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Trump interviews Thapar for top judge Amul Thapar was one of four judges interviewed for the position on the nation’s highest court by Trump on July 2, according to media reports
Trump names Indian-American to key role
ARUL LOUIS, NEW YORK
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ndian American federal appeals court judge Amul Thapar has emerged as a “serious” contender for a spot in the US Supreme court and has been interviewed for the position by President Donald Trump, according media reports. He was one of four judges interviewed for the position on the nation’s highest court by Trump on July 2, according to The Washington Post and other media outlets that quoted unnamed sources who had been briefed about the meetings. Trump’s Spokesperson Sarah Sanders confirmed that he met for 45 minutes with four candidates, but would not identify them. Trump has said he would announce his pick by July 9. Thapar was appointed by Trump last year to the federal Sixth Circuit Appeals Court based in Cincinnati, Ohio, that covers four
BRIEFS Democrats pick Nanda as CEO WASHINGTON: The Democratic National Committee (DNC), the decision-making body of the Democratic Party in the US, has tapped Indian American Seema Nanda to serve as its new CEO and handle day-to-day operations, making her the first from the community to be named an operational head of a key American political party. Nanda is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the largest human and civil rights organization in the US. Indian American Seema Nanda will start later in July in the new position, the DNC said in a press release last week.
Dubai honors young Indian expat DUBAI: The Dubai Municipality has honored a 10-year-old Indian expat who turned his love for the World Cup into an innovative way to reduce plastic bag waste. Using his own Eid money, Faiz Mohammed distributed hand-decorated reusable bags to a number of groceries near his home in Karama after he grew tired of seeing so many plastic bags being wasted on home deliveries, the Khaleej Times reported this week. —IANS
Amul Thapar (Photo: IANS)
states including his home state of Kentucky. Considered a conservative, Thapar, 49, had served as a federal prosecutor before President George W. Bush appointed him a judge of the federal court for Eastern Kentucky by in 2007. Thapar has the backing of Mitch McConnell, the influential Senate
NEW YORK: Trump has appointed an Indian-American official, Raj Shah, to a key role in the contentious process of the appointment of the next justice of the Supreme Court, the White House announced. Shah will take leave from the position of Trump’s Deputy Principal Press Secretary to concentrate on getting the President’s nominee through the Senate approval
Majority Leader from Kentucky, for the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy last month. “I think he’s absolutely brilliant, with the right temperament,” McConnell said. The Washington Post said Trump’s meeting with Thapar “was described by several White House
Raj Shah (Photo: IANS)
aides as both a gesture of respect for the Senate GOP leader and evidence that he is in serious contention”. He is the second Indian-American judge to be a leading contender for the Supreme Court showing the community’s reach across both parties and its influence. Washington Appeals Court
Arrest in threats to kill Pai’s children ARUL LOUIS, NEW YORK
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person has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill the children of Ajit Pai, the head of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), according to a court document. The person identified as Markara Man made the threat in
emails sent to Pai, one of the senior officials in President Donald Trump’s administration, because he was angry that the FCC had repealed net neutrality, the affidavit filed in connection with the case by a law enforcement in a Virginia court said. The arrest was disclosed last week in a press release from the Department of Justice that only said that
Ajit Pai (Photo: IANS)
the threat was made to his family members, but the court document specified that they were his children. The threat is a sign of the extreme polarization of the US society.
process, White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders said. “Raj Shah will oversee communications, strategy and messaging coordination with Capitol Hill allies,” Sanders said in her statement. Getting a successor to Justice Anthony Kennedy approved by the Senate before the current session ends this year is a crucial task for Trump. —IANS
Judge Sri Srinivasan was among the top choices considered by then President Barack Obama for the Supreme Court in 2016. Obama ultimately picked Merrick Garland but McConnell blocked the nomination refusing to take it up for Senate’s consideration citing the presidential election coming up later that year. Maxine Waters, a leading Democratic Party member of Congress, issued a call to her supporters to harass officials of the Trump administration and later warned in a TV interview, “The people are going to turn on them.” Man’s threat was, however, made in December last year, before the instigation by Waters. Some Democratic Party leaders like Senator Chuck Scheumer have distanced themselves from Waters. In June last year a Democratic Party supporter shot and wounded Republican Party Whip Steve Scalise and was himself killed by police before he could harm other Republican legislators at a preparation for a charity baseball game.
IIT Kharagpur to honor 13 illustrious alumni IANS, KHARAGPUR
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IT Kharagpur will honor thirteen alumni with the Distinguished Alumnus Award during its 64th Convocation on July 20, the institute said in a statement. The profiles of awardees include top academicians and eminent scientists in India and abroad, a defense professional and a social contributor, it said. Among the awardees from academia are Ashim Kumar Datta of Cornell University, an expert in the physics of food, Chaitali Chakrabarti of Arizona State University, an expert in VLSI, and Narayan B.T. Mandayam of Rutgers University, an expert in wireless
IIT Kharagpur. (File Photo: IANS)
information network. Ramesh Jain of University of California, Irvine, who is also an entrepreneur driven by his interests in real time data, perception, and social networks, Sudipta Seal of University of Central Florida, a
global champion in ceramics, AHaresh Lalvani of Pratt Institute, an artist-inventor and globally renowned architect and Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharyya, Director, IIT Patna, also figure in the list. Among the outstanding contrib-
utors from the field of industrial research and development are V. Narayanan, Director, LPSC at ISRO, an expert in cryogenic rocket propulsion technology, Samir V. Kamat, Director General, Naval Systems and Materials at DRDO, Santanu Chaudhury, Director, CSIR-CEERI, Pilani and Parag V. Havaldar, who was awarded Oscar in Technical category last year. The award list includes exemplary achievers such as Lt Gen Utpal Bhattacharyya (retd), a 1971 and Kargil war hero and management expert, and Swami Smaranananda, monk, yoga guru and General Secretary of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India Paramahansa Yogananda Path, Ranchi.