US Accident: Seven Killed After Car Drives Into Crowd Outside Migrant Shelter in Texas
At least seven people were killed and several others were injured after a driver crashed his vehicle into a group of people outside a shelter housing migrants and homeless people in Brownsville, Texas on Sunday, CNN reported citing authorities.
According to authorities in Brownsville, Texas, they received a call at 8:30 am CT about a land rover that hit multiple people who were waiting at a bus stop across the street from the Ozanam Center, CNN reported. Ozanam Center is a non-profit homeless shelter that has been helping house migrants, as per the news report.
Brownsville police spokesperson Martin Sandoval said that seven people were killed and between four to six others were injured due to the crash, as per the CNN report.
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London: Sonam Kapoor took centre stage at the Coronation Concert as she introduced various choir performers of the Commonwealth. Sonam’s piece served as a prelude to the inspiring virtual choir performances by the Commonwealth, made up of choirs, solo artists and duos from the 56 Commonwealth countries.
Sonam also introduced Steve Winwood, who performed a modern version of his iconic song ‘Higher Love’ accompanied by a 70-piece orchestra.
She began her speech with ‘Namaste’. She was introduced as one of the biggest actors in Bollywood. The ‘Khoobsurat’ actor emphasized the diversity of the Commonwealth during her spoken word performance. She also elucidated upon the oneness that binds the diversity of the nation.
Sonam’s video was shared by her mother Sunita Kapoor. She wrote in the caption, “So proud! Such an honour!” Sonam also replied back to her post saying ‘love you’ with heart emojis.
Sonam’s family gave her the loudest shout-out. From Arjun Kapoor to Sanjay Kapoor, Maheep Kapoor and Bhavna Panday posted emojis on Sunita’s post.
Ahead of her performance at the historic Coronation Concert, Sonam Kapoor unveiled the mystery over her dress. Known to be a fashionista, the ‘Neerja’ actor opted for a classy and elegant Bardot gown for the occasion. She sported minimal makeup and an accessory look.
Taking to Instagram, the actor shared a string of pictures from the special photo shoot. While the first picture of the set holds a close-up portfolio of the actor, the others showcase her beautiful dress from different angles. Sonam’s dress was designed by her favourites Anamika Khanna and Emilia Wickstead.
Sonam wrote in the caption, “Historic moments call for fashion moments. I’m honoured to mark the unforgettable occasion of the #Coronationconcert by wearing the collaborative vision of two of the most incredible designers from the two countries I’m lucky to call home..@anamikakhanna.in @emiliawickstead.”
The city bus stop is across the street from the shelter and is not marked. There was no bench, and people waiting there were sitting along the curb, Maldonado said. He said most of the victims were Venezuelan men.
He said the SUV flipped after running up on the curb and continued moving for about 200 feet. Some people walking on the sidewalk about 30 feet from the main group were also hit, Maldonado said. Witnesses detained the driver as he tried to run away and held him until police arrived, he said.
Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval said the crash happened about 8:30 a.m. and police did not know whether the driver intentionally hit people.
“It can be three factors,” Sandoval said. “It could be intoxication; it could be an accident; or it could be intentional. In order for us to find out exactly what happened, we have to eliminate the other two.”
The driver was taken to the hospital for injuries sustained when the car rolled over, Sandoval said. There were no passengers in the car and police didn’t immediately know the drivers’ name or age, Sandoval said on Sunday afternoon.
“He’s being very uncooperative at the hospital, but he will be transported to our city jail as soon as he gets released,” Sandoval said. “Then we’ll fingerprint him and (take a) mug shot, and then we can find his true identity.”
Police also retrieved a blood sample and sent it to a Texas Department of Public Safety lab to test for intoxicants.
Brownsville has long been an epicenter for migration across the U.S.-Mexico border, and it has become a key location of interest for next week’s end to pandemic-era border restrictions known as Title 42. The Ozanam shelter is the only overnight shelter in the city and manages the release of thousands of migrants from federal custody.
Maldonado said the center had not received any threats before the crash, but they did afterward.
