2016: A very bad year for women

By the measure of women's greater visibility in politics, 2016 has been a vintage year

Latest News -  On balance, 2016 was a year of highs and lows for women. The lows, however, have been of the “how-low-can-you-go” variety. In fact, there have been moments when it felt like the year of the anti-woman.

By the measure of women’s greater visibility in politics, 2016 has been a vintage year. I can’t think of another in which there has been so much conversation and public debate about women, ranging from the probing and aspirational to the prodding and vicious.

One step forward, two steps to the right

High profile women are inevitably more vulnerable. But does having women in top leadership positions promote the causes and concerns of most women?......

---

Women in Europe

In the 1930s, feminist internationalist and novelist Winifred Holtby was particularly alarmed about what authoritarianism and fascism meant for women. She noted that “whenever women hear political leaders call their sex important.......

---

The biggest upset

It hardly needs to be said that the greatest blow for women has been the American election. Even had Hillary Clinton won, the election campaign would have been traumatic enough for women: politically, sexually, ......

Historical reflection cannot offer future projection. However, the cycles of modern feminism are figured by the cresting and the crashing of waves. Tallying up women’s most newsworthy achievements and setbacks, 2016 has not been a good year for women and certainly not for feminism. It has been an anti-woman year.

Read Article Source>>>

Be Updated on Stock Market News  &  Latest Business News   |  Business Standard

Donald Trump wins more than 270 Electoral College votes to formally become president-elect

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing

There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote ensuring he will become America's 45th president.

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions.

Trump's polarising victory November 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

Even one of Trump's fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Governor John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.

"We want unity, we want love," Kasich said as Ohio's electors voted to back Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.

With Hawaii still to vote, Trump had 304 votes and Clinton had 224. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

Read Source>>>

Donald Trump: From TV celebrity to 45th President of the US

In a 1984 New York Time Magazine cover article, Donald Trump had said he would not wish to run for the office of the President of the United States. A little over 30 years later, the Republican candidate has just pulled off a historic upset against Hillary Clinton to win the bitterly contested election.

 

Of course, that was not the only time that the real estate mogul was asked whether he would ever consider running for President. During an interview in 1988 on David Letterman's show, Trump would respond to the question with a characteristic “I don’t know... Do you want to see the United States become a winner?” (Watch below)

 

It is too early to say whether America came out a "winner" in this election or not, but Trump has made it to the Oval Office despite most polls and projections pointing to the contrary.

The fourth child of Fred Trump, a New York real estate tycoon, Trump attended the New York Military Academy, which he was sent to at the age of 13. Media reports on Trump reveal that he was sent to the military academy because of behavior problems at his previous school. 

READ SOURCE>>>

Homeless in America

I began election night writing a column that started with words from an immigrant, my friend Lesley Goldwasser, who came to America from Zimbabwe in the 1980s. Surveying our political scene a few years ago, Lesley remarked to me: “You Americans kick around your country like it’s a football. But it’s not a football. It’s a Fabergé egg. You can break it.”

With Donald Trump now elected President, I have more fear than I’ve ever had in my 63 years that we could do just that - break our country, that we could become so irreparably divided that our national government will not function.

From the moment Trump emerged as a candidate, I’ve taken seriously the possibility that he could win; this column never predicted otherwise, although it certainly wished for it. That doesn’t mean the reality of it is not shocking to me.

Before I lay out all my fears, is there any silver lining to be found in this vote? I’ve been searching for hours, and the only one I can find is this: I don’t think Trump was truly committed to a single word or policy he offered during the campaign, except one phrase: “I want to win.”

READ SOURCE>>>

What Donald Trump as America's 45th President means for India

Bucking media opposition, popular perception and Hillary Clinton’s vicious campaign, Donald Trump has emerged as the 45th president of the United States of America. Trump elucidated on his 15-point agenda in the run-up to the elections. If he decides to implement them, it could impact the Indian government, people and businesses in several ways.

Here is a lowdown on the implications Trump’s policies as the US President could have for India.

1)   The Tax Plan

2)  Plan to curtail Chinese Trade

3) Cutting Down Immigration

4)  Reviving the American Economy

5)  Foreign Policy and Terrorism

6)  The Energy Plan

7)  Scrapping Obamacare

READ SOURCE>>>

Donald Trump's victory: American Muslims express shock, fear

Fear and shock were expressed by American Muslims after Republican Donald Trump was confirmed as President of the US after months of taking anti-Islamic stands.

