Imagine missing the chance to save humanity from runaway climate change because we couldn’t resist Cardi B-inspired tracksuit pants.

The suggestion might seem ridiculous, but our love of stuff is driving us toward environmental catastrophe, from the energy-intensive extraction of raw materials to the pollution of freshwater and greenhouse gas emissions created as we manufacture, transport and dispose of all the things we consume.

One of the biggest culprits is fast fashion, the system of rapid production that creates low-cost clothes increasingly treated as disposable. Without reform, the fashion industry (of which fast fashion is the dominant player) could be responsible for a quarter of the Earth’s carbon budget by 2050.

The advice is clear — and simple. Keep your current clothes working longer and be more conscious about what you buy. Extending the life of clothes by nine extra months of active use would reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by around 20-30 percent per garment, according to research by U.K. government agency Waste Resources Action Programme.

But there is a new force at work fueling consumerism on an unprecedented scale: social media.For digital natives used to stalking social media to track down items, being able to “swipe up” and purchase an outfit worn by someone they follow is intuitive. It works across platforms and across sectors as “influencers” push fast consumption in travel, beauty, food and fitness.

There’s one platform that rules. “For me, it’s all about Instagram and it’s all about the influencer,” said Rupert Esdaile, a freelance brand and social media expert. “Fast fashion labels target the audiences where influencers reign. Engaging people on Instagram is key to selling these products and the influencers are the best tool.”

This social-first strategy has been like rocket fuel for Fashion Nova, Instagram’s most popular fashion brand whose rise is as eye-catching as its tight-fitting, low-cost clothing. From an original LA store opened in 2006, investment in social strategies has seen the brand amass more than 14 million Instagram followers.

In 2017, Fashion Nova was one of the most Googled brands on the planet alongside luxury behemoths like Gucci and  Louis Vuitton that have huge marketing budgets and runway shows. The company introduces 600-900 new pieces each week. While this leaves sustainability experts like me reaching for the smelling salts, it’s a source of pride for CEO Richard Saghian. “There aren’t many companies that are creating clothes as fast as we are,” he has reportedly said. “There aren’t many companies that post on social media every 30 minutes. We bring so many trends every day.”

There will soon be more companies like Fashion Nova as other brands emulate this model and increasingly use the micro-influencer — someone who has between 10,000 and 100,000 followers online.

We all have the potential to be influencers. “Influencer marketing used to be celebrities — think George Clooney with Nespresso,” said brand expert Esdaile. “Now brands have figured out that the public prefers someone who is a bit more relatable, who we consider a peer. Whatever your size of audience, brands would like to leverage it.”

Esdaile said this is often done by brands providing influencers with a discount code that they share with their followers. “Your influence is tracked essentially by the discount code and you earn commission.”

Social media platforms like Instagram can distort our reality, said Danielle Wagstaff from Federation University Australia, who studies the psychology of popular social media.

“Back in the day, your social circle was formed of friends and family,” she said. “Now, you have access to all of these influencers. That means our perceived social circle is enormous. It would be too exhausting to make a judgment every time you saw a new image of someone from this circle, so cognitively your mind automatically creates an average.”

The problem with this average, according to Wagstaff, is that all the images you’re exposed to on social media are highly curated and edited — even no filter, no makeup shots are selected — meaning that the “average” that your brain creates is not a true representation of someone’s lifestyle, attractiveness or income.

“If you’re constantly being presented with false information or information that is biased, then your schema [a cognitive representation of your sense of self, other people and products] is biased. It doesn’t represent the real world,” Wagstaff said.

At this point, we become susceptible to good old-fashioned FOMO (fear of missing out). It can seem perfectly reasonable to need 12 bikini options for a weekend vacation or put long-haul flights to Bali on a credit card to get some good shots for Insta. What’s more, we are driven to act immediately. Normal values can be overridden by the power of the platform.

Other research tells us that the same demographic ramping up consumption through social shopping — millennials and generation Z — are also the ones with finely tuned ecological consciences. Surely some influencers could be diverted from pushing products to protecting the planet?

Esdaile thinks this is starting to happen. “Influencers are already reconsidering how their positionas people of influence can affect the world around them. There are some really prominent examples of those who have started to use their platforms as an arsenal for good.” He cites zero-waste vegan chef Max La Manna and model Cameron Russell as standout examples, alongside the fact there are more than 3 million Instagram posts bearing the hashtag #SustainableFashion.

The business model underpinning social media platforms doesn’t make it easy. “I turn down probably 10-20 approachesfrom brands every week,” said New York-based earth activist and sustainable influencer Renee Elizabeth Peters, who has close to 18,000 Instagram followers. “We simply can’t keep consuming in the way that we have done in the past, and that means that I can’t promote consumption.”

Peters does still promote brands though, but says the ones she chooses must “be revolutionary or something that I really need and am going to be using authentically.”

“Instagram is really good at helping people scratch the surface. And to show people those gateway changes such as using less plastic,” she said. “But the issue is: Once we’ve made all the really easy switches, how do we implement the real changes that need to be made? What do we do about much bigger systematic issues? That’s where the line gets drawn on Instagram because all of those big institutional changes that need to happen.”

Recently she expressed these limitations in a post titled: “The Truth Most Sustainable Influencers Won’t Tell You.” In it, she explained that she tried to eliminate single-use plastic from her life and found it much harder than is suggested by the perfectly filled mason jars that dominate the feeds of zero-waste influencers. Peters’ post received more than 1,700 likes, but many followers failed to read the text that explained what she meant. Some worried she was telling them that small actions didn’t count. 

She later took to Instagram Stories to explain that her beef was with the failure of so many sustainable influencers to acknowledge the privilege — both in terms of time and money — needed to adopt this lifestyle. If sustainable bloggers have that privilege, she added, they could invest that time on demanding substantive action, such as contacting legislators and companies.

This also makes sense to Wagstaff. “We tend to use a peripheral route to persuasion when we are scrolling through platforms like Instagram,” she said. “In this route, we’re attracted by things like shiny colors or how attractive our presenter is. As humans, we’re constantly looking for opportunities to take the cognitive load off us and have a bit of a rest.”

This goes some way to explaining why the brightest stars on social media include babies with really big hairrather than climate change experts. Social media might be a phenomenal way of connecting people but it’s also an engine of hyper consumption and distraction, and that’s unlikely to stop any time soon. 

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Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow in a bid to prevent his visit to Allahabad University for the oath-taking ceremony of a student leader.

“The government is afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader and is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad,” Yadav claimed.

The SP leader also released a detailed statement on the incident.

When asked by PTI, Airport Director AK Sharma said, “I have no such information.”

The matter rocked the Uttar Pradesh legislature on Tuesday.

SP members learnt their party president had been stopped at the airport and tried to raise the matter during Question Hour at the UP assembly.

“The present regime is trying to kill democracy and stop our leader from visiting Allahabad,” SP leader Narendra Verma said.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati also condemned the incident and asked whether the ruling BJP was afraid of their alliance because of which it was “resorting to anti-democratic methods”.

Mayawati described the episode as “an example of total dictatorship of BJP government”.

“This is very unfortunate and this undemocratic step will be fought at all levels,” she said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claimed the government had stopped Akhliesh as Allahabad University had said that his visit could create law and order problem because of a dispute between student organisations there.

The university had also written to Akhilesh’s personal secretary on Monday, informing him that politicians were not allowed to participate in its events, reported NDTV.

The Prayagraj police also told NDTV that Akhilesh had been denied permission to enter the campus by the university administration, fearing law and order problems.

(With PTI inputs)

NEW DELHI — India’s antitrust commission is looking into accusations that Alphabet Inc’s unit Google abuses its popular Android mobile operating system to block its rivals, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has for the past six months been reviewing a case similar to one Google faced in Europe that led to a fine of 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) by antitrust regulators last year, three of the sources said. Google has challenged that order.

The European Commission found Google had abused its market dominance since 2011 with practices such as forcing manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and its Chrome browser, together with its Google Play app store on Android devices.

“It is on the lines of the EU case, but at a preliminary stage,” said one of the sources, who is aware of the CCI investigation.