“I’ve had a couple of people come by the gate and tell the security guard that the reason this happened was because of us,” Maldonado said.
The shelter can hold 250, but many who arrive leave the same day. In the last several weeks, an uptick in border crossings prompted the city to declare an emergency as local, state and federal resources coordinated enforcement and humanitarian response.
“In the last two months, we’ve been getting 250 to 380 a day,” Maldonado said.
While the shelter offers migrants transportation during the week, they also use the city’s public transportation.
U.S. Rep. Vicente González said Sunday that local officials are in communication with the federal government about the crash.
“We are all extremely sad and heartbroken to have such a tragedy in our neighborhood,” he said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Greater Noida: The body of notorious gangster Anil Dujana a.k.a. Anil Nagar — killed during an encounter, was brought on Friday to his native village Dujana in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.
A huge crowd of people was witnessed in Dujana village after the gangster’s body reached there.
As a preventive measure, a large number of police personnel, including women cops were deployed at Dujana village.
Dujana, whose name featured in the list of 65 ‘most criminals’ was killed on Thursday in Meerut during an encounter by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.
The post-mortem, conducted in Meerut, was videographed.
The body was taken to the village by his elder brother, Bhopal Nagar.
His wife, Pooja, lost consciousness on noticing her husband’s dead body.
Anil Dujana was placed in the high security barracks of Ayodhya jail for 10 months.
According to the villagers, Anil Dujana had not come to his village for many years, and his house was also locked.
After his death, the villagers went to the house, broke the lock and cleaned it.
Mandya: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday threw flower petals back at the crowd, at several places as he was given a rousing welcome during a massive roadshow in this district headquarters city.
Modi enthusiastically waved at a large cheering crowd, who had lined up on both sides of the route, as the ruling BJP appeared focused on winning a good number of seats in the Old Mysuru region, where it is traditionally weak. Assembly elections are due in May in Karnataka.
The Prime Minister picked up the shower petals which got piled up on the bonnet of his car and was seen hurling them back at the crowd. He also got out of his car and greeted folk artists who staged a performance in his welcome.
Modi is in the district to dedicate the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway to the nation. The project involves a 6-lining of the Bengaluru-Nidaghatta-Mysuru section of NH-275.
The 118 Km long project has been developed at a total cost of around Rs 8,480 crores and will reduce the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru from around 3 hours to about 75 minutes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted with flower petals during a roadshow in Mandya district, Karnataka on Sunday
The 1.8-km-long road show route in the city was decked up with saffron hues, as BJP flags, posters, and banners were installed all along.
Standing on the ‘running board’ of his moving car, Modi greeted by waving at the crowd gathered on the sides of the roads and on nearby buildings, many of whom were seen chanting ‘Modi, Modi’ slogans and shouting loud cheers.
Mandya in Old Mysuru region is a Vokkaliga community-dominated district, largely seen as a bastion of JD(S), where the Congress to is strong, and the BJP is trying to make inroads.
The crop of failed candidates mulling comebacks is causing headaches for party operatives who are desperate to address one of the big problems that plagued them last fall.
“We want to see candidates win primary elections and general elections,” said NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.), when asked about the committee’s position.
The divide between House and Senate Republicans over how to handle future primaries highlights how intractable the problem of blocking extreme candidates is for Republicans. The complicated reality is that intervening in primaries can appear heavy-handed and even provide ammo for candidates looking to rail against the D.C. establishment. But the alternative is watching as unpalatable nominees threaten the party’s general election odds — at a moment when thin margins in both the House and Senate mean the majorities could hinge on any seat.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell openly lamented that “candidate quality” cost the GOP last year. In the House, the practice of meddling in primaries has become so fraught that it was wielded by the right against Kevin McCarthy in his bid for speaker last month. It’s not clear a policy change — even one that might net a few more battleground seats — would be worth the trouble it would cause inside the GOP conference.
“It creates a lot of ill will,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a former chair of the House campaign arm. He added: “If you shoot at somebody, you better get them.”
