NEW DELHI: When Sudha Raghavan returned to work on Tuesday, she was surprised to find a shiny metal stool in the spot behind a glass counter where she has been selling silk sarees for the past three years as a retail store worker in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
It’s the same spot where Raghavan, 29, would stand throughout her eight-hour shift every day, with nothing to sit on “even for 10 minutes.”
But not anymore.
Since the state government passed the “right to sit” bill in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, amending the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947 and obliging employers to provide seating facilities for all employees, Raghavan says every worker in the shop “has got a separate stool to sit on.”
Other improvements in the labor law include regular toilet and lunch breaks.
It means Raghavan will no longer have to worry about suffering excruciating knee pain after long hours of standing or have painkillers on hand.
“The bill is a big relief for me. In the past three years, I have developed unbearable knee pain; it becomes difficult to sustain after long hours,” Raghavan told Arab News on Wednesday.
“Ever since the bill has been passed, all of us are more at ease now,” she added, referring to the plight of her colleagues at the store.
The changes in labor laws are a big win for thousands of commercial shop workers in the state, which has one of the highest densities of textile and clothing outlets in the country but notoriously poor working conditions.
Local media reports had been documenting for years the plight of workers where most shop owners of textile, jewelery and other retail outlets would forbid women, the bulk of the workforce, from sitting down during work hours.
In some cases, leaning against a wall was punishable, too, while lunch and toilet breaks were limited to “a few minutes.”
Noncompliance with rules would often result in salary deductions, with employers citing CCTV footage as evidence for docking pay.
A job shortage meant that thousands of employees put up with the harsh working conditions.
The authorities were unavailable for comment when contacted by Arab News on Wednesday.
“The premises of every establishment shall have suitable seating arrangements for all employees so that they may take advantage of any opportunity to sit,” the new law said.
Durga Niresh Kumar, a store worker in the state capital Chennai called it a “landmark bill” which will give “massive support to thousands of workers across the state.”
“I used to get a shivering sensation in my legs after standing for more than eight hours daily, sometimes unbearable. I hope the ordeal comes to an end now,” Kumar said.
Tamil Nadu is the second state in India to grant the right to sit at work.
In 2018, after an eight-year struggle by women employees in Kerala, the state government amended its labor laws to legalise improved working conditions.
Activists seeking better laws for retail workers for decades welcomed the move.
“Wherever you go in Tamil Nadu, it’s women who are mostly working in the garment shops selling sarees or other dresses. To keep them standing for long hours was exploitation,” said Dr. P. Vedhanayagi, founder of the Thendral Movement, an NGO working for marginalized women in Vellore city.
“I am happy that lawmakers took note of the situation in the retail shops and hope things will improve. I know many women who are suffering from health problems due to long-standing hours,” he added.
Store owners, for their part, said the new law had changed their perspective.
“We are so conditioned as a shopkeeper not to pay attention to the plight of workers,” said Vahigetha S., a Vellore-based textile shop owner.
“The new law has changed that, and I’m happy to provide basic amenities to my workers.”
Shop workers in Indian state stand up for their right to sit down
https://arab.news/byuzx
Shop workers in Indian state stand up for their right to sit down
- Bill passed mandating seating facilities for employees
Trump’s hush money case should be paused, prosecutors say
- The prosecutors had asked for more time to consider next steps in the case
- Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has long portrayed as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his campaign
NEW YORK: The case in which Donald Trump was convicted on criminal charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star should be paused in light of his election victory to allow Trump to seek dismissal, New York prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Trump, 78, is hoping to enter office for a second term unencumbered by any of the four criminal cases he has faced and which some said would derail his 2024 candidacy to return to the White House.
The Republican Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump, who denies it.
The case marked the first time a US president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.
Trump had been scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26, but Merchan last week put all proceedings in the case on pause at the request of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
The prosecutors had asked for more time to consider next steps in the case, citing the need to balance the “competing interests” between having the criminal case go forward and protecting the office of the president.
Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has long portrayed as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his campaign.
His defense lawyers urged Merchan to dismiss the case, arguing that having it loom over him while he was president would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern.
Trump’s lawyers also argued his conviction should be vacated and the charges dismissed because of the US Supreme Court’s ruling in July that presidents cannot be prosecuted over their official acts, and that evidence of their official acts cannot be used in trials over personal behavior.
Bragg’s office said that its case dealt with purely personal conduct.
Falsification of business records is punishable by up to four years in prison. Before he was elected, experts said it was unlikely — but not impossible — that Trump would face time behind bars, with punishments such as a fine or probation seen as more likely.
