Melania Trump unveils platform, tells children to 'be best'
Washington, May 8: Melania Trump, nearly 16 months into her tenure as First Lady, has at last revealed her formal platform: "Be Best", a comprehensive programme which will focus on well-being, fighting opioid abuse and positivity on social media, the media reported.
"As a mother and as First Lady, it concerns me that in today's fast-paced and ever-connected world, children can be less prepared to express or manage their emotions and oftentimes turn to forms of destructive or addictive behaviour such as bullying, drug addiction or even suicide," CNN quoted Trump as saying during a Rose Garden event on Monday.
"I feel strongly that as adults we can and should be best at educating our children about the importance of a healthy and balanced life," she said.
The platform pillars she revealed during her 10-minute speech in the White House Rose Garden include well-being, encompassing healthy living as well as emotional health; opioid abuse, including bringing awareness to neonatal abstinence syndrome and emphasizing the importance of healthy pregnancy; and social media, where Trump plans to encourage children to use the internet in positive ways, tamping down cyberbullying and negativity.
Trump, a former model and designer, has not had the past policy experience of her most recent predecessors, reports CNN.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama was a corporate attorney, a public service advocate and a senator's spouse before Barack Obama was elected president. She announced her "Let's Move" campaign to help end childhood obesity in February of 2010.
Though a librarian, Laura Bush had long been exposed to political life before her husband entered the White House. As part of the Bush family dynasty, she was versed in education policy and literacy programmes for kids, her platform, which she unveiled as First Lady.
Hillary Clinton championed health care.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
