Movin’ on up

Promotions in the news (biz): The new editor of the Wall Street Journal’s European edition is desi (via SAJA). Raju Narisetti, who’s sporting an official Editor Goatee, has been with the WSJ for 11 years:

Raju Narisetti has been named editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, moving up to the top job from managing editor – making him the first South Asian to run an edition of the Journal

BBC reader-stud Riz Khan joins the control room for the Fox of the Middle East:

Riz Khan, former CNN and BBC anchor, joins Al-Jazeera as an anchor…

Tech geeks have long drooled over Berkeley grad Sumi Das’ gadget reviews. She’s now at CNN in DC:

Sumi Das has joined CNN Newsource’s Washington, D.C. bureau as a national correspondent. Previously, Das was a correspondent for MSNBC, where she covered the Scott Peterson trial in Modesto; and before that, she was host of “Fresh Gear” on TechTV.

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The 2012 Olympic battle

Conventional wisdom says that NYC isn’t going to succeed in its bid to land the 2012 Olympic Games. The world hates Americans too much to award them such an honor. Therefore, our fine Parisian friends are the supposed frontrunners. All of a sudden the Frenchies have problems as well it seems. The Guardian reports:

Sikh leaders in Britain have written to all 117 International Olympic Committee members urging them not to vote for the favourites Paris when they meet to elect a host city to stage the 2012 games next month.

They claim that the controversial French law banning the Sikh dastar (turban) along with other religious articles of faith in schools is discriminatory and that Paris does not deserve to be awarded the Olympics.

“We publicly stated that, if the law in France was implemented to deny Sikh children the right to wear the turban, we would have little choice but to lobby against the Paris bid for 2012,” wrote the Sikh Federation of UK chairman Amrik Singh in a letter to each of the IOC members.

The New York Times today chimes in with its humorous headline, “Poll Finds Support for Paris Games in 2012 (Margin of Error, 100 Percent):”

On Sunday, French voters will participate in a referendum on whether to ratify a new European constitution. Polls indicate that they will reject the constitutional treaty, and Lamour said yesterday that the result would have no bearing on Paris’s Olympics bid. “A negative vote will not have any impact on our ability to organize the Games,” he said.

Opposition in France to the charter for the European Union seems based, to a large extent, on the fear of or the resistance to an expansion of Europe, and a potential loss of jobs. Such an opening up is precisely what the Olympic Games are: an opening up to the world. If a country is afraid to open up, how can it hold the Olympics?

“It’s a paradox,” Lamour said. “We want the Games, but we say no to Europe.”

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Policing even farther South of the Border?

Earlier this week Vinod pointed to a StrategyPage item that he referred to as “a minor bombshell.” The bombshell in question was that “American agents have been interrogating terrorism suspects held in Pakistani jails. This cooperation has been kept ‘secret’ because so many Pakistanis find it distasteful.” Yeah, but everyone suspected this, even though he was correct in labeling it a bombshell. Well, if you think that was provocative then what about this one? Al-Jazeerah reports:

The huge haul of sophisticated arms and ammunition worth 10 million rupees from a container at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in New Bombay, last Saturday by Bombay police and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), has led to the US taking a serious view of the situation and also a possible joining of forces by deploying security officials at the port.

The US is wary of the modus operandi of the shipment of arms, suspected for use in terror activities, and will now deploy its security official at this largest port of India. They also want the port to join the list of 30 other worldwide ports covered under the Container Security Initiative (CSI). A top police official said that the Jawaharlal Nehru port ranks among one of the top ten ports from were maximum containers are shipped to the United States.

U.S. agents on Indian soil, doing policing work? Ooooh, if it happens then the Indian nationalists are so going to be pissed when they find out they have something in common with Pakistan.

The deployment of the US security personnel…would result in rapid cargo clearances, as the procedures would be in line with US government requirements.

Meanwhile Indian intelligence agencies and customs authorities have strongly objected to permission being granted to US Customs and Border Patrol personnel being posted at Indian port.

