (Medicine) at Texas A&M University, the fourth-largest university in the United States. This “Hind Rattan” laureate was elected fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has published 160 scientific papers, which are available online (http://orcid.org/0000-0003 -2735-9550).

GOPIO Supports Demonetization But Expresses Concerns Of NRIs and PIOs

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he Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) is the largest organization for the welfare of PIO’s living outside India and is a non-partisan, secular global organization engaged in promoting their well-being and enhancing cooperation and communication between Indians living in different countries.

In a letter written by its President Niraj Baxi to India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, GOPIO has welcomed and expressed its support on Government of India’s desire to curb black money and terrorist funding. However, GOPIO conveyed its concerns on behalf of the NRI/ PIO community.

“It is a bold decision by Prime Minister Modi and we fully support him,” said GOPIO President Baxi.

Since the monetization was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, GOPIO received a large number of calls, emails and requests from the NRI/ PIO’s living abroad who

are very concerned with actions taken by the Indian Government in regards to the withdrawal of Rs. 500.00 & Rs. 1000.00 denomination notes.

Some NRIs/PIOs have left over cash from their previous visits to India, while others have used currency exchanges and banks to obtain the rupees abroad for use on their future trip to India.

Many NRIs/PIOs have kept these notes for a while so as to use them on their return to India in the future. Some NRIs/PIOs have used less time consuming means of obtaining currencies from online money exchanges to take back to India .

As per India Government’s recent announcement, the NRI/ PIO’s • cannot deposit these notes in their foreign banks (as they are refusing to accept them); • do not have bank accounts in India to deposit and even if they do they cannot travel to deposit the notes and • cannot exchange the notes as foreign banks and exchange

outlets are refusing to accept these notes.

GOPIO has requested the Indian Government to: • Extend the cut-off date by six months, as many cannot return to India by the end of December, 2016.

• Offer PIO’s with business and other income in India be similar deals as for residents (deposit up to Rs 250,000.00); • Assist the PIO’s living abroad by providing an avenue to cash or exchange the Rs. 500.00 & Rs. 1000.00 denomination notes held by them for travelling to India and • increase the limit for exchange to Rs 25,000 when they arrive at the airports.

“NRIs and PIOs should be allowed to exchange whatever amount they have as long as they show the proof of past conversion of foreign currency to Indian currency in the last 10 years,” said Dr. Thomas Abraham, Chairman of GOPIO International.

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 8

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

The Fort Bend Education Foundation Presents Its 24rd Annual Gala “Off to Oz… The Emerald City Awaits!”

SAD DEMISE

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he Fort Bend Education Foundation’s Off to Oz…The Emerald City Awaits presented by Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott, LLP, promises to be a fantastic journey down the yellow brick road in search of the wonders of Oz. This memorable evening will occur on March 4, 2017 at the Sugar Land Marriott Town Square.

Imagine yourself skipping down the yellow brick road, through the forest and across the meadows on your way to Oz, encountering all of the fascinating people and creatures along the way. Experience garnering courage, knowledge and compassion through your encounters and coming together in the great Emerald City with Fort Bend’s finest in support of our children’s education.

Enjoy a fabulous feast and thrilling entertainment as you are surrounded by the best the Emerald City has to offer. Click your heels together, remembering that there is no place like home, to the music of the band Password.

Follow the yellow brick road over to the silent auction and bid board area for a vast array of most interesting and must have items. The highlight of the evening will be the much anticipated bidding on the live auction items. Place a bid yourself or create a mas of munchkins for better bidding power. Don’t monkey around –

Mallikarjun Shintri, 79

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r. Mallikarjun Shintri passed away peacefully at home on Thursday November 24, 2016 at the age of 79. He is survived by his wife Kusuma of 35 years, daughter Gouri, son Gireesh, 3 grandchildren, and two sisters.

Sitting L-R Stephanie Kellum, United Healthcare, Co-Chair Lisa Kulhanek. Standing 1st Row L-R: Co-Chair Giulia Hattan, Ron Holleyhead, Jacobs Engineering, Title Sponsor Mike Siwierka, Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott, Lina Sabouni, AUTOARCH Architects, Paul Likhari, APAAR Management, Eric Peterson, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic. 2nd Row Standing L-R: Jacosn Fullum, Sewell Automotive, Merry Schneider-Vogel, Thompson & Horton, Gary Pearson, Republic Services, Allison Bond, Johnson Development, Jarvis Hollingsworth, Bracewell LLP, Ron Bailey, PBK Architects and Ray Meyer, Paradigm Consultants. Costumes provided by Ridgepoint High School Theater Arts Department. Photo courtesy of Mary Favre. be a bidding twister! Let your hands fly as you make this the most successful auction ever.

The tantalizing auction items and packages will be auctioned by none other than Commis-

sioner James Patterson.

At the end of the evening you will have had a ToTo-ly wonderful experience in your contribution to The Fort Bend

Education Foundation.

For table sponsorships, individual tickets, or auction donations, please visit www.fortbendisd. com/foundation.

Mr. Shintri contributed much to the Hindu community and Indian community of Houston. He was best known for his first love, teaching and doing yoga, running, walking. Shintri was one of the main yoga teachers for the community and could always be found speed walking or running at 5K, 10K, half marathons.

He also was one of the founding members of the many shakhas and youth camps that are hosted through our Hindu organizations. His official profession was in accounting and tax, and as a CPA, Mr. Shintri provided those services for over 30 years to numerous individuals, corporations, and organizations. He never missed a raas garba event…always the first to arrive and the last to leave…leaving many younger ones out of breath.

Mr. Shintri loved and lived life to the fullest. He will forever be known as one of the great “foot soldiers” for making the community a better place and doing it with such enthusiasm and energy.

A funeral service was held to honor his memory on Tuesday November 29.

Mayor Turner announces naming of Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza at the central library A physical focal point for literacy in Houston

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OUSTON - Mayor Sylvester Turner announced today the Central Library Plaza will be named Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza in honor of the former first lady. The mayor also announced the start of a $5.5 million fundraising campaign to pay for renovation of the plaza.

“This will elevate the impor-

tance of literacy and serve as a reminder of what one person can do with a lifetime of commitment to a cause.,” said Mayor Turner.

“Barbara Bush has dedicated her life to public service, and after leaving the White House in 1989, she focused on her passion for literacy. This exceptional hometown hero has not sought out public notoriety; however, she deserves a public space to honor her significant achieve-

United launches ..

Continued from Page 1 for this time to come. Since the embargo with Cuba was implemented in 1960, millions of family members have spent decades without a chance to see their loved ones.”

“This is truly a historic moment; it is a moment of opportunity,” said Houston Aviation Director Mario Diaz. “This flight is important because it is an expression — it really is an expression of hope. An expression of optimism. It is an expression of the belief that we can resurrect a relationship with a friend, a neighbor, that has languished for over a half a century.”

United will operate Saturday nonstop flights from Houston — the only flight to Cuba originating from the southwest region of the United States — in addition to its daily nonstop service from Newark/New York via Newark International Airport.

“United has officially launched our first flights from the U.S. into Havana,” said Steve Morrissey, United’s vice president of regulatory and policy. “Houston has long been our Latin American and Caribbean gateway, so the importance of this route, for both our airline, employees and our customers, can’t be understated. It has the power to open the door to Cuba for travelers in a large portion of the U.S., and that’s something that we’re very excited about.”

Since the DOT announced its preliminary Havana route awards in July, United has been working closely with the Cuban government and local airport service providers to prepare for the start of its operation into José Martí International Airport, the airline’s 14th new international route launched this year.

Recognized by “Trusted Traveler Network” as one of the most international-friendly points of entry for foreign travelers, Bush Intercontinental

Airport is United’s gateway to Latin America. United offers 91 daily nonstop flights to 52 destinations across Latin America and the Caribbean from its Houston hub. Bush Intercontinental will be an important gateway for service to Havana and will directly connect 20 markets across the central and western United States to Cuba with just one stop. The Cuban-American population in the Houston metropolitan area ranks among the top 10 cities in the country.

ments. Literacy is the cornerstone to being successful, and a community with a high literacy rate also has high productivity and even higher incomes. That is the future for Houston.”

Currently, the Library Plaza is the gateway to the Central Library and the historic Julia Ideson Building. Over 650,000 library patrons pass through the Plaza to access library services, and hundreds of thousands visit the Plaza during downtown events, such as charity walks, parades, festivals, outdoor exhibitions, and city occasions. That useful space will be transformed and will become a destination in its own right, a destination that focuses on Houston’s commitment to literacy.

Although the City of Houston offered this honor to Mrs. Bush without any request for compensation, Neil Bush announced a $500,000 donation to the project from his parents, President H. W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush.

“My mother has championed the cause of literacy for much of her philanthropic life. The entire

Bush family is deeply grateful to the leaders of Houston for honoring and preserving her legacy in such a special way through the Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza.”

Phillips 66 and the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation each also announced $500,000 gifts in support of the Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza.

“Phillips 66 is proud to support the Houston Public Library Foundation and is excited about the opportunities that will come with the new Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza in downtown Houston. We recognize that instilling a love of reading at an early age sets the stage for advancement, and therefore, investing in literacy is an investment in our shared future and in developing tomorrow’s leaders,” said Claudia Kreisle, Director of Philanthropy, Phillips 66.

Licia Green-Ellis, the Houston Public Library Foundation’s chairperson added, “Mrs. Barbara Bush’s name is synonymous with literacy. We are excited to provide a physical focal point for

L-R: Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Neil Bush, Maria Bush, City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Cohen, and City Council Member and Vice Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Davis, during the press conference held at City Hall to announce the project for the Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza in downtown Houston. Photo credit: Al Ortiz | Houston Public Media literacy in Houston and honor a woman who has dedicated a lifetime to this cause. The Plaza is a small token for the incredible impact Mrs. Bush has had on Houston, the United States, and even the world.”

The announcement kicked off the second and final phase of the Plaza’s reconstruction. The $5.5 million campaign will transform the plaza into a welcoming space that extends the library’s mission

outside of its physical walls and into the outdoors. The construction will create two reading gardens, one for children and another for adults, a café bistro with seating under shade trees, a jumbo viewing screen for public movies and other visual events, and an art lawn that can host thought-provoking exhibits.

For additional information, visit www.houstonlibraryfoundation.org.

COMMUNITY

VOICE OF ASIA 9

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

5th Kavita ki Shaam hosted by IHA and ICC

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UGAR LAND – The of International Hindi Association (IHA) and India Culture Center (ICC) held their Annual signature event, 5th Kavita ki sham, jointly on Friday December 2nd at Madras Pavilion.

Hindi is the national language of India and IHA and ICC aim to promote this rich language not only the newer generation Indian Americans but to non-Indian origin people as well. Traditionally, the organizations celebrate Hindi Divas in Houston on “World Hindi Day’ which falls on September 14th but due to festivals and other organizations Gala during Sept to Nov; this Divas is celebrated on 1st Friday of December every year.

Guests were given a warm welcome

by IHA Houston Chapter President Dr. K D Upadhyaya and ICC President Rajiv Bhavsar before the program started with Bal Kalakaar Diya Patel reciting Hindi poems on Machli and Titli. This was followed by two verses in Sanskrit from Bhagwat Gita.

The event sponsored by Sling TV, Deep Foods, Discount Power, Anand & Dr Ashima Chauhan featured 14 local talent kavis (poets) who presented their poems. Sapna Shah was the Event coordinator and Emcee who did a wonderful job. Different kinds of Ras were depicted: Veer ras, Shringar ras, Hasya ras, Bhakti ras, Vyang ras, Karuna ras and Bhav ras by the artists.

Here’s a brief account of their presentations:

Fatehali Chatur a versatile artist presented Ashok Chakradhar’s “ Kavita” based on Hasya ras.

Devika Dhruv, a versatile Gujarati write presented “shabdon ke pallu mein and “akshar ujale mein” based on Bhav ras. She has turned to writing in Hindi since the last four years due to the platform provided by IHA Dr Sarita Mehta, a retired Rice University Lecturer presented her Veer ras full poetry very easily and overwhelmed the audience Sangeeta Pasrija, Past President of IHA Houston and ICC Trustee presented a Hasya ras poetry. It was based on tussle between “chai and lassi”. In typical Rajasthani andaz she got lot of kudos from the audience Dr Meghna Banerjee, a first timer on the IHA stage presented a Shringar ras poetry. Though a PhD in Chemistry, her presentation skills and first time writing in Hindi was appreciated by all at the event.

Dr Harendra Chahar was the featured poet on the IHA-ICC stage this time. Coming from the historic city of Agra, his Braj bhasha and chaste Hindi kept the audience enthralled. Though a PhD Biotechnologist from UTMB, he is close to language and culture. He captivated the audience with Hasya ras poetries. Significant among the same being on “Sasu”- mother in law Sarojini Gupta a strong IHA supporter and President of local SEWA

Chapter presented a Hasya ras poetry- “kuch to standard banao”. She presented the same with full of energy and enthusiasm and the audience kept laughing to no end Anjana Pandey, another first timer on the IHA stage presented a Hasya ras poetry. She kept the entire audience engaged and her creation was significant.

Sanjay Sohoni presented his Hasya Vyang ras poetry based on “Intolerance”.

Though he used to write in Marathi earlier, he has moved to writing Hindi poetry since 2012 when the IHA platform was made available. His short and sweet poetry was appreci- Poets who recited at the 5th Kavita ki sham . Photo credit: Saundarya Sohoni. ated by all Seema Jain, another first timer on the IHA stage presented her Bhav Karuna ras poetry “Rishte” based on relations. She was the President of JVB Preksha Center and her involvement with volunteering is pretty strong.

Meera Kapur presented a Bhakti ras poetry “khud kaun” and “jeevan path”. She is ICC Trustee very involved with the community. Her smooth presentation was appreciated by

Hewlett Packard and India Today Honor Ekal Vidyalaya Host orgnizers IHA and ICC with one honoree Manisha Gandhi. all.

Pravina Kadakia presented a Veer ras poetry.

She writes in Gujarati and has moved to write in Hindi since the IHA platform was provided since 2014 to her Dr Khalid Razvi an exploration Geologist presented his Hasya ras poetry to the audience.

A very knowledge person with command over Hindi, Urdu, German, French, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Marathi and Telugu; he kept the audience laughing to no end Sudha Goyal presented a Veer ras poetry “Mann ki Baat” based on the issues faced due to Demonetization. Her thought process and presentation was remarkable.

The Vote of Thanks and future updates were provided by IHA National President Swapan Dhairyawan. Besides the three regular programs for IHA in 2017, they plan to add “Shaam e Ghazal” program in February and start with

Ekal was honored with the “Digital Trailblazer Award” by Prakash Waghmare, “EVF” Nat’L Committee member

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nergized by its exemplary success in providing literacy and integrated development in villages across India, “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation”, two years back, introduced an innovative digitized supplement to rural life to speed up its integration into the mainstream. This was never before conceived, leave alone an adopted approach to affect rural life. Recently, Ekal was honored with the “Digital Trailblazer Award” at the Digital Conclave organized by ‘Hewlett Packard’ in association with ‘India Today Gr.’ for this unique initiative. The event was held at the Radisson Blue Hotel in Ranchi, Jharkhand on October 21, 2016. Shri Raghubar Das, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand state presented the award to Shri Lalan Kumar Sharma, Program Director of ‘Ekal Gramotthan’ (village renaissance). Several luminaries including Mr. C.P Singh, the Minister for Urban Development, Mr. Sunil Barnwal, Secretary, Information Technology, Jharkhand state, Mr. Vivek Modwal, Country Manager Hewlett Packard and Ms. Aradhna Patnaik, Secretary Education and Human Resource Development attended the event. The award by Hewlett Packard and India Today is a great testament to the impact Ekal is creating in rural India.

Recently, Ekal had another occasion to put a feather in its cap of achievements. On Dec. 2, the US-India Chamber of Commerce of Dallas/Fort Worth, TX conferred ‘Leadership in Community Service Award’ on “Ekal Vidyalaya” at their annual Award Banquet.

Dr. Robert Kaplan, President and CEO of Federal Reserve bank of Dallas was the keynote speaker and Hon. Anupam Ray, Consul General of India (Houston) was the Chief Guest.

According to Kaplan Fruitwala, a member of Ekal ‘Board of Directors’ and Reginal President of South-West region, ‘this Award is given after a rigorous and competitive evaluation process with regards to consistency, achievements and contributions to the Society and

Hindi language classes for kids from non-Hindi speaking background. He announced and felicitated three community volunteers and IHA- ICC core members for their continued support and enthusiasm in Hindi cause. Manisha Gandhi, TV Asia for her continuous five years of support, Nisha Mirani and Ajit Patel for volunteering at IHA events.

