2020 White House hopeful Kamala Harris surges back into limelight
Washington: Kamala Harris made a splash with her well-received presidential campaign rollout in January, only to see her candidate-of-the-month status deflate as she struggled for a breakout moment on the trail.
Thanks to a rock-solid performance Thursday in the first Democratic debate of the 2020 cycle, the US senator from California has now catapulted back into the top tier.
Her suddenly viable candidacy is noteworthy in the era of Donald Trump: as a black American daughter of immigrants, Harris may well be the American dream incarnate, mounting a challenge to a president whom many Democrats denounce as the nation's divider in chief.
Harris is 54, a former prosecutor and one time attorney general for California whose sometimes steely demeanor can give way to a million-watt smile.
Both countenances were on display in the debate -- the most watched Democratic debate ever -- where she was the best storyteller on stage, mixing policy proficiency with a knack for personal connection.
"We need to think about this situation in terms of real people," Harris said when discussing the migrant border crisis.
Harris owned the evening's most powerful moment, when she boldly confronted frontrunner Joe Biden on race and identity and called out his "hurtful" comments in praise of segregationist senators with whom he worked but disagreed.
She also chided Biden on his past opposition to 1970s busing programs that forced integration of segregated schools -- eloquently invoking her own childhood.
"There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public school, and she was bused to school every day," she said.
Harris, if elected, would become the first female -- and first black female -- president of the United States.
As someone who seems to personify America's melting-pot ideal, she is no novice at breaking through glass ceilings.
After two terms as district attorney of San Francisco (2004-2011), she was twice elected as California attorney general (2011-2017), becoming the first woman and the first black person to serve as chief law enforcement officer of the nation's most populous state.
Then in January 2017, she took the oath of office as US senator, making her the first woman of South Asian descent (her mother is a Tamil Indian) and only the second black woman senator in US history, after Carol Moseley Braun.
Her focused and often tough-sounding lines of questioning during closely watched Senate hearings -- including that of controversial Supreme Court future justice Brett Kavanaugh -- raised her profile last year ahead of her presidential bid.
Harris often proudly recalls her past as a prosecutor when she fought big banks in the midst of the financial crisis in order to benefit Californians.
She casts herself as a defender of middle class families "living paycheck to paycheck" and denounces police brutality and the killing of unarmed black men.
The daughter of immigrants -- her father is from Jamaica -- Harris grew up in the 1960s in the progressive hotbed of Oakland, California, proud of the struggle her parents waged for civil rights.
"My mother was the strongest person I have ever known," she has written on Twitter.
Mother Shyamala was only 19 when she arrived in California in 1960 to pursue her studies, eventually becoming a renowned cancer researcher.
After her parents separated when she was about five years old, it was Kamala's mother who raised her and her younger sister, Maya. Hers was a happy childhood, Harris says, but she has also experienced discrimination.
"I have too many memories of my brilliant mother being treated as though she were dumb because of her accent," she wrote in her memoir, "The Truths We Hold." She often has tough words about the Republican president Trump, whom she branded "the greatest national security threat to the United States" during the debate.
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Cold conditions prevail in north India; temperatures sub-zero in several parts of J-K
New Delhi (PTI): Cold conditions prevailed across north India on Sunday, with the Amarnath yatra base camp being the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir at minus 4.3 degrees Celsius and parts of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan reporting minimum temperatures between three and seven degrees Celsius.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said cold wave conditions were "very likely" to prevail in isolated pockets over Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha on Monday and Tuesday.
In Delhi, the minimum temperature was recorded at eight degrees, up from 6.8 degrees a day ago and yet 1.6 notches below normal.
The maximum temperature was 24.7 degrees Celsius, 0.1 notch below normal, while the relative humidity was 92 per cent in the morning.
For Monday, the weather department forecast a minimum of 10 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 25 degrees Celsius, with mist expected.
Pollution levels in Delhi remained in the "very poor" category on Sunday, prolonging the spell of toxic air that has hung over its residents for several weeks now. The city logged a 24-hour average AQI of 308.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, an AQI between 0 and 50 is classified "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor" and 401 and 500 "severe".
Further in the north, the night temperatures in Kashmir rose by several degrees but stayed below the freezing point, officials said.
The Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir as the minimum settled at a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar -- the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir -- settled at minus 0.9 degrees Celsius, a rise of 3.2 degrees compared to the previous night.
The gateway town to the valley, Qazigund, recorded a low of minus one degree Celsius, while the minimum settled at minus 0.8 degree Celsius in north Kashmir's Kupwara, and 1.1 degrees Celsius in south Kashmir's Kokernag, according to officials.
The meteorological department said the weather would remain generally cloudy but dry on Sunday, and a brief spell of light snowfall at isolated places in the higher reaches of north and central Kashmir is likely on December 8.
In Himachal Pradesh, The IMD predicted dense fog in parts of the state until Wednesday.
A yellow alert for dense fog was also issued in parts of the reservoir area of the Bhakra dam in Bilaspur district and over some parts of the Balh valley in Mandi district during early morning till Monday.
In Punjab, Faridkot remained the coldest place, with the minimum temperature settling at 4.4 degrees Celsius, while in Haryana, Narnaul saw the lowest temperature at 4.6 degrees Celsius, according to the local meteorological department.
Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a minimum temperature of 8.2 degrees Celsius.
In Punjab, Bathinda and Gurdaspur recorded a minimum temperature of 4.6 degrees Celsius, while Ferozepur recorded 6 degrees, Amritsar 6.1 degrees, Ludhiana 6.8 degrees, and Patiala 8.9 degrees.
In Haryana, Bhiwani recorded a low of six degrees, Hisar 6.2 degrees, Sirsa 6.6 degrees, Karnal seven degrees, Rohtak 7.8 degrees, and Ambala 9.8 degrees.
Rajasthan, similarly, reeled under intense cold, the Meteorological Centre here said.
Fatehpur in the Sikar district continued to record the lowest minimum temperature, albeit at 3.5 degrees Celsius, slightly up from 2.3 degrees a day ago.
According to the weather department, Lunkaransar (Bikaner) recorded a low of 5 degrees Celsius, followed by Dausa at 6 degrees, Churu at 6.3 degrees, Vanasthali (Tonk) at 6.4 degrees and Jhunjhunu at 7.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday morning.
The department said a fresh but weak western disturbance is likely to cause partly cloudy skies in some parts of the state over the next few days.
Under its influence, the minimum temperature is expected to rise by two to three degrees Celsius, providing relief from the cold wave, it said.
Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, eight districts recorded minimum temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, the IMD said, noting a cold wave in parts of the state.
Gumla recorded the lowest temperature in the state at 3.5 degrees Celsius — up from three degrees Celsius — while Khunti logged five degrees Celsius, the IMD weather bulletin stated.
The minimum temperature in Jharkhand's capital, Ranchi, was 7.5 degrees Celsius, while Daltonganj recorded 6.5 degrees and Jamshedpur recorded 9.6 degrees Celsius.
Deputy Director of the Ranchi Meteorological Centre, Abhishek Anand, said, "North-westerly winds prevailing in the lower tropospheric levels over Jharkhand have caused the drop in mercury."
"Dry weather conditions are likely to prevail across the state over the next five days. The minimum temperature may rise by 2–3 degrees Celsius during the next 72 hours," he added.
In West Bengal, the mercury dipped below the 10-degree mark for the first time this winter in the state's plains with Sriniketan in Birbhum districts recording a minimum temperature of 9.8 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the IMD said.
Its forecast for West Bengal suggested dry weather across all districts of West Bengal for the next week, with shallow to moderate fog likely in the northern districts.
Darjeeling was the coldest in the hills at 6.2 degrees Celsius, while the other Himalayan tourist town of Kalimpong was warmer at 10.5 degrees Celsius.
The other places which recorded low night temperatures are Alipurduar (11 degrees), Kalyani (11.4 degrees), Purulia (11.4 degrees) and Panagarh (11.9 degrees).
Kolkata recorded a minimum temperature of 15.2 degrees Celsius, the IMD said, forecasting mist in the morning on Monday.
IMD further predicted dense fog conditions in isolated pockets of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura between December 8 and 12.
It was also "very likely" in parts of west Madhya Pradesh on Monday and in Odisha until Tuesday.
In west India, a gradual fall by two to three degrees over the next three-four days is expected, and no significant change is anticipated thereafter, the IMD said.
