US President Joe Biden's decision to drop his bid for re-election and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party candidate could spark celebrations in a small Indian village after the vote in November.
Residents of Thulasendrapuram, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, celebrated after Mr Biden's election win in 2020 made his running mate Ms Harris, 59, not only America's first woman vice president but also the first person of black or Indian heritage to hold the post.
Kamala Harris' family
Ms Harris's mother Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist, is from Thulasendrapuram and moved to the US as a student in the late 1950s, while her father Donald J Harris, a professor of economics, came to the US from Jamaica for higher studies.
Her parents divorced when she was young, and Ms Harris and her sister Maya lived with Ms Gopalan.
Ms Harris has said on several occasions that she grew up with her mother's Indian culture, often joining her on visits to India, although she identifies more as a black woman.
Her grandfather PV Gopalan was a civil servant who campaigned for India's independence from British rule while her grandmother Rajam Gopalan “travelled across India to talk to women about accessing birth control”, Ms Harris has said.
Her grandfather later moved to Tamil Nadu's state capital Chennai, 320km from Thulasendrapuram, where Ms Harris has said she would often take walks with him along the beach during her childhood visits to India.
“Those walks along the beach in India really planted something in my mind and created a commitment in me, before I even realised it. That has led me to where I am today,” she said in a video on X, in 2020.
When Ms Harris was sworn in as Vice President in 2021, her grandfather’s village celebrated by setting off fireworks, sharing sweets and printing posters and calendars with her picture.
K Kaliyaperumal, a member of the village committee, told Reuters that if she were to win and become president the celebration would be much larger, comparing it to India’s recent win at the cricket Twenty20 World Cup.
Ms Harris has not visited the village since becoming vice president but has said she remains in touch with her relatives.
If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
How to donate
Text the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
6025 - Dh 20
2252 - Dh 50
2208 - Dh 100
6020 - Dh 200
*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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