Two youngsters in Udupi feed over 500 people on Sunday lockdowns; read their story
Udupi: A Sunday lockdown typically means being bound at home and indulging in 'hovering' in the social media – but here's a challenge to the notion.
Two friends have been utilizing their own salary to provide poor people with food twice a day.
Sachin Poojary, 22, of Kappettu near Ambalpady in Udupi, and his neighbor Sheesha Acharya, 24, have been spending the last four Sundays giving food to about 500 needy people. Sachin works for a travel agency in Udupi while Sheesha works for a welding shop.
Many associations had been providing food to the poor during the earlier days of lockdown but stopped later. The beggars and destitute people have been struggling to satisfy their hunger twice a day since the declaration of lockdown on Sundays.
Noticing the situation, Sachin and Sheesha started investing their earnings to prepare food at their own homes. They have been going around the town on their two-wheeler every afternoon and night on Sundays and serving food to 120-150 people.
Their efforts are requiring the duo to spend about Rs 1,200 every Sunday.
“Various organizations fed the people during the earlier lockdown, but nobody seemed to bother about the destitute. Noticing this, we decided to ask my mother to prepare rice, rasam, and a vegetable dish at home. Both of us then took it to many poor people in town. We hope to continue this work as long as we can, as best as we can,” said Sachin.
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Trump administration says its war in Iran has been 'terminated' before 60-day deadline
Washington (AP): The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval.
The statement furthers an argument laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony in the Senate earlier Thursday, when he said the ceasefire effectively paused the war. Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days.
A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration's position, said for purposes of that law, “the hostilities that began on Saturday, Feb 28 have terminated.” The official said the US military and Iran have not exchanged fire since the two-week ceasefire that began April 7.
While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran's oil tankers from getting out to sea.
Under the War Powers Resolution, the law that sought to constrain a president's military powers, President Donald Trump had until Friday to seek congressional authorisation or cease fighting. The law also allows an administration to extend that deadline by 30 days.
Democrats have pushed the administration for formal approval of the Iran war, and the 60-day mark would likely have been a turning point for a swath of Republican lawmakers who backed temporary action against Tehran but insisted on congressional input for something longer.
“That deadline is not a suggestion; it is a requirement,” said Sen Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted Thursday in favour of a measure that would end military action in Iran since Congress hadn't given its approval. She added that “further military action against Iran must have a clear mission, achievable goals, and a defined strategy for bringing the conflict to a close."
Richard Goldberg, who served as director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction for the National Security Council during Trump's first term, said he has recommended to administration officials to simply transition to a new operation, which he suggested could be called “Epic Passage,” a sequel to Operation Epic Fury.
That new mission, he said, “would inherently be a mission of self-defence focused on reopening the strait while reserving the right to offensive action in support of restoring freedom of navigation.”
“That to me solves it all,” added Goldberg, who is now a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.
During testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Hegseth said it was the administration's “understanding” that the 60-day clock was on pause while the two countries were in a ceasefire.
Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program and an expert on war powers, said that interpretation would be a “sizeable extension of previous legal gamesmanship” related to the 1973 law.
“To be very, very clear and unambiguous, nothing in the text or design of the War Powers Resolution suggests that the 60-day clock can be paused or terminated,” she said.
Other presidents have argued that the military action they've taken was not intense enough or was too intermittent to qualify under the War Powers Resolution. But Trump's war in Iran would certainly not be such a case, Ebright said, adding that lawmakers need to push back against the administration on that kind of argument.
