Bannanje Raja performs his mother’s last rites amidst tight police security
Udupi, August 27: Following the permission from the principal district and sessions court, the police have brought fugitive don Bannanje Raja who is in Belagavi Hindalga jail, to perform his mother’s last rites at his home at Kalmadi and Malpe graveyard, here on Monday.
His mother Vilasini Shettigar died after falling at her home at Kalmadi on August 25. Following his mother’s death, Raja has appealed the court through his advocate Shantaram Shetty on August 26 for permission to participate in the cremation and last rites of his mother and the court has granted the permission. The police have brought him from the Hindalga jail to Udupi on Sunday midnight and put him in the city police station lock-up.
On Monday morning, the police took him to his house at Kalmadi and allowed him to participate in the cremation of his mother. After paying tribute to his mother, he performed the last rites of his mother along with his brother Arun. His father Sundar and family members were present.
The police have taken him in police vehicle to the graveyard and his home in the evening amidst tight police security. Later, he was brought to city police station. His wife Sonam was also present at the house. He will be kept in the lock-up on Monday night and the police would take him to Hindalga jail on Tuesday morning.
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Trump's gold card programme goes live, offering US visas starting at USD 1 million per person
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his long-promised "gold card" was officially going on sale, offering legal status and an eventual pathway to US citizenship for individuals paying USD 1 million and corporations ponying up twice that per foreign-born employee.
A website accepting applications went live as Trump revealed the start of the programme while surrounded by business leaders in the White House's Roosevelt Room. It is meant to replace EB-5 visas, which Congress created in 1990 to generate foreign investment and had been available to people who spend about USD 1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
Trump sees the new version as a way for the US to attract and retain top talent, all while generating revenue for federal coffers. He has been promoting the gold card programme for months, and once suggested that each card would cost USD 5 million, though he more recently revised that to the USD 1 million and USD 2 million pricing scheme.
The president said all funds taken in as part of the programme will "go to the US government" and predicted that billions would flow into an account run by the Treasury Department "where we can do things positive for the country."
The new programme is actually a green card, effectively offering permanent legal residency with the chance for citizenship.
"Basically, it's a green card but much better," Trump said. "Much more powerful, a much stronger path."
The president made no mention of requirements for job creation for applying corporations or on overall caps on the programme, which exist under the current EB-5 programme. Instead, he said he had heard complaints from business leaders who had been unable to recruit outstanding graduates from US universities because they were from other countries and lacked permission to stay.
"You can't hire people from the best colleges because you don't know whether or not you can keep the person," Trump said.
Trump has built his political career around clamping down on the US-Mexico border and championing hard-line immigration policies. His second administration spent its first 10-plus months launching mass deportation pushes and sweeping immigration crackdowns that have targeted cities including Los Angeles and Charlotte.
But he has also drawn criticism from leading voices of his "Make America Great Again" movement for repeatedly suggesting that skilled immigrants should be allowed into the US -- something the gold card programme could facilitate.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the programme will include USD 15,000 for applicant vetting and that the thorough process used to scrutinise backgrounds would "make sure these people absolutely qualify to be in America." Companies will be able to receive multiple cards, but will be limited to one individual per card, he said.
Lutnick also said the current green card holders earn less money than the average American, and that Trump wanted to change that.
"So, same visas, but now just full of the best people," Lutnick said.
Investors' visas are common around the world, with dozens of countries offering versions of "golden visas" to wealthy individuals, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy.
Trump said the programme means the US is "getting somebody great coming into our country because we think these will be some tremendous people" and singled out top US college graduates from China, India and France as among those who will possibly be receiving gold cards.
"The companies are going to be very happy," he said.
