Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik wins People's Choice Award in US

Agencies
July 28, 2019

New York, Jul 28: Renowned Indian sand artist and Padma Awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik has won the People's Choice Award at a prestigious sand sculpting festival in the US, wowing the American public with his sculpture that highlighted the message of combating plastic pollution in oceans.

Pattnaik was among the 15 top sand artists selected from across the world to participate in the 2019 Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. He won the People's Choice Award for his sand sculpture 'Stop Plastic Pollution, Save Our Ocean'.

"This is a very big award and honour for me in the US. This award is for India, which is also doing a great deal to beat plastic pollution" and raise awareness on this very important matter, Pattnaik told PTI over phone from Boston.

The award-winning sculpture showed a turtle caught in a plastic bag and a fish with plastic trash such as slippers, bottles and glass inside its body. The tail of the fish is in the mouth of a human, signifying how plastic pollution in the oceans is adversely impacting human beings also when they consume sea food.

"Thousands of people voting for my sculpture that highlights the problem of plastic pollution underscores that the public too is concerned about our oceans getting polluted and supports the urgent need to take action to save our oceans and planet," said Pattnaik, who is known to convey social messages and themes through his art.

Amid loud cheers and applause, Pattnaik received the People's Choice medal from Revere Beach Partnership Board Member Adrienne Sacco-Maguire during an award ceremony.

The Odisha-native said that through his sculpture he wants to highlight that human activity is destroying the oceans and humans are also getting impacted by polluted waterways as they consume food from the sea and rivers.

Describing the award as very special, Pattnaik said, "this award is not only for me but for the people. This is a public awareness sculpture. Those who have voted for my sculpture have voted for action on plastic pollution."

Several Indians also showed up at the festival with the Indian tricolour and extended their support for Pattnaik, who expressed gratitude to the Indian Consulate General in New York and its officials for their support.

Congratulating Pattnaik on the win, India's Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty said, "we are delighted that our very own Sudarsan has won the People's Choice Award at this prestigious world event."

Chakravorty thanked the Indian Community of Greater Boston area and all over US for their support, saying the theme of Pattnaik's sculpture Stop Plastic Pollution, Save Our Ocean' is very topical and relevant and has resonated with the public. Yet another feather in the cap of our genius from the holy City of Jagannath Puri."

Hosted by non-profit organisation Revere Beach Partnership, the festival, now in its 16th year, ran from July 26-28 and was attended by close to a million people.

One of the largest sand sculpting festivals in the world, it sees participation from leading sand sculptors from around the world. Pattnaik was the sole representative from India and Asia. Artists from Belgium and Canada also won at the prestigious championship.

 

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News Network
April 4,2020

Madrid, Apr 4: Spain recorded a second successive daily drop in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities, official figures showed Saturday.

The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 11,744, second only to Italy. A record 950 people died on Thursday.

The number of new cases also slowed at 7,026, taking the total to 124,736.

Recoveries over the last 24 hours stood at 3,706, taking that total to 34,219.

The Madrid region was the worst affected accounting for 40 percent of the deaths, 4,723, and 29 percent of the cases at 36,249. The northeastern region of Catalonia was in second place with 2,508 deaths.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to decide whether to prolong the emergency measures and confinement declared on March 14 for another two weeks in order to get on top of the outbreak.

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Agencies
May 19,2020

Washington DC, May 19: US President Donald Trump has threatened to permanently halt funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO) if it did not commit to improvements within 30 days, and to reconsider the membership of the United States in the global health body.

On Monday, Trump wrote a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus that read, "If WHO doesn't commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of US funding to WHO permanent and reconsider our membership in the organisation."

Trump had temporarily suspended US' contribution to the WHO last month, accusing it of promoting China's "disinformation" about the coronavirus outbreak, although WHO officials denied the accusation and Beijing said that it was transparent and open.

"The only way forward for the WHO is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China. My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organisation. But action is needed quickly. 

We do not have time to waste," Trump said in the letter.

"I cannot allow American taxpayer dollars to continue to finance an organisation that, in its present state, is so clearly not serving America's interests," he added.

On Monday, the WHO said that an independent review of the global coronavirus response would begin at the earliest and it received backing from China, where the virus was first discovered.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Canberra, May 21: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, are looking forward to deepening the countries' strategic relationship, with both sides expected to sign a range of pacts from defence to trade in strategic sectors amid heightened tensions with China over Beijing's response to coronavirus pandemic.

During a virtual summit, scheduled to take place on June 4, both leaders are expected to ramp up efforts to diversify Australia's export markets and find trusted suppliers of vital products and components, a local newspaper, The Australian reported on Tuesday.

The new agreements will focus on reliable supply chains in key strategic sectors, including medical goods, technology and critical minerals, amid heightened tensions with China over Beijing's response to coronavirus pandemic.

The leaders will seal a new defence agreement allowing reciprocal access to bases and co-operation on military technology projects, while a new education partnership will be on the table to help overcome Australian university reliance on Chinese students.

The talks in terms of strategic convergence, now have greater significance as COVID-19 exacerbates the strategic contest between the US and China, and forces like-minded countries to seek out reliable partners.

Australian farmers could also benefit, with talks underway on expanding agricultural exports to India, including barley, as China throws up new trade barriers, media reports stated.

The virtual summit follows the cancellation of Morrison's planned state visit to India in January due to the bushfires.

Morrison said last year, ahead of his planned visit, that India was "a natural partner for Australia", referring to the countries' "shared values" -- a point of differentiation with China.

Former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Peter Varghese, who wrote a landmark report on the bilateral relationship in 2018, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that India would be even more important to Australia in the post-COVID world. "If one of the lessons from COVID is that countries need to spread their risk, then finding new markets or building up existing markets is a crucial part of that," he added.

Varghese noted that India, a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue along with Australia, Japan and the US, was a vital strategic partner to Australia in helping "constrain China's ambitions to be the predominant power".

"That shared objective between Australia and India of not wanting to see the region dominated by China is a key component of building up our geopolitical relationship," he told The Australian.

The summit also follows recent talks between Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the pandemic response and Australia's call for an independent inquiry, which was overwhelmingly backed at the World Health Assembly on Tuesday.

Australia wants to support India to develop a domestic critical minerals processing industry, which would provide Western nations with an alternative to sourcing the materials from China.

Meanwhile, India has strong expertise as a manufacturer of drugs and medical equipment, while Australia is a centre of biomedical research, opening the possibility for closer co-operation in the key sector, the media reported further.

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