Google declined to comment. The CCI did not respond to Reuters’ queries.

The watchdog’s enquiry into allegations against Google over its Android platform has not previously been reported.

Google executives have in recent months met Indian antitrust officials at least once to discuss the complaint, which was filed by a group of individuals, one of the sources said.

The Indian watchdog could ask its investigations unit to further investigate the accusations against Google, or throw out the complaint if it lacks merit. The watchdog’s investigations have historically taken years to complete.

Android, used by device makers for free, features on about 85 percent of the world’s smartphones. In India, about 98 percent of the smartphones sold in 2018 used the platform, Counterpoint Research estimates.

In October, Google said it would charge smartphone makers a fee for using its popular Google Play app store and also allow them to use rival versions of Android to comply with the EU order.

The change, however, covered only the European Economic Area, which comprises the 28 EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

“The CCI will have a tough time not initiating a formal investigation into Google given the EU case, unless they can show the problem has been addressed (by remedies),” one of the sources said.

The Indian complaint presents the latest regulatory headache for the Mountain View, California-based company in a key growth market.

Last year, the Indian antitrust watchdog imposed a fine of 1.36 billion rupees ($19 million) on Google for “search bias” and abuse of its dominant position. It also found Google had put its commercial flight search function in a prominent position on the search results page.

Google appealed against that order, saying the ruling could cause it “irreparable” harm and reputational loss, Reuters reported.

NEW DELHI — Thousands of candidates, hundreds of parties, endless combinations of possible coalitions — spare a thought for India’s pollsters, tasked with making sense of the country’s fiendishly complicated politics ahead of a general election due by May.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a surprise majority in 2014. Until last year, many predicted a similar result. But amid rising anger over unemployment and a fall in rural incomes, the BJP lost key state elections in December, making this contest more closely fought than first expected.

That means surveys conducted on behalf of newspapers and TV channels will be closely scrutinised. Some of India’s top pollsters however, told Reuters current surveys could be wide of the mark until the parties finalise alliances, which could be as late as April – and even then, there are challenges.

“In India there are certain relationships between caste, religion and allegiance,” said VK Bajaj, chief executive of Today’s Chanakya, the only polling firm to predict the BJP would win an outright majority in 2014. “We have to do checks and counter-checks when collecting our samples.”

Chequered past 

Opinion polls grew in popularity in India in the 1990s, after economic liberalisation saw a boom in privately-owned newspapers and TV channels, all demanding their own surveys.

In 1998 and 1999, the polls closely predicted the share of seats for the winning BJP-led coalition, according to data collected by Praveen Rai, an analyst who has tracked opinion polls in India for more than 15 years at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, which also runs its own surveys.

But in the last three elections, polls have been significantly off the mark. In 2004 and 2009 the victorious Congress alliance was completely underestimated, while in 2014 only Bajaj’s firm predicted the BJP would win an outright majority.

Elections in India have become “increasingly multi-varied”, Rai said, with the emergence of regional parties complicating pollsters’ efforts.

Reality on the ground

Many polls are conducted face-to-face, and collecting representative samples can be hard in a country that still has several armed separatist movements and tribal communities unused to opinion polling.

When CNX, one of India’s largest polling companies, conducts fieldwork in rural Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand—two states with large tribal populations—it often finds many are unfamiliar with the concept of opinion polls.

“In areas where people are not so educated it is difficult for them to understand,” said Bhawesh Jha, CNX’s founder.

Elsewhere, a lack of trust in why polls are conducted and how the data is used means respondents are also less truthful than other countries, pollsters said.

“Dubious opinion polls conducted by some media houses to sway the elections for political parties ... has definitely created a bad name for the polling industry in India,” Rai said.

India lacks strong data protections laws like those in North America and Europe, and many people still believe their details will be passed on to political parties, Rai and Jha said, meaning answers were often those they think the pollster wants to hear.

“We have to convince people we are not going to reveal their identity,” Jha said.

Complex Arithmetic

Current polls are making large assumptions, no more so than in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state with a population of more than 200 million that accounts for nearly a fifth of the seats in India’s lower house.

Results there have been so difficult to predict that the state has earned the nickname “Ulta Pradesh” — a play on the Hindi word meaning “reverse” - for its ability to confound experts.

A recent poll there found that if two regional parties already in alliance joined forces with the main opposition Congress, the BJP would be wiped out in the state, almost certainly losing power nationally.

But like other states in India, much depends on who contests from where – and to what extent Congress stands its candidates down to allow regional parties a run.

Until the final seats sharing agreements and candidate lists are announced – which may not be until April – current polls are little more than guesswork, said Today’s Chanakya chief Bajaj.

“We have to wait until the final alliances come out,” he said. “It is not possible to do anything until that.”

Cardi B on Monday blasted people who say she was undeserving of her Grammy Award.

The 26-year-old performer, whose “Invasion of Privacy” won for best rap album, hotly rejected the criticism of unnamed detractors in a video she posted before deleting her Instagram. (An entertainment news account saved the clip.)

“I’m sick of this shit,” she said angrily. “I worked hard for my motherfucking album.”

She railed against the fickle nature of award recognition, noting that she lost at year’s Grammys and it was treated by many as an injustice.

“I remember last year when I didn’t win for ‘Bodak Yellow,’ everybody was like, ‘Cardi got snubbed, Cardi got snubbed.’ Now this year’s a fucking problem?”

Cardi B recounted her new album’s chart success and how she overcame the challenges of being pregnant to make it. 

“I fucking worked my ass off, locked myself in the studio for three months ... then went to sleep in my own bed, sometimes for four days straight, pregnant,” she said.

In the midst of the ruins of “shell-blasted hotels whose spires reach out into the dark night sky”, a robotic voice with a Chinese accent declares that the Bluetooth device is ready to pair. With this absurd bit of information The Inhuman Race, set in British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the year 2033, pulls us into its murky depths immediately.

The Silent Girl, the protagonist of this dystopian sci-fi novel by Sri Lankan writer Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, is mystifying. Fiercely self-sufficient, she uses her radio to communicate and a handmade spear to protect herself as she walks through the ruins of Colombo. When the lost and lonely boy Pissa latches on to her for friendship, she is resistant at first but she gives in eventually. She thinks she is protecting him and he thinks he is protecting her. The unlikely pair are one among hordes of children who are alike—fierce, ready for battle.

It’s only when the children climb the huge mountain of garbage and reach the other side that the truth is revealed to them, albeit accidentally. They are all being trained for the ‘ultimate battle’. To kill each other for sport. When the children get on a train that takes them away from their imminent death, we’re cheering for them silently as we read.

There are quite a few confusing time jumps in the story. The first takes us to Dr Almeida’s laboratory in Kandy (in central Sri Lanka), where she battles with her conscience over the fate of these children. The intention is to shock the reader. The story jumps more timelines and by the time we see The Silent Girl again, much time has passed.

The next time we see Dr Almeida, after yet another jarring jump, she is in her fifties, fighting a court case where the rights of the ‘Inhuman Race’ is being argued.

These time jumps leave the reader confused and make it difficult for them to identify the characters they want to root for. We only read about ‘livestream online’ and similar expressions, which let us know that the killing is broadcast to a world at large. Who are the people who watch the children kill each other for their enjoyment? The details are scarce.

Dr Almeida is fighting to stop the children from being killed. Her lawyer, Eraj Ekanayake, takes up the case half-heartedly, but finds himself drawn into the case even though he thinks she’s a “certified crackpot”.

In a world proliferated with artificial intelligence and bots, Wijeratne makes a strong case for sentience among these children. Humanity is at play, but the important question one gleans from the book is: who is human and who is not, and who gets to decide?

There is much information packed in this slim volume, which is the first of the Commonwealth Empire Trilogy. However, the gripping, action-packed first half segues into the second half rather jerkily (again!) and the events just keep jumping forward in time without furnishing enough details to keep the reader hooked. After investing in the character of The Silent Girl, readers are suddenly left without her in the second half. It takes a little bit of convincing to shift  loyalties to Dr Almeida but once again, events change everything. After the lull of the second part, the book races towards a finish that leaves the reader wanting to know more, especially the events that take place between the last chapter and the epilogue.