All the artists were given token gifts on IHA ICC behalf. The presentation was done by Col Raj Bhalla, Girish Pandya, Praful Gandhi and Manohar Gidwani.

The organizers thanked Madras Pavilion for food and venue, Darshak Thacker for Sound PA, Gautam Jani for video recording, Humtumdesi.com for Social media partner, Indo American News for Print media support, volunteers of the day- Shreya, Eesha and Nimish. Photography was provided by Saundarya Sohoni.

Arya Samaj Houston Responds to Chennai Floods

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Major donors Himanshu Shah and Mohan Wanchoo Ekal is very grateful that ‘USIndia Chamber of Commerce’ has recognized Ekal’s efforts”.

Last month also saw ‘Better Business Bureau’ (BBB) putting a seal of approval on ‘Ekal’ as the member of ‘Wise Giving Alliance’, a select group of honorable prestigious organizations for public charity.

Ekal, a non-profit organization, runs single teacher schools in over 54,000 rural remote villages that benefit 1.5 Million young children - more than half of which are girls.

According to Mohan Wanchoo, who has pledged $200,000 per year for several years, ‘DigitalEkal’ works on many different levels and is a lightning rod to change the ‘face of villages’ as we know them today. Through ‘Ekal-On-Wheels’, a mobile computer training lab, Ekal imparts digital literacy to 5,000 students each year. By next year, there would be 9 such computer-fitted van making rounds of villages and 45,000 students computer-literate, each year. They make use of spoken tutorials techniques, specially developed by IIT Bombay. Another initiative of Digital-Ekal is ‘Lok-Vidya’ or educating a common man. It provides practical information on vast number of topics related to indigenous conditions so as to improve personal health or crop output. To support and flourish this vast number of digital transactions, Ekal has erected several Internet Towers where the power is provided by solar-panels. ‘Tablet-Computer’ pilot program is under way in some of the villages

where teachers make use of ‘Tablets’ loaded with educational material. According to Dr. Shubhangi Thakur, President of ‘Health Foundation for Rural India’ (another wing of ‘Ekal Vidyalaya’), for next year, ‘Tele-Medicine’, that remotely digitally diagnosis most common ailments, is under consideration, with help from ‘John Hopkins University’, Baltimore, USA. There is also a proposal to put the impoverished farmers directly in closer contact with the market-place through digital technology.

Hampered by unsanitary conditions and lack of awareness about personal hygiene, proper healthcare in all its form is a distant call in rural life. Inspired by PM Modi’s ‘Swachchh Bharat’ (Clean India) clarion call, Ekal has embarked on clean environment campaign in several villages where the focus is on awareness and accountability of ones’s action. Himanshu Shah, CEO of ‘Shah Capital’, who has pledged $100,000 per year for several years, is spearheading these efforts. Village folks are also being trained to conserve clean water and observe cleanliness in daily functionality. For this to become a way of life, habit-changing infrastructure is being vigorously promoted with necessary tools for their success. In short, ‘Ekal’ is expanding its horizon beyond basic Education, healthcare or village-development. With generous support from masses, it wants to play a major role molding the character of the nation itself. Kindly join and help Ekal through www.ekal.org

rya Samaj follows its Sixth principle: the prime object is to serve the humanity in true spirit of Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah – may the entire humankind be happy. Indeed, so noble has been its tradition that its founder Maharshi Dayanand founded the very first orphanage in Ferozepur (Punjab) 26th Oct 1877 when such philanthropic projects were rare in India.

The lofty ideal was maintained by the early stalwarts of Arya Samaj whether arising out of natural calamities such as 1905 earthquake in Kangra Valley (Himachal) when the relief efforts were led by Lala Lajpat Rai; and human tragedies such as Mopla riots caused by Malabar Muslims in 1923 when Swami Shraddhanand responded despite great risk.

Arya Samaj Houston had been on the forefront whenever similar occasions arose such as Bhuj/Gujarat earthquake 26th January 2001. Indeed, their pioneering effort has become a monument as Jeevan Prabhat Gandhidham. In quick succession came, the tsunami on 26th December 2004. When the determined team of Arya Samaj Greater Houston led by Dev Mahajan met the lieutenant governor of Pondicherry urging bureaucratic help in establishing an orphanage for the unfortunate Tamil children – the latter was surprised to see the former’s zeal that he asked why the people on the other side of the globe should be so intent to help the children they don’t even know.

The same spirit flared up when the southern India, particularly Chennai received unprecedented downpour in NovDec 2015, resulting into heavy flooding. Arya Samaj Houston mobilized a collection drive of good neat and clean clothes.

The response from the community was so overwhelming that

Top: Volunteers preparing clothes for distribution.

Bottom: Young girls who helped in the distribution. the first container got filled in no time and it was decided to hire the second container, sent in January 2016. The enthusiasm of the volunteers, specially teenagers of Arya Yuva Mandal was beyond measure.

They came for several days and separated the clothes in different categories, packing in different marked boxes – men and women, boys and girls, Indian and western style, blankets and bed sheets, etc.

The clothes distribution made so many people Happy by Diwali, when 70% of the estimat-

ed 7000 sets were distributed.

The clothes people are holding in their hand traveled over 8000 miles and successfully reached them. Time duration has been long due to the sea freight yet the satisfaction and solace that it brings cannot be expressed in words. It is rightly said that one picture speaks thousand words! Our gratitude goes to all involved in the gigantic effort – the Arya Samaj team, donors, volunteers, and the people on the other side of the globe walking the last mile to distribute clothes among the needy people.

ASIA/WORLD

VOICE OF ASIA 10

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Mass grief as India political star Jayalalithaa buried health had worsened and she had been put on life support.

On Monday scuffles broke out outside the hospital as many of her thousands of supporters there tried to break through police barricades.

When Ramachandran died in 1987, riots and looting broke out across the state.

Security had been reinforced across Tamil Nadu ahead of Jayalalithaa’s death over fears of an emotional reaction.

Jayalalithaa earned the loyalty of many voters with a series of populist schemes, including “Amma canteens” that provided lunch for just three rupees (five cents) and vast electiontime giveaways.

She also enjoyed a reputation for toughness and efficiency in a country renowned for bureaucratic delays.

“We called her the iron lady,” said Ebenezer John, a furniture seller, outside the memorial where she was buried.

“She said the poor should be able to eat well, and she made it happen. It is a great loss.”

Several of Jayalalithaa’s supporters resorted to self-harm when she was briefly jailed in 2014 on charges of corruption.

Her conviction, later overturned on appeal, sparked mass protests and even some reported suicides.

Supporters hold a photograph of Tamil Nadu state leader Jayalalithaa Jayaram as they offer prayers for her well being at a temple in Mumbai on December 5, 2016 Chennai (India) (AFP) December 7, 2016 - Hundreds of thousands of mourners paid an emotional final farewell Tuesday to Indian politician Jayalalithaa Jayaram as the former movie star who enjoyed god-like status was buried alongside her on-screen lover.

A day after the 68-year-old died following a massive weekend cardiac arrest, huge crowds lined the streets of Chennai as Jayalalithaa’s coffin was taken to its final resting place in India’s main southern city.

Mourners showered the glass coffin with flowers and clambered onto statues, trees and soft drinks stalls that lined the city’s Marina beach to view the cortege. Television put the number

India’s most polarising politicians, seen by some as an autocratic and secretive leader.

Jayalalithaa’s death has plunged one of India’s most economically powerful states into a period of political uncertainty.

But nothing could dent her popularity in Tamil Nadu, where she was elected chief minister on four occasions in a period when it became one of India’s most prosperous states.

Her trusted cabinet aide, O Panneerselvam, was sworn in as chief minister, but observers are uncertain whether a loyalist who lacks mass support will be able to rule smoothly.

Jayalalithaa first made her name starring in movies alongside M. G. Ramachandran, who later became her political mentor before his death nearly 30 years ago.

Indian mourners shave their heqads as a sign of respect for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram (AFP Photo/MANJUNATH KIRAN)

Pakistan plane ...

Although most Hindus are cremated, she requested in her will that she be buried alongside her former co-star

my generation.... #JunaidJamshed you will be sorely missed,” tweeted user Huma A Shah.

Wednesday’s crash was the fourth deadliest on Pakistani soil.

Pakistan’s most recent air disasters involved helicopters, both in 2015.

In May that year a Pakistani military helicopter crashed in a remote northern valley, killing eight people including the Norwegian, Philippine and Indonesian envoys and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian envoys.

In August 2015 another army helicopter crashed killing 12 people, all military.

Relatives and friends of Pakistani singer-turned Islamic preacher Junaid Jamshed, comfort each other outside his home. -AP Continued from Page 1

The death of Tamil Nadu state leader Jayalalithaa Jayaram has prompted an outpouring of emotion (AFP Photo/ARUN SANKAR)

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Azam Saigol, the airline’s chairman said the plane was an ATR42 turboprop aircraft, which contacted ground authorities after one engine failed and issued a Mayday call at 4:14 pm (1114 GMT).

shaky before it crashed. It was about to hit the village but it seems that the pilot managed to drag the plane towards the hills.”

Three foreigners were among the dead, officials said, with Austria’s foreign ministry later confirming two of its nationals were killed and Chinese state media saying one of its nationals was also among the victims.

of mourners at around one million.

in his memorial building.

Despite being twice jailed over allegations of corruption, the woman known simply as Amma, or mother, was a revered figure in her fiefdom of Tamil Nadu state and one of India’s most popular and successful politicians as a populist champion of the poor.

The pair were famously close and Ramachandran’s death sparked a fierce battle between Jayalalithaa and his widow to inherit his political mantle.

It began descending a minute later before disappearing from radar at 4:16 pm.

As her coffin was lowered into the ground inside the mausoleum, thousands of petals were scattered on top.

“This plane was technically sound, and was checked in October,” he said, adding the captain had flown more than 12,000 hours and the aircraft was nine years old.

Among those on board was Junaid Jamshed, a former Pakistani pop star turned evangelical Muslim, according to the Chitral airport manager and a local police official.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Chennai to pay his respects, streams of her supporters lined up outside a hall in the city centre where her casket was on display, many wearing scarves with the red, white and black colours of her party.

Hundreds of devotees had kept a round-the-clock vigil outside the private hospital in Chennai -- the city formerly known as Madras -- since she was first admitted in September suffering from a fever.

“Our focus now is to retrieve all the dead bodies,” he added, vowing a full investigation.

Tributes poured in on social media for the former lead singer of the country’s first major pop band, whose popular “Dil Dil Pakistan” became an unofficial national anthem.

“It is a very sad day. She was an essential part of the state. She was meant for greatness,” said Christina Paun, a 34-year-old university professor who was among those queueing to pay their respects.

“She had a very difficult life in a male-dominated society but she was always different. She was always great.”

When she first fell ill one supporter set himself on fire, while an elderly man suspended himself from a crane with steel hooks pierced through his skin.

“The people are very depressed. We were expecting her to recover even yesterday,” said Manohar, a businessman who was among the queue of mourners.

- Populist schemes -

Famed for a vast sari collection that won her comparisons with Imelda Marcos, Jayalalithaa was also one of

Sri Lanka to make heroes out of Britishera ‘traitors’

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OLOMBO, Sri Lanka | AFP | Sri Lanka announced plans Monday to rescind a list of 19 nationals described as “traitors” for leading an insurrection against colonial rule nearly 200 years ago.

Keppetipola Disawe, a local leader, and his men were declared traitors over the 1817 rebellion against British rule.

“A recommendation was made to President Maithripala Sirisena to rescind the January 1818 gazette which declared 19 nationals, including Keppetipola Disawe, as traitors and make a fresh proclamation making them national heroes,” Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said in a statement.

The announcement came after the minister met hardline nationalists from the majority Sinhalese community, who have pressed for the scrapping of colonial-era decrees against those who resisted British rule.

Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, won freedom in 1948, a year after Britain quit neighbouring India.

The southern state had been tense since Sunday after reports that her

A senior rescue official on the site who requested anonymity added: “The villagers told us that the plane was

- Nation mourns ex-singer -

“The voice of my youth, the voice of

Y

An official report blamed the accident on a confused captain and a hostile cockpit atmosphere.

- Chequered history But the deadliest accident involving PIA came when an Airbus A300 crashed into a cloud-covered hillside on approach to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu in 1992 after the plane descended too early, killing 167 people.

Most of the carrier’s fleet, apart from its latest Boeing 777s, were banned from entering the European Union between March and November 2007.

Despite this, PIA has been crash-free for 10 years, and received a 7 out of 7 in its latest rating on the oft-cited AirlineRatings.com, which launched its annual listing in 2013.

French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR meanwhile issued a statement expressing its sympathies for the families of the crash victims.

Bangladesh child labourers toil 64 hours a week: survey HAKA, Bangladesh | AFP | Bangladeshi child labourers who live in slums work for an average of 64 hours a week, many of them in textile factories making clothes for top world brands, a major study said Wednesday.

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The new report from the Londonbased Overseas Development Institute has found that 15 percent of Dhaka

slum-dwellers aged between six and 14 did not go to school and worked full-time.

The report, entitled “Child labour and education - a survey of slum settlements in Dhaka”, found that twothirds of girls from slum areas who are working full-time were employed in the booming garment sector.

Myanmar halts workers to Malaysia as Rohingya crisis grows ANGON, Myanmar | AFP | Wednesday 12/7/2016 Myanmar has stopped sending workers to Muslim-majority Malaysia as relations sour over a bloody military crackdown on the Buddhist country’s Rohingya minority.

The move came after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak lashed out at Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for allowing “genocide”, during a rally in Kuala Lumpur that drew thousands of people.

The crowds were protesting against a military crackdown in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine that has pushed more than 20,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh.

Survivors have told AFP horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmar security forces, while dozens have died trying to cross the river that separates the two countries.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long discriminated against the stateless Rohingya and the recent crisis has galvanised protests in Muslim

The deadliest air disaster on Pakistani soil was in 2010, when an Airbus 321 operated by private airline Airblue and flying from Karachi crashed into the hills outside Islamabad while about to land, killing all 152 on board.

countries around the region, including Malaysia.

“We want to tell Aung San Suu Kyi, enough is enough... We must and we will defend Muslims and Islam,” Najib said at Sunday’s 5,000strong rally.

“The world cannot sit and watch genocide taking place.”

A Malaysian government minister has also called for a review of Myanmar’s membership of the regional ASEAN bloc.

Myanmar officials have denied the allegations of abuse and Suu Kyi has told the international community to stop stoking the “fires of resentment”.

Late Tuesday Myanmar’s immigration ministry said it had stopped issuing new licences for its nationals to work in wealthier Malaysia, for years a top destination for migrant labour.

“Myanmar has temporarily stopped sending workers to Malaysia from 6/12/2016 because of the current situation in Malaysia,” it said in a

statement, without elaborating.

Myanmar has also summoned Malaysia’s ambassador to protest at Najib’s accusations of ethnic cleansing.

“Such irresponsible remarks could worsen the already deepening polarisation between the two communities and violent extremism,” Myanmar’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Malaysia already hosts tens of thousands of Myanmar workers, most of them in low-paid jobs in factories or the food and hospitality industries.

According to Malaysia, some 56,000 Rohingya have arrived on its shores in recent years, many taking perilous boat journeys to flee poverty and discrimination in Rakhine.

But on Tuesday former UN chief Kofi Annan, who heads a commission on troubled Rakhine, told reporters he thought the crisis would not split the region apart.

“I think it can be contained. There is a possibility here to contain what is going on,” he told a news conference in Yangon at the end of a weeklong visit.

The findings raised concern over Bangladesh’s $30 billion clothes manufacturing industry, which is one of the world’s biggest despite a dreadful safety record.

The manager of one unnamed garment factory told researchers that while he was aware children aged 1114 should not be working, he did not regard their employment as illegal.

He also admitted that many of his employees did not carry identification cards which would verify their age.

There was no immediate comment from Bangladesh authorities or its powerful garment manufacturers, but union leaders said child labour in factories was rampant.

The extent of child labour in Bangladesh’s textile industry was laid bare in July when a nine-year-old boy was brutally killed at one of the largest spinning factories.

Police probing the factory said they found a quarter of the workforce at the factory outside Dhaka were children.

The ODI report, one of the largest surveys on child work and education conducted in Bangladesh, found that by the age of 14 almost half of the children living in Dhaka’s slums were working.

The report’s co-author Maria Quattri said researchers found many children wanted to go to school.

“But poverty was driving parents to find jobs for their children, even though they could see that it would jeopardise their long-term future,” she wrote.

The study also found that child labour levels rise from around eight percent at the age of 10 to 45 percent at the age of 14, with 36.1 percent of boys and 34.6 percent of girls saying they had experienced extreme fatigue.

