The UAE’s real GDP grew by 3. 8 percent in the first nine months of 2024. This growth was largely driven by the non-oil sector, which expanded by 4. 5 percent, highlighting the country’s economic diversification efforts.

Non-oil sector now 74. 6% of UAE's real GDP

UK’s energy price cap is set to decrease by 7.3%, promising lower energy bills for consumers. However, almost half of the lowest-income households are expected to face bill increases due to the gradual withdrawal of government support.

Rising standing charges & winter energy bills in the UK

As a money management professional, Eric Diton helps his clients manage complex personal finance issues. But he’s finding that more of them are frustrated by a surprisingly mundane budget item: homeowners’ insurance.

“I can definitely say that for my Florida clients, it’s a topic of conversation and it’s on their radar,” said Diton, president of the Wealth Alliance, an investment advisory firm. “They’re seeing that their cost of insurance is rising.”

Diton, who splits his time between Boca Raton, Florida, and Long Island, said he found himself in the same boat. “Personally, my insurance company increased my premiums quite a bit,” he said of his home in Florida. “It was pretty challenging to find a lot of choice, and that has resonated with a lot of people in this state.”

While Florida residents are not the only ones wrestling with this issue, the state’s popularity with retirees means that it is a problem a growing number will confront, experts say. When drawing up a budget for living on a fixed income, most would-be retirees think about services and goods, such as doctor visits or prescription drugs, that are likely to cost more in the future. Almost no one thinks of home insurance — an omission insurance professionals warn will be an increasingly costly mistake.

Many Americans’ plans to retire in a coastal Sun Belt state or a scenic mountain hamlet are on a collision course with extreme weather — and the property damage that follows.

“In some regions, we already see changing weather patterns, most likely driven by climate change, already having an impact,” said Ernst Rauch, chief climate and geoscientist at the reinsurance company Munich Re.

After absorbing punishing losses from floods, hurricanes and wildfires in recent years, many insurers are reevaluating their risk modeling practices. The upshot for many homeowners is higher property insurance bills. Others can find themselves struggling to get a policy at any price.

“In certain parts of the country, the insurance situation has really been difficult — in particular, Florida and that area, including Louisiana and the Gulf states,” said Nancy Albanese, vice president of personal insurance at BMT Insurance Advisors. “The other market which is very difficult is California, and some of the Western states that are exposed to wildfire.”

She added: “When we encounter a client who needs coverage in Florida, we know that’s going to be a huge challenge.”

Karen Collins, assistant vice president of personal lines for the trade group American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said she and her colleagues were seeing “a very significant increase in losses recently.”

“Natural disasters in particular have been very, very elevated the past couple of years,” she said.

This trend is driving up premiums. According to AM Best, an insurance industry ratings and analytics firm, the total amount of homeowners’ insurance premiums Americans paid rose by 8.4% between the third quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of last year. (An AM Best spokesperson noted that this aggregate snapshot did not reflect what any individual policyholder paid.)

Albanese said that recently an insurer dropped one of her clients, who was already paying $22,000 a year to insure a coastal Florida property. After some scrambling, Albanese was able to find the client coverage through a “surplus lines” provider — an insurer of last resort for the highest-risk policies — but at double the cost.

“It’s been back-to-back years of these rate increases, and I can think of at least one client who says they’re planning to sell their Florida property just because it’s just getting to be outrageous to insure,” Albanese said. “I’ve also had clients purchase properties in Florida recently, unaware of what the insurance market was like down there and really having them be just shocked — they just did not realize how high their premiums would be.”

Diton said that rising property insurance costs — particularly when combined with higher property taxes in areas where home values have risen significantly — were especially relevant for clients considering buying investment real estate for passive income generation. This strategy is popular among retirees and even some younger investors.

When a client is interested in a property, Diton said that he will lay out a spreadsheet and analyze the expenses. In some cases, prospective buyers decide against the purchase. “The homeowners’ insurance increase is definitely contributing to the issue for those people,” he said.

Insurance experts who work farther up the East Coast report similar market conditions. “What we are seeing is the companies that specialized in writing homeowners’ insurance along the coasts are shutting down, so we don’t have as many options,” said Robin Jaekel, vice president of personal lines at Glenn Insurance, a New Jersey insurance agency that does significant business along the Jersey Shore. “The homeowner costs along the coasts are definitely impacted.”

Hurricanes and nor’easters are the primary reasons insurers are fleeing the market, Jaekel said. The recent overhaul of the federally subsidized National Flood Insurance Program compounds the headache — and expenses — for property owners who are required by their mortgage holder to carry flood as well as homeowners’ insurance.