Wijeratne has emerged as a strong voice in south Asian science fiction, considering that his earlier book Number Caste won the 2017 Virtual Fantasticon Award. Number Caste takes further the concept in the Black Mirror episode Nosedive and China’s social credit system, leading to a world where everyone has to depend on the number they were assigned. But The Inhuman Race is a far better book.

The similarity between the books is that they’re set in futuristic dystopia. Number Caste is far more frightening because it’s an impending reality in our lives. The Inhuman Race, however, is set in a fictional world where the British Empire never fell and the Commonwealth Flag still flies over the colonies. More details about this world, its functions and what life is like for the commoner would have served the reader well. Because try as you may, the image of the manufactured ruins of Colombo where The Silent Girl and the Pissa wander among the wreckage—hand in hand, trying to survive—is what remains with the reader.

NEW DELHI — Union minister KJ Alphons on Tuesday said the emergency exit of the Arpit Palace hotel, where 17 people were killed in a fire that broke out early Tuesday, was “too narrow” and also locked.

The minister, who visited the site of the tragedy in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh locality, said he was sure that there would be violation of norms.

The Union tourism minister said there were a lot of wooden structures inside, which may have helped the fire spread.

“When I headed to the emergency exit, I found that it had been locked yesterday (last night). Also, it was too narrow,” he told reporters.

“Obviously, even if people came to the emergency exit, they could not have escaped as it was too narrow and it was locked anyway,” he said.

Alphons said he spoke to the mayor and asked him to check whether all regulations were in place and to take immediate action if there was any lapse on the part of the hotel management.

Like a hug for your tastebuds, comfort food always seems to be there when you need it. It’s a dietary bandage we’ve all used, especially when the only answer to our problems seems to be copious amounts of salt or sugar. (Or, if you’re feeling particularly challenged, both.)

While in the U.S. we understand that when someone is stuffing their face with French fries and doughnuts it’s a signifier for, “I’m overwhelmed, please avoid eye contact,” other countries have developed their own favorite meals and snacks for when the pressure is on. But the stressed seem to speak a common culinary language, as the presence of cheese, bread, potatoes and pasta in most of the world’s favorite foods prove that we’re more alike than different.

Need to remind your stomach that it’s all going to be OK? Take a trip through nine of the most compelling, carb-laced global comfort foods.

Canada: Poutine

Canada is so riddled with shops willing to put gravy and cheese curds on French fries, sometimes it can be hard to believe that poutine was only popularized in the late 1950s. The Quebec-area staple (rightfully adopted by the rest of the country) is the perfect date, able to slum it in a greasy spoon or go high end with the addition of premium toppings like meat, eggs or veggies.

Poutine is a dream for anyone who has ever argued that French fries are the perfect meal. Given the extreme levels of carbs and fat it contains, it’s little wonder that after a night of drinking, hitting a poutinerie to stave off a hangover is a required final stop. A 2004 study out of Princeton University showed that drinking alcohol produces the neurochemical galanin, which stokes hunger for food and fat ... and poutine solves that equation perfectly.

Colombia: Arepa with Cheese

Made with ground maze and boasting a slightly sweet flavor, arepas are a regular Colombian go-to for breakfast, afternoon snacks or any time stress requires a bit of carb-laced pick-me-up. The small corn cakes taste great alone, but usually act as a socially acceptable transport system for toppings, including bread and jam, scrambled eggs, chocolate, or — as Liliana Lopez, editor of Food & Wine Latin America, prefers — with as much cheese as possible.

“I find it comforting because it tastes like Colombia, like home,” she told HuffPost. “Arepas are the food that I miss the most while I am away for too long.”

Finland: Karelian Pie

“Egg butter” may sound like a Lipitor-induced nightmare, but in Finland it’s a topping fit for “karelian pie,” the country’s favorite savory breakfast pastry. Like many morning foods, it’s been known to slip into Finns’ diet throughout the day, providing an energy kick in times of emotional need. And yes, the hot pastry is often topped with a spread made of butter and chopped-up boiled eggs.

“It’s originally baked with rye flour and filled with barley,” said executive chef Richard McCormick, founder of several high-end Helsinki restaurants, including Yes Yes Yes, Holiday, and The Cock. According to him, the scalloped-edged pastry is the great equalizer. “Not long ago, when rice became available to all Finns, the barley-filling was substituted for a creamy porridge made from thicker rice grains similar to sushi rice.”

Iran: Ash-e-reshteh

Many countries’ cuisines rely on fat, sugar or excess carbs for comfort food. But in Iran, the go-to indulgence is a celebratory vegetable soup. Ash-e-reshteh is thickened with flour, beans and sour cream, and features a dash of noodles, generally considered to be good luck. Although as Sarra Sedghi, assistant editor at MyRecipes, told HuffPost, in her house the dish serves multiple uses.

“It’s used to celebrate the Persian new year, which occurs on the same day as the vernal equinox, but I mostly recall having it when it’s cold or someone was sick,” she said. “You think the next day, ‘Oh this would be great for lunch,’ and you open the fridge and it’s already gone because someone ate two bowls for dinner.”

Israel: Well, it depends

As explained by Debra Kamin who has covered food and travel for Variety, The Atlantic and The New York Times, Israel’s complex history as a melting pot of Jews from around the world means it’s difficult to pinpoint one monolithic comfort food. Sephardic Jews (who trace their roots to Africa, Spain and the Middle East) and Ashkenazi Jews (whose families come from Eastern Europe), carry with them a culinary tradition that can be wildly different from their neighbors.

“For comfort food, we all go back to our mothers and grandmothers, right?” said Kamin. “So an Israeli with roots in Iran might reach for gondi, which is a wonderful chickpea soup that’s sort of like matzo ball. But an Israeli whose family comes from Yemen would probably crave kubaneh, which is a sweet Yemenite bread.”

She points toward the traditional Israeli breakfast, full of hummus, spreads, bread and veggies, as a personal favorite. “Whenever we went back to Israel to visit, that’s how I knew I was home,” she said. “Salad for breakfast! So, healthy and fresh! It always made me feel great.”

Poland: Leniwe aka “Lazy Dumplings”

Poland has done an excellent job of exporting pierogi, ravioli-like pasta pockets filled with cheese or meat and served with a side of sour cream or melted butter. But those looking for a little extra comfort reach for leniwe, or the “lazy dumpling.” Rather than relying on filling, the quark cheese is folded directly into the pasta itself, to create a chewy dumpling just sweet enough to feel subversive.

“In Poland, you’re never more than three hours away from your next portion of gluten,” said Anna Mejer, who teaches pierogi-making classes with the food tourism company, Eat Polska. “Leniwe are the ultimate comfort food. They’re super easy to make, the ingredients are usually in everyone’s fridge, and they’re sweet. We like sweet dinners.”

Netherlands: Hagelslag

For the Dutch, sprinkles aren’t a sometimes food, but rather an important breakfast staple. Hagelslag ― crunchy sugary sprinkles (think Rice Krispies with Leslie Knope-levels of enthusiasm) ― are sold in grocery stores across the country, their brightly colored boxes decked with swirling letters and cartoon characters. It’s a powerful suggestion: that happiness can be purchased and tastes like either chocolate, vanilla and fruit. Kids love them, but it’s not unusual for adults to indulge as well. In a tradition that dates back to 1919, they’re served on top of bread, covered in unsalted butter with a heavy helping of nostalgia.  

“We use our sense of smell when we eat and many of our oldest memories are linked to our olfactory senses,” Shaffer told HuffPost. “This is why eating food from our childhood can make us feel so comfortable as it is often linked to some of our earlier preverbal memories of being cared for and nourished.”

Morocco: Pastilla  

If there’s an unofficial arms race for the heaviest comfort food, Morocco might have claimed it with pastilla, a savory meat pie. The Arabic delicacy often features either fish or shredded chicken, alongside eggs beaten to a custardy fluff. But it’s the complex sweet/salty flavor profile, said McCormick, who owns Sandro, a string of restaurants known for their modern Moroccan and North African offerings, that keeps him coming back for more.

