Houston, Oct 27: Donald Trump’s market-friendly policies, tough stance against China and acknowledgement of the contributions of the Hindu community in the US have struck a chord with a group of Hindu-American women who are rooting for the Republicans to ensure that he wins the November 3 presidential election.
Participating in an online session, a panel of Hindu-American women, from different walks of life, expressed their strong views in favour of President Trump.
Karishma Himatsinghani, a media entrepreneur from Dallas, said that she is neither a Leftist, nor a Rightist, but a moderate centrist who finds Trump treading a centrist path in programmes and policies.
It is the Leftist media that has affixed an image of Right-wing on Trump as a matter of political expediency. Trump’s focus is on keeping the economy going during the uncertain COVID-19 crisis. The president’s commitment is reflected in tax-cuts for businesses and removal of regressive government regulations that impeded economic activity, she said.
“Look at the way the Democrats have responded to the recent riots in Oakland, Seattle and elsewhere, where they are seen as endorsing the rioters, which should ring alarm bells for all voters. How are we supposed to survive with lawlessness on the streets, where law enforcement agencies are undermined and attacked by a certain political class?” she asked.
The Democrats were brainwashing the youth in subscribing to anarchy and violence as a solution to the social justice issues, Himatsinghani claimed, asserting that it will further exacerbate the depravity of the affected, instead of providing relief and resolution.
“Trump is the only President in US history to have openly acknowledged the Hindu community and appreciated their contributions at the ‘Howdy Modi’ event. Democrats have always vilified the Hindu community and religion with pejorative terms, and have even excluded them this time from the election manifesto completely,” she claimed.
Srilekha Palle, a healthcare administrator, took a dig at the ideology of the Democrats.
“Do you want education for your children dictated by the big government, or by you as a parent; do you want healthcare to be decided by doctors and healthcare professionals and costs driven by the market, or to be decided by the unaccountable big government; if you want your lives to be governed by government bureaucrats vote for Democrats, but if you want to live in a free society, vote for Republicans,” she asked the panelists.
Palle said President Trump has strengthened Indo-US relations where he has taken unprecedented steps to recognise India’s concerns on terrorism and the threat posed by China.
By renaming the whole region as Indo-Pacific, the US President has finally recognised India’s stabilising role in global affairs, she said.
In recognition of the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Trump administration in 2018 renamed the US Pacific Command to US Indo-Pacific Command. The move is reflective of the growing importance of the Indian Ocean in US strategic thinking.
Vandana Mangalick, a lifelong Democrat from Minneapolis who voted five times for that party, highlighted the Democrats stance on Kashmir and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“The Democrats are supposed to stand for human rights for the persecuted. But why have six Democrat-controlled city councils, passed anti-India resolutions, opposed CAA? What business do city councils have meddling in a sovereign country’s affairs?” she asked.
Raman Bhaumik, an entrepreneur in Dallas said, “The Republicans have always supported small businesses and reduced government regulations to manageable levels.
Their policies reflect in the way businesses have gotten quick loan approvals even during challenging COVID-19 times. We would not have survived COVID-19 without the support of Republicans”.
“I am a product of a stereotypical Bengali intellectual family environment, where social welfare, social reform, and liberal thought is worshipped, but what is going on in the US today is that a noble purpose of social justice, has been hijacked to serve a partisan political purpose, and extremists are masquerading behind social justice to spread mayhem in the society,” said Dr Paramita Sarkar, a scientist.
Radhika Garimella, another recent Democrat, said there was a vast gap between what the Democrats promise and what they actually deliver.
Democrats have been a big failure in checking the growth of extremism in their party, reflecting how governments are run under their administration. The Democrats have decided to harbour and nurture socialists like Bernie Sanders, she claimed, adding that there is no choice but to leave the party and join the Republicans to ensure a massive victory for Trump.
Sangeeta Dua, Chairperson Indo- American Republicans of Greater Houston, moved a resolution in favour of the Republicans and President Trump on account of strong defence, law and order on the streets, free-market based healthcare, jobs for Americans, rebuilding American Industry, and a strong presence of America in global affairs to maintain peace. (PTI)

WASHINGTON, Oct 27: Scientists have confirmed, for the first time, the presence of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon, a discovery which indicates that water molecules may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to the cold, shadowed places as previously thought.
Using NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the researchers, including those from the University of Hawaii in the US, detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater — one of the largest craters visible from the Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.
While earlier studies of the Moon’s surface, including those conducted during the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-1 mission, detected some form of hydrogen, the NASA scientists said these were unable to distinguish between water and its close chemical relative, hydroxyl (OH).
Data from the current study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, revealed that the Clavius Crater region has water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million — roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water — trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface.
As a comparison, the researchers said the Sahara desert has 100 times the amount of water than what SOFIA detected in the lunar soil.
“Prior to the SOFIA observations, we knew there was some kind of hydration. But we didn’t know how much, if any, was actually water molecules — like we drink every day — or something more like drain cleaner,” said Casey Honniball, the lead author of the study from the University of Hawaii.
Despite the small amounts, they said the discovery raises new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh, airless lunar surface.
“We had indications that H2O — the familiar water we know — might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon. Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Whether the water SOFIA found is easily accessible for use as a resource remains to be determined, the researchers added.
According to the scientists, SOFIA offered a new means of looking at the Moon, flying at altitudes of up to 45,000 feet.
They said the modified Boeing 747SP jetliner with a 106-inch diameter telescope reaches above 99 per cent of the water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere to get a clearer view of radiation from the universe in the infrared wavelength.
Using its Faint Object infraRed CAmera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST), the researchers said SOFIA was able to pick up the specific wavelength unique to water molecules and discovered a relatively surprising concentration in the sunny Clavius Crater.
“Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space. Yet somehow we’re seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there,” Honniball said.
The scientists believe several forces could be at play in the delivery or creation of this water.
One possibility they said could be from micrometeorites raining down on the lunar surface, carrying small amounts of water, which may deposit the water on the lunar surface upon impact.
The researchers hypothesised that there may also be a two-step process whereby the Sun’s solar wind delivers hydrogen to the lunar surface and causes a chemical reaction with oxygen-bearing minerals in the soil to create hydroxyl.
Meanwhile, they said radiation from the bombardment of micrometeorites could be transforming that hydroxyl into water.
Commenting on how the water was stored on the lunar surface, the scientists noted that the water could be trapped into tiny beadlike structures in the soil that form out of the high heat created by micrometeorite impacts.
Another possibility is that the water could be hidden between grains of lunar soil and sheltered from the sunlight –potentially making it a bit more accessible than water trapped in beadlike structures, they noted in a statement.
“It was, in fact, the first time SOFIA has looked at the Moon, and we weren’t even completely sure if we would get reliable data, but questions about the Moon’s water compelled us to try,” said Naseem Rangwala, SOFIA’s project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in the US.
“It’s incredible that this discovery came out of what was essentially a test, and now that we know we can do this, we’re planning more flights to do more observations,” Rangwala added. (PTI)

