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Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
US second lady Usha Vance says India-US ties ‘very personal'
United States second lady Usha Vance termed the India-US relationship as one that is "very personal" for her, adding that this is a time of "great opportunity" for ties between the two nations, whose relationship has "ebbed and flowed at times". She said this during a chat at the eighth edition of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Leadership Summit. "It is a very personal relationship because I have family members who are in India, and I have many family members here in the United States, and I did grow up visiting India and visiting those family members," said Vance. She also said that this relationship has always been very important. The event was attended by prominent government, business and community leaders from India and the US. Responding to a question about her perspective on the relationship between India and the US, she said that this is a time of great opportunities, and if her husband were "here", he would say the same thing. She also talked about the Indian-American population having great opportunities and doing great things. She said that this relationship between India and the US has 'ebbed and flowed at times.' The fireside chat was conducted by USISPF chairman and JC2 Ventures founder and CEO, John Chambers. Vance recalled that when the Vice president JD Vance, herself and their three children visited India recently, she was surprised by the number of people who came up to her to say how much they love the US. They told her 'how they visited family, how they visited just for pleasure, that they were hoping for a close relationship looking forward.' USISPF is an independent not-for-profit institution focused on strengthening the US-India partnership. At the summit, USISPF also presented the 2025 Global Leadership Awards to IBM Chairman Arvind Krishna, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Hitachi Executive Chairman Toshiaki Higashihara "for their outstanding contributions in strengthening the US-India-Japan economic partnership." (With PTI Inputs)
NDTV
3 days ago
- Business
- NDTV
"Very Personal" For Me: Usha Vance On India-US Ties
Washington: US Second Lady Usha Vance termed the India-US relationship as one that is "very personal" for her, underlining that this is a time of "great opportunity" for ties between the two nations whose relationship has "ebbed and flowed at times". "It is a very personal relationship because I have family members who are in India, and I have many family members here in the United States, and I did grow up visiting India and visiting those family members," Vance said during a fireside chat here at the eighth edition of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Leadership Summit. "So that's always been a relationship that I've personally thought of as very important," she said at the event attended by prominent government, business and community leaders from India and the US. Responding to a question on her perspective about the relationship between the two countries, Vance said, "This is a time of great opportunity. And I think if my husband were here, he'd say the same thing." "Obviously, the United States and India - the relationship has ebbed and flowed at right now, I think, in the next four years and in the future, the fact that there is this established Indian-American population here, and so many people in India who know the country and know the people who are here doing great things, having great opportunities," she said during the fireside chat conducted by John Chambers, USISPF chairman and JC2 Ventures founder and CEO. Vance recalled that when the Second Family — Vice President J D Vance, herself and their three young children — visited India recently, "I was struck by the number of people who came up to me to say how much they loved our country, how they visited family, how they visited just for pleasure, that they were hoping for a close relationship looking forward. And I think these personal ties actually really have something to do with it." At the leadership summit, USISPF also presented the 2025 Global Leadership Awards to IBM Chairman Arvind Krishna, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and Hitachi Executive Chairman Toshiaki Higashihara "for their outstanding contributions in strengthening the US-India-Japan economic partnership." This is the first time that business leaders from the QUAD grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the US will be honoured at the USISPF summit. USISPF is an independent not-for-profit institution focused on strengthening the US-India partnership.
Irish Examiner
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Opening statements start in ‘rape' retrial of Harvey Weinstein
Opening statements began in Harvey Weinstein 's rape retrial, five years after his original #MeToo trial delivered a searing reckoning for one of Hollywood's most powerful figures. The case is being retried because an appeals court threw out the landmark 2020 conviction. The retrial is happening at the same Manhattan courthouse as the first trial, and two accusers who gave evidence then are expected to return. Weinstein's retrial is playing out at a different cultural moment than the first, which happened during the height of the #MeToo movement. Along with the charges being retried, he faces an additional allegation from a woman who wasn't involved in the first case. The jury counts seven women and five men, unlike the seven-man, five-woman panel that convicted him in 2020, and there's a different judge. The #MeToo movement, which exploded in 2017 with allegations against Weinstein, has also evolved and ebbed. At the start of Weinstein's first trial, chants of 'rapist' could be heard from protesters outside. TV lorries lined the street, and reporters queued for hours to get a seat in the packed courtroom. His lawyers decried the 'carnival-like atmosphere' and fought unsuccessfully to get the trial moved from Manhattan. This time, over five days of jury selection, there was none of that. Those realities, coupled with the New York Court of Appeals' ruling last year vacating his 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence, because the judge allowed evidence about allegations Weinstein was not charged with, are shaping everything from retrial legal strategy to the atmosphere in court. Weinstein, 73, is being retried on a criminal sex act charge for allegedly forcibly performing oral sex on a movie and TV production assistant, Miriam Haley, in 2006 and a third-degree rape charge for allegedly assaulting an aspiring actor, Jessica Mann, in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013. Weinstein also faces a criminal sex act charge for allegedly forcing oral sex on a different woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006. Prosecutors said that the woman, who has not been named publicly, came forward days before his first trial but wasn't part of that case. They said they revisited her allegations when his conviction was thrown out. The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Ms Haley and Ms Mann have done. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone. His acquittals on the two most serious charges at his 2020 trial, predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape, still stand. Lindsay Goldbrum, a lawyer for the unnamed accuser, said Weinstein's retrial marks a 'pivotal moment in the fight for accountability in sex abuse cases' and a 'signal to other survivors that the system is catching up — and that it's worth speaking out even when the odds seem insurmountable'. This time around, the Manhattan district attorney's office is prosecuting Weinstein through its Special Victims Division, which specialises in such cases, after homicide veterans helmed the 2020 version. At the same time, Weinstein has added several lawyers to his defense team — including Jennifer Bonjean, who is involved in appealing his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. She helped Bill Cosby get his conviction overturned and defended R Kelly in his sex crimes case. 'This trial is not going to be all about #MeToo. 'It's going to be about the facts of what took place,' Weinstein's lead lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said recently. 'And that's a big deal. 'And that's the way it's supposed to be.' But there has already been some talk of #MeToo. A prosecutor asked prospective jurors whether they had heard of the movement. Most said they had, but that it would not affect them either way. Others went further. A woman opined that 'not enough has been done' as a result of #MeToo. A man explained that he had negative feelings about it because his high school classmates had been falsely accused of sexual assault. Another man said he viewed #MeToo like other social movements: 'It's a pendulum. 'It swings way one way, then way the other way, and then it settles.' None of them is on the jury.