Regardless of what the party’s campaign committees do, super PACs can and will play in primaries. But if Republicans in either chamber hoped to skate past their midterm pitfalls by enlisting a fresh slate of candidates, it won’t be that easy.
Masters, a venture capitalist who appeared to waffle on his position on abortion rights, lost to Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) by nearly 5 points. But, since then, he’sbegun discussions with consultants about running for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat, according to two sources familiar with his planning. Kari Lake, the TV news anchor who came up short in her bid for Arizona’s governorship, also met with NRSC officials about a run for that Senate seat.
In Michigan, Tudor Dixon hasn’t ruled out a run for an open Senate seat there after falling to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by a double-digit margin. Failed Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, meanwhile, raised eyebrows when he retweeted a poll showing a hypothetical matchup with Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa), though it’s not clear how serious he is.
And those are just the ones party operatives know about. More could emerge.
“You can’t stop people who want to run, it’s a free country,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm. “Part of it is recruiting good candidates, too, and not just leaving yourself with the luck of the draw.”
It’s not just the 2022 candidates looking to run it back. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is weighing a rematch against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) may mount another bid against Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), after both Republicans lost in 2018.
“Patrick, we get along fine, I try to get along with all my opponents,” Manchin said. “If I run, I’ll win.”
Tester merely said: “I think that whoever is my opponent will be the person that Mitch McConnell chooses.”
Not all losers are equal. Some Republicans who lost primaries last year but are weighing new campaigns are the very candidates party officials would prefer to see in a general election. And in other cases, like with the NRSC’s endorsement of Rep. Jim Banks’ (R-Ind.) for Senate after former Gov. Mitch Daniels bowed out, the party’s committees are not waiting to dive into primaries.
Indiana is not likely to host a competitive general election race. But the lightning consolidation, spurred by Daines’ NRSC, marked a stark contrast from the committee’s midterm position. Under then-Chair Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the NRSC did not endorse or wade into any open primary contests.
“I believe we ought to let the voters do it,” Scott said in a brief interview. “But you know, that’s the nice thing about the job. Everybody gets to try what they believe works.”
Others also expressed reservations. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said he has “mixed feelings” about the NRSC taking on a more active role in primaries.
“The quality of candidates matters a great deal, and we should be interested in it as a conference and as a party,” Cramer said. He noted, however, that the decision should be made locally “by the people who are qualified to vote in that particular election.”
Getting involved in primaries doesn’t often mean a party committee is dumping millions on TV ads to sway voters. Party officials can work behind the scenes to dissuade certain candidates, while boosting and directing resources to others.
“Since the new management has come in at the senatorial committee, there’s been a realistic appraisal of where and how Republicans came up short in 2022,” said Steven Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC tied to McConnell.
“The previous regime had an explicit view that all candidates were good and they ought not to be playing favorites at all,” Law added, saying that the most successful approach is often for Republicans to be “highly selective” about when to engage.
In the House, lofty predictions of a sweeping GOP win crumbled on election night. Instead, McCarthy struggled to cobble together enough votes from his narrow majority to assume the speakership.
Again, party strategists blamed the candidates. There was Majewski, who lost a GOP-leaning Ohio district after misrepresenting his military service. Kent, a far-right Trump enthusiast with ties to white nationalists, lost a Washington State district that was in GOP hands for years. In North Carolina, Bo Hines, a 27-year-old former college football player who moved to a swing seat where he had few ties, also lost to a Democrat.
Privately, party leaders estimate poor quality candidates cost them roughly a half-dozen seats in the House, a huge margin given the current four-seat majority in the House.
“We need to have an eye on, ‘How do you win the general?’ And we’ve got to be careful,” said moderate Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), noting that his party needs a “counter” for when House Democrats meddle in GOP primaries.
He expressed skepticism about the NRCC’s policy on primary intervention: “To fight with one arm behind your back is not smart,” Bacon said of staying out of the process of picking nominees.
But House Republicans are not planning to aggressively pick primary winners.