Trump’s victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election made the prospect of imposing a sentence of jail or probation even more politically fraught and impractical, given that a sentence could have impeded his ability to conduct the duties of the presidency.
Trump was indicted on three separate slates of state and federal charges in 2023, one involving classified documents he kept after leaving office and two others involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
A Florida-based federal judge in July dismissed the documents case. The Justice Department is now evaluating how to wind down the federal election-related case. Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia over his bid to reverse his 2020 loss in that state, but the case remains in limbo.
Russia’s nuclear threats ‘irresponsible’: EU’s Borrell
- “It is not the first time that Putin plays the nuclear gamble,” the outgoing foreign policy chief told reporters
- “Russia has subscribed to the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won, and so must never be fought,” he said
BRUSSELS: EU top diplomat Josep Borrell accused Russia on Tuesday of issuing “completely irresponsible” nuclear threats, after President Vladimir Putin broadened the scope for Moscow’s use of atomic weapons.
“It is not the first time that Putin plays the nuclear gamble,” the outgoing foreign policy chief told reporters following defense minister talks in Brussels on the 1,000th day of the conflict.
“Russia has subscribed to the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won, and so must never be fought,” he said, warning that “any call for nuclear warfare is an irresponsibility.”
The EU talks — dominated by the need to ramp up support for Ukraine’s fight — came as Kyiv confirmed it had fired US-supplied long-range missiles into Russian territory, in what Russia said marked “a new phase” in the war.
Borrell had pressed member states ahead of time to align with Washington in allowing Ukraine to strike inside Russia using donated missiles — something France appears to be considering.
Addressing reporters afterwards, Borrell gave no indication of a shift on the sensitive issue.
But he said EU states had agreed “by an overwhelming majority” that “the fate of Ukraine will determine the destiny of the European Union.”
“If Putin could be successful in Ukraine, we will pay a very high bill, much more expensive than any kind of military support that we could provide today,” he said.
Borrell said a “big majority” of EU member states had shown “their determination to continue supporting Ukraine” — with Donald Trump’s imminent White House return throwing US support for Kyiv into question.
“Certainly we are in a different scenario with a different president in the White House, which seems to have ideas about how to end the war,” he said.
Ministers were joined by NATO chief Mark Rutte who warned that Putin must not be allowed to “get his way” in Ukraine and reiterated his call for Europe to “ramp up the defense industry.”
More than two and a half years after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, now 23 of the 32 NATO members reach the target of spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense — up from just three a decade ago.
But the growing consensus is that Europe will have to do more to make sure it can stand on its own.
Borrell said it was made clear by Rutte that given “the challenges we are facing, this landmark, this mythic figure of two-percent will not be enough, and we need to take more action.”
“Europeans have to do more and quicker in order to increase their defense capacity, not just to support Ukraine, but for our own security,” said the EU top diplomat, who hands over next month to his designated successor Kaja Kallas.
Ukraine hits Russia with US ATACMS missiles for first time on war’s 1,000th day
- Ukraine said it had struck a Russian arms depot around 110 km inside Russia in an attack that caused secondary explosions
- The Ukrainian military did not publicly specify what weapons it had used
The Ukrainian military did not publicly specify what weapons it had used
KYIV: Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory on Tuesday, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing Biden administration on the war’s 1,000th day.
Russia said its forces shot down five of six of the missiles, which were fired at a military facility in the Bryansk region. Debris of one hit the facility, starting a fire that was swiftly put out and caused no casualties or damage, it said.
Ukraine said it had struck a Russian arms depot around 110 km (70 miles) inside Russia in an attack that caused secondary explosions. The Ukrainian military did not publicly specify what weapons it had used, but a Ukrainian official source and a US official later confirmed it had used ATACMS.
President Joe Biden gave approval just this week for Ukraine to use the ATACMS, the longest-range missiles Washington has supplied, for such attacks inside Russia. Moscow has described their potential use as an escalation that would make Washington a direct combatant in the war and prompt its retaliation.
The attack took place as Ukraine marked 1,000 days of war, with weary troops at the front, Kyiv besieged by airstrikes, a fifth of Ukrainian territory in Moscow’s hands and doubts about the future of Western support as Donald Trump heads back to the White House.
Military experts say using the US missiles to attack positions at such a depth in Russia can help Ukraine defend a pocket of Russian territory it has captured as a bargaining chip, but is not likely to have a decisive impact on the course of the 33-month-old war.