“You will experience a taste very hard to ever forget,” he said. “Particularly when it’s combined with almonds, ginger, saffron, cinnamon, parsley and sugar.”

Taiwan: Beef noodle soup

Soup: healer of sick, warmer of cold, and — in the case of Taiwan — definer of cultural cuisine. As described by Jon Yao, head chief at Kato restaurant in Santa Monica and nominee of the Rising Star award from the James Beard Foundation, there’s a familiarity and comfort in foods like traditional beef noodle soup that contains all the flavors of home.

“Beef noodle soup is the unofficial national dish of Taiwan, so I’d say a lot of people might consider that their go-to,” he said. “Beef noodle soup is this hot broth that’s scented with flavors like star anise, clove and cinnamon. It’s really rich with beef fat but at the same time light since it’s not a murky broth.”

NEW DELHI — The war of words between the Congress and the BJP over the Rafale issue turned uglier Tuesday as Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “treason” and acting as Anil Ambani’s middleman, prompting the ruling party to claim that he worked as a lobbyist for foreign firms.

The Gandhi family has a history of “looting” the country, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a counter-attack, adding that it was height of “shamelessness and irresponsibility” that the Congress president “abused” the “honest” prime minister Modi.

Firing a fresh salvo at Modi, Gandhi released to the media an email dated March 28, 2015 purportedly written by Airbus executive Nicolas Chamussy to three recipients with the subject line “Ambani”.

Quoting from the email, Gandhi claimed that Ambani was aware in advance of the Rafale deal before India and France announced it in 2015 during Modi’s visit to the country and said that it was in violation of the Official Secrets Act.

Modi’s action “puts him in jail”, he said.

Dubbing Gandhi a “lying machine”, Prasad asserted that the email referred to a chopper deal and not the Rafale purchase and also put Airbus in a dock by saying that it is under a needle of suspicion in several deals signed during the UPA era. 

Reacting to Gandhi’s claim, Ambani’s Reliance Defence said the “proposed MoU” mentioned in the email cited by him was a reference to its cooperation with Airbus Helicopter and had “no connection” with the fighter jet contract.

In its response to Prasad’s remarks against Airbus, its spokesperson said, “We do not comment on any ongoing investigation. We have cooperated with the Indian authorities in the past and will continue to do so.”

At his press conference, Gandhi claimed the email showed Ambani visited then French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s office and mentioned an “MoU in preparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit (to France)”.

The Congress president asked how Ambani knew about the deal and mentioned it in the French defence minister’s office when even then foreign secretary S Jaishankar and then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had no information on it.

“This is a breach of the Official Secrets Act...This is treason and this is what spies do. The prime minister is the only other person who knows about the deal and has informed Anil Ambani about the deal. The Prime Minister is acting as Anil Ambani’s middleman,” Gandhi alleged and called for a criminal investigation into the matter.

Hitting back, Prasad said, “Let Rahul Gandhi explain where did he get internal email of Airbus. Who is supplying him? There cannot be a bigger thing than this that he is working as a lobbyist for foreign firms.”

The firm is also linked to a corporate lobbyist, who was recently deported from the UAE and is being probed on money laundering charges, he alleged.

He also took strong exception to the Congress leader charging Modi with “treason”, saying his party had serious differences with former prime ministers coming from the Gandhi family over several “murky” defence deals signed during their term but it never accused them of treason.

“He (Rahul Gandhi) has thrown muck at his own face by abusing our honest prime minister... We will expose his lies before the public,” he said.

Gandhi has repeatedly levelled allegations against the government over baseless claims, he said. “This is treason. He (Modi) is doing what spies do,” Gandhi said.

Ambani had met the French defence minister days before the signing of the deal during Modi’s visit to France in 2015, Gandhi said, quoting from the email written by an Airbus executive to a French official.

The Congress president also rejected the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the Rafale deal, and dubbed it “Chowkidar Auditor General” report.

Prasad said the Congress has a tendency to target institutions when their stand does not suit them.

In its comments, Nationalist Congress Party alleged that Ambani negotiated the Rafale contract on behalf of Modi.

NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik called the controversial fighter jet deal as “pre-planned loot of the country’s money”.

Reliance Defence spokesperson said the discussion on proposed MoU was clearly with reference to cooperation between Airbus Helicopter and Reliance.

“It had no connection whatsoever with Government to Government Agreement between France and India for 36 Rafale aircraft,” he said, adding that it is in public domain that Airbus Helicopter has partnered with Mahindra for the Military Helicopter Programme.

Last week, news reports claimed that the centre has asked the West Bengal government to act against five police officers who were present at a demonstration led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.

But multiple conversations with serving and retired IPS officers suggest that this is mere bluster, with the centre’s threat of action being easier to issue than carry out.

An IPS officer familiar with the situation in Kolkata told HuffPost India on condition of anonymity that he was not aware of the existence of any such order and that the government’s alleged efforts to penalise the officers were “bunkum”.

On 8 February, The Indian Express published a report stating that the Ministry of Home Affairs had written to the West Bengal chief secretary, asking for action against the police officers who attended Banerjee’s dharna, which she began after a dramatic showdown between the Kolkata Police and CBI. The altercation had erupted after the CBI attempted to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund scams in the state.

The BJP has been struggling to make inroads into the former Left bastion of West Bengal, which sends 42 MPs to the Lok Sabha. Banerjee, who is among a number of regional leaders eyeing the top post if the BJP fails to drum up the required numbers, has been thwarting them at every turn. The CBI-state police tussle was the latest in a long list of conflicts, but retired police officers were worried enough by it to call it a breakdown of India’s federal structure.

The Indian Express report also claimed that the central government is considering punitive action against the five officers and would consider stripping their meritorious awards and banning them from “central deputation”. The officers named include Kolkata Additional Commissioner of Police Supratim Sarkar and Vineet Goyal, who heads the chief minister’s security team, according to the report.

“I doubt any bureaucrat will sign such an order. They simply can’t issue such an order without conducting an inquiry,” said the IPS officer cited above, adding that he has not seen any such order or is aware of a colleague receiving any such intimation from either the Centre or the state.

Any disciplinary action, said the officer, has to be initiated by the state government, which then sends relevant documents to the MHA for approval.

Lawyer and service law expert Gaurav Mehrotra concurred.

“At most, the centre can complain to the state government, but they cannot take any action against the officers,” he said. The centre cannot take back medals and awards conferred on IPS officers by the state either, he added.

It is also strange that the order was purportedly issued to the state government, when it was the chief minister herself who organised the protest in question.
HuffPost India has sent an email to the MHA and will update this story if we receive a response.

Empty threats?

The police officer told HuffPost India that it was puzzling that only five people were named in a circular demanding disciplinary action when at least 15-20 senior IPS officers had been present at the demonstration venue.

“They are trying to send some kind of a message, but these are empty threats. Any junior-level bureaucrat would know these have no weight,” he told HuffPost India.

While the presence of IPS officers in uniform at a demonstration seems inappropriate to Shankar Sen, a former officer, threatening to strip someone of his awards based on one incident, he said, was an overreaction.

“An officer earns an award following years of stellar work. To link it with one incident is not right,” he said, adding that even it was not right to even announce this until after a proper enquiry had been conducted.

Vappala Balachandran, an author, columnist and former IPS officer, said that the threat arose from nothing but a “display of ego”, and that the centre’s reported efforts to penalise the officers were “infantile” and ‘imbecilic’.

Stripping medals or threatening to do so, Balachandran said, is a form of extreme humiliation reserved for ‘crude misdemeanours’ in the ranks of Army and police. Considering a penalty like that for men who were seen at a demonstration was no less than a demonstration of ignorance, he said.

“Were they shouting slogans? Were they waving flags or something? They are police officers, and they have to be present at places to maintain law and order, especially if the chief minister of a state is stationed herself in public,” he said.

If the matter were to reach the courts, Balachandran said the centre could be pulled up for making irresponsible statements.

“There are police officers present at VHP rallies and when those cow bullies (gaurakshaks) run amok, to maintain order. Will the government pull them up as well?” he asked.

