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Indian-origin woman doctor held for female circumcision in US

[email protected] (Agencies)
April 14, 2017

New York, Apr 14: A 44-year-old Indian-origin woman doctor has been arrested and charged with performing genital mutilation on girls aged 6 to 8. Jumana Nagarwala has been charged with performing FGM on minor girls out of a medical office in Livonia, Michigan.

doctorAccording to Nagarwala's profile in the Henry Ford Health System website, she speaks English and Gujarati. According to the complaint, some of the minor victims allegedly traveled inter-state to have Nagarwala perform the procedure.

The complaint alleges that Nagarwala performed FGM on girls who were approximately 6 to 8 years old. This is believed to be the first case brought under a US law, which criminalises FGM.

Nagarwala, who is an emergency room physician, was arrested and was scheduled to appear in federal court in Detroit.

US AGAINST GENITAL MUTILATION

The number of girls under 18 at risk for FGM in the US has quadrupled since 1997. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 513,000 women and girls are at risk of FGM in the US.

Congress passed a law in 1996 making it illegal to perform genital mutilation or cutting in the US on anyone under than 18. FGM is punishable by up to five years in prison, however, it is not a crime in 26 US states, including Michigan.

"Despite her oath to care for her patients, Nagarwala is alleged to have performed horrifying acts of brutality on the most vulnerable victims," Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said in a statement on Thursday.

Blanco added that the Department of Justice is committed to stopping female genital mutilation in the US and will use the full power of the law to ensure that "no girls suffer such physical and emotional abuse".

Acting US Attorney Daniel Lemisch of the Eastern District of Michigan said female genital mutilation constitutes a particularly brutal form of violence against women and girls.

"It is also a serious federal felony in the United States. The practice has no place in modern society and those who perform FGM on minors will be held accountable under federal law," Lemisch said.

COMPLAINT AGAINST JUMANA NAGARWALA

The complaint said federal agents reviewed Nagarwala's telephone records and further investigation revealed that parents of two minor girls had traveled to Michigan.

The girls were later interviewed by a forensic expert and one of the girls said she was told she was coming to Detroit for a "special" girls trip, but after arriving at the hotel, she learned that she and the other girl had to go to the doctor because "our tummies hurt"..The girls had been taken to Nagarwala, who performed the procedure on the girls.

The World Health Organisation said female genital mutilation comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

More than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where FGM is concentrated.

WHO said FGM, which is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15, is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Hong Kong, Jun 10: The Hong Kong police on Wednesday said they had arrested 53 people during demonstrations on Tuesday evening which were called to mark the one-year anniversary of the protest against a bill proposing extraditions to mainland China. That protest grew into a pro-democracy movement and sparked seven months of protests against Beijing's rule.

Hundreds of activists took to the streets in Hong Kong yesterday, at times blocking roads in the heart of the city, before police fired pepper spray to disperse crowds, Al Jazeera reported.

The police informed that 36 males and 17 females were arrested for offenses including unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct.

Protesters had defied a ban on gatherings of more than eight people introduced by the Hong Kong government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

"Lawful protests are always respected, but unlawful acts are to be rejected. Please stop breaking the law," police said in a tweet.

More protests are being planned in the coming days, with pro-democracy supporters fearing the proposed national security legislation will stifle freedoms in the city.

While details of the security law or how it will operate have yet to be revealed, authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have said there is no cause for concern and the legislation will target a minority of "troublemakers".

But critics say the law would destroy the civil liberties Hong Kong residents enjoy under the "one country, two systems" agreement put in place when the United Kingdom handed the territory back to China in 1997. The agreement is set to end in 2047.

Japan had already issued a statement independently expressing serious concern about Beijing's move on May 28, the day China approved the decision and called in the Chinese ambassador to convey its view.

The United States, Britain, Australia, and Canada also condemned the move, with Washington saying it would revoke Hong Kong's special trading status granted under a 1992 law on the condition that the city retains key freedoms and autonomy.