Moscow has said such weapons cannot be used without direct operational support from the United States, and therefore their use would make Washington a direct participant in the war.
On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine apparently intended as a warning to Washington. It lowers the threshold under which Russia might use atomic weapons to include responding to attacks that threaten its territorial integrity.
Washington said the update to the nuclear doctrine was
no surprise
and cited “more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia.”
JITTERS IN MARKETS
Reports of the Ukrainian attack caused jitters in markets, with share indexes sliding in Europe and safe haven assets rallying.
Trump has criticized the scale of US aid to Kyiv and said he will end the war quickly, without saying how. Both sides appear to anticipate his return in two months will be accompanied by a push for peace talks, which are not known to have taken place since the war’s early months.
The warring sides have both been escalating in recent weeks in an attempt to secure a stronger position at any negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kyiv must do everything for the war to end diplomatically next year.
“At this stage of the war, it is being decided who will prevail. Whether us over the enemy, or the enemy over us Ukrainians... and Europeans. And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not be subject to a dictator,” he said in an address to parliament on Tuesday marking 1,000 days of war.
A candle-lit commemoration was planned for later on Tuesday.
Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, over six million live as refugees abroad and the population has fallen by a quarter since Putin ordered the invasion by land, sea and air that began Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two.
Military losses have been huge, although casualty figures remain closely guarded secrets. Public Western estimates based on intelligence reports say hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed on each side.
“In the frozen trenches of the Donetsk region and in the burning steppes of the Kherson region, under shells, hail, and anti-aircraft guns, we are fighting for the right to live,” Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrkyi wrote on Telegram.
Tragedy has touched families in every corner of Ukraine, where military funerals are commonplace in cities and far-flung villages, and people are exhausted by sleepless nights of air raid sirens and anguish.
In the first year after the invasion, Ukrainian troops pushed Russian forces back from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory with surprise military successes against a larger and better-armed foe.
But since then, the enemies have settled into relentless trench warfare that has ground eastern Ukrainian cities to dust. Russian forces still occupy a fifth of Ukraine and for the past year they have steadily gained ground.
Kyiv now hopes to gain leverage from a sliver of territory in Russia’s Kursk region it captured after launching its first major cross-border assault in August. It says Russia has deployed 50,000 troops there to try to take it back.
In a move decried in the West as an escalation, Russia has now deployed 11,000 North Korean troops, some of whom Kyiv says have clashed with Ukrainian forces in Kursk. Zelensky said Pyongyang could send 100,000 soldiers.
Russia for its part continues to advance village by village in eastern Ukraine, claiming to have captured another settlement on Tuesday.
With winter setting in, Moscow on Sunday renewed its aerial assault on Ukraine’s struggling power system, firing 120 missiles and 90 drones in the biggest barrage since August.
Publicly there has been no narrowing of the gulf in the enemies’ negotiating positions. Kyiv has long demanded full Russian withdrawal from all occupied territory, and security guarantees from the West comparable to membership in NATO’s mutual defense treaty to prevent future Russian attacks.
The Kremlin says Ukraine must drop all ambitions to join NATO and withdraw all troops from provinces Russia claims to have annexed since its invasion.
Donald Trump expected to consider recognizing Somaliland independence, former UK defense minister says
- Gavin Williamson has reportedly been lobbying Trump’s team for recognition of former British protectorate
LONDON: Donald Trump is expected to consider recognizing Somaliland as an independent country once he assumes office, according to the former UK defense secretary, it was reported on Tuesday.
Gavin Williamson, who served as Britain’s defense minister from 2017 to 2019, has reportedly been lobbying Trump’s team for the recognition of the former British protectorate.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but its status remains unrecognized by every country except Ethiopia, and it remains contentious, with Somalia claiming the territory.
Williamson, a vocal advocate for Somaliland’s recognition, has expressed optimism about progress once Trump assumes office in January, and noted that Trump’s opposition to Biden’s policies in Somalia might play a role in influencing the decision, The Independent reported.
“They should agree to it, though when he assumes office it will probably all take a little longer than we hope, but had really good meetings with his policy leads so fingers crossed,” Williamson said.
“One of Trump’s last orders as president was to withdraw troops from Somalia but then Biden countermanded that order. There is nothing that Trump hates more than someone overruling him so I used that to push the argument,” he said.
Sources in Washington told The Independent that the US State Department had “warmed up” to supporting Somaliland’s claim in the days following Trump’s victory.