Backing a ‘brother’

Another IPS officer, who has also served in the CBI in the past, told HuffPost India that he couldn’t understand why 41 CBI officers had to turn up at the West Bengal police commissioner’s house to arrest him.

“If an influential person is not turning up for an enquiry, you always have the option to go to court and send a summons,” he added, saying the CBI’s ‘raid’ seemed more like an ambush than a formal police procedure. Even former officers such as Sen, who otherwise considered police officers being present at a demonstration ‘disgraceful’, termed the impasse between the CBI and West Bengal police a complete breakdown of the federal structure of the country.

Derek O’Brien, a Rajya Sabha MP from Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, denied that the dharna was even political in nature.

“It was a demonstration by the chief minister of the state to show solidarity with the administration—the IPS, IAS, IES, IRS and various other officers who serve the state,” he told HuffPost India.

The police officer mentioned earlier in this article said that it was surprising that the Centre would want to haul up people like Sarkar, ACP, traffic, and Goyal, who is in charge of Banerjee’s security.

“If a top cop in the traffic department and the CM’s own head of security is not present at the site where she is sitting for a demonstration, who will?” he said.
Terming the reaction to the CBI action against Commissioner Kumar as an ‘outpouring of emotions’, he said that police officials across ranks had been ‘agitated’ following the arrest attempt. There was no organised plan to attend the ‘demonstration’ and most people turned up independently to support a ‘brother’, he said.

“It’s absolutely wrong to say that they were participating in a dharna. What happened was not right. We are not criminals and the CBI are not goondas, they can’t act that way. We have to stay together,” he said.

Calling the entire fracas a ‘political propaganda’, he said that the the centre’s notice, if there was one, was especially problematic since it was directed at people who weren’t a part of any ongoing investigation. “This was clearly designed to give a moral boost to a certain party,” he said.

Former officer Sen concluded that the threats against the police officers were clearly a result of people ‘acting in anger’.

“Many people went to meet Rajeev Sir after this CBI thing happened. If not on the streets, they’d have gone to his house to show solidarity as well. That’s what happened. Even the civil police follows procedure and the CBI completely jumped the gun here. That’s why the community was showing him support,” said the IPS officer quoted in the beginning of this article. “This was not a ‘dharna’. Labelling it one is the work of a political person.”

EL PASO, Texas — As thousands of Donald Trump supporters lined up outside the El Paso County Coliseum Monday afternoon, waiting to see the president hold his first official re-election campaign rally near the U.S.-Mexico border, the MAGA merchants were in a frenzy.

Some vendors pulled carts full of red or camouflage “Make America Great Again” hats, yelling, “Ten dollars, cash or credit!” Others made elaborate displays of flags for sale. The new Trump 2020 flag was popular. So was the flag with an illustration of Trump holding a gun, standing atop a tank, in front of an American flag, next to a flying bald eagle.

Then there were the T-shirts: the new Trump/Pence 2020 shirt, the old “Hillary sucks but not like Monica” shirt, and a “We are Q” shirt, a reference to QAnon, the absurd and ever-evolving pro-Trump conspiracy theory that holds that the president is on the verge of destroying a pedophile ring that has been secretly running the U.S. government for years.

As Trump supporters poured into the gated area outside the coliseum, music blared from the loudspeakers, a playlist that included Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and “Memory” from the Broadway musical “Cats.” The music was interrupted intermittently by announcements, including one pleading with Trump supporters to “not hurt any protesters” who might show up to ruin the night’s fun.

On the giant screen outside the venue, a Trump campaign message implored fans to follow the president on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. “Your source for Real News,” the message screamed.

HuffPost was not granted press credentials to report from inside the coliseum. Outside, an overflow crowd of some 6,000 people stood in the cold desert night to watch the screen and cheer on Trump.

Trump’s rally in El Paso was in support of his border wall. In his State of the Union address last week he claimed, falsely, that border fencing that was built south of the city in 2010 transformed El Paso from a dangerous place into a safe one.

Its Republican mayor lashed out at the president last week for his falsehood. El Paso’s declining crime rate started well before the border fencing was built.

But Trump repeated the lie Monday night. And for his audience, the lie was now the truth.

“Once they built that wall, it was amazing how statistically the violence started going down,” 39-year-old El Paso resident Michael Blanco, who owns an accounting business, told HuffPost outside the coliseum. “I’m a complete witness of it. Seen it growing up.”

Henri Rafael, a 58-year-old El Pasoan wearing a black Trump 2020 hat, said that even though the mayor corrected Trump, “I know for a fact that the crime was high back in the ’70s and ’80s, and when they built those walls, [crime] has dropped.”

In fact, violent crime increased in El Paso in the two years after the wall was built, according to a study from the El Paso Times.

Trump periodically paused his speech Monday for chants of “Build the wall!” and “USA!”

When he talked of the “fake news” media, the crowd jeered. At one point, a particularly inspired Trump supporter attacked a BBC journalist:

The crowd also jeered Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic El Paso native and former congressman who nearly defeated Sen. Ted Cruz in last year’s Senate race. O’Rourke, a potential presidential candidate, held a protest a few blocks from Trump’s rally Monday night.

The president taunted O’Rourke from the stage, claiming that the O’Rourke rally attracted a paltry few hundred attendees. El Paso police later estimated that well over 10,000 people attended.

Trump spoke for over an hour  — about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, about Hillary Clinton, about the Green New Deal and about how “America will never be a socialist country.”

Nick Martin, an investigative reporter at the Southern Poverty Law Center, watched the speech and noticed someone he recognized sitting in the front row, wearing a baseball hat and an eye patch: Elmer Stewart Rhodes.  

Rhodes is the founder of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers. The SPLC lists the Oath Keepers as an anti-government extremist group because of the wild conspiracy theories its members promote. Rhodes recently claimed he was setting up paramilitary training camps across the U.S. to prepare to fight antifa, or anti-fascist, groups.

(Also reportedly standing in the front row at the Trump rally: a woman wearing a QAnon symbol over her shirt.)

Eventually, Trump finished his speech and left the stage to cheers on his way to a sit-down interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News, who had traveled to Texas for the rally.

The crowd filtered out through the gates of the coliseum. There they were met by a small group of teenage protesters carrying signs reading “Trump is a lying corrupt racist” and “Abolish I.C.E.”  

Many Trump supporters cursed at the teens, yelling, “Fuck you,” and started a loud chant of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” At least one Trump supporter yelled, “Go back to Mexico!” at the teens, most of whom were Hispanic.

Another Trump supporter ripped the “Abolish I.C.E.” sign from a teen’s hands and ran off with it. Then another threw water at the teens’ faces.

One of the protesters, 17-year-old Arianna Ginichan, told HuffPost she didn’t let such vitriol get to her.  It’s all “normal because it’s what’s happening to America right now,” she said. “And it’s what’s going on. And you just kind of brush it off.”

She expressed sadness over seeing so many Hispanics in the MAGA crowd. “I think they’re kind of close to brainwashed, if not brainwashed,” she said. “Kind of like disappointing to see that they’re supporting someone that talks down on them.”

A few hundred yards away, riot police announced over a megaphone that a separate group of 50 or so Trump protesters standing on a streetcorner needed to disperse. They refused. Trump supporters dipped in and out of the protest, taunting them. One shouted to the crowd that they all needed to subscribe to Pewdiepie, referring to the world’s most popular YouTuber, who has promoted white supremacist content to his millions of subscribers.

Antoine Williams, a 36-year-old MAGA vendor from South Carolina, stood on the sidewalk and packed up his merchandise, looking on at the mayhem. “They’re askin’ for it,” he said of the protesters, who eventually dispersed.

He said he goes to every Trump rally to sell his goods. Asked if he’s also a Trump supporter, Williams responded, “Till the death of me, bro.”

EL PASO, Texas — As thousands of Donald Trump supporters lined up outside the El Paso County Coliseum Monday afternoon, waiting to see the president hold his first official re-election campaign rally near the U.S.-Mexico border, the MAGA merchants were in a frenzy.

Some vendors pulled carts full of red or camouflage “Make America Great Again” hats, yelling, “Ten dollars, cash or credit!” Others made elaborate displays of flags for sale. The new Trump 2020 flag was popular. So was the flag with an illustration of Trump holding a gun, standing atop a tank, in front of an American flag, next to a flying bald eagle.