US/WORLD

VOICE OF ASIA 11

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

New York’s undocumented Trump taps China ambassador, brace for Trump deportations consults Obama

by Laura Bonilla

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EW YORK, | AFP | 12/7/2016 - If I get deported, can my 18year-old son take care of my youngest child? What should I do if an immigration agent knocks on my door? Do I have the right to a Spanish-speaking lawyer?

These were some of the questions raised by undocumented migrants who met recently at a community center to prepare for the worst after Donald Trump’s surprise November 8 presidential election victory.

The Republican, who launched his White House quest denouncing Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and drug traffickers and vowing to build a wall on the southern US border, has threatened to deport millions of undocumented migrants, starting with those with criminal records.

“We still have two months to get organized,” said Mexicanborn Gonzalo Mercado, the director of the La Colmena community center who organized the event in Staten Island, New York’s most conservative borough.

“We don’t want to instill fear, but we must prepare for the worst because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he told the group.

About 40 undocumented immigrants turned out for the late night meeting, anxious about what the future holds.

They are not alone. The Mexican consulate in New York has been flooded with requests for appointments from nationals seeking to legalize their migratory status.

The waiting list for an appointment at New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office is now four to five months long, despite the Democrat’s promise to fight for the rights of the city’s undocumented residents.

- Emergency plan Cesar Vargas, a young lawyer

who is himself undocumented, has drawn up an eight page emergency action plan for undocumented immigrants, which was handed out to the crowd at La Colmena.

The plan includes practical advice.

Only open your door to immigration agents if they have an arrest warrant, it advises.

Remain silent if detained, find out who is asking for your detention, don’t sign anything without first consulting a lawyer, and request bail.

Migrants were urged to write down passport and contact information for their relatives, as well as any medical insurance, bank, vehicle and home insurance information.

Keep it in a secret place, they were told.

Vargas also advised parents to prepare a notarized document appointing a legal guardian for their children if they themselves are deported, to prevent minors from falling into the hands of the state.

Claudia, a 39-year-old Mexican immigrant who works as a housekeeper, came to the meeting with her husband and one of their two US-born children.

Would her 18-year-old son be allowed to take care of her 10year-old? she asked.

Vargas’s brother Carlos, an advisor on immigration matters for the Borough of Staten Island, told Claudia he thought so, but wasn’t sure.

Claudia, who would not give her last name, said her biggest worry was that her husband, a day laborer, would not be able to provide for the family.

“For example, there are companies that now won’t hire people without papers,” she said.

Trump’s election was traumatic for Jovita Mendoza, a 40year-old single mother who has lived in the United States for 17 years, working two jobs and paying US taxes on both.

“I began to cry when I spoke

to my sons. I told them that if they kick me out they’ll have to study hard, that they shouldn’t worry about me.”

Her eldest son consoled her, telling his mother that if Trump is true to his word “we’ll stay together.”

- More than pretty words Vargas said he and other activists are compiling a list of lawyers who are willing to represent detained undocumented migrants for free in an emergency.

About a half million undocumented immigrants, most of them Mexican, live in New York, America’s most diverse city.

It is one of several US cities that have promised undocumented migrants “sanctuary,” directing city workers not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

But Vargas urged those in the audience to take the promises of official support with a grain of salt, noting that De Blasio is running for re-election next year.

Continued from Page 1 consulted with Barack Obama on his cabinet picks.

The Republican tycoon’s election victory shocked the US establishment and alarmed the world, which is now waiting with bated breath to see if the political novice will follow through on a slew of threats to tear up free trade agreements, abandon treaties and punish American companies relocating jobs overseas.

He antagonized China last week by taking a protocolbusting telephone call from the president of Taiwan, and then railed against Beijing for alleged currency manipulation, unfair taxes and militarizing the South China Sea. Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, on Wednesday urged Washington to block President Tsai Ing-wen from passing through the United States after reports said she may stop in New York to meet the Trump team.

“Right now the mayor and the governor have pretty words to say, because 2017 is an election year,” he said. “We want actions to be put behind their words.”

But on Wednesday, Trump dangled potentially welcome news for Beijing: his pick of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who is close to Chinese President Xi Jinping, as ambassador to China.

Vargas, who came to the United States as a child and managed to get a law degree that allows him to practice despite being undocumented, promised an offensive strategy “starting January 20,” when Trump takes office as president.

“Governor Branstad’s decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as America’s Ambassador to China,” Trump said.

Vargas also urged the migrants to denounce any racist incidents they may encounter in public, in stores and at schools. Such cases appear to have increased since Trump’s election.

Several people in the group complained about an elderly American known to chase down teens and adults in his car while yelling “Go back to your country!” and “Immigrants don’t belong here!”

Upon reports of Branstad’s nomination, China called him an “old friend.”

Trump has pledged to create jobs by commissioning giant infrastructure projects to overhaul America’s ailing roads, bridges, tunnels and airports, as well as by slashing corporate tax rates in an attempt to drive investment.

Our New Issue of

“We have to look at it almost as a war,” he told supporters on Tuesday in Fayetteville, North Carolina on the second leg of an unorthodox victory tour of key swing states that propelled him into office.

- Jobs war -

building his cabinet.

US media reported that he had selected his third former general to join his cabinet -John Kelly to run homeland security -- but all eyes remain on his pending nominee for secretary of state.

Trump boasted of securing a $50 billion Japanese investment from SoftBank to create 50,000 American jobs and his intervention last week to save hundreds of manufacturing jobs from leaving Indiana for Mexico.

Trump told NBC that former arch Republican critic Mitt Romney was still in the running, but also emphasized the merits of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, whose name has been reportedly added to the prospective list.

In an interview with Time, published to mark his accolade as the magazine’s “person of 2016,” Trump said he also asked Apple to build a plant in the US. The bulk of the company’s products are assembled overseas.

- Secretary of state ‘next week’ -

Trump has also threatened to cancel a massive contract for two new Air Force One jets, one of the most glittering assets of the US presidency, in an apparent drive to cut back on government spending.

“We had some tremendous difficulty together and now I think we’ve come a long way,” he said of Romney.

“If we don’t get the prices down, we’re not going to order them,” Trump told NBC, saying that he had spoken to Boeing about the order Tuesday.

The billionaire has spent most of his time since winning the election ensconced in his Trump Tower headquarters

Trump told NBC that he was “fairly close” to a decision and expected to make an announcement on the position next week.

He then called Tillerson a “great, great gentleman” who had built a “tremendous company.”

He also confirmed on NBC that he had sold his stock holdings in June, easing some of the concerns about his potential conflicts of interest given his Trump Organization business group, which he has said his children will now run.

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Japanese navy veteran recalls Pearl Harbor 75 years on

but was killed after the US targeted his plane in 1943.

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In the US, meanwhile, every December 7 is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, while the atomic bombing anniversaries are not officially commemorated.

The shock assault 75 years ago Wednesday in Hawaii sparked patriotic celebration in Japan but left Takimoto feeling uneasy.

some success was virtually guaranteed.

He and other crew members were stunned when first informed of the mission after their flotilla departed towards Hawaii.

Reaching an area 460 kilometres (285 miles) from target, the first wave

“I wondered if such a poor country would be all right fighting such a big one,” the former real-estate agent, now 95 and one of the few Japanese participants still alive, told AFP at his home in Osaka.

“What you see in kamikaze movies never happened on aircraft carriers,” Takimoto said firmly. “We had to do our jobs, rolling the dice against death.”

Despite his misgivings about the risks of attacking the US, Takimoto was proud to support the pilots.

“We built relations of trust that went beyond words,” he said.

Japan also attacked the Philippines, Hong Kong, Guam, Singapore, Malaya, Burma and the Dutch East

This attack brought America into World War II -- though it was already well underway for Europe, and China.

This year’s anni- Above: Kuniyoshi Takimoto was a Japan Navy versary comes after aircraft mechanic during Pearl Harbor attack on President Barack December 7, 1941 (AFP Photo/Behrouz Mehri) Obama’s visit in Right: a modern recreation of the attack.

May to Hiroshima, the Japanese city pulverised by a US of some 180 planes, includatom bomb in the closing days of the ing nimble Zero fighters, conflict. roared off the Hiryu and other carriers, followed later Japan’s Pearl Harbor blitz fired by a second swarm. up resolve in the US, with president Franklin Roosevelt declaring the day - ‘Rolling the dice’ would “live in infamy.”

Pilots and mechanics were phleg“It was just a start... and more or less matic throughout, as aircraft took off a deceptive attack,” Takimoto said, one by one minus any special rituals stressing that given its surprise nature or even “banzai” cheers.

T

o live a long, healthy life, go a little nuts — every day. That’s the takeaway of a study published Monday in the BMC Medicine journal, which found that munching a handful of nuts on a daily basis cuts the risk of a wide range of diseases — from cancer to heart disease.

As holiday parties loom, the timely findings expand on already-known health pluses of eating nuts of all kinds, including peanuts, which are

actually legumes.

Researchers at the Imperial College

Nuts are an even healthier nosh than previously known of London and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ana-

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- Tunnel vision -

Such historical tunnel vision on both sides is no surprise, said Yujin Yaguchi, professor of American cultural studies and Hawaiian history at the University of Tokyo.

- ‘No emotion’ -

After Midway, US-led forces began to reconquer the Pacific, island by island on battlefields in Guadalcanal, Saipan, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Japan finally surrendered but only after the US dropped two atomic bombs -- the second on Nagasaki -- and the Soviet Union declared war.

“People more naturally remember getting a beating rather than meting one out,” he said.

Both Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima have mythic symbolism in their respective countries and are deeply intertwined in historical justifications.

Without Pearl Harbor there would have been no Hiroshima, goes one argument. Another is that a conventional attack on a military base is not the moral equivalent of targeting civilians with nuclear weapons.

The trip sparked debate on whether nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should return the gesture and visit Pearl Harbor.

Indies, in one fell swoop overturning what had seemed an eternal Western colonial order.

But despite such initial success, the tide was fated to quickly turn -- confirming Takimoto’s fears.

lyzed 29 previously published studies involving 819,000 subjects. They found that people who eat about a handful of nuts a day have a lower risk of heart disease and cancer, as well as respiratory conditions, diabetes and infections.

Takimoto has no plans to personally commemorate Pearl Harbor this year, calling it just one of many momentous episodes in the war.

For himself, he calls Midway “much more important.”

Indeed, Pearl Harbor draws little attention compared with annual events marking the atomic bombings, solemn, nationally televised memorials attended by the prime minister.

Among the few instances of remembrance are brief fireworks in Nagaoka, the hometown of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who masterminded the attack

Abe on Monday made a surprise announcement that he would visit the site this month when he goes to Hawaii for talks with Obama.

Abe’s wife Akie made a quiet offering of flowers and prayers at Pearl Harbor in August.

Before Monday’s announcement, Takimoto, who has over the years denounced the war and the leaders who started it, said Abe would go only if he thought it would boost his popularity.

“I know his purpose -- I won’t be moved at all,” he said. (-AFP)

“We found a consistent reduction in risk across many different diseases, which is a strong indication that there is a real underlying relationship between nut consumption and different health outcomes,” said study co-author Dagfinn Aune from the School of Public Health at Imperial. “It’s quite a substantial effect for such a small amount of food.”

While nuts are quite high in fat, they are also great sources of fiber and protein and rich in magnesium and polyunsaturated fats.

Some nuts, par-

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A thousand crew members died, while 500 survivors, including Takimoto, were barely rescued by nearby Japanese ships, a scene he described as “hell.”

Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, the first by a sitting American leader, was generally well-received in Japan, and seemed to be an attempt at seeking common ground, though no apology was offered.

A handful of nuts a day keeps the doctor away: study

by Joe Dziemianowicz (New York Daily News)

In June 1942 at the epic Battle of Midway a US aerial blitz engulfed the Hiryu in massive flames.

iStock Images

avy aircraft mechanic Kuniyoshi Takimoto watched as Japanese planes roared off the aircraft carrier Hiryu to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

ticularly walnuts and pecans, are also high in cancer-fighting antioxidants.

Earlier studies didn’t distinguish between unsalted and salted nuts, accord-

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Cheeky Chinese artist critiques society with nudity

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Kerala is best Indian leisure site: survey

by Tom Hancock

G

UANGZHOU, China | AFP | Setting up a camera in a public place, Ou Zhihang hastily removes his clothes, then with just one bottomexposing press-up -his work is done.

The artist has taken more than 700 photos capturing his nude exercises on streets in China and sometimes abroad -– a body of work unmatched in the contemporary art world.

Kerala is constantly popularising new attractions, such as Ayurveda treatment,that offer the best in leisure to tourists. (Photo: Wellness.com)

K

But the locations he chooses -– sites of government abus- Ou Zhihang’s photographs himself exercising nude at sites such as the Hong es, protests and di- Kong bookstore linked to the disappearance of five booksellers (AFP Photo/ saster -– show there OU ZHIHANG) is more to his work than just cheek.

As a method of physical ex- Impertinent nudity “My aim isn’t to get people ercise, the press-ups are meant Straddling art and journalism to look at my press-ups, but to to symbolise “building social –winning a commendation at use a method to get society to strength”. the World Press Photo Awards think,” said the 46-year-old, Perhaps surprisingly, despite in 2010 -- his work was the clothed in a white polo shirt and its sensitivity Ou has been able subject of a major exhibition in jeans for a dim-sum lunch in his to distribute his work on China’s Venice last year. hometown of Guangzhou. closely controlled internet, and “His ‘impertinent’ nudity is Taken as a whole, Ou’s work its oblique nature has enabled it a protest against the arrogance presents an alternative history to be featured in China’s tightly and neglect of power to the soof China’s last decade – high- censored domestic press. ciety and people,” Chinese art lighting “sensitive” events that He has been chased by dogs critic Gu Zheng said in the exCommunist authorities would and had run-ins with local po- hibition catalogue. rather play down. lice –- who on several occaThe artist has not had a largeOne 2008 photo shows him sions have detained him and scale exhibition on the mainnaked opposite the grey office told him to delete photographs. land, saying he prefers to disof a milk powder company at Last year, he was nabbed tribute his work online. the heart of a scandal which He updates an account on sosickened some 300,000 babies by officers outside a cottage that year. Pedestrians walk by in southern China where four cial media service Wechat with children drank pesticide after his thoughts on China’s latest opposite apparently oblivious. being abandoned by their miThree years later, he stripped grant worker parents, and only scandals -- from the death of an at a patch of scrubland near released once he flashed his academic in police custody to the 50th anniversary of the dethe village of Wukan in south- press credentials. structive Cultural Revolution. ern China, where villagers had “As soon as I took the photo, Most are accompanied by risen up against local officials a car pulled up and took me a image from his collection, in protest at land grabs. away,” he said. picked to match the topic. His He has exposed himself at the He credits the survival of his posts are often deleted, but the site of China’s deadliest high work to his avoiding explicit account has remained operaspeed rail crash in 2011, antiverbal criticism of Communist tional.

Beijing protests in Hong Kong authorities, letting his photos “I care more about having an in 2014, and chemical explospeak for themselves with sim- impact on society than holding sions in Tianjin last year. ple titles stating their location exhibitions for academics,” he All the events were covered and the incident in question. said, contrasting himself with

by China’s state-run media, But China’s online popula- high-profile artist Ai Weiwei, but in a heavily censored form which shifted blame away from tion –- who remember incidents who is rarely displayed in Chieven after reports on them are na. central authorities. deleted, get the message.

“Many people in the West “The aim is to make the pub“Using nudity brings a force think that Ai Weiwei’s work lic remember these incidents,” he said. “People know, if there to his art, it shows the force is great, but over here it’s not is a place where something of an individual in the face of shown,” he said. “A lot of his happens, I should make an ap- powerful public architecture,” thoughts cannot be exchanged said art critic Li Xianting. with the masses.” pearance there.”

Ou acknowledges the risks.

Ultimately, though, Ou would - Social strength “You have to be careful... at the prefer there was no need for A TV producer, Ou started moment I’m safe,” he said. him to bare his flesh. experimenting with naked “You need to do things “I hope that China will stop photography on work trips to which are meaningful for sohaving the kinds of incidents foreign hotels “as a way of reciety.

It can open a window, which need my involvement,” living stress”, before his first and be shared by ordinary he added.

“That way I can live outdoor shot on China’s Great people.

That’s already a kind of quietly”.

Wall in 2005. change.”

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erala has been voted the ‘Favourite Indian Leisure Destination’ this year by readers who responded to a survey conducted by the international travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller.

The annual awards, in their sixth year, honour the best in travel, tourism and hospitality with winners in various categories picked by readers of the magazine through a voting process spanning two months.