Somaliland opposition leader, Abdirahman Cirro, defeated incumbent president, Muse Bihi Abdi, in an election last week, setting up a handover of power as the region continues its push for global recognition.
“I am sure this will be up for review after the inauguration. Similarly, a smooth election in Somaliland will, in addition to its other achievements, undoubtedly strengthen its case in an overall policy review,” said Peter Pham, a senior adviser in Trump’s first administration and a former US special envoy to the Sahel region.
The Trump administration previously considered recognition during his first term, and a move to do so now would increase pressure on the UK and other nations to follow suit, according to reports.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office source said: “It would be wrong to speculate on any policy decisions that the incoming administration of President-elect Trump may make.”
The source added: “The UK, alongside others in the international community, does not recognize Somaliland’s unilateral declaration of independence. It is for authorities in Mogadishu and Hargeisa to resolve Somaliland’s status through dialogue and broad consultation.”
Biggest Saudi business forum opens in Poland amid growing ties with Central Europe
- 80 Saudi and 300 Polish companies take part in the Saudi-Polish Business Forum in Warsaw
- After Warsaw, the Saudi delegation will hold the Saudi-Slovak Business Forum in Bratislava
WARSAW: Hundreds of business leaders from Saudi Arabia and Poland gathered in Warsaw on Tuesday for the largest-ever Saudi-Polish Business Forum, highlighting the growing economic ties between the Kingdom and Central and Eastern Europe.
The forum was organized by the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Polish Chamber of Commerce under the patronage of the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.
A Saudi delegation of more than 80 business leaders led by Hassan Al-Huwaizi, chairman of the federation, arrived in Warsaw on Monday to attend the forum and meet the top Polish leadership, including Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, and ministers of several key resorts.
They represented various branches of the Saudi economy, bringing bilateral trade exchanges beyond the sector of energy, which has traditionally dominated the ties.
“What makes this forum different is that it has many businesspeople from all economic sectors,” Saudi Ambassador Saad Al-Saleh told Arab News.
“This is actually a new thing. We believe that there are many opportunities in Poland and in Saudi Arabia, and visits like this and the forum are going to help discover these opportunities.”
The ambassador said the forum was also a part of efforts to increase relations not only with Poland — the largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe — but also the whole region.
“Everyone, when they knew about the forum, wanted to participate … from the Saudi side and from the Polish side. That shows the importance of this forum, and it will also transfer what is happening here to the rest of European countries,” he said, adding that after the Warsaw event, the Saudi delegation will travel to neighboring Slovakia for the Saudi-Slovak Business Forum in Bratislava.
The Saudi-Polish Business Council was established in August this year to boost investment between the two countries under the Kingdom’s broader strategy to deepen economic ties with Europe.
Andrzej Szumowski, the council’s chairman and vice president of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, told Arab News that it was “impossible to overestimate” the importance of the Warsaw event.
“It is an extremely crucial step in building economic relations, and it marks the beginning of full-scale relations between our two countries — social, cultural, intellectual, scientific — but everything starts with business,” he said.
“The exchange between our countries, the trade balance, is far from satisfactory. There’s about $7 billion in exports from Saudi Arabia to Poland, and $900 million in Polish exports to Saudi Arabia. I am deeply convinced that today’s meeting, which has exceeded my expectations in terms of interest from Polish companies, shows how much appeal the Saudi market has, and how much Polish companies are looking forward to the potential for exchange.”
More than 300 Polish companies are participating in the business forum, with many more expressing interest, Szumowski said, but the organizers had to limit the number due to space constraints.
The key sectors of the Saudi economy that Polish businesses are currently focusing on include construction, new technologies, agriculture, tourism, education, and manufacturing.
Polish-Saudi business relations were established in the 1990s, but bilateral ties have grown significantly in recent years, with Saudi Arabia emerging as Poland’s key strategic energy partner, supplying half of its crude oil needs.
“We are trying to develop these relations also in other sectors and for the trade to be more balanced,” said Krzysztof Plominski, vice chair of the business council and former ambassador to the Kingdom.
“Both countries are in the process of getting to know each other and building institutional solutions. A very important step was the launch of direct flights to Riyadh by Polish Airlines.”
Poland’s national flag carrier opened the Riyadh route in June, operating nonstop flights three times a week, which also contributed to growing interest in Saudi Arabia from the Polish side and vice versa.
“The current delegation organized by the Federation of Saudi Chambers comes in response to this new demand and in line with the expectations of the highest authorities of both countries,” Plominski said.
“It provides an opportunity for the business community to discuss the current situation and future plans.”