Then there were the T-shirts: the new Trump/Pence 2020 shirt, the old “Hillary sucks but not like Monica” shirt, and a “We are Q” shirt, a reference to QAnon, the absurd and ever-evolving pro-Trump conspiracy theory that holds that the president is on the verge of destroying a pedophile ring that has been secretly running the U.S. government for years.

As Trump supporters poured into the gated area outside the coliseum, music blared from the loudspeakers, a playlist that included Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and “Memory” from the Broadway musical “Cats.” The music was interrupted intermittently by announcements, including one pleading with Trump supporters to “not hurt any protesters” who might show up to ruin the night’s fun.

On the giant screen outside the venue, a Trump campaign message implored fans to follow the president on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. “Your source for Real News,” the message screamed.

HuffPost was not granted press credentials to report from inside the coliseum. Outside, an overflow crowd of some 6,000 people stood in the cold desert night to watch the screen and cheer on Trump.

Trump’s rally in El Paso was in support of his border wall. In his State of the Union address last week he claimed, falsely, that border fencing that was built south of the city in 2010 transformed El Paso from a dangerous place into a safe one.

Its Republican mayor lashed out at the president last week for his falsehood. El Paso’s declining crime rate started well before the border fencing was built.

But Trump repeated the lie Monday night. And for his audience, the lie was now the truth.

“Once they built that wall, it was amazing how statistically the violence started going down,” 39-year-old El Paso resident Michael Blanco, who owns an accounting business, told HuffPost outside the coliseum. “I’m a complete witness of it. Seen it growing up.”

Henri Rafael, a 58-year-old El Pasoan wearing a black Trump 2020 hat, said that even though the mayor corrected Trump, “I know for a fact that the crime was high back in the ’70s and ’80s, and when they built those walls, [crime] has dropped.”

In fact, violent crime increased in El Paso in the two years after the wall was built, according to a study from the El Paso Times.

Trump periodically paused his speech Monday for chants of “Build the wall!” and “USA!”

When he talked of the “fake news” media, the crowd jeered. At one point, a particularly inspired Trump supporter attacked a BBC journalist:

The crowd also jeered Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic El Paso native and former congressman who nearly defeated Sen. Ted Cruz in last year’s Senate race. O’Rourke, a potential presidential candidate, held a protest a few blocks from Trump’s rally Monday night.

The president taunted O’Rourke from the stage, claiming that the O’Rourke rally attracted a paltry few hundred attendees. El Paso police later estimated that well over 10,000 people attended.

Trump spoke for over an hour  — about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, about Hillary Clinton, about the Green New Deal and about how “America will never be a socialist country.”

Nick Martin, an investigative reporter at the Southern Poverty Law Center, watched the speech and noticed someone he recognized sitting in the front row, wearing a baseball hat and an eye patch: Elmer Stewart Rhodes.  

Rhodes is the founder of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers. The SPLC lists the Oath Keepers as an anti-government extremist group because of the wild conspiracy theories its members promote. Rhodes recently claimed he was setting up paramilitary training camps across the U.S. to prepare to fight antifa, or anti-fascist, groups.

(Also reportedly standing in the front row at the Trump rally: a woman wearing a QAnon symbol over her shirt.)

Eventually, Trump finished his speech and left the stage to cheers on his way to a sit-down interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News, who had traveled to Texas for the rally.

The crowd filtered out through the gates of the coliseum. There they were met by a small group of teenage protesters carrying signs reading “Trump is a lying corrupt racist” and “Abolish I.C.E.”  

Many Trump supporters cursed at the teens, yelling, “Fuck you,” and started a loud chant of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” At least one Trump supporter yelled, “Go back to Mexico!” at the teens, most of whom were Hispanic.

Another Trump supporter ripped the “Abolish I.C.E.” sign from a teen’s hands and ran off with it. Then another threw water at the teens’ faces.

One of the protesters, 17-year-old Arianna Ginichan, told HuffPost she didn’t let such vitriol get to her.  It’s all “normal because it’s what’s happening to America right now,” she said. “And it’s what’s going on. And you just kind of brush it off.”

She expressed sadness over seeing so many Hispanics in the MAGA crowd. “I think they’re kind of close to brainwashed, if not brainwashed,” she said. “Kind of like disappointing to see that they’re supporting someone that talks down on them.”

A few hundred yards away, riot police announced over a megaphone that a separate group of 50 or so Trump protesters standing on a streetcorner needed to disperse. They refused. Trump supporters dipped in and out of the protest, taunting them. One shouted to the crowd that they all needed to subscribe to Pewdiepie, referring to the world’s most popular YouTuber, who has promoted white supremacist content to his millions of subscribers.

Antoine Williams, a 36-year-old MAGA vendor from South Carolina, stood on the sidewalk and packed up his merchandise, looking on at the mayhem. “They’re askin’ for it,” he said of the protesters, who eventually dispersed.

He said he goes to every Trump rally to sell his goods. Asked if he’s also a Trump supporter, Williams responded, “Till the death of me, bro.”

President Donald Trump told the crowd at his rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday that he got special permission from the El Paso Fire Department to let 10,000 people inside the El Paso County Coliseum.

El Paso Fire Department spokesman Enrique D. Aguilar told The El Paso Times that not only did the fire department not give Trump special permission, but the Coliseum had about 6,500 people in it during the president’s rally. Aguilar says that number was at capacity and well within its standard allowance.

The spokesman added that “it might be 10,000 with the people outside” total, but the fire department didn’t track the number of people outside the venue. While the number Trump quoted about his attendees might not have been far off, he blatantly lied that he got special permission, according to Aguilar.

“Now the arena holds 8,000,” said Trump, during the rally. “And thank you, fire department. They got in about 10,000. Thank you, fire department. Appreciate it.”

Trump also claimed 75,000 people signed up to attend the rally, according to ABC News. The rally was dedicated to advocating for the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and didn’t do much to mend the relationship between officials in the city and the president. 

NEW DELHI — West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who will arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday night to take part in the mega opposition rally at Jantar Mantar, will be visiting the Parliament on Wednesday and participate at an official event in the city, sources said.

Banerjee will address the AAP’s ‘Tanashahi Hatao, Desh Bachao’ (Remove Dictatorship, Save Country) rally at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday.

She will then visit Trinamool Congress’ office at Parliament where she is expected to meet party lawmakers and MPs from other parties, the sources said.

Banerjee will also participate at an official event in the city, details of which were yet to be shared.

She is likely to be in Delhi till Thursday, according to a party leader in Kolkata.

“As per the schedule Banerjee will leave for New Delhi on February 12 and attend the opposition rally convened by AAP on February 13. She will also meet leaders of various opposition parties,” the leader had said.

Banerjee has emerged as one of the most formidable voices of the opposition and her visit to Delhi assumes significance after the protest she led in Kolkata over CBI’s attempt to interrogate the city police chief in chit fund scam cases created a political storm.

She has been at loggerheads with the ruling BJP, which is eyeing to garner at least 22 of 42 seats from Bengal in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Last month, Banerjee organised a rally of opposition parties in Kolkata, where she called to oust the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, claiming its “expiry date” has passed.

NEW DELHI— The Delhi Police arrested the general manager and a manager of Hotel Arpit Palace, where a massive fire killed 17 people on Tuesday, an officer said.

The hotel’s general manager, Rajender, and manager, Vikas, have been arrested for culpable homicide, DCP (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. The hotel owner, Shardendu Goel, is absconding after the incident, he said.

Randhawa said the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch.

A massive fire engulfed a hotel in central Delhi’s congested Karol Bagh area in the early hours of Tuesday, killing 17 people, including two people who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves, officials said.

The deceased included three Myanmar nationals and an IRS officer, Suresh Kumar (52). Two staffers of hotel Arpit Palace also died. Kumar and the hotel cook, Tara Chand, jumped off the building in a desperate bid to escape but died.

A 33-year-old Myanmar national, Chan Chan, also jumped off the over 25-year-old structure but survived with a fracture in her leg.