China blames the protests in part on foreign intervention and is rushing to enact the national security law aimed at curbing secessionist and subversive activities in Hong Kong.

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News Network
June 24,2020

Jun 24: The coronavirus tally in Pakistan reached 188,926 with the detection of 3,892 new cases in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

Sixty more people died due to the viral infection, taking the death toll to 3,755.

As many as 3,337 patients are in critical condition across the country, the ministry said.

With the detection of 3,892 new cases in the last 24 hours, the coronavirus tally in the country now stands at 188,926, it said.

Sindh reported the maximum number of 72,656 cases, followed by 69,536 in Punjab, 23,388 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 11,483 in Islamabad, 9,634 in Balochistan, 1,337 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 892 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok).

Health authorities have so far conducted 1,150,141 coronavirus tests, including 23,380 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 77,754 patients have recovered so far from the disease.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

Washington, Aug 4: US President Donald Trump gave popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok six weeks to sell its US operations to an American company, saying Monday it would be "out of business" otherwise, and that the government wanted a financial benefit from the deal.

"It's got to be an American company... it's got to be owned here," Trump said. "We don't want to have any problem with security."

Trump said that Microsoft was in talks to buy TikTok, which has as many as one billion worldwide users who make quirky 60-second videos with its smartphone app.

But US officials say the app constitutes a national security risk because it could share millions of Americans' personal data with Chinese intelligence.

Trump gave the company's Chinese parent ByteDance until mid-September to strike a deal.

"I set a date of around September 15, at which point it's going to be out of business in the United States," he said.

Whatever the price is, he said, "the United States should get a very large percentage of that price because we're making it possible."

Trump compared the demand for a piece of the pie to a landlord demanding under-the-table "key money" from a new tenant, a practice widely illegal including in New York, where the billionaire president built his real estate empire.

"TikTok is a big success, but a big portion of it is in the country," he said. "I think it's very fair."

But Trump also threw a surprise new condition in any deal, saying the sale of TikTok's US business would have to result in a significant payout to the US Treasury for initiating it.

"A very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States, because we're making it possible for this deal to happen," Trump told reporters.

"They don't have any rights unless we give it to them," he said.

Sell or shut down

The pressure for a sale of TikTok's US and international business, based in Los Angeles, left the company and ByteDance facing tough decisions.

Trump has made TikTok the latest front in the ongoing political and trade battles between Washington and Beijing.

The app has been under formal investigation on US national security grounds because it collects large amounts of personal data on all its users and is legally bound to share that with authorities in Beijing if they demand it.

Both its huge user base and its algorithm for collecting data make it hugely valuable.

But being forced by the US government to sell at least its US business or be shut down -- and to then split the sale price with the US Treasury as Trump is demanding -- was an almost unheard-of tactic.

Shutting down could force users to switch to competitors, and many content creators are already encouraging followers to follow them on other social media platforms.

"The most obvious beneficiaries are Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter, with Snapchat likely being the biggest beneficiary," said investment analysts at Lightshed Partners.

Earlier Monday, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming acknowledged the hefty pressure and said in a letter to staff, reported by Chinese media, that they were working around-the-clock "for the best outcome."

"We have always been committed to ensuring user data security, as well as the platform neutrality and transparency," Zhang said.

However, he said, the company faces "mounting complexities across the geopolitical landscape and significant external pressure."

He said the company must confront the challenge from the United States, though "without giving up exploring any possibilities."

According to Britain's The Sun newspaper Monday, as a possible consequence of the pressure, ByteDance is planning to relocate TikTok's global operations to Britain.

Pushing back

China's foreign ministry pushed back Monday, calling Washington hypocritical for demanding TikTok be sold.

"The US is using an abused concept of national security and, without providing any evidence, is making presumptions of guilt and issuing threats to relevant companies," said spokesman Wang Wenbin.

"This goes against the principle of market economy and exposes the hypocrisy and typical double standards of the US in upholding so-called fairness and freedom," he added.

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