This is the third in the series of popularity awards that the State has received in the recent past, with Lonely Planet citing it as the best family destination in India and Travel + Leisure magazine listing it as a top honeymooners’ destination, press release said. Kerala Tourism Deputy Director K. Radhakrishnan accepted the travel award at a function held at New Delhi on Thursday.

“We are honoured to be recognised as a place to relax and rejuvenate by travellers to our State. Kerala is known for its natural beauty and the State’s historical connections with many other parts of the world have contributed to its popularity as a destination for leisure,” Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said. Principal Secretary (Tourism) Venu V. said the award reaffirmed the

State’s reputation of being a tourist’s paradise.

Kerala, which was the runner-up in the same category in 2015, shared the top honour with Goa this year. Although the State’s main attractions remain the unspoilt beaches, the web of tangled backwaters criss-crossing the land and the dances and culture, the State is constantly evolving by popularising new attractions that offer the best in leisure. The award reflects the diversity of leisurebased offerings in Kerala today as well as the quality of their branding, said U.V. Jose, Director, Kerala Tourism. (-The Hindu)

The woman who decides what wine presidents drink

by Anne-Laure Mondesert

P

ARIS, France (AFP) It came as a shock. But Virginie Routis learned very early that one of the obstacles she was going to have to overcome to become a top wine waiter was sexism.

The soft spoken sommelier was working in one of Britain’s best restaurants when a man threw the wine list back at her.

“I want to talk to a man,” he barked.

“He didn’t want to talk to me never mind have me look after the wine,” Routis recalled.

“The maitre d’ had to serve him.”

To say that Routis, the first woman to ever be given the keys to legendary cellars of the Elysee Palace, has had the last laugh is something of an understatement.

She not only presides over the 14,000 bottles of finest French wine beneath the French president’s official residence, but she has also been responsible for one of the biggest shake-ups of the closely guarded national treasure in decades.

The 38-year-old is also responsible for serving -- and impressing -- the monarchs and heads of state who regularly dine at the Elysee.

French President Francois Hollande gave her “carte blanche” to serve what wines she thought best to with his chef Guillaume Gomez’s menus.

And she is spoiled for choice from the Elysee’s staggering collection which goes from mythic names like Cheval Blanc, Latour, Batard-Montrachet de Joseph Drouhin, Domaine Leflaive PulignyMontrachet to high quality wines from all of France’s wine regions.

“When we are entertaining a head of state, we generally go for safe bets like a white burgundy, or a grand Bordeaux red, but for lunches we can range

Virginie Routis, head sommelier at the Elysee Palace, has overcome sexism to become a wine waiter to world leaders (AFP Photo/CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT) out to Alsace, Cahors, Corsica” and elsewhere, she said.

“I like to play on surprise, and I know the President is very open to that,” she added.

Routis was only 30 when she took over at the Elysee and had to deal with the rather challenging prospect of Nicolas Sarkozy, the chocoholic former French president who does not drink wine.

cal than men. But it is good to have a mixed team,” she said, forever the diplomat.

In 2013 Routis sold off some 1,200 bottles from the temperature-controlled Elysee cellar -- which is protected by an armoured door -- in a major reorganisation of its stock.

Luckily, his wife the singer Carla Bruni did and it was with her that Routis would discuss the choice of wine.

With a budget last year of 170,000 euros ($178,000) -of which 50,000 euros comes from auctioning off select bottles -- she has mostly used the money to buy young wine to lay down.

Although Routis admitted that as a woman she had to fight for her place in the very masculine world of wine waiting, now up to a fifth of sommeliers in France are women.

Of all the state dinners and banquets she has had to deal with, Routis said the one that marked her most was the visit in 2014 of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

- ‘Women better tasters’ “It is much more straightforward” than before, said Routis, who points to Estelle Touzet, sommelier at the Ritz, or Marlene Vendramelli, who was named the best young sommelier in France in 1993, for helping to break the glass ceiling.

In fact, she argues women may be better at the job.

“I think we have a more sensitive palate and we have perhaps a more simple way of explaining wines, which is less techni-

Having begun her career in England at French chef Raymond Blanc’s Manoir aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford, she knew to some degree what was expected but she admitted that it was still “one of the most stressful” dinners.

For the occasion she served a Sauternes, Chateau d’Yquem 1997 as an aperitif, Haut-Brion 1990 red Bordeaux and a Pol Roger champagne, cuvee Winston Churchill, in a nod to Britain’s wartime leader’s favourite tipple.

HEALTH, SC & TECH

VOICE OF ASIA 15

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Amazon just launched a cashier-free convenience store

Decades of attempts show how hard it is to land on Mars – here’s how we plan to succeed in 2021

No lines, no registers, no self-checkout machines

by Andrew Coates

by Natt Garun

E

urope has been trying to land on Mars since 2003, but none of the attempts have gone exactly according to plan. A couple of months ago, the ExoMars Schiaparelli landing demonstrator crashed onto the planet’s surface, losing contact with its mothership. However, the mission was partially successful, providing information that will enable Europe and Russia to land its ExoMars rover on the Red Planet in 2021.

Now European research ministers have finally agreed to give the mission the outstanding €400m it needs to go ahead. A lot is at stake as the rover is poised to uniquely drill under the harsh Martian surface to search for signs of past, or even present, life. With the best of human endeavour, we must learn, try again and not give up. As leader of the international Panoramic Camera team on the rover, which will among other things provide surface geological and atmospheric context for the mission, I am one of many scientists working very hard to make it work. PanCam is one of nine state-ofthe-art instruments which will help us analyse subsurface samples.

The reason it is so hard to land on Mars is that the atmospheric pressure is low, less than 1% of Earth’s surface pressure. This means that any probe will descend very rapidly to the surface, and must be slowed. What’s more, the landing has to be done autonomously as the light travel time from Earth is three to 22 minutes. This delay transmission means we can’t steer the rapid process from Earth.

NASA and Russia have had their own problems with landings in the past, before the spectacular successes with the US missions Viking, Pathfinder, Spirit,Opportunity, Phoenix and Curiosity.

- Lessons learned Europe’s first attempt to land on Mars was with Beagle 2 on Christmas day 2003. Until recently the last we had seen of the lander was on December 19, 2003 – imaged soon after separation from the Mars Express mothership. Mars Express itself was a huge success, entering orbit on December 25 that year and operating ever since.

It has revolutionised our knowledge of Mars with stereo images, mineral mapping, studies of plasma escape from the planet’s atmosphere and the first detection of methane.

Recently, the Beagle 2 lander was imaged by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on the surface – tantalisingly close to success, with only one of the four solar panels left undeployed. Unfortunately, the communications antenna was underneath that vital panel, preventing communications with Mars Express and Earth.

Beagle 2 probably operated for a day or two at least, and may have taken its first panorama with our stereo camera system and its pop-up mirror.

Then, on October 19 this year,

A

mazon just unveiled a grocery store without lines or checkout counters. Amazon Go, a 1800-square-foot retail space located in the company’s hometown of Seattle, lets shoppers just grab the items they want and leave; the order gets charged to their Amazon account afterwards.

Mars rover being tested near the Paranal Observatory. located in northern Chile. (Photo: Common Creatives) Schiaparelli tried to land. Using lessons learned from Beagle, detailed data were transmitted during the descent, after separation from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mothership.

The early parts were successful – we know that the heat-protective tiles did their job during entry into the thin Mars atmosphere, and that the parachute deployed as planned.

But then, unexpected spinning motion was detected for unknown reasons, the parachute was ejected early and the retro rockets were fired briefly.

Despite altimeter and speed measurements, the on-board control computer became confused (saturated) over a second-long period and thought Schiaparelli had reached the surface already. Unfortunately, the craft was still 3.7km high, the retro rockets shut off early and Schiaparelli fell to the surface – impacting at over 300km/h.

More lessons learned, the hard way.

As the controllers now know exactly what went wrong, they are using the transmitted data to determine why and figure out how to avoid it happening again.

Meanwhile, the Trace Gas Orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit. Last week it sent its first stunningly promising images and data from its first close Mars encounter. Its final orbit will be a 400km circular orbit to be achieved in March 2018. This will involve a tricky, fuel-free braking process called “aerobraking” (which involves dragging the spacecraft through the top of the atmosphere in order to use the friction from the gas molecules to slow it down).

The spacecraft’s mission is to find out more about the surprising trace gases, including the methane. Methane should not be present in Mars’ atmosphere, as it is broken up by sunlight in tens to hundreds of years, so there must be a source of it there now.

The possible options are both exciting – it could either be geothermal activity or microbial lifeforms.

- Searching for life The rover itself is the jewel in the crown of the ExoMars programme,

planned for launch in 2020 and arriving in 2021. There are similarities and differences with earlier landing systems, which will again use lessons learned from earlier missions.

W

Between 2005 and 2015, cancer cases increased by 33 per cent, mostly due to population ageing and growth plus changes in age-specific cancer rates, the report said.

The report by Christina Fitzmaurice from the University of Washington in the US and colleagues shows that prostate cancer was the most common cancer globally in men (1.6 million cases) and tracheal, bronchus and lung (TBL) cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths for men.

Breast cancer was the most common cancer for women (2.4 million cases) and the leading cause of cancer deaths in women, the report said.

The most common childhood cancers were leukemia, other neoplasms, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and brain and nervous system cancers.

Researchers estimated cancer deaths using vital registration system data, cancer registry incidence data and verbal autopsy data.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and estimates of its burden around the globe are vital for cancer control planning, the report said.

On the consumer level, the benefits are obvious — no waiting in line or fussing around with self-checking machines. But for Amazon, the company could potentially track you and your phone as you browse the store to track items you buy. By looking at your movements in the store as you shop, Amazon could analyze items you may have noticed or were potentially interested in buying (i.e., picking something up off a shelf and putting it back down.) Combine this with your Amazon.com browsing activities and the company could gear up to serve even more recommended products wherever you’re online.

Though Amazon Go does do away with human cashiers, we haven’t seen anything about robots physically stocking the store, so while it does eliminate some jobs, it’s not a com-

The rover has a unique drill which will collect samples from up to two metres underneath the harsh Martian surface. This is 40 times deeper than anything else planned – the Curiosity rover can only drill five centimetres.

This is below where ultraviolet light and other radiation from our sun and galaxy – which is harmful to life – can reach. It is the most likely of any planned mission to finally answer the question of whether there was, or even is, life on Mars.

The possible landing sites have been narrowed down by engineering constraints but from a number of possibilities three now remain – Oxia Planum, Mawrth Valles and Aram Dorsum. At the first two of these, data from orbit shows signs of water-rich clays (phyllosilicates), and the last one includes an ancient channel and sedimentary deposits – signs of past water erosion.

The options will be narrowed down further in the next few months.

The mission is one of the most exciting in the search for life beyond Earth.

Along with Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s satellite Enceladus, Mars is one of the top locations to look.

Moreover, the hardware development progress is good, with industry and academia pushing the frontiers of technology, pursuing the international teamwork needed to build and operate the mission, and learning how to work in super-clean rooms to avoid contaminating Mars with terrestrial spores.

We learn from the past and plan for the future. Space exploration is hard, particularly at Mars, and we must never give up. The ExoMars rover mission will play a key part internationally in Mars exploration, and using the lessons from the past we are poised to find the answer to one of mankind’s most important questions – are we alone in the universe? Our rover might just find the answer (-TheConversation.com)

Global cancer cases has risen by 33% in the last 10 years ASHINGTON, PTI| Dec 05, 2016: There were an estimated 17.5 million cancer cases around the world and 8.7 million deaths in 2015, according to a new report which shows that the cases increased by 33 per cent in the last decade.

Amazon Go works by using computer vision and sensors to detect what items you’re taking out of the store.

You start by scanning an app as you enter the Amazon Go shop. You do your normal shopping, and the sensors throughout the store identify the items in your cart and charge them to your account when you walk out the door.

It’ll feel like shoplifting, except you’re actually being watched by more cameras than you can imagine.

you cook your own dinners for two.

Globally, the odds of developing cancer during a lifetime were one in three for men and one in four for women, it added.

“Cancer control, which requires a detailed understanding of the cancer burden as provided in the GBD [Global Burden of Disease study], is of utmost importance given the rise in cancer incidence due to epidemiological and demographic transition,” the researchers said.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Oncology.

Scan your smartphone app, pick up your desired items and just walk out. Amazon previews the grocery shop of the near-future. (Photo: YouTube/Amazon) The shop will stock most items you’d find in a local convenience store: snacks, drinks, premade food like salads and sandwiches, and grocery essentials like bread and milk. It’ll also sell Blue Apron-like meal kits that let

pletely automated system... at least, not yet.

The store is currently open in beta to Amazon employees only. A public opening is scheduled for early 2017.

Now, Google Allo to understand and respond in Hindi

N

EW DELHI: In a bid to take instant messaging experience to millions in India, Google on Monday introduced Hindi language capabilities in its Google Allo smart messaging app.

The new updates in “Google Assistant” and “Smart Reply” features will roll on Allo from Monday on Android and iOS devices and will be available to all users in the coming days, the company said in a statement.

“Google Allo has received tremendous response in India which has one of the highest number of Google Allo users,” said Amit Fulay, Group Product Manager of Google.

“One in every 12 messages in group chats are messages to the Google Assistant. We are enthused by this and today’s launch enables us to extend these features to the next millions of users in a language of their choice,” Fulay added.

With the launch, the Google Assistant in Allo will now understand and respond in Hindi.

“Chat one-one-one with your Assistant in Allo, or just type @google to bring your Assistant into any group chat. To start using the Assistant in Hindi, just say ‘Talk to me in Hindi’ or adjust the language setting on your device,” Google said.

Google launched Allo in September this year.

Packed with innovative features including “Smart Reply”, options for sharing photos, emojis and stickers, Allo uses Google Assistant and makes it easier for users to respond quickly and keep the conversation moving, even when one is on the go.

Smart Reply will recognise the language a user is chatting in and begin to show suggested responses in that language.

If you start chatting in Hindi, the “Smart Reply” will show a user suggestions in that language. So, now you can respond to your friends question “kya haal hai” with “Sab theek Hai” with a single tap.

Users may no longer need to leave a conversation with friends just to grab an address, or share a YouTube video or pick a dinner spot.

Apart from answers, Google Assistant in Google Allo can also provide latest news, weather, traffic, sports, or upcoming flight status.

Users can also get information from pharmacies to ATMs, banks, parking, gas stations and grocery stores, etc., and directions right within their conversation from the Google Assistant.

(-IANS)

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Japan is obsessed with climate change but young people don’t get it

by Tatiana Schlossberg

T

OKYO — On a recent Wednesday, the Ministry of the Environment offices here were almost completely in darkness, lit only by the silver-blue glow of computer screens.

All of the government ministry offices are supposed to go dark for an hour in the middle of each day to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Satoru Morishita, deputy director-general of global environment affairs at the ministry, said the policy is a daily reminder of the stakes of climate change.

“We’re trying to change behaviors in addition to changing attitudes on climate change, and from that, to change the whole society,” Mr. Morishita said in an interview.

But the Japanese people, particularly the young people, do not seem to be heeding Mr. Morishita’s wishes. A recent government survey showed that nearly 75 percent of Japanese people ages 18 to 29 expressed interest in climate change, an impressive figure by international standards. But it is a noticeable drop from the close to 90 percent interest stated by the same age group just a few years ago.

A recent survey from the Pew Research Center showed similar results — 75 percent of Japanese over the age of 50 said global warming was a major threat to Japan, compared with 59 percent of those ages 18 to 34.

Because Japan has to import most of its energy and because of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, the country has an almost obsessive interest in tackling energy issues. The apparent drop in concern by Japanese young people alarms many in government, including Mr. Morishita.

“I want young people to understand that climate change is their problem, too, and to act on it,” he said.

This nation’s approach to fighting climate change provides an illuminating contrast both to other countries straining to engage the public on the issue and to those that deny it altogether.

While the United States took a global leadership role on climate change under President Obama, President-elect Donald J. Trump appears uncertain whether climate change is real, or if it is, how to deal with it.

The Japanese people, though largely united in recognizing the threat of global warming and rising sea levels, are likely to face hurdles in reforming their energy policy, including some resistance from young people who say the nation faces more pressing problems, like the economy.

To spur interest among the young and old, the government last summer began a campaign called “Cool Choice,” which encourages consumers to buy energy-efficient appliances.

The country has several other energy-saving and environmental initiatives, including a complicated (to foreigners) trash-separation plan.

Nevertheless, the municipal recycling rate hovers around 20 percent, according to environment ministry data from 2012, the most recent year data was available, which is relatively low among developed countries. However, the amount of waste per capita is very low — in 2011, it was 902 pounds a year, compared with 1,628 in the United States.