Prime facie, the cause of the fire was suspected to be a short-circuit, the police and fire officials said. 

According to hospital authorities at least four others were injured. However, the police said only one other person was injured.

The police said that out of 17 people killed, 15 have been identified. Autopsy was conducted on five bodies which were handed over to their families. Initially, the fire officials said a child had died in the blaze but later the police said it was the body of an adult male victim which had charred and shrunk beyond recognition.

According to a statement issued by the Kerala government, three of the deceased belonged to the state and three others were from Tamil Nadu. The police said one victim belonged to Gujarat.

According to the fire department, they received a call at around 4.35 am about the incident following which 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

It took nearly four hours for them to douse the fire that had swept through all the floors of the five-storey building which had a terrace kitchen in violation of rules. Flames resurfaced by noon, but were later doused.

Dilip Trivedi (58), a resident of Ahmedabad who came to Delhi for a business deal, had a miraculous escape.

“At around 4 am, I heard cries of people shouting for help. When I opened my door, I saw very dense smoke in the corridor area. Then I took my bag and rushed downstairs,” said Trivedi who was occupying a room on the first floor of the hotel.

Bhupendra Rajput, an eyewitness who helped in rescue operation, said, “We were inside my room at a hotel nearby the incident happened. People were shouting for help and we immediately rushed to the spot.”

Different agencies pointed out several violations on the part of the hotel’s management, including closure of the emergency exit gates at the time of fire, which trapped the victims inside the establishment.

The hotel was first granted a licence in October 2005 and was renewed every year. The last renewal was done on May 25, 2018 and was valid till March 31, said an official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

“The stamped happened as the stairs were narrow. We pulled them out and helped clear the way for other,” Rajput said.

The roads were blocked near the spot due to which the fire tenders took time to reach there. The first tender that reached the spot did not have adequate water. If that fire tender had enough water, it would have taken less time to control it, Rajput added.

Several politicians, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons, DPCC chief Sheila Dikshit and state BJP president Manoj Tiwari, visited the spot to take the stock of the situation.

According to Alphons, the emergency exit of the hotel was “too narrow” and also locked.

The Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and announced Rs 5 lakh for the next of those killed in the fire.

Following the incident, the AAP government also cancelled an event that was to be held on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives.

“Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire at Karol Bagh in Delhi. I convey my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives,” he tweeted.

The hotel had a canopy on its terrace with chairs and tables laid out, indicating that there was an open restaurant operating there, fire officials said, adding that there was wooden panelling in the rooms that could have helped the fire spread.

It was a nightmare without end, said Somshekhar, who had come to Delhi from Kerala with his family to attend a wedding Ghaziabad and was staying in the hotel. He lost three members of his family.

They were residents of Ernakulam district in Kerala and were getting ready to go to Haridwar when the fire started.

“Ten of us were rescued by police and fire teams. We had booked four rooms in the hotel. We were all ready early morning to go to Haridwar when suddenly there was a power cut. They switched on the generator and there was a heavy smoke,” he said.

His sister Jayashree alerted them to the smoke and rushed out to check what was happening, he said. She was later found dead.

“The entire pathway was full of smoke. My mother and brother were along with my sister at the time. I immediately came to the room and opened the room for fresh air and we managed to escape. We were at the second floor of the hotel,” he said.

BENGALURU — Karnataka assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar Tuesday compared himself to a rape survivor having to undergo repeated questioning as he referred to repeated charges against him being part of the controversial audio tapes, over which government has announced an SIT.

The speaker made the intervention during the discussions in the assembly over the Special Investigation Team probe into an audio clip showing BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to lure a JD(S) MLA in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JDS government.

The Speaker, pointing to repeated reference to charges against him, said his “situation was like that of a rape victim, as they too are supposedly questioned about the incident repeatedly.”

The stand-off between the government and opposition continued in the assembly Tuesday over an SIT probe into the audio clip.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday had announced a comprehensive SIT probe into the audio clip.

He had accepted an “advice” by an emotional Speaker to constitute the Special Investigation Team to probe the episode to “establish the truth” as his name has also been dragged with the charge that he had been “booked” for Rs 50 crore.

The Speaker called for a meeting of floor leaders on Wednesday to resolve the issue, as the BJP stuck to its strong opposition to the SIT, saying it could be used for “political vengeance.”

He decided to convene the meeting at the end of the day long discussion on the issue for the second consecutive day in the Assembly, with both the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition and opposition BJP refusing to budge from their positions.

“Lets discuss and try to find a solution,” the Speaker announced as he adjourned the assembly proceedings to Wednesday morning.

The Speaker’s decision came after Yeddyurappa, the leader of the opposition, pointed out that no effort was made by the Chair to seek the opinion of the opposition before deciding on the investigation agency to inquire into the case.

“SIT is being imposed upon us forcefully,” he said.

Yeddyurappa expressed apprehensions about the SIT as it comes under the Chief Minister and said he was firm on his stand to quit politics if it was proved he was present during conversations between the persons in the audio on a “Rs 50 crore offer to book” the Speaker, as alleged by Kumaraswamy.

Accusing the Chief Minister of hatching a conspiracy against him by “twisting facts”, he said Kumaraswamy has released the audio partially, to save his seat.

The BJP has objected to the SIT and insisted on constituting a House committee or a judicial probe. They also saId that the probe cannot be conducted by an agency that is under the Chief Minister as he too was a party in the case.

The political war over charges of horse-trading had escalated in Karnataka on Friday with Kumaraswamy releasing the audio clip.

As the House met for the day, opposition members requested the Chair to reconsider the decision to hand over the probe to the SIT.

Several BJP members, including Yeddyurappa, demanded a probe by house committee or judicial inquiry into the matter.

Kumaraswamy had said that during the purported conversation that there was a mention about a “Rs 50 crore offer to book” the Speaker to give a ruling in favour of MLAs who might resign to help the BJP bring down his government.

Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar alleged that Kumaraswamy was behind the audio conversation as he was the one who sent Sharan Gouda, son of the MLA Naganagouda, who was being lured and he also heard the conversation between the two individuals via a conference call.

“So the CM is the offender, he is the first accused in the case,” he said.

Another senior BJP member Madhu Swamy, questioning the constitution of the SIT, said the probe report can only be submitted to court by the SIT and not to the government or the Chair.

Kumaraswamy expressed surprise about being called A1 by BJP in the case and said that since the leader of the opposition and other members have called him accused, “at least to punish me, a comprehensive inquiry has to happen.”

Hitting out at BJP for suspecting political vengeance on the part of the government and its officials, he asked “did I direct Yeddyurappa and others in the way they did?”

Claiming to enjoy the complete confidence of Congress and JD(S) MLAs, Kumaraswamy spoke of the need to amend the anti-defection law and said if an elected MLA resigns, he should not be allowed to contest elections for five years.

“Such a permanent change has to be brought in,” he said.

Stating that he was also ready for a discussion on the alleged 2014 video CD about the cash for vote allegedly involving him, which was raised by the BJP, the chief minister said he would abide by the Speakers advice on constituting an SIT to probe the audio clip.

The political slugfest broke out as Kumaraswamy on Friday claimed there were two audio clips of recorded telephonic conversation between Yeddyurappa and Sharan Gouda.

George Clooney blasted what he described as “irresponsible” treatment of the Duchess of Sussex and warned that the consequences could be serious. Much of his ire seemed to be directed at journalists.

“I do want to say, they’re just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere,” he told Australia’s Who Magazine on Tuesday. “She’s been pursued and vilified.”

The actor, who attended Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry with his wife, Amal Clooney, added, “She’s a woman who is seven months pregnant and she has been pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was and it’s history repeating itself.”

Striking an ominous tone, the “Catch-22” star said, “We’ve seen how that ends.” Clooney was presumably referring to Princess Diana’s death in a car crash while being chased by paparazzi in 1997.

Other defenders of Meghan have recently highlighted the rash of stories that nit-pick her public appearances, tell tales about her alleged misbehavior within the royal family and report on the ongoing efforts of her father and sister to badmouth her.