In many cases, the only policy a homeowner can get is one that limits the amount of compensation someone can expect after the most severe storms. “We now have the ‘named hurricane deductible’ on all policies around here,” Jaekel said. “If it’s a named hurricane, they have a separate deductible just for that.”

Experts in extreme weather say that stories like these are likely to become much more common in a rapidly warming future. “Hurricanes along the East Coast of the U.S. are also moving north,” Rauch said. “The probability has increased in northern U.S. regions as the water has warmed up.”

“This is a huge, long-term issue for every developed area of the United States,” said Jim Blackburn, professor of environmental law and co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation From Disasters Center at Rice University, via email.

He added that while coastal regions would probably face some of the greatest challenges because of more intense storms, increasing rainfall means that even homes situated near — rather than within — floodplains could become more vulnerable, too. “We have not begun to understand the impacts of climate change on settlement patterns,” he said.

The rising cost of damage from extreme weather comes on top of a confluence of other factors that are driving the cost of homeowners’ insurance higher. Supply-chain bottlenecks and a labor shortage make it more expensive to repair or rebuild homes after a disaster, while home construction and design trends are to blame as well, insurance professionals say. In neighborhoods with older housing stock, rebuilding after a natural disaster might be more expensive because of measures to bring the property up to current building code standards.

“Building materials themselves are lending them to more catastrophic losses,” said Jared Carillo, director of foundation accounts at SmithBrothers, an insurance brokerage in Connecticut. Materials used in construction today include more synthetics that burn faster and hotter, such as particleboard, spray foam and wire insulation, he said.

Open floor plans are another culprit, Carillo said: “A fire that starts in the kitchen is going to generate more loss across the first floor.”

Some of the weather changes being monitored by the insurance industry, such as the northerly drift of “Hurricane Alley,” are gradual shifts. Others — like the droughts that have exacerbated enormous wildfires in the Western United States — have hit an inflection point much more rapidly. Rauch said that in the 1980s, the average annual insured losses in the United States from wildfires ranged from $1 billion to $3 billion.

“This was the expectation going forward,” he said.

That changed in a heartbeat. “In 2017, for the first time, insured losses were somewhere in the $16 billion region,” Rauch said. “It was a massive jump, and 2018 was basically the same.” After a moderate Western fire season in 2019, 2020 brought another round of eye-watering losses, roughly in the neighborhood of $11 billion.

It is evidence that even the nimblest of companies can be caught by surprise at how fast conditions can change. In just the last four to five years, Rauch said, wildfires have brought significant changes. “The loss situation was totally different from the decades before,” he said.

Insurance and real estate professionals say this is especially problematic for people who put roots down decades ago with the expectation of growing old in those homes and neighborhoods, only to find that the ground beneath their feet has shifted.

“I do have people that retired here,” said Patrick Brownfield, personal risk adviser for the insurance broker Hub International in Jackson, Wyoming. “They’ve had astronomical increases in their insurance in the last two years,” he said, adding that this leaves those homeowners with few options. “It’s going to cost them $20,000 a year on their fixed income, and now they can’t pay the insurance because all their equity is in their home,” Brownfield said.

Deciding to sell, though, can present even more difficult decisions.

“Real estate contracts are now contingent on the ability to get that insurance,” said Ed Liebzeit, a real estate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty in Jackson.

“People at retirement age are facing two things,” he said. “If they’re on a fixed income, their insurance is going up, but so are their property taxes.” This is a drawback of the area’s rapidly appreciating housing market, he said. The result for retirees, increasingly, is displacement.

“The problem is, they have to leave town because there’s not another opportunity to buy low and stay here unless they go to a very small condo,” Liebzeit said. “So most of them are leaving.”

As a money management professional, Eric Diton helps his clients manage complex personal finance issues. But he’s finding that more of them are frustrated by a surprisingly mundane budget item: homeowners’ insurance.