In 2005, the government unveiled “Cool Biz,” a campaign to reduce energy consumption in the summer by discouraging the use of air-conditioners and encouraging workers to dress more casually, wearing short-sleeve shirts, for instance.

The program has a winter counterpart, called “Warm Biz,” which began at the same time as Cool Biz but gained more steam after the Fukushima disaster. It encourages people to use less heat in the winter, suggesting things like holding nabe (a Japanese hot-pot dish) parties with family and friends to stay warm. This campaign also has a mascot named Attamaru, a “warm ninja” who gives tips on staying warm.

In a new effort to capture young people’s attention, the government has begun studying the possible environmental benefits of the sharing economy, since this generation seems less interested in owning their own cars, homes or bikes, environment ministry officials said. And since many campaigns here have mascots, those officials are soliciting designs for a three-dimensional character, hopefully inspired by Hatsune Miku, a digitized pop star.

So far, some young people seem unmoved by the government’s efforts.

Sui William McCauley, 24, a graduate student in journalism at Waseda University in Tokyo, shrugged at the public education campaigns. “That just feels like, whatever,” said Mr. McCauley, who grew up in Sendai, north of Tokyo on Japan’s main island.

“Maybe if they say you should drink whiskey when it’s cold, I’ll do that,” he said.

His view might reflect a much deeper generational divide in Japan, according to Midori Aoyagi, principal researcher in the Integrated Environment and Economy Section at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, who studies public opinion on climate change in Japan.

She said that in her focus groups with Japanese millennials, she “always felt a kind of hopelessness” toward their everyday lives, their careers and social issues, possibly a result of having grown up during a prolonged period of economic stagnation known as the lost decades.

Interviews with several Japanese students and office workers ages 22

to 26 elicited similar responses to arguments for the need for urgency on fighting climate change. These young people cited the huge scale and timeline of the problem, a feeling of powerlessness, silence from the media and preoccupation with more important issues.

Several said other issues seemed more pressing for Japan than climate change — a stagnating economy, a declining population and tensions in East Asia, to name a few. Many worried about energy security — only three of the country’s 45 nuclear reactors are now operational, a result of safety concerns after Fukushima — and expressed hope that Japan would invest more in renewable energy.

Most of them said they didn’t really believe that almost 75 percent of their contemporaries were actually interested in climate change: It might be considered rude in Japan to say you are not interested in something; and most Japanese people know they are supposed to care, even if that rarely translates to action.

Maki Nakamatsu, 24, a graduate student at Waseda University, said the government should spend less effort on a public awareness campaign — “That’s not the point,” she said — and more on encouraging or requiring environmentally conscious behavior.

In a 2007-8 Gallup World Poll, Japan had some of the world’s highest levels of awareness and understanding of climate change — at 99 and 91 percent — and the fifth-highest level when it came to thinking climate change was a serious problem (around 80 percent), possibly because climate change is taught in most schools.

Japanese energy consumption has fallen every year for the past five years, but the government wants to cut energy use more deeply and faster to meet longer-term pledges made under the 2015 Paris climate accord.

There seems to be an inherent tension between the seeming ineffectiveness of immediate and individual action and the long view the government is trying to take that is common to every society trying to reduce emissions and to encourage participation.

Campaigns and voluntary programs like the ones Japan has started are “relatively small bore,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, a research scientist at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the director of the climate change communication program there. “It’s very difficult for individual people to see how those behaviors relate to climate change” or make a difference, he said.

That seems to be part of the problem for many young Japanese like Shota Kanai, 23, an analyst at an e-commerce company in Tokyo.

“This issue is too big,” he wrote in an email, “and I feel my actions cannot make any difference.” (-NYTimes)

US colleges move to protect undocumented students

N

College administrators in New Mexico - the state with the highest percentage of Latino residents - are looking into proposals that would grant immigrant students living in the country illegally protections while they pursue their studies.

Meanwhile, advocates in California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota and Texas are pressing their state and private universities to provide sanctuary to these immigrant students, known as DREAMers, after the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors).

“We urge you to declare the University of San Diego a sanctuary campus for students, faculty, staff and community members now facing, among other things: the threat of deportation under President-elect Donald J Trump’s policy proposals, and the specter of hate speech and bigoted violence in our campus community,” read a letter

from alumni to administrators of the private Roman Catholic university.

Trump’s alma mater - the University of Pennsylvania - even renewed its pledge on Wednesday to block federal

ing petitions to make their schools sanctuary campuses. One such group in Chicago gathered more than 1,700 signatures and turned them over to school leaders.

A Nevada education philanthropist also is pushing for universities in his state to declare themselves sanctuary campuses.

Trump’s tion force’

For college students with kids, getting cheap child care is a challenge

by Kat Lonsdorf

Here’s what they found:

tudent parent. Ever heard that term? It’s used for a student who is also a parent, and there are nearly five million of them in colleges around the country. That’s over a quarter of the undergraduate population, and that number has gone up by around a million since 2011.

• You have to work for the money.

Twelve states require student parents to work in order to be eligible for the grant — and in Washington State, Kentucky and Arizona, they have to work at least 20 hours per week. That’s a part-time job and college and the responsibilities of parenting.

It can be really, really expensive to be a student parent, especially if you need to pay for child care while you’re in class.

• You can’t aim too high. In ten states, student parents may only be pursuing below a bachelor’s degree. Of those ten, eight allow for only a vocational degree, and four have a time limit on education of two years or less. So in Rhode Island, for example, student parents are only eligible for the CCDBG if they are completing a training program that is less than a year long.

S

In some states, child care for an infant can be as much as $17,062 a year, according to a report by Child Care Aware of America. Add that on to the ever-rising cost of college tuition — both private and public — and the financial strain of getting a college education becomes a huge burden for low-income parents. So much so that only a third of student parents get a degree within six years, often citing mounting debt as a reason for dropping out.

“What it comes down to is that college becomes a bit of an impossibility for a low-income parent who needs child care to go to school,” says Barbara Gault, vice president and executive director of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, an organization that’s done a lot of research on student parents.

The primary source of federal aid for child care nationwide comes from something called the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) — specifically for low-income parents and families. A block grant means that every state can develop their own eligibility requirements, which means it’s tricky to know if you qualify.

States have unique education-specific rules attached to the CCDBG — basically a bunch of extra hurdles students parents have to clear. Gault, along with a team of other researchers at IWPR, recently compiled requirements from all the states to get a snapshot of what student parents are up against.

Still, New York’s Columbia University recently announced plans to offer sanctuary and financial support to immigrant students.

Eyeing Trump’s policies, several universities take on “sanctuary” status to shield immigrant students from deportation.

EW MEXICO - Universities and colleges in several US states are considering labelling themselves “sanctuary campuses” amid fears from immigrant students and pressure from activists following the election of Donald Trump.

Young Japanese women pose with a green bear during the Earth Parade 2015 in Tokyo, Japan (Photo: Franck Robichon/EPA)

‘deporta-

The movement comes after Trump promised to end an executive order that granted temporary status to immigrant students living in the country illegally.

During his campaign, University of New Mexico students and professors he also promised to present a proposal to declare the campus a ‘sanctuary launch a “deportation university’ [File Photo/AP] force” and withhold federal funding from agents without a warrant from remov- sanctuary cities. ing students in the country illegally.

Trump has not said anything about Students and professors at Univer- sanctuary campuses. sity of Illinois campuses are circulat-

• You have to do well. Six states require “satisfactory” academic progress to remain eligible — although that isn’t clearly defined.

• You have to stay busy. Over a third of all states mandate a certain amount of credits or hours per semester. For example, Mississippi insists that a student parent be enrolled full-time in order to receive financial help with child care.

Gault says these restrictions are tough, but points out that even if they were revamped and a student parent could easily qualify, the demand for CCDBG money is really high. Student parents must spend time on waiting lists that can take months, even years.

“We need bigger solutions to these problems,” says Gault. “These rules and restrictions in a way just exemplify how little we’re thinking about the educational needs of parents.”

The landscape isn’t completely bleak for student parents. A few states have their own funding set aside specifically for low-income student parents — Minnesota has had a grant available for almost thirty years. A handful of colleges offer free child care. And if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his daughter Ivanka’s call for child care reform, that could help out student parents too. (-NPR.com) Not all schools are considering sanctuary campus status despite letters, petitions or even protests.

And last month, Wesleyan University President Michael Roth said that the Connecticut school would be a sanctuary campus and would not voluntarily help the federal government deport students.

New Mexico State University President Garrey Carruthers said in a Friday memo to employees and students that while NMSU will not declare itself a sanctuary campus, the school will not discriminate on the basis of immigration status or require proof of citizenship for admission.

University of New Mexico President Bob Frank said university lawyers were looking into sanctuary status after a group of professors came to his office last month to deliver a letter with more than 900 signatures. The Santa Fe Community College board of regents declared itself a “sanctuary campus” this week.

The California State University system announced recently that it would not use the “sanctuary” term at any of its 23 campuses, but it would also not cooperate with any new federal policy that targets immigrant students living in the country illegally.

University of Illinois leaders have tackled the issue at the flagship Urbana-Champaign location, about 240km from Chicago, saying a working group will review the legal ramifications of making the roughly 44,000-student campus a sanctuary.

This week, the University of California announced steps to protect students in the country illegally, saying it would not assist federal immigration agents or turn over confidential records without court orders. It also said it would not provide information for any national registry based on race, religion or national origin.

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VOICE OF ASIA 17

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Bollywood -Hollywood

Section 2

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Tel: 713-774-5140

France bets on Bollywood to lure Indian tourists Comedian Jimmy Kimmel

to host 2017 Oscars

A

s France contends with a drop in tourist numbers following a series of deadly attacks, the government is hoping that a new Bollywood romantic comedy can help it lure Indian visitors.

From the golden beaches of the Cote D’Azur to the roof of the Paris opera house and the historic bridges of the Seine, the blockbuster movie “Befikre” -- “Carefree” in English -is filled with picture postcard scenes of France.

The makers of the blockbuster movie, which hits Indian screens on Friday, say it is the first Bollywood production to be shot entirely on the French mainland.

For French ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler the new movie, which features Bollywood star Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor, is worth “all the marketing campaigns in the world”.

“In a country like India, the impact of movies on the dreams people have of visiting an unknown place and on the desire to discover is absolutely huge,” Ziegler told AFP. “It is without doubt the biggest influence over travel today for the Indian middle classes.”

Top tourist hotspots around the world have recently focused on Chinese visitors, but are increasingly setting their sights on neighbouring India.

The country’s burgeoning middle class is travelling abroad in growing numbers, with 50 million forecast to do so by 2020, up from just 20 million in 2014.

Jimmy Kimmel hosts a late night talk show on Oscars network ABC (AFP Photo/KEVIN WINTER).

Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh (L) and Vaani Kapoor. (Photo: AFP) Last year 524,000 Indians travelled to France, a figure dwarfed by the number of Chinese and Japanese visitors but which is growing rapidly.

Sophie Lacressonniere, marketing director of the promotional agency Atout France, says the Indian client base is also “resilient to security fears”, a key factor in the wake of recent attacks in France.

Other European countries have already enjoyed the Bollywood effect -- the number of Indians visiting Spain doubled in 2012 after the release of the

hit road movie “You Won’t Get This Life Again”, parts of which were shot there.

Switzerland meanwhile has long loomed large in the imaginations of Indian travellers.

Its snow-capped peaks and quiet rural villages were immortalised in the cult films of the Bollywood director Yash Chopra, who died in 2012.

All of which meant the French authorities pulled out all the stops when they were first contacted by the makers of “Befikre” last year.

India’s Shah Rukh Khan dreams of global Bollywood hit

LOS ANGELES | AFP - Late night television presenter Jimmy Kimmel on Monday ended months of speculation over who would host the 89th Oscars in February -- announcing that he has been tapped to front the glitzy ceremony.

It will be the first time for the comedian, who has hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC since it launched in 2003 and garnered praise for his work as host of this year’s Emmys television awards.

“Yes, I am hosting the Oscars. This is not a prank. And if it is, my revenge on @TheAcademy will be terrible & sweet,” the 49-year-old New Yorker joked on Twitter.

His selection is expected to be announced officially by Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd, who have multiple Oscar and Emmy nomina-

tions between them and were tapped last month to produce the ceremony.

The Academy did not respond immediately to requests for confirmation of Kimmel’s selection to front the show, which airs live on ABC on February 26, but it retweeted his announcement.

The network, which pays the Academy a reported $75 million a year to broadcast the Oscars, struck a new deal in August giving executives more input into creative aspects of the ceremony.

Kimmel’s appointment comes unusually late this time around, as the host is usually booked months in advance of the Oscars.

It will end speculation over several other possibilities for presenter, including fellow comedians Ellen DeGeneres and Tina Fey.

When Jayalalithaa ruled Tamil cinema

hordes of admirers gather outside his mansion by the sea in India’s commercial capital of Mumbai, the home of Bollywood.

His next film, called “Dear Zindagi” (“Dear Life”), hits cinema screens on Friday.

But Khan admits he initially had misgivings about playing the role of Jehangir Khan in the comedy-drama directed by Gauri Shinde.

“I’d be honest, I didn’t think I’d like the film. Not because it’s not a good film... But it’s not my genre of film.

I like bad boys. I like James Bond,” he said.

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, known in India as “King Khan” or simply “SRK” to his legions of fans, is arguably Hindi cinema’s biggest and mostrecognisable star of the modern age. © AFP / by Peter HUTCHISON

by Peter HUTCHISON Indian screen icon Shah Rukh Khan has starred in dozens of Bollywood blockbusters and is adored by millions, but there’s a movie he still dreams of making -- one that’s a truly global hit.

“I would like to be a part of that one Indian film, as an actor, as a producer, as a gaffer, as a sound recordist, as a production manager, whatever, which becomes famous all over the world,” Khan told AFP in an interview.

“That’s my ‘Make in India’ dream.

I’ve had this since 25 years,” he added, borrowing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-trumpeted slogan for boosting manufacturing in the country.

The Asian giant’s Hindi film industry churns out hundreds of movies every year, raking in billions of US dollars in ticket receipts, but is yet to release a blockbuster that really takes Western box offices by storm.

“I hope to achieve that but I don’t

sit down with people (and focus on) ‘What is the crossover film that we can make?’ No, I think it will happen because I believe in it,” said Khan.

The actor known in India as “King Khan” or simply “SRK” to his legions of fans is arguably Hindi cinema’s biggest and most-recognisable star of the modern age.

He shot to stardom in the mid-90s as the hero of romantic dramas such as “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (“The Bravehearted Will Take Away the Bride”) and “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” (“Something Happens”).

Khan is also known for lead roles in high-octane thrillers like “Don” and this year’s “Fan” while other major hits include the 2013 comedy “Chennai Express” and 2010’s “My Name is Khan”, in which he played a man with Asperger’s syndrome.

- ‘I like James Bond’ The 51-year-old boasts 22.2 million Twitter followers and regularly sees

Khan says his character plays the role of a “mentor, friend, philosopher, guide” to the much younger Kaira, played by upcoming Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt, 23, in the film which he says is “sweet” and “funny”.

He described “Dear Zindagi” as a feel-good movie about life and how to cope with it “not only as a youngster but as a parent, as a middle-aged person.

“It deals with all of them without being preachy,” he explained.

Khan, whose career as one of Bollywood’s most bankable actors spans three decades, says he doesn’t see himself as a real-life mentor to young actors, but will give advice if asked.

- ‘Out of body experience’ Khan has appeared in around 80 Bollywood movies and collected numerous accolades since travelling to Mumbai on a train from his hometown of Delhi in the early 90s with the clear intention of becoming a superstar.

“I always wanted to be famous, I wanted to be recognised, I want thousands of people outside my house, I don’t want to go on the beach and relax. If I want a McDonald’s I’ll open it in my house,” he said.

She was the first Tamil actress to do this for a song – she wore sleeveless blouses and drenched under a waterfall! he Tamil and Telugu film industry Tuesday mourned the death of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with her co-stars paying her rich tributes. Veteran actors Jamuna, Krishna and Mohan Babu recalled the moments they shared with her on and off the sets. Jamuna said Jayalalithaa was a model for women as she fought all odds to chart her own course and reached the dizzy heights of fame and success.

had great concern for all artistes, especially poor.