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For 39 years, “One People, One Nation, One Destiny”

coat of armsWe’ve been accused of a lack of lowe for Guyana, so I thought I’d point out that serendipitously enough, today is Guyanese Independence Day. Wikipedia says so on its main page, under selected Anniversaries. By the by, did you know that Guyana is half desi?

the three major groups are the (East) Indians or Indo-Guyanese (50%) who have remained predominantly rural, the Africans or Afro-Guyanese (36%) who constitute the majority urban population, and the Amerindians (7%) who live in the country’s interior…

Guyanese flag

Christianity (50%), Hinduism (35%), and Islam (10%) are the dominant religions in Guyana, with the latter two concentrated in the Indo-Guyanese community.

Word. SM is down with ALL brown, y’hear? 🙂

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The Taliban of Manipur

Separatists in Manipur shot a man in the knees because he violated their ban on chewing zarda:

Arun Thakur is battling amputation at an Imphal hospital after he was shot at close range on his legs by suspected separatists on Wednesday. One of the assailants reportedly shouted at the barber from Bihar, who has made Imphal his home: “You are punished for chewing paan.” The attack comes a day after the outlawed separatist Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) imposed a ban on the sale and consumption of chewing tobacco products in Manipur…

Tobacco products locally known as khaini and zarda are a common form of addiction among many Indians, including a vast majority in Manipur… “The ban is meant to counter India’s evil designs of getting the younger generation hooked to such dangerous substances,” an RPF statement said.

Encouraged by the rebels, frustrated desi readers worldwide have threatened to ‘bust a cap in Random House’s ass’ if they publish one more book with mehndi on the cover.

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Heavy baby dies

The abnormally chubby baby about whom Apul posted did not survive his encounter with an Indian hospital:

Eleven-month-old baby Lokman Hakim, who weighed over 20 kgs, choked to death at SSKM Hospital on Sunday…

Lokman’s mother Ganera Bibi was feeding him mashed boiled rice on Sunday afternoon… But he started getting hiccups soon after his meal. Doctors suspect the baby had “overeaten” and food particles had got stuck in his trachea due to the lack of muscular co-ordination.

“I don’t know what happened. My son had never been given rice before. We brought him all the way from Murshidabad for treatment, and now he is no more,” said the shocked mother.

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Sachin? More like Sach-OUT, for a few.

tendulkar.jpg Somewhere, a bench is about to have a really famous butt on it:

Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar will be out of action for at least four months after undergoing surgery on his troublesome elbow.
The 32-year-old batsman had the operation in London on Monday.
Karunakaran Nair, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said he could not say how long Tendulkar would be out for…
He first suffered what was originally described as “tennis elbow” while batting in the nets in the Netherlands last August.

Surgeons say that the procedure for a “condition affecting the extensor tendons” was complication-free. Tendulkar is expected to make a full recovery. Continue reading

“My little brown man”

This one may kick up a debate. Was the owner being racist or incredibly ignorant in his political correctness? The Star Tribune reports (free reg. required):

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday contends that suburban (near Minneapolis) car dealer Iten Chevrolet has engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination, including instances in which managers used racial epithets in describing employees and customers who were members of minority groups.

The dealership is a longtime fixture in Brooklyn Center, and sits near some of the metro area’s most racially diverse neighborhoods. It faced similar complaints in the 1990s, reaching an of-court settlement of allegations that racial stereotypes and off-color jokes were common at the company.

Iten’s attorney, William Clelland, called the latest accusations “outrageous” and “lurid.” He said the lawsuit was filed after an attorney for Ron Budhram, a fired employee who is Indian-American, set Tuesday as a deadline for the dealership to agree to a $450,000 settlement.

So apparently Budhram was let go because the owners didn’t appreciate the fact that he moonlighted on the side (as others did as well he claims). The lawsuit however goes into details as to what Budhram cited as discriminatory:

Budhram said the dealership had a racially discriminatory atmosphere during his employment, much of it directed at blacks. In one instance, the suit said, a business consultant at the dealership came across a group of minority and white employees as they were eating and asked, “Why are all the dark-skinned employees standing around?

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Abha Dawesar in DC tomorrow

no sari or mehndi here.JPG

Wordsmith Dawesar presents her electrifying Babyji in DC tomorrow night:

Reading from BABYJI
Olsson’s Books @ Penn Quarter
418 7th Street NW
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Thursday May 26th, 7 PM.
202-638-7610

I’m almost done with it and it’s fantastic; Babyji may accomplish what even my father couldn’t– it might persuade me to study physics. Intrigued? You should be. What other novel contains a come on like, “I want to collapse my wave function into you.” Now that’s hot. 😉 Continue reading