As a money management professional, Eric Diton helps his clients manage complex personal finance issues. But he’s finding that more of them are frustrated by a surprisingly mundane budget item: homeowners’ insurance. “I can definitely say that for my Florida clients, it’s a topic of conversation and it’s on their radar,” said Diton, president of the Wealth Alliance, an investment advisory firm. “They’re seeing that their cost of insurance is rising.” Diton, who splits his time between Boca Raton, Florida, and Long Island, said he found himself in the same boat. “Personally, my insurance company increased my premiums quite a bit,” he said of his home in Florida. “It was pretty challenging to find a lot of choice, and that has resonated with a lot of people in this state.” While Florida residents are not the only ones wrestling with this issue, the state’s popularity with retirees means that it is a problem a growing number will confront, experts say. When drawing up a budget for living on a fixed income, most would-be retirees think about services and goods, such as doctor visits or prescription drugs, that are likely to cost more in the future. Almost no one thinks of home insurance — an omission insurance professionals warn will be an increasingly costly mistake. Many Americans’ plans to retire in a coastal Sun Belt state or a scenic mountain hamlet are on a collision course with extreme weather — and the property damage that follows. “In some regions, we already see changing weather patterns, most likely driven by climate change, already having an impact,” said Ernst Rauch, chief climate and geoscientist at the reinsurance company Munich Re. After absorbing punishing losses from floods, hurricanes and wildfires in recent years, many insurers are reevaluating their risk modeling practices. The upshot for many homeowners is higher property insurance bills. Others can find themselves struggling to get a policy at any price. “In certain parts of the country, the insurance situation has really been difficult — in particular, Florida and that area, including Louisiana and the Gulf states,” said Nancy Albanese, vice president of personal insurance at BMT Insurance Advisors. “The other market which is very difficult is California, and some of the Western states that are exposed to wildfire.” She added: “When we encounter a client who needs coverage in Florida, we know that’s going to be a huge challenge.” Karen Collins, assistant vice president of personal lines for the trade group American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said she and her colleagues were seeing “a very significant increase in losses recently.” “Natural disasters in particular have been very, very elevated the past couple of years,” she said. This trend is driving up premiums. According to AM Best, an insurance industry ratings and analytics firm, the total amount of homeowners’ insurance premiums Americans paid rose by 8.4% between the third quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of last year. (An AM Best spokesperson noted that this aggregate snapshot did not reflect what any individual policyholder paid.) Albanese said that recently an insurer dropped one of her clients, who was already paying $22,000 a year to insure a coastal Florida property. After some scrambling, Albanese was able to find the client coverage through a “surplus lines” provider — an insurer of last resort for the highest-risk policies — but at double the cost. “It’s been back-to-back years of these rate increases, and I can think of at least one client who says they’re planning to sell their Florida property just because it’s just getting to be outrageous to insure,” Albanese said. “I’ve also had clients purchase properties in Florida recently, unaware of what the insurance market was like down there and really having them be just shocked — they just did not realize how high their premiums would be.” Diton said that rising property insurance costs — particularly when combined with higher property taxes in areas where home values have risen significantly — were especially relevant for clients considering buying investment real estate for passive income generation. This strategy is popular among retirees and even some younger investors. When a client is interested in a property, Diton said that he will lay out a spreadsheet and analyze the expenses. In some cases, prospective buyers decide against the purchase. “The homeowners’ insurance increase is definitely contributing to the issue for those people,” he said. Insurance experts who work farther up the East Coast report similar market conditions. “What we are seeing is the companies that specialized in writing homeowners’ insurance along the coasts are shutting down, so we don’t have as many options,” said Robin Jaekel, vice president of personal lines at Glenn Insurance, a New Jersey insurance agency that does significant business along the Jersey Shore. “The homeowner costs along the coasts are definitely impacted.” Hurricanes and nor’easters are the primary reasons insurers are fleeing the market, Jaekel said. The recent overhaul of the federally subsidized National Flood Insurance Program compounds the headache — and expenses — for property owners who are required by their mortgage holder to carry flood as well as homeowners’ insurance. In many cases, the only policy a homeowner can get is one that limits the amount of compensation someone can expect after the most severe storms. “We now have the ‘named hurricane deductible’ on all policies around here,” Jaekel said. “If it’s a named hurricane, they have a separate deductible just for that.” Experts in extreme weather say that stories like these are likely to become much more common in a rapidly warming future. “Hurricanes along the East Coast of the U.S. are also moving north,” Rauch said. “The probability has increased in northern U.S. regions as the water has warmed up.” “This is a huge, long-term issue for every developed area of the United States,” said Jim Blackburn, professor of environmental law and co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation From Disasters Center at Rice University, via email. He added that while coastal regions would probably face some of the greatest challenges because of more intense storms, increasing rainfall means that even homes situated near — rather than within — floodplains could become more vulnerable, too. “We have not begun to understand the impacts of climate change on settlement patterns,” he said. The rising cost of damage from extreme weather comes on top of a confluence of other factors that are driving the cost of homeowners’ insurance higher. Supply-chain bottlenecks and a labor shortage make it more expensive to repair or rebuild homes after a disaster, while home construction and design trends are to blame as well, insurance professionals say. In neighborhoods with older housing stock, rebuilding after a natural disaster might be more expensive because of measures to bring the property up to current building code standards. “Building materials themselves are lending them to more catastrophic losses,” said Jared Carillo, director of foundation accounts at SmithBrothers, an insurance brokerage in Connecticut. Materials used in construction today include more synthetics that burn faster and hotter, such as particleboard, spray foam and wire insulation, he said. Open floor plans are another culprit, Carillo said: “A fire that starts in the kitchen is going to generate more loss across the first floor.” Some of the weather changes being monitored by the insurance industry, such as the northerly drift of “Hurricane Alley,” are gradual shifts. Others — like the droughts that have exacerbated enormous wildfires in the Western United States — have hit an inflection point much more rapidly. Rauch said that in the 1980s, the average annual insured losses in the United States from wildfires ranged from $1 billion to $3 billion. “This was the expectation going forward,” he said. That changed in a heartbeat. “In 2017, for the first time, insured losses were somewhere in the $16 billion region,” Rauch said. “It was a massive jump, and 2018 was basically the same.” After a moderate Western fire season in 2019, 2020 brought another round of eye-watering losses, roughly in the neighborhood of $11 billion. It is evidence that even the nimblest of companies can be caught by surprise at how fast conditions can change. In just the last four to five years, Rauch said, wildfires have brought significant changes. “The loss situation was totally different from the decades before,” he said. Insurance and real estate professionals say this is especially problematic for people who put roots down decades ago with the expectation of growing old in those homes and neighborhoods, only to find that the ground beneath their feet has shifted. “I do have people that retired here,” said Patrick Brownfield, personal risk adviser for the insurance broker Hub International in Jackson, Wyoming. “They’ve had astronomical increases in their insurance in the last two years,” he said, adding that this leaves those homeowners with few options. “It’s going to cost them $20,000 a year on their fixed income, and now they can’t pay the insurance because all their equity is in their home,” Brownfield said. Deciding to sell, though, can present even more difficult decisions. “Real estate contracts are now contingent on the ability to get that insurance,” said Ed Liebzeit, a real estate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty in Jackson. “People at retirement age are facing two things,” he said. “If they’re on a fixed income, their insurance is going up, but so are their property taxes.” This is a drawback of the area’s rapidly appreciating housing market, he said. The result for retirees, increasingly, is displacement. “The problem is, they have to leave town because there’s not another opportunity to buy low and stay here unless they go to a very small condo,” Liebzeit said. “So most of them are leaving.”