Jamuna, who acted with Jayalalithaa in “Sri Krishna Vijayam” (1969), said she was fortunate to get an opportunity to work with her. Interestingly, Jayalalithaa, who was then an upcoming actress played the main lead role in this film with legendary N.T. Rama Rao. The veteran actress said even after becoming the Chief Minister, Jayalalitha did not forget her costars and used to enquire about their well-being. Jamuna said Jayalalitha

“And the curtains come down to the journey of one of the most charismatic and humble humans being #jayalalithaa Garu. Symbol of woman power. Had the honor of meeting her first when I was starting my career & many times after that.An amazing actor & an example for women &men alike Praying alongside my Tamil brothers and sisters. No words can express this loss. May her soul Rest In Peace,” he tweeted.

T

Superstar of yesteryears Krishna also paid rich tributes to Jayalalitha, who acted in about 25 Telugu films.

Krishna, who worked with Jayalalitha in “Goodachari 116” (1967), described her as an affable and softspoken person. Another veteran actor Mohan Babu, expressing profound grief over Jayalalitha’s demise, described her as the symbol of woman power.

VOICE OF ASIA 18

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

HEALTHY LIVING VOICE OF ASIA

Section 2

Email: voiceasia@aol.com

Five things you need to know about flu season

Medicare Premiums Increase for Some Retirees

by Megan Miller, AFP

D

Retirees don’t all pay the same Medicare Part B premium. While most Medicare beneficiaries will experience a modest premium increase next year, a few specific groups of seniors will have to pay much higher premiums. Here’s a look at how much retirees will need to pay for Medicare Part B in 2017.

ecember marks the start of peak flu season in the United States.

The viral infection is highly contagious but can be prevented by vaccination. Cases of influenza can start popping up as early as October and can continue filling waiting rooms until May, but according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, December through March is the most common time frame the flu spreads.

Here’s five things you need to know about the flu and why getting protected is critical for yourself, your family and your co-workers.

1. What is and what isn’t the flu?

“Influenza is not the common cold, but it is a common respiratory illness caused by the influenza virus,” Lt. Cmdr. Jaime Vega, the Navy Bureau of Medicine’s public health officer says. “Usually people can feel a cold coming on over the course of a few days — the flu is different, you usually go to sleep well and wake up not well.”

Because it is caused by a virus, it’s not something that can be fixed with antibiotics, either. Though you can treat the symptoms somewhat, when the body becomes infected it must fight off the infection.

“You get it by coming into [contact with] droplets that are created by people already sick with the flu when they talk, sneeze or cough,” Vega said. “You can also get it by touching an object or surface that has flu in it and touching your nose or mouth.”

2. I got vaccinated last year — isn’t that still good?

The short answer is no.

Like any adversary, flu viruses adapt and change over time. The Center for Disease Control tracks what flu viruses are making the rounds each year and it’s that intel that determines what the annual vaccine will be.

It’s a constant battle, Vega says, to stay ahead of the virus.

“This season’s flu vaccine is designed to protect from viruses that research indicates will be the most common,” Vega said. “These researchers look at the viruses that are out there and then based on their research, they formulate the best fix vaccine.”

This season’s vaccine, he said, will provide someone the best protection against getting the viruses expected to be circulating this season.

A woman receives a flu vaccine shot at a community fair in September. (Jason Hoekema / AFP) “The biggest thing that people use to justify that getting a flu shot gives you the flu — it’s absolutely not true,” he said. “Yes, the common side effects can bring a little discomfort where the injectable vaccine is given and it’s not uncommon for people to feel just a little fatigue — but it’s not the flu.”

the flu shot, but Brownfield said that is not true.

What that discomfort is, he said, is your body beginning to develop the antibodies that will fight off the virus if it finds its way into your system.

Brownfield said people who get the flu after getting the flu shot were probably exposed to it beforehand.

She said if you feel flu-like symptoms you should see a doctor within 48 hours and stay home from work or school.

Another misconception is that you’re immune from the time you get the shot — which isn’t the case.

“That’s why it’s best to get the vaccine as early in the season as possible,” Vega said. “It can take up to two weeks for your body to build up it’s immunity once you’ve had the shot.”

4. Why is this important?

Simply put, the flu can make any organization or office setting stop dead in its tracks.

“You always hear about things that are force multipliers,” Vega said.

“Well, Influenza is what I call a ‘force reducer.’ Whether you are dealing with an office setting or a PTA meeting — it’s people sick in any one of those settings because it’s so contagious. It spreads so fast that it can make day-to-day business stop as it spreads through the unit — and the bottom line is that it can for a time can really adversely impact a business.”

5. What else can I do?

In addition to getting yourself and your loved ones vaccinated, Vega said, there are other steps that can be taken, such as consistent hygiene, and managing exposure to those already sick helps a lot.

3. Doesn’t getting vaccinated actually make you sick?

In addition, he also suggests washing your hands regularly, especially after you cough or sneeze or after touching commonly-used door handles or office equipment.

There are many misconceptions out there about the flu, from how you get it to whether you can be cured of it with medicine and most are wrong.

Many people, he says, will find any excuse to avoid getting shots.

Dr. Cynthia Brownfield, medical doctor at Mosaic Life Care said it’s never too late to get a flu shot, and it’s the only way to prevent the flu.

When it comes to flu shots, there is a myth that you can get the flu from

Ways to keep off holiday weight gain

by Brian Duewel

H

oliday weight gain is a way of life foby r millions of Americans. Because the period between Thanksgiving and the New Year offers numerous parties and family gatherings, it brings cookies, pie and candy at every turn. A snack here, a treat there, it all adds up once the season is over. But there are a few things you can do to help thwart off the excess pounds.

exercise program, it’s a great time to start. By staying active, you’ll burn off the extra calories you’ll consume during the month. Just 30 minutes of moderate activity is all you need to keep your calorie burn up and your weight gain down. If you don’t already exercise, once you start, your metabolism should jump and you might lose additional weight.

Next, to avoid unwanted fatty calories, choose healthy choices to snack on throughout the day. Don’t wait until you’re hungry, every couple hours grab a handful of nuts, a cheese stick

Proof

First, stick to your daily workout routine. If you don’t have a regular

Tel: 713-774-5140

“There’s nothing alive in the flu vaccine, however you are getting a shot that creates an inflammatory reaction in your body, so sometimes you do feel a little under the weather,” she said.

“Flu symptoms are usually that sudden abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache, coughing, congestion, runny nose and a lot of body aches like you’ve been hit by a truck,” said Brownfield.

She said vomiting, an upset stomach and diarrhea are not typical flu symptoms and even before people feel the symptoms, they can be contagious.

While flu season peak times can be predicted, Brownfield said it’s hard to tell how this year’s season will compare to others.

“Scientists can’t really predict how bad or exactly when the season will hit. We typically do see it more common in the winter, and that might be because we spend more time indoors interacting with each other and also our nasal mucosa becomes more dry in the winter time and it may allow viruses to penetrate into our nose easier,” said Brownfield.

She said the same amount of adults seem to get flu shots every year, but this year she has noticed a decline in the number of kids getting vaccinated. The decline could be attributed to the lack of success with nasal spray flu vaccine.

“This year the CDC does not recommend getting the nasal flu vaccine.

They determined it wasn’t very effective last season so unfortunately we are seeing a number of children that aren’t being vaccinated because parents don’t want to bring their kids in for a shot,” said Brownfield.

Brownfield said people with egg allergies were once advised not to get

or an apple. There are hundreds of options to choose from, but the key is to keep up the food intake.

I know it sounds counterproductive, but with a constant consumption of low-fat, high protein fuel, you’ll have more energy and you’ll burn additional calories. There’s a second benefit to constant eating: when you’re next to that plate of cookies, you’ll already feel full and be less likely to grab for the sweets.

When you’re at a party, politely ask your hosts – whether it’s your moth-

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High income retirees. The approximately 5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries with high incomes have paid higher Medicare Part B premiums since 2007.

Retirees bringing in more than $85,000 per year ($170,000 for couples) pay Medicare premiums ranging from $187.50 per month for those just over the income cutoff to $428.60 monthly for those earning over $214,000 ($428,000 for couples) in 2017.

Late enrollees. You are first eligible to sign up for Medicare Part B during a seven-month period that begins three months before you turn 65. If you don’t sign up during this initial enrollment period you might have to pay a late enrollment penalty for the rest of your life. Monthly Part B premiums increase by 10 percent for each twelve-month period you delay signing up for Medicare after becoming eligible for the program. If you delay signing up for Medicare for two years after your initial enrollment period your premiums will be 20 percent higher. However, if you delay signing up for Medicare because you are still working and have group health insurance through your job, you will need to sign up for Medicare within eight months of leaving the job or the coverage ending in order to avoid the penalty.

Other costs. Premiums aren’t the only Medicare out-of-pocket costs retirees must pay. The Medicare Part B deductible will increase by $17 to $183 in 2017.

After the deductible, retirees could be responsible for 20 percent of the cost of covered services unless they supplement Medicare with additional insurance.

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a flu shot, but those with mild reactions to eggs can safely get one. She said those people should check with a doctor before receiving the vaccina-

tion. There also are egg-free flu shots available at some locations. Regular flu shots are available at doctors offices and some pharmacies.

er, brother or friend – to withhold the fatty treats from the party. It may seem a little brazen, but explain your concern and you may get your wish. Besides, you’ll be doing everyone a favor by keeping calories away from their bellies too.

and four the day after. That’s how the weight gain happens. With a combination of exercise, planning and moderation, you can power through the holidays without worry.

Finally, remember the importance of moderation. If you want a cookie, that’s fine. But eat just one.

Don’t eat three one day, two the next

For this week’s easy, fit mini recipe, bring an Apple Brown Betty to the holiday party. Slice two large Granny Smith apples and toss them with lemon juice. Take five slices of whole wheat bread and crumble into pieces. Coat a cooking dish with non-stick spray and layer a third of the apple slices across the bottom of the tray. Next, sprinkle a mixture of one half cup of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Top with a third of the bread crumbs. Repeat the process two more times until the dish is nearly full. Pour three quarters of unsweetened apple juice over the top and bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees.

Slice and enjoy in moderation, each piece has less than 200 calories.

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Existing Social Security beneficiaries. Medicare premiums are prevented by law from increasing faster than Social Security payments for existing beneficiaries.

The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment was just 0.3 percent for 2017. So, the monthly Medicare Part B premium will only increase by a few dollars from $104.90 in 2016 to $109 in 2017 for most existing Social Security recipients. About 70 percent of Medicare enrollees will experience this small premium increase, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Most Social Security beneficiaries have their Medicare premiums deducted from their Social Security payments.

New Medicare enrollees. Retirees who sign up for Medicare in 2017 will pay the standard Medicare Part B premium of $134 for 2017, up 10 percent from $121.80 in 2016. These new enrollees will pay $300 more for Medicare Part B in 2017 than existing Social Security recipients. “Because of the ‘hold harmless’ provision covering the other 70 percent of beneficiaries, premiums for the remaining 30 percent must cover most of the increase in Medicare costs for 2017 for all beneficiaries,” according to a statement from the CMS. New enrollees include people who will turn 65 in 2017 and those who were previously covered by group health insurance through their job and elect to join Medicare in 2017.

Retirees who haven’t signed up for Social Security. Some retirees sign up for Medicare before claiming Social Security in order to qualify for higher Social Security payments later on in retirement. The Social Security full retirement age is 66 for most baby boomers, which is a year later than the Medicare eligibility age of 65. Retirees who sign up for Social Security before age 66 collect a reduced payment. Those who delay signing up for Social Security between ages 66 and 70 will qualify for higher monthly payments. However, people who sign up for Medicare without claiming Social Security will pay the standard Part B premium of $134 per month for 2017. There is also a small group of retirees who are eligible for Medicare, but not Social Security.

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VOICE OF ASIA 19

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Email: voiceasia@aol.com

Samsung tells South Korea corruption inquiry of ‘gift horse’

S

EOUL - Electronics company Samsung has admitted it gave a horse to the daughter of a woman who is at the centre of a corruption scandal embroiling the South Korean president.

Parliament is due to vote on Friday on Ms Park’s impeachment over the scandal.

Massive protests have been held in recent weeks demanding her resignation.

The executives are being questioned by a cross-party committee of lawmakers. The panel has no power to punish but its chairman has said the hearing is a place for apology.

The conglomerates are all accused of giving large donations to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a close confidante of Ms Park. Ms Choi has been charged with coercion and attempted fraud.

Samsung has been accused of donating in exchange for support of a controversial merger that effectively strengthened the position of de-facto company head Lee Jae-yong.

The company gave a total of 20.4bn won (ÂŁ16m; $17.46m) to the two foundations.

Prosecutors

argued

that

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EW YORK , 12/6/2016 - Bill Gross, the Janus bond guru and legendary investor, thinks that America has two imprisonment problems.

The first, wrote Gross in his new monthly Investment Outlook out Tuesday, is the literal incarceration rate in the US. The second is the trap of evergrowing debt that has ensnared the US and global economies.

On the first problem, Gross said in the letter that while he did not necessarily agree with the protest of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has knelt during the US National Anthem this

rate world, and how she became one of the only African-American venture capitalists in the country.

L

Those being questioned include the heads of SK Group, Samsung Group and Lotte Group. (Photo: AFP) Samsung paid $3m towards equestrian training for dressage competitor Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of Ms Choi.

They say that Ms Chung spent some of the money on the horse, Vitani V, thought to be worth around $850,000.

Lee Jae-yong confirmed to the inquiry that the company had paid for the horse, saying he regretted doing this.

But he denied that money donated to the foundations had been given “in return for something�.

Mr Lee apologised for Samsung’s involvement in the scandal and said his company would “take all responsibility� if there were any.

One of the corporate bosses acknowledged that it was difficult for firms to say no to government requests. “It’s a South Korean reality

that if there is a government request, it is difficult for companies to decline,� said Huh Chang-soo, head of the GS Group and chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries lobby group.

South Korea’s family-owned conglomerates, known as chaebols, have increasingly been perceived as a symbol of the out-of-touch elite, and have become a target of public fury in recent protests calling for Ms Park’s resignation.

Ms Park has apologised multiple times to the public for allowing Ms Choi inappropriate access to government decisions but has stopped short of resigning.

Last week she said she would leave it to parliament to decide her fate, and on Tuesday she was quoted by her party’s leader as saying she would accept the outcome of Friday’s impeachment vote. (-BBC.com)

NFL season, the words “Land of the Free� in the anthem ring false to the investor. “I quarrel however, with the part about ‘Land of the Free’,� wrote Gross. “Free? For almost all of us – ‘yes’ – but for 3+ million of us? Not really. Take a look at Chart I, and be honest if your eyes don’t bug out. More than any country on Earth – in total numbers, or as a percentage of the population, Americans are incarcerated, imprisoned – freedomless.�

Gross said that while some of these people in prison are most likely justified, there are many more that are in prison due to an unjust system, most notably

mandatory sentencing laws and the private prison system.

“Well, solving the ‘Orange

LandIt has been described as a “LinkedIn for women.� How would you best explain what LandIt does?

Landit is a technology platform created to increase the success and engagement of women in the workplace. By providing a personalized playbook with tools, resources, know-how, and career connections, Landit empowers women to more successfully navigate their career path and enables enterprises to attract, develop, and retain high-potential diverse talent.

A career crossroads is exactly where LandIt Co-Founder and CEO, Lisa Skeete Tatum, was when she reached out to her former Harvard Business School classmate, Sheila Marcelo, the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Care.com, to join her in her startup venture.

LandIt, based out of New York City, raised $2 million in funding in 2015 from angel investors and VCs and plans to do another round.

We uniquely leverage technology and personal development experts to create a customized roadmap for each member, ensuring women are prepared and supported to excel at the right moment, in any stage of their career.

“All too frequently, women don’t know where to start, whether they’re moving on to a new chapter, re-entering the workforce, or looking for mentors and advice,� Sheila Marcelo, Co-Founder and Board Member of LandIt, tells me. “LandIt’s innovative platform and service eliminate the guesswork by assembling a team of experts and advisors to work with each woman, helping her truly define her goals and reach them.�

How does Landit help women get “unstuck� when they find themselves in transitional moments in their career?

As we sit here today, we have the largest number of professional women not feeling fully engaged or valued in the workplace but want to be. The challenge is not one of motivation, capability, track record or skills -- it’s uncertainty on where to begin the process. The lack of an actionable roadmap

I spoke with Skeete Tatum about helping women get “unstuck� from their careers, advancing diversity in the corpo-

has been exacerbated by central banks unwillingness to raise interest rates while hoping for growth, which has only hurt the economy in the long run. He also highlighted eight

Is Not Free’ dilemma may take time just as the solution to a global debt crisis (now seven years running) may take even longer,� wrote Gross.

Gross said that the debt trap

and knowing where to look for advice is most often cited as a barrier to full engagement.

Our secret sauce is the ability to seamlessly knit together the key elements for success that give women what they want when they need it. This is about knowing what’s possible and giving them a path forward.