“The NRCC has historically not endorsed in open Republican primaries and that will not change for the upcoming cycle,” said Jack Pandol, a spokesperson for the committee.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), the new NRCC chair, is inheriting many of the problem candidates from last cycle.
Kent has already launched another run while Hines filed paperwork to do the same. Majewski wrote in a Facebook post that he’s heard from “hundreds of voters encouraging” him to run and that he will make a decision soon.
Outside groups working to protect the House majority are likely to be active in primaries, including the Congressional Leadership Fund, a well-funded super PAC aligned with McCarthy.
“In battleground districts, primaries are all about electability,” said Dan Conston, the group’s president. “Swing voters have proven they are incredibly discerning, and candidate quality can make or break us.”
Ideological divisions within the House GOP conference make diving into primaries to pick winners a political minefield. In the protracted speaker’s race, the anti-tax Club for Growth agreed to endorse McCarthy’s bid for the gavel — if CLF vowed to refrain from playing in primaries in open, safe Republican seats (something it did only rarely).
The definition of what constitutes a safe seat was left open-ended.
David McIntosh, the Club’s president, told reporters he believed that a seat with a partisan voter index of R+6 or R+7 would be “pretty safe,” but he said the two groups would keep in contact.
“The good thing coming out of that is we’ve got a channel of communication. We’ve got a general agreement,” McIntosh said. If differences of opinion arise, “I’m pretty confident we’ll work it out.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
With the effective takeover of personal communication by the internet-powered cell phone, hundreds of fortune hunters and vested interests are generating content for a diverse audience. Offering the flip side of the virtual world, Fahd Khan reports the ways and means of the new fortune-hunting and the costs society pays on a long-term basis
social media
Over the years, the cell phone supposed to help mankind in real-time better communication has emerged as a key player in reshaping life. Connected with the internet, it has already made obsolete a huge electronic equipment basket comprising nearly 50 items from GPS to a watch. It has taken the sheen away from newspapers and is currently threatening the library. Smartphones have already taken a huge sliver of the classroom as the banking sector is the new target. Covid19 triggered work-from-home culture has taken the crowd out of the offices and online governance has done away with the time-space matrix.
Regardless of how anti-social it might be making its users and which kind of vision and orthopaedic issues it may lead to, the small device is a huge time killer.
Never ever in human history was this much data generated or consumed at a mass level as it is happening now. Kashmir, with more than 90 per cent of cell phone penetration, is as good on this parameter as any developed nation could be. But, what are we consuming?
Ubaid Taj’s Hello Hish might have taken the internet by storm in Kashmir and people of all age groups have bombarded social media with lip sync reels without even recognizing what the words represent or what the music is trying to serve or promote. They just jump into the bandwagon wishing their reels to go viral and become instant celebrities.
Level Playing Field
Cell phones have been a disruptive intervention. It demolished the routine hierarchies and opened multiple sectors for almost everybody. Now people go directly to the virtual world with their artworks, music, photography, writings and music.
They can make significant incomes while lounging at home in luxury. Writing blogs and running websites might formerly be the only way to make money online, but with India’s digital revolution and the introduction of fast internet (now 5G), that is no longer the case. From being a consumer to a prosumer, there has been a shift.
People used to merely consume content, but now easy access to the internet has enabled them to generate content too. Content consumers are prosumers now. More and more people are trying their luck on social media to obtain notoriety and recognition, but only a handful of people are able to achieve it.
Now, users decided what to watch and that decides who earns what. A general trend in Kashmir, unlike the rest of the world that consumes knowledge, is that users consume a lot of data, apparently categorised as entertainment and music
Now, there is a bulk of platforms that can help prosumer to reach out to a host of consumers. It is Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and a host of other applications. Chinese TikTok’s lip sync service in 2016 took the world by storm. Even those living in remote areas started making videos, and some of them even rose to fame overnight and started making money. However, as a result of the standoff between India and China, the app was blocked in India. Taking advantage of the deficit, Instagram developed Reels that allow users to create 60-second videos based on popular music and filmy dialogues.