Extreme weather and rising insurance rates squeeze retirees

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the country has been struggling to battle poverty. Amid concerns of rising poverty and starvation, various aid agencies distributed food, blankets and cash to nearly 130 displaced families in Kabul.&nbsp;

UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said that around 9 million Afghans are "just one step away from starvation." He further added that 700,000 people, mostly women and children, have been displaced this year alone.

The distribution was overseen by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Danish aid agency DACAAR.

"It's a story of hunger, of conflict, of poverty and now winter is coming as well. Afghans need help desperately and quickly," said Baloch.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/work-hard-taliban-to-offer-wheat-in-exchange-of-work-to-reduce-poverty-and-starvation-423598">Also read |&nbsp;'Work hard': Taliban to offer wheat in exchange of work to reduce poverty and starvation</a>

Meanwhile, UN special envoy Deborah Lyons has asked world leaders to come together and help Afghanistan from falling into extreme poverty as the UN warned that Afghanistan is on the brink of 'universal poverty'.

Lyons has warned that Afghanistan’s economy and culture are on the brink of total collapse of the country and has also said that this can lead to the spread of Islamic State to the neighbouring countries.

To battle growing poverty, the Taliban has also launched a programme in which they will exchange wheat for labour. "This is an important step for fighting unemployment," Zabihullah Mujahid said.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/afghan-girls-learn-code-underground-to-bypass-taliban-curbs-424641">Also read |&nbsp;Afghan girls learn, code 'underground' to bypass Taliban curbs</a>

Under the new scheme, nearly 40,000 men will be employed in Kabul and thousands of more people around the country. The food-for-work scheme will pay labourers in form of wheat, rather than cash.