Luxembourg’s Princess Tessy tweeted earlier about online attacks against Meghan: “Stay Kind!!! it’s the new cool! She does not deserve that.” Last week an anonymous band of the royal’s friends urged an end to “global bullying” of the duchess.

Clooney specifically slammed media reports that revealed the contents of a letter Meghan had written to her estranged father. (Thomas Markle shared the message with the Daily Mail.) Meghan told her dad that he was “turning a blind eye to the pain” he was causing her.

“I can’t tell you how frustrating that is, just seeing them broadcast a letter from a daughter to a father,” Clooney said. “She’s getting a raw deal there and I think it’s irresponsible and I’m surprised by that.”

There is a reason behind the present government’s stress on higher formal employment count. It enforces minimum wages and demands proper documentation of benefits by the employer. Formal jobs, perhaps more importantly, ensure dignity of labour, enable productivity improvements and, at times, access to formal training. But if counting formal employment is difficult, calculating informal employment is even more arduous.

Pulak Ghosh is a professor of data analytics at the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru (IIM-B). He has advised the State Bank of India and Bandhan Bank on analytics. Now, he is a senior fellow at NITI Aayog, where his primary responsibility is to use big data in policymaking and policy evaluation. Ghosh was part of the task force that recommended changes to improve employment data.

‘The Labour Ministry doesn’t collect anything on the informal sector. Over the last 10–12 years, [a] lot of contract employment happened. Nobody surveys that. For example, IIM-B has quite a few contract staff, in addition to the permanent staff. We need the count pan-India. Today, even the government may hire an officer on special duty. That salary comes from the discretionary budget, not from payroll. So how do I count [that]?’ Ghosh says.

Ghosh estimates that informal employment has grown 10 to 15 times in the last decade versus formal employment.

So what can India do to clean up its data?

‘The government needs a different approach,’ Ghosh recommends. ‘We need a central repository of all the employment data. Second, the government has to figure out how to count the informal employment. Be it crowd sourcing, looking at informal sources such as the number of cars and trucks on the road, number of people in the mandis, number of chartered accountants graduating every year or registered, number of doctors and nurses registered [echoed in the prime minister’s speech in Parliament]. There has to be a mechanism of collecting this data yearly.’

Most doctors are employed informally in nursing homes and don’t come under the payroll system. Ghosh suggests India enact a law that makes it mandatory for organizations to disclose their employment count on a quarterly basis.

There are, of course, other proxies to count informal employment. For instance, one can look at data from telecom towers to track local migration. People travel to suburbs for work and return to villages at night. One of Ghosh’s ideas is to record mobile tower data at night and estimate how many move out during office hours in a particular area and do this consistently for three to four months. That’s a proxy of how many are employed. Satellite imagery and mobile phones can be good proxies too; poverty and wealth can be predicted from mobile phone usage. A combination of such methods might work.

While India waits for the government to improve the mechanism with which it estimates employment–unemployment numbers, let’s consider what the country’s unemployment figure implies.

Most of the government surveys, depending on the methodology used, peg the unemployment rate at 5 per cent or below. The CMIE’s unemployment study surveys 1,73,181 households over a four-month period, but the survey is also designed to estimate unemployment at a monthly frequency. The CMIE’s computations are based on the status of the respondents as on the day of the survey or on the day immediately preceding, and is designed to avoid recall problems of those surveyed. The organization pegged India’s unemployment rate, as of November 2018, at 6.62 per cent.

India is a poor country and most Indians cannot afford to remain without work. The government’s low unemployment figure suggests that most Indians are finding employment today, but are probably stuck in bad jobs, or jobs that don’t pay well, or in jobs for which they are overqualified. The industry calls this underemployment. The number of people who are in bad jobs is undoubtedly alarming. It is likely that people, unable to remain idle, start and run unproductive shops. Different wage reports underline the underemployment issue.

Recapping numbers: The International Labour Organization, in its India Wage Report, released in August 2018, states that from 1993 to 2014, India’s GDP increased four times. Average daily wages (adjusted for inflation) inched up only two times, and were at ₹247 by 2011–12. The fifth annual EUS estimated that at an all-India level, nearly 68 per cent of the surveyed households had average monthly earnings not exceeding ₹10,000. About 22 per cent of the households had monthly earnings that did not exceed ₹5,000. The Seventh Pay Commission has fixed a minimum pay more than thrice this number for government employees. This indicates the scale of the wage crisis in the private sector.

While there is a serious wage crisis now, a stronger unemployment cyclone may be forming soon, given India’s demography, the sheer volumes of people joining the workforce every year.

Mohandas Pai, who thinks there has been no jobless growth thus far, is repetitive in his warnings when it comes to the future. He talks about how India needs to prepare for tougher times ahead. Every time there is a question on India’s job crisis, he talks of the 25 million babies that have been born every year for the past 20 years.

‘Of the 25 million, one million don’t reach the age of 21 and mostly die before the age of five. Out of 24 million, 30 per cent may go into agriculture or drop out. I’m assuming 17 million want jobs. Of these, 10 million are not getting decent jobs or earning decent wages. In the last 10 years, this amounts to 100 million people. So you have 100 million [10 crore] people in the age group of 21 to 35 all over India with no good jobs,’ says Pai.

Then comes the more hair-raising part as he continues, ‘The situation could get worse. By 2025, we could have 200 million [20 crore] people in the age group of 21 to 45 with no jobs or in bad jobs if we do not enhance focus on growth and creation of jobs. This could be India’s forgotten generation. All this talk about India’s demographic dividend is not working out. There is only a demographic nightmare.’

Excerpted with permission of Hachette India from Jobonomics: India’s Employment Crisis and What the Future Holds by Goutam Das
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MOSCOW - Russian lawmakers backed tighter Internet controls on Tuesday to defend against foreign meddling in draft legislation that critics warn could disrupt Russia’s Internet and be used to stifle dissent.

The legislation, which some Russian media have likened to an online “iron curtain,” passed its first of three readings in the 450-seat lower chamber of parliament.

The bill seeks to route Russian web traffic and data through points controlled by state authorities and proposes building a national Domain Name System to allow the Internet to continue functioning even if the country is cut off from foreign infrastructure.

The legislation was drafted in response to what its authors describe as an aggressive new U.S. national cyber security strategy passed last year.

The Agora human rights group said earlier this month that the legislation was one of several new bills drafted in December that “seriously threaten Internet freedom”.

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs has said the bill poses more of a risk to the functioning of the Russian Internet segment than the alleged threats from foreign countries that the bill seeks to counter.

 

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The bill also proposes installing network equipment that would be able to identify the source of web traffic and also block banned content.

The legislation, which can still be amended, but which is expected to pass, is part of a drive by officials to increase Russian “sovereignty” over its Internet segment.

Russia has introduced tougher Internet laws in the last five years, requiring search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store Russian users’ personal data on servers within the country.

The bill faces two more votes in the lower chamber, before it is voted on in the upper house of parliament and then signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Maria Kolomychenko; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is at it again and this time its sanskari gaze has fallen on Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy—starring Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin and Ranveer Singh—which will hit the screens on Thursday. 

Hindustan Times reported that not only has the CBFC asked for a kissing scene between Ranveer and Alia to be shortened by 13 seconds, it also wants a close-up shot of the scene axed. 

Reports say that the 13 seconds that have been snipped have been replaced with a wider shot. 

The body asked for four other changes.

India Today reported that the CBFC has also removed the name of Royal Stag, an alcohol brand, as the film’s brand partner and beeped out cuss words. 

HT says that it is likely for the first time that the name of a brand partner has been removed from the film. 

CBFC’s moral policing tendencies are not new—under sanskaar-in-chief Pahlaj Nihalani, it gave both Indian and international filmmakers a tough time—but after Nihalani’s departure, it was to be hoped that officials would not kick up a fuss over something as innocuous as a kiss. 

Bollywood’s attitude towards onscreen intimacy has transformed over the years, and young, edgy filmmakers and actors are no longer reluctant to kiss on screen if the story demands it.

Gully Boy, one of the most-awaited Bollywood movies of the year, received positive reviews after it premiered during the Berlin film festival. The film revolves around Ranveer’s character Murad, who is a rapper in the slums of Mumbai.