The Eco System
Everyone who has achieved success on social media has a similar slow growth trajectory as it all begins with the creation of an account, after which they are influenced by other creators and decide to try their luck by making lip-sync videos. If this strategy proves successful, they eventually decide to start a YouTube vlogging channel where they make regular day-to-day videos and let their viewers into their personal lives. However, when they shift from lip sync to producing content, the problem arises.
YouTube content creators have started posting videos where they discuss their incomes, show purchasing luxury goods and automobiles with money they earned online, and generally cajole viewers into doing the same.
Kashmir witnessed a surge in content creators, and there are several individuals who have achieved online fame. Singer Ishfaq Kawa, who will make his Bollywood debut soon, began his career by uploading songs. Kawa has established himself as a household brand and now makes substantial earnings from his YouTube channel, which has about 500000 members.
Almost all the new ‘singers’ connect with the masses through the internet, leaving their traditional counterparts to the age-old practices.
Fame and Fortune
YouTube is a huge platform for these content creators so is Facebook. In India, a video with 10 lakh views might trigger a business of US $800 to US $2500. The earnings depend on the geographical location the views come from, the quality of the videos, the niche and the type of adverts displayed on the channel.
This advantage has inspired a large number of Kashmiris to launch their own YouTube channels and make content creation a career. Some of them are into comedy and some into “singing” and there is a lot of trash too. Some of them imitate famous artists from other regions of the world by producing videos that are identical to theirs. It is being seen as a surefire method to have fame and money. It is a simple formula: “one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure.”
There are some huge successes and Kawa is one of them. This is despite the prevalence of stereotypes that usually gets invoked when a female content creator attempts to chase a virtual goal.
Kashmiri Kalkharabs is a young group of satirists and stand-up comedians having nearly 900 thousand followers. Bakus, another video creator apparently inspired by the roast-content creator Carryminati, has 324 thousand subscribers, all of whom have been garnered either by making roasting others or by creating cringe songs. It makes fun of other’s content to make its own profile, a legitimate virtual world reality.
Amir Majid, a content creator from Jammu, has 23 lakh subscribers on YouTube where he posted his rags-to-riches story. In a video, he shows how he was living in an old house and how YouTube changed his life forever. The YouTuber explores different places and also arranges meet-ups with his fans in different parts of India. In one of his fans’ meet up in Srinagar, thousands of fans gathered to meet him. People were in such large number that police was called in to control the mob. His channel is also evident in how much fortune he has made through the platform.
Kashmiri singer Reshi Sakeena who at many times was compared to Dhinchak Pooja, the queen of cringe pop music, now dances at private parties and uploads content. Not everyone can pull off what she does: sing off-key, miss every beat, and still win millions of fans. On YouTube, all of Sakeena’s videos have accumulated millions of views and she has earned well.
Off late, pranks have come to Kashmir. Popularised by some private FM radio studios, pranksters were able to capture the audience’s interest right away. However, as time went on, people began to lose interest since the content was drab and old. There has been an explosion of such videos on the internet where creators create self-humiliating videos that might make one feel uncomfortable at times. While some content makers do it for enjoyment, others do it to gain notoriety and make money from their films. These creators’ primary goal is to get popular online.
Amir Bhat has a Facebook page where he plays pranks on others and has earned 100 thousand followers.
You-tuber Idrees Mir is famous Vlogger with around 900 thousand followers on YouTube and Facebook. He recently made a trip to two foreign destinations and uploaded videos buying automobiles and tech equipment on regular basis, indicating that he earns well.
Risking Lives
Some creators even risked their life for creating content. Murtaza Rafiq known by the name of The EmmInErr recently crossed a milestone of 100 thousand subscribers on his channel and uploaded a video where he spent a night camping in an ordinary summer tent at Gulmarg. Accompanied by the two young children, his video was uploaded with the caption Surviving in Snow for 24 hours in minus 13.