The Taliban government is aiming to distribute 11,600 tons of wheat in Kabul, and nearly 55,000 tons in cities such as Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Pol-i-Khomri, and a few more areas.&nbsp;

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the country has been struggling to battle poverty. Amid concerns of rising poverty and starvation, various aid agencies distributed food, blankets and cash to nearly 130 displaced families in Kabul.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the country has been struggling to battle poverty. Amid concerns of rising poverty and starvation, various aid agencies distributed food, blankets and cash to nearly 130 displaced families in Kabul. UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said that around 9 million Afghans are "just one step away from starvation." He further added that 700,000 people, mostly women and children, have been displaced this year alone. The distribution was overseen by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Danish aid agency DACAAR. "It's a story of hunger, of conflict, of poverty and now winter is coming as well. Afghans need help desperately and quickly," said Baloch. Also read | 'Work hard': Taliban to offer wheat in exchange of work to reduce poverty and starvation Meanwhile, UN special envoy Deborah Lyons has asked world leaders to come together and help Afghanistan from falling into extreme poverty as the UN warned that Afghanistan is on the brink of 'universal poverty'. Lyons has warned that Afghanistan’s economy and culture are on the brink of total collapse of the country and has also said that this can lead to the spread of Islamic State to the neighbouring countries. To battle growing poverty, the Taliban has also launched a programme in which they will exchange wheat for labour. "This is an important step for fighting unemployment," Zabihullah Mujahid said. Also read | Afghan girls learn, code 'underground' to bypass Taliban curbs Under the new scheme, nearly 40,000 men will be employed in Kabul and thousands of more people around the country. The food-for-work scheme will pay labourers in form of wheat, rather than cash. The Taliban government is aiming to distribute 11,600 tons of wheat in Kabul, and nearly 55,000 tons in cities such as Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Pol-i-Khomri, and a few more areas.

Nearly 130 displaced families receive aid amid rising poverty in Afghanistan

Even as several new cases of violence against women have come up, a news report says Pakistan has seen a significant decline in the number of cases of violence against women registered in three years. &nbsp;&nbsp;

The report by ‘The News’ cited the statistics issued by the Federal Ministry of Human Rights. The ministry said, the cases of violence against women in Pakistan fell over 70% in three years. &nbsp;

However, the data from provincial helplines for women shows a horrific state of women’s rights, especially in Sindh and Punjab. &nbsp;

Recently, the Pakistan government has been under fire over the spike in cases of violence against women, several of them have occurred in public places. &nbsp; &nbsp;

From the case of Noor Mukadam's murder to Tiktoker, who was assaulted by around 400 men on Pakistan’s Independence Day, several cases of violence against women have surfaced. &nbsp;

A new case of a woman getting harassed while travelling in a rickshaw in Lahore on Independence Day has also come up. In a video, a man can be seen jumping onto her rickshaw to kiss the woman forcibly. &nbsp;

These recent cases have depicted the state's failure to protect women and brought to light the culture of impunity and the society's tendency to curtail women's independence and inflict pain on them. These incidents have also drawn outrage from citizens, who call for immediate action.&nbsp;

Even as several new cases of violence against women have come up, a news report says Pakistan has seen a significant decline in the number of cases of violence against women registered in three years.

Even as several new cases of violence against women have come up, a news report says Pakistan has seen a significant decline in the number of cases of violence against women registered in three years. The report by ‘The News’ cited the statistics issued by the Federal Ministry of Human Rights. The ministry said, the cases of violence against women in Pakistan fell over 70% in three years. However, the data from provincial helplines for women shows a horrific state of women’s rights, especially in Sindh and Punjab. Recently, the Pakistan government has been under fire over the spike in cases of violence against women, several of them have occurred in public places. From the case of Noor Mukadam's murder to Tiktoker, who was assaulted by around 400 men on Pakistan’s Independence Day, several cases of violence against women have surfaced. A new case of a woman getting harassed while travelling in a rickshaw in Lahore on Independence Day has also come up. In a video, a man can be seen jumping onto her rickshaw to kiss the woman forcibly. These recent cases have depicted the state's failure to protect women and brought to light the culture of impunity and the society's tendency to curtail women's independence and inflict pain on them. These incidents have also drawn outrage from citizens, who call for immediate action.

Violence against women in Pak: Report claims 70% drop in 3 years even as new cases emerge  

Racism in United States of America is not an exception. It's the norm. Two incidents have come as a reminder of this grim reality.

The first is from the state of Virginia, where two White cops pointed guns and pepper-sprayed a Black US army officer for a missing license plate.&nbsp;This happened in December, a lawsuit has been filed now, and the second incident is from Minneapolis, where a Black man has been shot and killed by the police.