One of the other barriers women have is that we don’t want people to know we don’t have it all figured out, or that we are feeling a little less than completely confident.

We have created a solution that is not only personalized but is also a safe and trusted place to manage the continuum of your career.

Before starting LandIt, you found yourself at a crossroads in your career before ultimately realizing that “your project was you.� Tell me how this epiphany led you to build LandIt? I co-founded Landit as a result of my own personal experience.

I found myself at an inflection point after over a decade as a venture capitalist and found the process of trying to figure out what’s next to be really challenging. I knew what I didn’t want to do, but it wasn’t clear how I was going to marry my passion, interests, and experience with my next step. Everyone (including myself) expected me to have all the answers and it was really uncomfortable.

The more I talked to women in all aspects of my life from colleagues to fellow alumnae to women at my sons’ school, I realized that I was not alone in feeling a bit stuck on where to start and how to figure out this next chapter. (-Forbes) solutions from central banks and governments that have so far not worked, ranging from quantitative easing to simply passing the buck to the younger generation. (-Business Insider)

*NNJHSBUJPO -BX

“The privatization of prison management and ownership is even more damning,� said Gross. “’Orange Is the New Black’ focuses on race and classism themes, but there’s more to the show than that. I’d affirm lead character Aleida Diaz when she says, “We a for-profit prison now. We ain’t people no more. We bulk items, sardines in a can.’�

Much like the prison-industrial system, said Gross, the US economy is trapped by central bank’s low interest rate policies and growing debt.

Tel: 713-774-5140

Is Landit the new Linkedin for women? andIt may be called the “LinkedIn for women,� but the company describes itself as the “personalized playbook for women seeking to move their career forward,� especially for women who find themselves at a crossroads professionally.

“The world’s growing debt problem is just like the US prison system�

by Bob Bryan

by Anushay Hossain

Lawmakers were questioning leaders of big businesses in a rare TV hearing, as part of a huge corruption inquiry.

Eight firms admit donating funds linked to President Park Geun-hye, but deny seeking favours.

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CULTURE

VOICE OF ASIA 20

From ashes to diamonds: Different faiths’ stand

by Melody Zaccheus The Straits Times

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Anoushka Shankar’s refugee album vies for Grammy

T

he contemporary practice of turning the ashes of loved ones into diamonds to be worn as jewellery has been forbidden by the Catholic Church in Rome.

The injunction, for believers, was reiterated by Singapore’s archdiocese in late October, in guidelines on the handling of burials and the conservation of ashes.

Catholics should not scatter ashes in the air, at sea, in forests or parks, divide them across households, or use them as mementos, as they believe in the resurrection of the body, Father Ignatius Yeo, a professor of sacred liturgy at the Catholic seminary, told The Straits Times.

Father Yeo said it is recommended ashes be interred in a columbarium, so that the dead can be remembered and prayed for by the community of which he or she had been a part.

In the case of sea burials, ashes should be stored in a vessel that is “heavy enough” to sink and lay in its final resting place, said Father Yeo, who is also the Archbishop’s master of ceremonies.

The Catholic Church permitted cremation in 1963 due to the emerging needs of its followers.

While the church maintains that burial is the best way for someone to honour their faith in death, cremation is the most popular option chosen by Catholics in land-scarce Singapore.

About 15,000 cremations were conducted in Singapore last year while about 3,700 people were buried at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery, said a spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA).

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the National Council of Churches of Singapore said Protestants generally “do not have serious objections” to the scattering of ashes or keeping of urns at home “as long as this is done solemnly and respectfully”.

itarist Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award on Tuesday for her album inspired by the global refugee crisis, vying with veteran winners in the world music category.

semble, which brings New Age elements to traditional Celtic music, was nominated for “Destiny.”

“Land of Gold,” which features rapper M.I.A. and spoken word by actress Vanessa Redgrave, is in the running for Best World Music Album at the music industry’s gala in Los Angeles on February 12.

“Dois Amigos, Um Seculo de Musica” (“Two Friends, a Century of Music”) was recorded in Sao Paulo last year as the two septuagenarian artists went on a world tour.

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Father Ignatius Yeo, a professor of sacred liturgy. (Photo: The Strait Times) The council, which represents about 260 churches of diverse Christian traditions and denominations, including the Orthodox, said its beliefs are similar to those of the Catholic Church.

The scattering of small amounts of ash can be done at a designated site located about 2.8km south of Pulau Semakau, the landfill island south of mainland Singapore.

For instance, the council noted, Protestants would regard turning the remains of the dead into wearable jewellery or any kind of commemorative object as an unacceptable practice.

As for Muslims, it is compulsory that the dead be buried, as far as possible on the same day or the next day that death occurs, said the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. The Straits Times understands that the Taoist Federation has yet to advise devotees on how to deal with modern practices. Master Wei Yi, 32, said Taoists, for the most part, opt for cremation. He added: “Most priests would advise against turning ashes into jewellery although, ultimately, we leave the final decision to the family. “

In a similar vein, Protestants would also regard distributing the remains to family members as disrespectful.

Father Yeo and other religious leaders said most Singaporeans continue to uphold and value traditional afterdeath rites.

For instance, most Hindus, Buddhists and Taoists continue to practise cremation and choose to inter the remains in a columbarium or scatter them at sea.

Hindus believe all bodies of water join with the nine sacred rivers in India, such as the Ganges, so ashes are scattered at sea in the belief that the soul can be reborn in any part of the world, according to the Hindu Endowments Board.

Personally, I believe the dead should be laid to rest in a proper resting place, so the soul won’t be disturbed.” However, the Singapore Buddhist Federation said there are no restrictions as to how devotees commemorate the dead. Its president, Venerable Seck Kwang Phing, said: “We’re flexible as long as it is done in reverence. There are no restrictions if Buddhists want to turn ashes into jewellery as consciousness has already left the body.”

Asian countries dominate, science teaching criticised in PISA survey

Shankar wrote the album as she reflected on her relative comfort after giving birth to her second child just as a historic number of people fled Syria and other war-torn countries for Europe.

“Music is for me at least a way of responding to the world and processing my feelings, not always consciously,” she told AFP after releasing the album, which is largely instrumental.

It is the sixth Grammy nomination for the 35-year-old Shankar, although she has never won. Her late father Ravi Shankar, who popularized the Indian classical instrument in the West, won two Grammys on his own and two more in collaborations.

The Grammy category for world music, long dominated by a small group of artists, this year has one fresh name -- Celtic Woman.

The prolific all-woman Irish en-

Two legendary Brazilian songwriters and political activists, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, were nominated for a live double album.

Gil has won two Grammys previously, while Veloso has won one on his own.

Other nominees included cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who has raked in an impressive 17 Grammys over his career but never in the world music category.

Yo-Yo Ma was nominated for “Sing Me Home,” the French-born Chinese American’s latest album with his evolving Silk Road Ensemble that explores music from across the historical Silk Road that connected Eurasia.

The South African all-male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, which has won four Grammys, was nominated for its latest album “Walking in the Footsteps of Our Fathers.”

Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo, one of Africa’s leading artists, won the award the past two years but did not have a new album eligible for contention.

The top nominees at the Grammy Awards

N

EW YORK CITY | AFP - Beyonce on Tuesday led nominations for the Grammy Awards with nods in nine categories, including three of the most prestigious.

- ScHoolboy Q, “Blank Face LP” - Kanye West, “The Life of Pablo”

ARIS | AFP - Asian countries dominated the top places in a key survey released Tuesday of high-school skills, but the report criticised science teaching in many countries.

The Recording Academy will announce the winners of the music industry’s leading prize at a gala in Los Angeles on February 12 after voting from 13,000 music professionals.

BEST ROCK ALBUM - Blink-182, “California” - Cage the Elephant, “Tell Me I’m Pretty” - Gojira, “Magma” - Panic! At The Disco, “Death of a Bachelor” - Weezer, “Weezer”

The PISA survey of 15-year-olds in 72 countries and economies found that the quality of science lessons was more important than equipment or even staffing levels.

Here is a list of nominees in the most prominent categories:

BEST ALTERNATIVE ROCK ALBUM:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: - Adele, “25” - Beyonce, “Lemonade” - Justin Bieber, “Purpose” - Drake, “Views”

- Bon Iver, “22, A Million” - David Bowie, “Blackstar” - PJ Harvey, “The Hope Six Demolition Project”

by Andrea Graells Tempel and Jonathan Jacobsen

P

And it confirmed earlier findings that loading students down with homework or extra tuition was rarely the key to success in science.

Singapore came top of the table for its teaching of science, reading and mathematics.

Asian countries dominated the top 10 of the PISA table. (AFP/File photo)

Its students scored an average of 556 points, compared with the average among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries of 493.

their performance in science since 2006, despite an increase in spending per primary and secondary student of 20 percent over the same period.

Where once Finland led the way in educational excellence, Singapore is now the example to other countries, the report said.

“Singapore is a standout performer,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria at the global launch of the report in London.

“In Singapore, one in five students master the most advanced scientific problems and demonstrate that they think like scientists.”

Nearly a quarter of all students in Singapore (24 percent) scored in the top two categories in science tests, compared with just eight percent across the OECD countries.

The five top-performing countries in the PISA tests, which were carried out in 2015, were Singapore, Japan, Estonia, Taiwan and Finland.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students’ reading, mathematics, and science literacy every three years. First conducted in 2000, the major domain of study rotates between reading, mathematics, and science in each cycle. PISA also includes measures of general or cross-curricular competencies, such as collaborative problem solving. By design, PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of compulsory schooling.

- Teaching ‘not keeping up’ However the report found that only 12 countries assessed had improved

“A decade of scientific breakthroughs has failed to translate into breakthroughs in science performance in schools,” said Gurria, adding that science education “isn’t keeping up” with the “lightning speed” of scientific progress.

Around six percent of students in OECD countries, many of them in Europe, reported they did not get regular science lessons. These students scored significantly lower in the tests.

Schools that did not offer dedicated science lessons tend to be in poorer areas of countries, the report noted.

The problem was particularly bad in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Slovakia and Taiwan.

- Homework not the answer The results also suggested that the key to success in science teaching, even more than well-equipped and well-staffed departments, was how much time was spent teaching the subject.

Those teachers who actually demonstrated scientific ideas and who adapted their teaching to meet students’ needs produced better results, the report said.

That tended to happen in smaller classes, and students who received this kind of teaching were more likely to go on to a science-related career, it added.

“It’s not about science tests, it’s about engaging students and making science learning relevant... that’s what translates to better outcomes and better careers,” said Andreas

Schleicher, the OECD’s director for education and skills, at the London launch.

The report also suggested that the study of science needed to be done in school, not at home.

“School systems where students spend more time learning after school, by doing homework, receiving additional instruction or in private study, tend to perform less well in science,” the report said.

Last month, parents in Spain staged a strike to protest the amount of homework schools were handing out.

Spain scored 493 points in the latest PISA tests -- corresponding exactly to the OECD average.

- Asian countries dominate Asian countries dominated the top 10 of the PISA table, with Japan recording the second-highest average score behind Singapore.

Macao, Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese territories that were tested also featured in the top 10, as did Taiwan and Vietnam.

But the top-ranked European country, Estonia, took third place. The only other European country in the top 10 was Finland, in fifth.

Canada was seventh on the list, well ahead of the United States, which ranked 25th among OECD countries.

PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, was devised by the OECD to measure countries’ performance in teaching 15-year-olds the core subjects.

PISA tests are carried out every three years and in 2015 they covered all 35 OECD countries and 37 partner countries and economies.

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- Sturgill Simpson, “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” RECORD OF THE YEAR (for best overall song): - Adele, “Hello” - Beyonce, “Formation” - Lukas Graham, “7 Years” - Rihanna featuring Drake, “Work” - Twenty One Pilots, “Stressed Out” SONG OF THE YEAR (for songwriting): - Adele, “Hello.” - Beyonce, “Formation.”

- Mike Posner, “I Took a Pill in Ibiza.”

- Justin Bieber, “Love Yourself.”

- Lukas Graham, “7 Years.”

BEST NEW ARTIST: - Kelsea Ballerini - The Chainsmokers - Chance the Rapper - Maren Morris - Anderson .Paak

- Iggy Pop, “Post Pop Depression” - Radiohead, “A Moon Shaped Pool” BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE: “Closer” — The Chainsmokers Featuring Halsey “7 Years” — Lukas Graham “Work” — Rihanna Featuring Drake “Cheap Thrills” — Sia Featuring Sean Paul “Stressed Out” — Twenty One Pilots BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM: Cinema — Andrea Bocelli Fallen Angels — Bob Dylan Stages Live — Josh Groban Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin — Willie Nelson Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway — Barbra Streisand BEST R&B PERFORMANCE:

BEST RAP ALBUM: - Chance the Rapper, “Coloring Book” - De La Soul, “And the Anonymous Nobody” - DJ Khaled, “Major Key” - Drake, “Views”

“Turnin’ Me Up” — BJ The Chicago Kid “Permission” — Ro James “I Do” — Musiq Soulchild “Needed Me” — Rihanna “Cranes in the Sky” — Solange

SPORTS

VOICE OF ASIA 21

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

GOLF

CRICKET

England bid to keep Mukesh Kumar lifts Panasonic Open, becomes oldest Asian Tour winner India series alive

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ONDON (AFP) - England are bidding to keep the India series alive with victory in this week’s fourth Test in Mumbai but defeat will raise further questions about Alastair Cook’s future as captain.

The visitors must win at the Wankhede Stadium to stop top-ranked India from sealing the five-Test series with a match to spare following two consecutive defeats.

Virat Kohli’s side won by eight wickets in Mohali last week to take an unbeatable 2-0 series lead after victory in Viskhapatnam followed a draw in the first Test at Rajkot.

Anything less than a victory for England would see India exact revenge for their 2012 home series loss to Cook’s men and add to uncertainty surrounding the English skipper.

His future as captain has been in doubt since he admitted just before the tour that he could quit at the end of the Test series because he was finding it hard to be apart from his family for long periods.

After becoming a father for a second time last month, the 31-year-old lefthanded opener said he found the long England tours difficult, while insisting he remained deeply proud of captaining his country.

Despite England’s travails in India, coach Trevor Bayliss said he expected Cook to be in charge for the Ashes tour at the end of 2017.

“He’s talking about the next Ashes series and being out in Australia,” Bayliss told BBC Sport.

“Sometimes there are little comments made along the way and they get blown out of all proportion. He’s certainly up for the fight. I haven’t had any discussion with him any other way and that’s what we’ve been working towards,” the Australian coach added.

Cook also received the backing of batsman Joe Root who hailed his skipper as a “brilliant leader”.

“Hopefully, we get these results we want in the last two games and we can put right what has been quite a frustrating last couple of weeks,” Root, 25, told reporters last week.

England’s chances of salvaging the series were dealt a blow however when teenage batting sensation Haseeb Hameed was ruled out of the

remaining two matches after injuring his hand during the Mohali match.

- Uncapped Jennings The 19-year-old’s absence could mean a Test debut for opener Keaton Jennings. The 24-year-old South Africa-born left-handed batsman has been called up as Hameed’s replacement.

All-rounder Liam Dawson is also in contention for a place after being drafted in to replace left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari, who is struggling with a back injury he sustained in the second Test in Visakhapatnam.

England will be boosted by the likely return of fast bowler Stuart Broad who has recovered from a strained tendon in his foot.

India are expected to be able to call upon the services of opener Lokesh Rahul who has recovered from the injury that kept him out of the Mohali Test, according to India media reports.

His return threatens the involvement of Karun Nair who endured a disappointing Test debut in Mohali.

Wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who impressed with both bat and gloves in Mohali after eight years in the Test wilderness, is expected to keep his place as Wriddhiman Saha has yet to recover from a thigh strain.

Former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag expects India to be too strong for England but believes the visitors will not give up the series without a fight.

“I think we will win 3-0 as I expect England to show some resistance and that’s why I won’t predict 4-0,” he told the Press Trust of India news agency.

The final Test begins in Chennai on December 16.

India (from): Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Bhuvenshwar Kumar England (from): Alastair Cook (capt), Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, James Anderson, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Stuart Broad, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Keaton Jennings

TENNIS

Federer, Serena skip IPTL over India cash crunch

N

EW DELHI | AFP - Tennis stars Roger Federer and Serena Williams have both pulled out of an exhibition tournament in India next week as a result of the country’s cash crunch, organisers said Tuesday.

The two former world number ones had been the big-name draws of the Indian leg of this year’s International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) which is scheduled to take place in Hyderabad from December 9-11.

seasons and we look forward to bring them in future years.”