Washington, Oct 27: In what can be described as a major victory for President Donald Trump, the US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, just a week before the general election.
The senators by and large voted strictly along party lines and voted 52-48 to approve Judge Barrett, overcoming the unified opposition of Democrats.
Only one Republican, Senator Susan Collins, who faces a tough re-election battle in Maine, voted against the president’s nominee in Monday evening’s vote.
Judge Barrett took the oath of office at the White House alongside President Trump, which was administered to her by fellow conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Her appointment seals for the foreseeable future a 6-3 conservative majority on the top US judicial body.
Judge Barrett is the third judge to be appointed by President Trump, after Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
Barrett fills the vacancy left by the iconic liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died last month.
Political analysts believe Justice Barrett’s appointment could cast a decisive vote in a number of looming cases, including a Trump-backed challenge to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Some of her previous rulings like on Obamacare has alarmed advocates of the healthcare programme, while her past writings on abortion have unnerved the liberals with speculations that the 1973 Supreme Court decision which legalised abortion in the US could be overuled.
The US Supreme Court will also be deciding on the deadlines for accepting postal ballots in the critical presidential election states of North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a request to allow postal ballots received beyond election day in Wisconsin, another important swing state, through which the road to the White House could lie. (UNI)

PESHAWAR, Oct 27:A powerful bomb blast ripped through an Islamic seminary on the outskirts of the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday morning, killing at least seven children and wounding 70 others, police and a hospital spokesman said.
The bombing happened while a cleric was delivering a lecture about the teachings of Islam at the main hall of the Jamia Zubairia madrassa, said police officer Waqar Azim.
He said initial investigations suggest the bomb went off minutes after someone left a bag at the madrassa.
Several of the wounded were in critical condition, and hospital authorities feared the death toll could climb further.
Peshawar is the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
The province has been the scene of such militant attacks in recent years, but sectarian violence has also killed or wounded people at mosques or seminaries across Pakistan.
The latest attack comes two days after a bombing in the southwestern city of Quetta killed three people. (AGENCIES)

PESHAWAR, Oct 27: A powerful bomb blast ripped through a seminary in northwest Pakistan’s Peshawar city just after the morning prayers on Tuesday, killing at least seven children and wounding over 70 others, senior police officials said.
The blast occurred at the seminary in Dir Colony in interior Peshawar city. A bag filled with explosive materials was kept close to wall of the seminary by some unknown person which went off, killing 7 children and injuring over 70 others, superintendent of police in Peshawar city Waqar Azeem said.
He said the bag is believed to have had an IED device that went off when the children started filling in the seminary.
An official from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said 4 to 5 kilogramme explosives were used in the blast.
Most of the children who died and were injured in the bast were aged between 7-11 years, the official said, adding that many of them were from Afghanistan.
The hospital authorities confirmed that they received seven dead bodies.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
“Deeply saddened by terrorist attack on madrassah in Peshawar. My condolences go to the victims families & prayers for early recovery of the injured. I want to assure my nation we will ensure the terrorists responsible for this cowardly barbaric attack are brought to justice asap,” he said in a tweet.
There was a general threat alert in the Peshawar district, said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Sanaullah Abbasi, who also confirmed the death toll.
According to police, around 40-50 children were present inside the seminary when the bomb went off.
The seminary’s administration said around 1,100 students study at the institution.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmud Khan condemned the attack on children.
The chief minister has convened a meeting to take stock of the security situation in the province.
Chief Minister’s Advisor on Information Kamran Bangash said that the blast would be fully probed and the perpetrators will be brought to book.
“Those who spread terror will never succeed in their mission,” he added.
He said at least 72 children had been injured in the bast.
The area has been cordoned off and police teams are collecting evidence.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra visited the site of the blast. Speaking to reporters, he said that the focus was on providing the injured the best possible treatment to increase their chances of recovery.
“Just back from a quick visit to Lady Reading Hospital, following the blast at a Madrassa in Dir Colony, Peshawar. Talked to the Chief Secretary, CCPO and the DC, as well as hospital administration. LRH has received 70 injured, with 7 patients dead on arrival,” he said in a tweet.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz termed it a “heart-rending” incident.
“The damage inflicted to students is extremely saddening. There is no compensation for the mothers who have lost their children,” she said.
Last month, five people were killed and two others injured in a blast in the Akbarpura area of Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (PTI)