The Republican made his most controversial remarks about Islam in December last year, sparking anger among the world's 1.5 billion followers of the religion, when he called for a ban on Muslims entering the US after a mass shooting in California, the Daily Mail reported.

For the editor of the Muslim section of Patheos, a website specialising in spirituality, Dilshad Ali had never felt the fear of Trump until now.

Related Story:   Donald Trump's Victory Is Filled With Contradictions And Irony

   "I woke up today and I finally felt it. It felt personal, like the election was a vote against me," the 40-year-old mother of three told CNN on Wednesday.

More than seven in ten Muslims had said they would vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, according to an October survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Just four per cent had said they would vote for Trump, and perhaps as few expected him to win.

READ SOURCE >>>

US Elections 2016: Trump victory is negative for India, volatility will shoot up

A Donald Trump victory in the US presidential election would be negative for all emerging markets, including India. It would create demand for safe-haven bets like gold and developed-world bonds. 

Currency market is bracing for volatility even if Hillary Clinton secures a win as Trump has not cleared the air on whether he would accept the election results should he lose in a close finish.

ALSO READ:  US Election 2016: Is Donald Trump a dictator in the making?

"Even if Clinton wins, Trump may continue to push her and stoke uncertainty. If Trump wins, everything will fall and volatility will shoot up. This is not a time to take risk," said Jamal Mecklai, chief executive of Mecklai Financial, a currency consultancy firm.  

Sensex, which has come off three per cent in the past fortnight, is likely to drop further as Trump's victory could see a Brexit-like knee-jerk reaction from investors, say analysts. US bond prices will rally as investors would dump emerging market bets and that would impact the Indian bonds. Similarly, dollar will strengthen on increased inflow in US assets. This may lead to a sharp depreciation of the rupee and other emerging market currencies. For now, local bonds and currencies markets are stable. 

READ SOURCE

Millennials 'swipe right' for Hillary over Trump, says Tinder

The US Presidential Election is just a week away, and it looks like the world’s millennials have already picked their winner.

A Tinder survey of users aged between 18 to 34 across 16 countries showed they matched with Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, as they weighed in on issues like taxes, gun control, immigration, and education. That is, except in Russia, where 71% of users said they would vote for Trump – despite 76% of them matching with Clinton’s views on the issues.

The ‘Swipe the Vote’ poll surveyed users in the US, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Spain, and the UK It went live on October 26.

Millennials swipe right for Hillary over Trump, says Tinder 57% of American users matched with Hillary Clinton and 43% matched with Donald Trump, based on the issues alone. 53% of people who polled in the United States said they plan to vote for Hillary Clinton, while 47% plan to vote for Donald Trump.

Read Source

10 Key points in Trump's 100-day Presidential action plan

Republican US Presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday announced the plans for his first 100 days in office if he were elected the President of the US. Trump’s address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which he termed ‘Contract with the American Voter’, touched upon a range of steps – from declaring China a currency manipulator to cancelling payments to the United Nations for combating climate change and renegotiating the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).

The speech, which Trump started with “change has to come from outside this broken system” before going on to threaten he would sue all those women who accused him of making unwanted sexual advances, included the promise to block telecom conglomerate AT&T’s proposed buyout of Time Warner — for an estimated $85 billion — and to break up the Comcast-NBCUniversal merger.

---

Business Standard scans the draft of his 100-day agenda, as detailed on Trump’s website, www.donaldjtrump.com, and lists 10 key takeaways:

On economic agenda

On immigration

On Corruption and transparency

On legislative agenda

---

Read Source

Does Donald Trump resemble Hitler?

Adolf Hitler is not the German that comes to mind when I think of Donald Trump.  Trump has been accused of demagoguery, and there are those who observe that he has amply displayed his flair for tapping into prejudices, particularly racial, in a way reminiscent to the Nazi dictator. However, if his outbursts in the past week are anything to go by, he resembles less the nightmare fuel that was Hitler and more the desperation of two other German military men — Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff — and what would come to be known as the Dolchstoßlegende.

