Issue - 677 (27)
26 July - 1 August 2016
‘I will be watching you’, American Airlines attendant told Muslim man Washington In a case of alleged discrimination in the US, a 40-yearold Muslim man was removed from a plane after a flight attendant publicly announced
his name, seat number and said she would be “watching” him. The matter came to light yesterday when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained to transport authorities that Mohamed Ahmed Radwan was removed from the American Airlines Flight last December because of his “identifiably Arabic and Muslim name.” According to federal law, airlines are prohibited from discriminating against passengers based on religion, ancestry and national origin,
among other criteria. CAIR sent a letter to the Department of Transportation (DOT) yesterday urging an investigation and also called for a “thorough examination” into
prevailing practices of major airlines, The Charlotte Observer reported. In addition, CAIR said the DOT should develop policy guidelines on objective factors to be looked at while deciding to remove a passenger from a plane. Radwan, a chemical engineer, said he was flying from Charlotte to Detroit on December 6, 2015, on American Airlines Flight 1821. As he was taking his allotted seat, Radwan said, a female flight attendant loudly announced, “Mohamed Ahmed, Seat 25-A, I will be watching
US Sikhs raise funds to create awareness about community
you.” After a minute, she repeated, “Mohamed Ahmed, that is a very long name, Seat 25-A, I will be watching you.” Then a third time, according to Radwan, she said, “25-A: you will be watched.” “I was in total shock. Ive been flying for over 30 years, and Ive never heard something like that,” he said. The flight attendant did not make such a statement about any other passenger, Radwan said. When he asked about her statements, the attendant said she was going to monitor everyone. When asked why she singled him out, the attendant accused him of being “too sensitive” and walked away, he said. After a couple of American Airlines employees talked to him, he was told the attendant felt “uncomfortable” and he was escorted off the flight. “I felt too unsafe to fly with American again,” he said. Radwan instead booked a much later flight, which cost him about USD 1,500 and interfered with his travel plans. Worse than the inconvenience was the humiliation of being treated like a terrorist, Radwan said. “Ive been a US citizen for 13 years, but at that moment I felt my sense of being American taken from me,” he said. In April, a Muslim woman was removed from a Southwest Airlines plane at a Chicago airport after she had asked to switch seats as she was told she had made the flight attendant “uncomfortable”. A Muslim family of five were also escorted off a United Airlines flight in March for “how they looked”.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka raises issues her dad rarely mentions: Gender pay gap, labour laws
Washington Donald Trump’s daughter promised on Thursday that her father will fight for equal pay for women and affordable child care for parents, issues that the Republican nominee has rarely, if ever, addressed on the campaign trail.Ivanka Trump got an enthusiastic welcome at the Republican National Convention. Her prime time speech elicited repeated applause and much praise from delegates in the arena.Touting a side of her father rarely seen on the campaign trail, Ivanka Trump cast her father as a leader who would fight to address the student debt problem and would be a champion for equal pay for mothers and single women. HERE IS ALL WHAT HER SPEECH WAS ABOUT 1. “As the President, my father will change the labor laws that were put in place at a time when women weren’t a significant portion of the workplace, and he will focus on making quality childcare affordable and accessible for all,” Ivanka Trump said. 2. Ivanka said her father “will fight for equal pay for equal work.” 3. Ivanka Trump vowed that her father would “focus on making affordable childcare affordable and
accessible for all” if elected. 4. Trump has not addressed childcare costs or the gender pay gap so far in his 2016 presidential bid. These are issues usually touted by Democrats. 5. Trump’s past statements on women in the workplace have included calling pregnancy “an inconvenience” and telling a voter in New Hampshire last year that women will receive the same pay as men “if they do as good a job. 6. “She is showing the softer side” of Trump, said Chris Herrod, state director for Ted Cruz in Utah. “She hit the gender pay issue which is very important. And she talked about the family. I think she’s done very, very well.” 7. Wisconsin delegate Kathy Kiernan called Ivanka’s speech “perfect.” 8. “I think she’s amazing. I think that looking at his children and how great they all are and how much they all love their father tells you a lot about the man as a parent,” Kiernan said. “I think she’s one of his best assets.” 9. California delegate Shawn Steel said Ivanka Trump’s speech was “the high point of the entire convention for me.” 10. “He does the blue collar, she does the millennials. It’s a powerful combination,” Steel said.
Tesoro to pay $425m over air quality violations
Washington Sikh-Americans from the US state of Utah have helped raise $1.25 lakh for a national media campaign to generate awareness about the community in the country.The money was raised at an event organised in Salt Lake by the National Sikh Campaign’s media initiative to educate Americans about Sikhs and Sikhism. The Utah Sikh
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community comprises about 200 families.Sikhs have faced hate crimes and violence since 9/11, and terrorist attacks in recent months have resulted in a spike in prejudice and violence against Sikhs across America, a statement said. “This is a historic opportunity for the Sikh community and we are overwhelmed by the response of the community in Salt Lake City,” said Dr Rajwant Singh, cofounder of the National Sikh Campaign and its senior adviser. The campaign has engaged President Barack Obama’s media team to develop 30-second ads on Sikhs to run on television and social media nationally. This was done under a strategic plan designed by Hillary Clinton’s former chief strategist Geoff Garin, who also develops strategic plan for the Harvard University and the World Bank.
LOS ANGELES US oil refining group Tesoro Corp. reached a $425 million settlement Monday with the Justice Department and the US Environmental Protection Agency to resolve air quality violations. Under the agreement, Texas-based Tesoro and Par Hawaii Refining will spend about $403 million to install and operate pollution control equipment at six refineries across the United States. Tesoro will also spend about $12 million to fund environmental projects in local communities that were impacted by pollution and will pay $10.4 million in civil penalties, the government said. “This settlement... will benefit the air quality in communities across the Western United States,” said John Cruden, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “It uses cutting-edge technology to address global environmental issues like climate change by controlling flaring and provides important reductions of harmful air pollution in communities
facing environmental and health challenges.” Par Hawaii currently operates one of the refineries affected by the settlement and formerly owned by Tesoro. The company said in a statement that Tesoro is obligated to reimburse it for upgrades to reduce pollution at that facility in Kapolei, Hawaii. The other
quality and cut the risk of respiratory illnesses for the local populations.It said the settlement will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from flaring at the refineries by over 60 percent. “The advanced technologies Tesoro and Par are required to implement are the future for protecting people from toxic air
refineries covered by the settlement are located in Alaska, California, North Dakota, Utah and the state of Washington.The Justice Department said the pollution control measures to be put in place at those facilities will reduce emissions, improve air
emissions,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance. “This settlement puts new enforcement ideas to work that will dramatically cut pollution and protect communities.”