The tournament was to have marked the comeback of 35-year-old Federer, who has been sidelined since July with knee problems.

The government’s so-called “demonetisation” scheme has caused

But the IPTL said in a statement it was “sad to announce that Roger Federer and Serena Williams won’t participate at this year’s IPTL”, citing the “uncertainty” sparked by the government’s decision last month to withdraw highdenomination notes from circulation.

“We have had challenges this Switzerland’s Roger Federer and USA’s Serena Williams year, and we have both pulled out of an exhibition tournament in India were hoping to next week as a result of the country’s cash crunch (AFP get past them,” Photos/Leon Neal) said Mahesh Bhupathi, the veteran Indian tennis major cash shortages across India, player who is a founder and manag- with big queues outside banks now commonplace after authorities placed ing director of the IPTL. a daily limit on withdrawals.

“With the current economic cliHyderabad is the third and final leg mate in India and the uncertainty of spending money, I reached out to of this year’s IPTL which promotes both Roger and Serena to explain the a shortened version of the game that situation,” said Bhupathi, but he was organisers say is more televisionultimately unable to convince them to friendly than the traditional format. appear as planned.

The first leg was held in Tokyo from “They have been both been very December 2-4, while the second leg supportive of the IPTL the first two begins later Tuesday in Singapore.

Visit us www.

Voiceofasiaonline.com

Kumar turned in a two-under 70 in the final round to total 10-under 206 to claim the trophy -- his first on the Asian Tour

N

EW DEHLI (PTI) - India’s Mukesh Kumar became the oldest golfer to win an Asian Tour title when he lifted the weather-hit Panasonic Open here after it was curtailed to 54 holes.

The 51-year-old Mukesh, who has 123 PGTI titles under his belt, turned in a two-under 70 in the final round to total 10-under 206 to claim the trophy — his first on the Asian Tour.

In fact, India dominated the top half of the leaderborad with Jyoti Randhawa and Rashid Khan sharing the second position, a stroke adrift of Mukesh.

Both Randhawa and Rashid carded four-under 68 in the final round.

Mukesh Kumar, 51-year-old, has 123 PGTI titles under his belt. (Photo: PTI)

Honey Baisoya took the sole fifth spot with a five-under 67 in the final round which left him with a total of seven-under 209.

confidence heading into the season finale in Hong Kong next week,” Randhawa added.

Randhawa took pride in his commendable result, which marked his second top-five finish in the last one month on the Asian Tour.

“It has been a great week for me.

My game has been improving. There is surely a lot of positives to take from this week. It gives me a lot of

Khan battled against a wrist injury to cap his best finish on the Asian Tour this season.

“I started very well today, except on the fourth where I hit it to the right and took a drop in the bunker. But I made a very really good bogey there.

I gave myself a few more chances after that but unfortunately I wasn’t

able to take advantage of them,” said the 25-year-old Indian.

“It was only until 14 that I started to make birdies again. That gave me a lot of confidence and I went on to birdie 15 and 18. I had to play aggressively. I missed a short putt for birdie on 16 which was disappointing but overall, it was good. I am happy to finish well this week. I did my best,” added the two-time Asian Tour winner.

CRICKET

Sewa International “De Ghuma Ke” Cricket Tournament 2016 Raises money to support 21 kid’s education in india

H

OUSTON Sewa International concluded its annual “De Guma Ke” Charity Cricket Tournament in collaboration with Houston cricket clubs.

This was a friendly tournament open for all age group including men’s and women’s interested in playing and promoting cricket in greater Houston area.

This year 12 teams participated from different parts of Houston: Telfair Tigers led by Arun TV, Star India led by Anand Bhattad, Pearland Lions led by Tariq Ekwal, Star Pipes led by Manoj Rathi, Sabko Batting Milega led The winning team, Star India. (Photos courtesy Sewa International)

by Achalesh Amar, Sewa Servers led by Kaushik Chatterjee, Star Houston led by Raja Elayamani, KPMG led by Zara Khan, Pearland Hawks led by Vtesh Challapa, Mugambos led by Apoorva Kulkarni, Pearland Strikers led by Mehul Vora and Dhurandhars led by Veera Prasad.

The teams were divided equally into four groups and each group winner progressed to the Semifinals.

Star India, Sewa Servers, Pearland Hawks and Pearland Strikers made it to the semis. The two winners from this stage: Star India and Pearland Hawks played for the coveted title.

Star India headed by Anand Bhattad won the title, their second consecutive year for winning this tournament. Star Pipe Products is a big supporter of Sewa International charitable efforts and had sent three teams (including the winning team) this year. Star Pipe graciously donated $1500 towards this charity cricket tournament and fund raising event (this amount was twice the minimum suggested from each team).

All the games were played on the matted pitch of India House ground on the weekends starting from Nov 5th and ending on Nov 13th morning. Each team consisted of 8 players and all games were 8 overs each side, with each match equipped with live DJ and commentary from DJ ANDY with Neil Armstrong 9year old daughter Ms Tejashvin who did great help in commentary with her charming voice.

Also, we had support for this event from Supravam International: Sanjay and Priti Aggarwal, Biryani Express: Ravi Mallapuram, Star Plus Dental: Dr. Rashmi Biyani, Law Offices of Leena Bhasin: Attorney Leena Bhasin, and Deep Foods: Umang Mehta supported the tournament with their generous contributions. the On a beautiful Sunday morning of 13th Nov2016 - followed by Semifinal rounds - the final was scheduled between two winners of semis: Pearland Hawks and Star India. Star India won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Right from the onset of the game, Star India team tried to be positive and kept the pressure on Pearland Hawks batsman and didn’t allow them to score big shots. Some disciplined bowling

by Star India from Pavan, Neil Armstrong, Balaji & Pratik restricted the Pearland Hawks to 61 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their stipulated 8 overs.

Continuing with the momentum

Runner Up team, the Pearland Hawks.

The organising Sewa International team. after the innings break, Star Indian captain Anand decided to open the innings with Raunak. They gave a decent start and scored 31 runs in first 4 overs without losing a wicket, frustrating the Pearland Hawk bowlers.

Later Raunak was replaced by Pratik who smashed the Hawk bowling attack all over the park – hitting 3 huge sixes and ending the match with over 2 overs to spare. He was awarded Man of the Match as well as Man of the series for his contributions.

The game was followed by a wellorganized prize distribution ceremony arranged by Sewa Team. The presentation party included Gitesh Desai, Sarojini Gupta, Vasudev Singh. They all spoke about the fun and time advantage of zestful cricket games and paid rich tributes to Sewa for their initiative in youth cricket. They thanked the Sewa volunteer team of Anita Ravat, Kavita Tewary, Anuja Deshpande, Anand Bhattad and Kunal Deshmukh for putting together another successful

cricket tournament.

The money raised through this tournament went for the education of 21 kids in India, under Sewa International’s sponsor a child program (more details on this can be found on https:// sac.sewausa.org/).

Some highlights from the tournament: 1) Man of the tournament trophy – Pratik Hande 2) Best Bowler of the tournament – Karan Pasey (who took a hat-trick in one of the games he played) 3) Best Batsman – Anand Bhattad 4) Best Fielder – Raunak Goswami 5) Man of the match (Finals) – Pratik Hande 6) Zara Khan – a woman cricketer – captained the KPMG team 7) Anuja Deshpande – another woman cricketer – played from Sabko Batting Milega team

HOROSCOPE

VOICE OF ASIA 22

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Your Horoscope for the Week of December 9, 2016 READ YOUR COMPLETE HOROSCOPE

by Hardik Vyas, Astrologer Cell : 832-298-9950

ONLINE WWW.VOICEOFASIAONLINE.COM

Libra (R,T) 23 Sept to 22 Oct

Aries (A,L,E) 21 March to 20 April Pour yourself into what you love to do most. Whether it be writing or woodworking, you’ll excel by applying your passion to whatever you do. Plan, design and tinker your projects to completion. Your final product is far from ready, but your ideas are budding into reality. Prolong the process a little, it’ll be well worth the wait. Issues of the heart have little to do with reality, you need to create an atmosphere of fun and fantasy.

You’ll be full of energy and full of yourself. Your timing may not be quite as good, but you’ll be able to find some safe ground if you proceed slow. By week’s end, do some research on the small business venture that you’ve been interested in. You may want to run your thoughts by someone you trust, who is in business for himself already. Children or close friends will keep you busy. They are probably involved in programs that require your assistance.

You are bored with some of the connections you’ve made & need to re-evaluate things.

Taurus (B,V,U) 21 April to 20 May

Scorpio (N,Y) 23 Oct to 21 Nov

Conversations about things that you know well will develop into discussions of ideals. Your performance could capture the attention of people who might want to hire or consult with you in the near future. Be very casual about your interest, but keep yourself focused on their needs. Hard work is usually your motto, but you may be able to negotiate a better plan, this week. You may feel torn between the two stories you’ve been told. It will be difficult for you to function until you are able to converse with those concerned.

Look at the past, the immediate and protect your own interests. Seek refuge from a world that’s obviously trying to annoy you. Security is very important to you right now.

Once you feel more secure, you’ll have more room to move and more time to play. A partnership may be a little more demanding than usual. Running away from your problems will not help the situation. You need to resolve your confusion by applying patience and persistence.

Sagittarius (BH,F,DH,TH) 22 Nov to 21 Dec

Gemini (K,CHH,GH) 21 May to 20 June Lucrative business opportunities are likely. Take the plunge and get involved in a joint venture. Avoid detail-oriented tasks, try to work with others as much as possible.

Try a little idea-generation and offer your assistance to colleagues. Don’t say things that may come back to haunt you. Personal problems will play on your mind. You must be willing to move on and let go of the past if you wish to get over the unpleasantness you’ve experienced. Changes are in order, so you better look at your own interests, first.

Make connections that help you discover who you are and what your goals are. Do the best you can and try to enlist some help from other friends or relatives. Helping others will be rewarding to you. Uncertainties regarding finances may upset you. Take a stab at doing your own thing or take time off to discover what you really want to do.

Don’t take on other people’s problems. Make suggestions and get on with your own life. By week’s end, things will start to turn in your favor.

Capricorn (KH,J) 22 Dec to 20 Jan

Cancer (D,H) 21 June to 22 July Help others through an emotional time in their lives. Domestic issues may threaten to put a damper on your passion. Keep a positive attitude and deeper understanding will prevail. No one will question your knowledge or skills, but maybe you should take on a new strategy. No one wants to listen to a ranting fool, so cool you heels and get down to the business at hand. Propose your ideas calmly and concisely. You want to help others, but you know they need to help themselves first. All you can do is relax and help by sharing some of their responsibilities.

A sense of excitement in your personal as well as your professional life. You’ll experience a surprising amount of passion. Life is interesting when there’s some mystery involved. Channel your desires into activities that are community oriented. Nothing is certain, but you’re in a good position for advancement. You’re wealthy and wellequipped spiritually. You’ll be able to find deeper meanings to your spiritual feelings. You need to believe in your own potential.

Aquarius (G,S,SH) 21 Jan to 19 Feb

Leo (M) 23 July to 22 August Your sense of belonging to something greater. Others may strive to win, you are happy just to belong. It doesn’t take much to remind you of how lucky you feel. Incorporate your imagination into everything you do. The more you learn, the more eager you will be to use your knowledge. Original thinking will help you to see a broader perspective.

Beware of the troubles into which your insecurities could get you. Satisfaction could be a lot closer than you thought. You’ll be surprised by behavior of co workers.

Virgo (P) 23 August to 22 September You’ll be ready to try anything that promises to bring you a little excitement. Travel and adventure will be your prime concern. Take care of all the fine details and you will receive the praise you are looking for. You should lay your cards on the table and let those you care about know where you stand. You can get ahead financially, however the emotional side of your life may be more difficult. You’ll be able to organize functions at work and earn the admiration of higher ups. A raise or promotion may be in order.

BD

You certainly are a master when it comes to learning the things that interest you, but a daydreamer when forced to listen to boring, tedious chatter. You are quick to respond and always willing to help others. You will be upset with those who don’t pull their weight, remain cool but don’t allow yourself to be used. You are used to giving your all and will be ready to blow up if you are forced to deal with lazy and inconsiderate individuals. Get sound financial advice, your cautious nature will help you to make the right choices.

Pisces (D,CH,Z) 20 Feb to 20 March You will have no problem finding ways to get others interested in what you are doing.

Organize events that require endurance. Spend time with those who have similar interests & morals. Channel your energy into making money. Debates will bring distance between you and your friends. You will be tempted to overspend, so leave money in the bank. You will gain respect and close deals by being your charming self. Don’t let anyone take you for granted. Don’t spend more than you can afford to part with. Organize activities that will include friends.

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VOICE OF ASIA 23

I

FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

How to Give Holiday Gifts That Won’t be Forgotten

f your holiday shopping list is focused on all the latest trends, remember, the hottest items are not always the most cherished.

Sometimes it’s the warmest gifts that are the most unforgettable.

“The holidays are times of nostalgia and remembrance, from stories of when we were children to the smell of cookies baking in the oven,” says Christopher Warnack, vice president of marketing and visual at Things Remembered, a leading personalized gift retailer. “Likewise, the gifts you give are not just objects to enjoy now; they should create a joyful memory that can be cherished for years.”

To this end, Warnack recommends personalizing gifts with a loved one’s name, a monogram, a shared memory, a thoughtful message or an inside joke. “Something that makes it just for them, and only from you,” he says.

For a seasonal gift to mark the passing years, consider a personalized ornament or snow globe. Your gift recipient can look back on the ornaments received each year and be reminded of those holiday memories.

Above all, remember to take into consider-

MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE WEEK

Make a Great First Impression

ation the style, hobbies and favorite colors of your gift recipient. You can customize a gift for anyone on your list.

Scarves or jewelry personalized just for her can be enjoyed for years, and with her monogram, become a real statement piece. For him, consider mugs, apparel and other gear that commemorates his favorite sports team, and are sure to become part of his game-day traditions and celebrations. Personalized toys, stuffed animals and other snuggly gifts are great for kids.

Seek out gifts at retailers that specialize in customized items, such as Things Remembered, which can create one-of-a-kind gifts in an about an hour (and a little longer for embroidery and other specialized techniques).

For more unforgettable gift inspiration, visit ThingsRemembered.com.

“Everyone remembers the best gift they ever received,” says Warnack.

Make someone’s season by giving gifts that create new and happy memories with the people you care about the most.

(-Statepoint)

Voice of Asia is Hiring LOOKING FOR REPORTERS IMMEDIATE JOB OPENINGS Indian SuperMarket

Are you looking to join a winning team? Our employees enjoy doing their jobs with warm smiles and a real passion for helping customers. We are passionate about food and take pride in providing exceptional service. We are hiring at our Houston, Hillcroft store for the following part time & full time positions: • Cashiers (multiple openings) • Admin Assistants / Package Shipping Clerks Email Resume to jobs@subhlaxmigrocers.com

Voice of Asia is Hiring LOOKING FOR REPORTERS Voice of Asia Newsweekly is looking for people with a flair for writing to cover local events. This is a paid offer. You must have the following skills: 1. Write news reports in English by covering the event.

(300 - 500 words) required some evenings & weekends.

2. Take clear photographs of newsworthy people and places.

3. We are looking for reporters to cover events in different South Asian communities like Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil Hindi, and Malayalam.

Voice of Asia Newsweekly looking peoplesavvy. with a flair Owning a camera is a plus.is Must be for computer for writing to cover local events. This is a paid offer. You must have the following skills:

Whether you’re interviewing for a job or making a sales call with a new client, first impressions matter. Your relationships and interactions will be a lot easier if you start off strong. Here’s how to do it: Do your homework.

Know who you’re talking to, what she cares about, and the problem she’s trying to solve.

Prepare relevant talking points before the meeting.

Exude confidence. It’s normal to be nervous, but you don’t want your anxiety to show. Your body language should be confident and comfortable. Take long strides. Sit up straight.

Walk with your chest held high.

Engage and be engaging. Draw out the other person. Listen to what she’s saying. Ask thoughtful follow-up questions. The better you make her feel, the more she’s inclined to have a positive impression of you.

Follow up. To ensure your first impression sticks, write the person a thank you note or send an article related to the conversation you had.

Voice of Asia Newsweekly has been in Houston since 1987

1. newsWe reports in Englishand by covering the event. forWrite 29 years. are expanding we are looking for (300 500 words) required some evenings & weekends. serious, dedicated people with a true flair for covering 2. Take clear photographs of newsworthy people and newsworthy places. events. If you are the person, or you know someone would the perfect fit, give us aincall today.

3. We are who looking for be reporters to cover events different South Asian communities like Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil Hindi, Calland us Malayalam. at 713-774-5140 to attend an interview.

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