Kashmir’s winter wonderland, Gulmarg is mostly the coldest place where temperatures dip to minus 15 degrees during the night. This act of creating content could have proved fatal for the trio as they didn’t carry proper equipment.
There was also another video creator who jumped into the frozen Nigeen Lake for his video, a media report said.
‘Virtual Politics’
With formal politics squeezed to a level, a group of youth have emerged as “virtual politicians’. They create and upload cringe content presuming it is politics but the people consume it as comedy.
The comic character of Fayaz Scorpio surfaced on the internet during the Covid19 pandemic soon after he became Deputy Sarpanch of Dandoosa (Rafiabad). His rise was his infatuation and an uncanny demand for a Scorpio vehicle. Now, he has become a household name in Kashmir. His clumsy speaking and mannerism have turned him into a laughing stock in Kashmir, and all of his online videos receive millions of views. Scorpio’s fame is so established that people rope him for advertising their products.
His contemporary is Mohammad Shafi, who calls himself Babar Sher, the lion. He moves from one party to another, is driven in a Scorpio vehicle and is always well-dressed. He jumps into any crowd and becomes its “leader” and is known for his theatrics and interesting “statesmanship”. His commentary is sure to make the video viral.
While their virtual presence indicates the tragedy of politics in Kashmir, the fact remains that the people barely watch formal politics the way they see this content. Unlike formal serious politics, these rib-tickling capsules give people moments of pleasure and reasons to laugh at the shift in the space-time matrix.
The Music
In the recent past, one had to be a serious singer or musician, spending years of his life practising to get in the zone of being good, just to be taken seriously and to get a launch by any Music label. Now, anybody can make music and have access to free tools, auto tuners, vocal plugins, melody, and free beats, and it hardly matters whether one sounds good or bad. On top of that, literally, anyone can sing, shoot an album on their smartphone and upload it to Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.
This is the tragedy the entertainment and culture sector shares with the media. Anybody with a smartphone and microphone in hand is seen as a “journalist”. The coverage of a murder case in Pampore, where a brother-in-law strangled his sister-in-law to death for rebuffing sexual assault, is evidence of how low video creators have descended. In a viral video on social media, journalists can be seen asking the slain victim’s daughter to describe what transpired, but she seemed hesitant to do so concerning the age of the victim.
Promoting Vulgarity
Musaib Bhat is one of the social media “influencers” whose musical content has been consumed a lot and was very well appreciated. He initially began creating TikTok videos by lip-syncing on well-known Kashmiri tunes. His video gained popularity among all age groups, especially for his copying of female conversations on phone. Apparently, he is attempting to make the virtual world his career.
Recently one of his ‘songs’ Excuse Me, featuring transgender Manu Bebu hogged the headlines for its questionable content. He is being accused of glorifying eve-teasing and objectifying women. One of the lines of his ‘song’ says: When you leave home for the tuition, Everyone including the baker and Milkman swoons at you.
Despite his public apology, his video is still accessible and earning.
The promotion of sexism and the objectification of women through songs and films is not limited to Musaib alone.
Ubaid Taj has released only two songs to date and both of them were watched by millions. Both legitimise the objectification of women. The songs show a man trying to ‘own’ a woman and objectifying her with or without her wish. It dubs a woman a biscuit.
There is another content creator by 7afazul on Instagram who started a new trend of reels in which a person is being asked “che chuy zanh love gomut” (have you ever fallen in love?) His reels have huge views. His popularity has given birth to a similar channel on Instagram where they ask people if they have even fallen in love and shockingly some videos have surfaced where children or mentally challenged people were not spared. Instagram is quite popular among teens and youth groups.
Response
“These songs are good for providing enjoyment, but apart from gathering views and followers, every content creator has certain social duties,” a female university student said. “Everything has an effect, and these song lyrics encourage eve-teasing, which breeds crime and other social evils.
Another girl, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the impact is being seen when girls are being referred to as “biscuit” in real life now. “Tragedy is that future generation is getting impacted. One of the song’s lines, which is subtly advocating eve teasing, is being repeatedly hummed by my 8-year-old cousin.”