Why? For a traffic violation in any other country, these violations would lead to a fine but clearly not in the land of the free. &nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-black-american-killed-by-cops-in-minnesota-377158/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Where the colour of your skin seems to increasingly determine the severity of your crime and the timing is important here. These incidents are being reported and discussed at a time when Derek Chauvin, a White police officer, is on trial for the murder of a Black man George Floyd.&nbsp;

This is not an encounter. This is a traffic stop. This man is not a wanted criminal. He is a lieutenant in the US Army. What's his crime? A missing license plate. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Caron Nazario, a second lieutenant in the US Army and a Black and Latino American, was driving his new SUV with a temporary paper plate. He was asked to pull over by two cops. What followed was sheer racism camouflaged as obstruction of justice. The footage was shot in December but a lawsuit in the case has been filed now. &nbsp;

Nazario has sued the two cops for their behaviour. More than a thousand miles away from Virginia in the state of Minneapolis, another Black American couldn't even opt for legal recourse. He was shot and killed by police officers for a traffic violation in Minnesota. The incident took place barely 16 kilometres away from where George Floyd was killed. &nbsp;

Minnesota department of public safety commissioner John Harrington said about the police incident that later prompted the protests. "Our early report was that one officer had fired a weapon, striking the driver. The vehicle continued and eventually crashed and medical resources were then deployed to the scene to aid the people in both the vehicle that was crashed into and the original group. The driver of the vehicle was deceased."

The aftermath seems like deja vu. Hundreds of locals have descended on the streets of Minnesota.&nbsp;

There are protests, there's tear-gas and the same rallying call, 'Black lives matter'.&nbsp;

Myah, a protester, said, "Who knows if there’s gonna be a difference in this world, who knows if it’s going to be the last time that we all come together in something like this."&nbsp;

As the protests continue, the trial of Derek Chauvin over George Floyd's death is yet to reach any conclusion. It's been three weeks and jurors are still analysing the testimonies.&nbsp;

Whatever be the final verdict, the chances of it are eradicating America's virus of racism seem abysmally low.&nbsp;

Racism in United States of America is not an exception. It's the norm. Two incidents have come as a reminder of this grim reality. The first is from the state of Virginia, where two White cops pointed guns and pepper-sprayed a Black US army officer for a missing license plate.

Racism in United States of America is not an exception. It's the norm. Two incidents have come as a reminder of this grim reality. The first is from the state of Virginia, where two White cops pointed guns and pepper-sprayed a Black US army officer for a missing license plate. This happened in December, a lawsuit has been filed now, and the second incident is from Minneapolis, where a Black man has been shot and killed by the police. Why? For a traffic violation in any other country, these violations would lead to a fine but clearly not in the land of the free. Where the colour of your skin seems to increasingly determine the severity of your crime and the timing is important here. These incidents are being reported and discussed at a time when Derek Chauvin, a White police officer, is on trial for the murder of a Black man George Floyd. This is not an encounter. This is a traffic stop. This man is not a wanted criminal. He is a lieutenant in the US Army. What's his crime? A missing license plate. Caron Nazario, a second lieutenant in the US Army and a Black and Latino American, was driving his new SUV with a temporary paper plate. He was asked to pull over by two cops. What followed was sheer racism camouflaged as obstruction of justice. The footage was shot in December but a lawsuit in the case has been filed now. Nazario has sued the two cops for their behaviour. More than a thousand miles away from Virginia in the state of Minneapolis, another Black American couldn't even opt for legal recourse. He was shot and killed by police officers for a traffic violation in Minnesota. The incident took place barely 16 kilometres away from where George Floyd was killed. Minnesota department of public safety commissioner John Harrington said about the police incident that later prompted the protests. "Our early report was that one officer had fired a weapon, striking the driver. The vehicle continued and eventually crashed and medical resources were then deployed to the scene to aid the people in both the vehicle that was crashed into and the original group. The driver of the vehicle was deceased." The aftermath seems like deja vu. Hundreds of locals have descended on the streets of Minnesota. There are protests, there's tear-gas and the same rallying call, 'Black lives matter'. Myah, a protester, said, "Who knows if there’s gonna be a difference in this world, who knows if it’s going to be the last time that we all come together in something like this." As the protests continue, the trial of Derek Chauvin over George Floyd's death is yet to reach any conclusion. It's been three weeks and jurors are still analysing the testimonies. Whatever be the final verdict, the chances of it are eradicating America's virus of racism seem abysmally low.

Rising racist attacks in US raise many questions 

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