Black Lives Matter: Firms pledge to add at least 1 Black director to board

More than a dozen companies are promising to add at least one Black director to their boards, as businesses across America slowly get their leadership to look more like the customers they serve.

Black Lives Matter: More than a dozen companies, including Zillow and M M LaFleur, are promising to add at least one Black director to their boards within the next year, as businesses across America slowly get their leadership to look more like the customers they serve.

The companies all made the pledge as part of the launch of an initiative by The Board Challenge, which is pushing to get more diversity into boardrooms. The Board Challenge’s co-founders will check in with each of them after six months and again at 12 months to monitor their progress, while also helping them to find candidates.

“America has been reminded again in tragic fashion that we must redouble our efforts to build a more inclusive society,” Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital and a co-founder of The Board Challenge, said in a statement. “Business leaders can’t let this moment pass us by without playing our part and taking this tangible step to build a more diverse boardroom.”

Companies have been making slow progress in getting people who aren’t white men into leadership positions. Across the big companies in the S&P 500 index, more than a third did not have a single Black director in 2019, according to Black Enterprise. The rate of 37 per cent was down slightly from 39 per cent a year before. In many cases, forces outside the companies are pushing for better representation in the board room and in senior executive ranks.

2 mn Hindus key voting bloc in swing states: Congressman Krishnamoorthi

The two million Hindus in the United States are a vital and key voting bloc in several swing states this presidential elections, Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said

The two million Hindus in the United States are a vital and key voting bloc in several swing states this presidential elections, Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said as he told fellow community members that it was their dharma to exercise their franchise. In his virtual key note address at the formal launch of the ‘Hindu Americans for Biden’, Krishnamoorthi, who is the three-time Democratic Congressman from Illinois, urged his community members to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his Indian American running mate Kamala Harris on November 3.

I feel it is so important to elect Joe Biden because of a Hindu value ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (entire world is a family) a core tenant of Hindus – we believe in treating everyone with dignity and respect, he said. It is an old saying in Washington DC, which is, if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu. And none of us on this zoom call or our families, or communities, or Hindu Americans as a whole can afford to be on the menu, and neither can our agenda. That’s why it’s so important that you vote, he said.

This year is the most important election of our lifetime before us. In 60 days, on November 3rd, believe it or not, the two million Hindu, Americans in this country will be a vital and key voting bloc in several swing states. Not only Florida, but Virginia and Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin, and the list goes on and on. It is our duty, indeed it is our dharma to vote, Krishnamoorthi said…Read More

Nasa's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission launched to Red Planet

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is on its way to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples to send back to Earth.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is on its way to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples to send back to Earth. Humanity’s most sophisticated rover launched with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at 7:50 am EDT (4:50 am PDT) Thursday on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

“With the launch of Perseverance, we begin another historic mission of exploration,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “This amazing explorer’s journey has already required the very best from all of us to get it to launch through these challenging times. Now, we can look forward to its incredible science and to bringing samples of Mars home even as we advance human missions to the Red Planet. As a mission, as an agency, and as a country, we will persevere.”

The ULA Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage initially placed the Mars 2020 spacecraft into a parking orbit around Earth. The engine fired for a second time and the spacecraft separated from the Centaur as expected. Navigation data indicate the spacecraft is perfectly on course to Mars.

Mars 2020 sent its first signal to ground controllers via NASA’s Deep Space Network at 9:15 am EDT (6:15 am PDT). However, telemetry (more detailed spacecraft data) had not yet been acquired at that point. Around 11:30 am EDT (8:30 am PDT), a signal with telemetry was received from Mars 2020 by NASA ground stations. Data indicate the spacecraft had entered a state known as safe mode, likely because a part of the spacecraft was a little colder than expected while Mars 2020 was in Earth’s shadow. All temperatures are now nominal and the spacecraft is out of Earth’s shadow.

I know how to take on an arrogant con man like Donald Trump: Mike Bloomberg

Bloomberg asserted that Senator Bernie Sanders did not have any chance whatsoever of beating Trump.

In his maiden appearance on a Democratic presidential primary debate, former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg tore into Donald Trump, saying he is the best candidate to defeat “an arrogant con man” and the “worst president ever”. The five other Democratic presidential aspirants opened Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas by piling quickly onto Bloomberg, with Senator Elizabeth Warren describing him as a misogynist who has promoted racist policies.

“I think we have two questions to face tonight. One is, who can beat Donald Trump? And, number two, who can do the job if they get into the White House? And I would argue that I am the candidate that can do exactly both of those things,” Micheal Bloomberg said. “I’m a New Yorker. I know how to take on an arrogant con man like Donald Trump, that comes from New York. I’m a mayor or was a mayor. I know how to run a complicated city, the biggest, most diverse city in this country,” he said.

Bloomberg, 78, a well-known philanthropist who also has a global news outlet by the same name, quickly became center of the Wednesday night’s debate. He has spent millions of dollars from his own pocket in the race so far. “I’m a manager. I knew what to do after 9/11 and brought the city back stronger than ever. And I’m a philanthropist who didn’t inherit his money but made his money. And I’m spending that money to get rid of Donald Trump, the worst president we have ever had. And if I can get that done, it will be a great contribution to America and to my kids,” he said in his opening remarks.