Going by the polls, things are not looking good for the Donald. He might have begun to realise that the wider electorate does not see things his way. And with the possibility of defeat, Trump has been repeating his allegation that the election is rigged, ad nauseam, in tweet after tweet and in speech after speech. However, while his ire towards what he describes as the "dishonest" media, and his lack of regard for Republican leaders Paul Ryan and John McCain, are not news to anyone who is following the elections, his outbursts against both the media and the other leaders have increased in their pitch.

After the second presidential debate last Sunday, Trump took to Twitter to vent his ire. "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to," he wrote. The tweet was followed by: "With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom (nomination) the Dems (Democrats) have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!" Not stopping there, he added: "Disloyal R's (Republicans) are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win – I will teach them!"

Read Source

Trump challenges Clinton to drug test

Donald Trump tried to change the subject on Saturday, unveiling a plan to combat opioid addiction in the US while also challenging his Democratic presidential competitor to take a drug test before their next debate. Yet he couldn't completely drop the subject of sex, or let go of the idea of a conspiracy to take the election from him.

The Republican presidential nominee rallied in front of boisterous crowds in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and in Bangor, Maine.

The New England events came a day after two more women came forward with accusations of sexual harassment against the billionaire, which Trump has denied with vigor. He's linked the stream of allegations to a theory the presidential race is being tilted by the media in favour of Hillary Clinton.

Related: Donald Trump says allegations of sexual misconduct 'fabricated'

"The election is being rigged by the corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president," Trump said in Portsmouth.

Alluding to one of the allegations, in which an accuser says he groped her for a period of about 15 minutes, Trump sought to refute the claim on the grounds of common sense: "Fifteen minutes? With the ladies in this place, it'd be one second and then it'd be, 'Smack,'" Trump said before a crowd of about 5,000 people at a car dealership.

"It's a rigged election because you have phony people coming up with phony allegations with no evidence whatsoever," Trump said. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Saturday pushed back against Trump's suggestions about the U.S. electoral process. Ryan is "fully confident" the election will be carried out with integrity, his spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement.

Read Source

US presidential debate: Poll says 62% viewers think Clinton won, only 27% say Trump did better

 Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump took to the stage on Monday to begin their first-ever presidential debate and immediately sparred over jobs, taxes, the Islamic State (IS), guns and the former secretary of state's undisclosed emails, media reports said.

According to the latest CNN Poll of Polls, released on Monday, Clinton and Trump are neck-and-neck, at 44 per cent to 42 per cent, respectively.

Moderator Leslie Holt of NBC News opened the 90-minute debate at Hofstra University, Long Island, New York, with the first topic being "Achieving Prosperity", where the first question about putting money back into Americans' pockets and creating jobs was directed to Clinton, CNN reported.

Clinton, the first woman to represent a major US party in the presidential race, mentioned her granddaughter's birthday, and talked about everything from gender pay gaps, to paid family leave, to presidential temperament.

She started her speech by defending the idea of creating "an economy for all" and stressed that she intends to do so "by having the wealthy pay their fair share", EFE news reported.

"I also want to see more companies do profit sharing. If you help create the profits, you should be able to share in them, not just the executives at the top," she said, and stressed that "the central question in this election is really what kind of country we want to be in".

Clinton insisted she would work to achieve equal pay between men and women, paid paternity leave and debt-free college.

Clinton accused her rival for being one of the real estate tycoons who benefited from the economic crisis that hit the country in 2008.

Trump conceded the point saying, "It's called business."

---

Clinton and Trump are neck-and-neck, at 44 per cent to 42 per cent, respectively.

On prosperity, taxes and jobs

On Trump's business practices

On Trump's tax returns and Clinton's emails

On the Islamic State

On police shootings

On gun control

On the 'birther' issue

On supporting the result of the elections 

---

Clinton said, "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but I certainly will support the outcome of this election."

Trump pointed that he would "... want to make America great again. We are a nation that is seriously troubled... If she wins, I will absolutely support it."

The debate is divided into 6 segments with 15 minutes given to each nominee. Two minutes will be allotted to answer a question asked by the moderator, two minutes to reply and the remaining time for the nominees to debate.

This is the 20th US presidential debate and is being organised by the Read full Story