News & Current Events

[ad_1] Mahendra Patel, an Indian-origin engineer, has been granted bail in a high-profile 'attempt to kidnap' case in Georgia. After spending 49 days at the Cobb County Jail in Georgia, Indian-origin engineer Mahendra Patel was granted a $10,000 bond on Tuesday in the high-profile Walmart 'attempt to kidnap' case in which Patel was 'wrongly' arrested and incarcerated. On March 18, Mahendra Patel went to the Cobb County Walmart looking for Tylenol medicine for his mother. He asked a woman, Caroline Miller, for help. Miller was on a motorized cart with her two children. When Miller showed him the direction where he would find his medicine, Patel grabbed her two-year-old son in an attempt to kidnap him; Miller accused. But Patel said he was just making sure that the child did not fall. Patel was arrested after Miller lodged a complaint […]

[ad_1] Dr Vinay Prasad will be FDA's top vaccine regulator. Controversial oncoologist-haematologist Vinay Prasad will be the FDA's top vaccine regulator. Apart from his extensive research and contribution in the field of oncology, he is known for his scathing remarks against the FDA and US health policies. FDA Commissioner Martin Makary announced Prasad’s appointment as the new director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees review of vaccines, blood products and some genetic medicines.“Dr Prasad brings the kind of scientific rigor, independence, and transparency we need at CBER—a significant step forward,” Makary wrote in a post on the social media site X.In recent years, Prasad has become a regular on podcasts associated with Health Secretary Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.Prasad's criticism of US health policiesDuring the pandemic, Dr Prasad found fault with social distancing and expressed […]

[ad_1] Kash Patel has been accused of being missing in action in FBI, and likely to be spotted more at nightclubs. Amid a major controversy over Indian-origin FBI director Kash Patel attending side activities more than his office, Patel on Tuesday made an X post revealing what he did this weekend. Patel made no reference to the controversy, said he and his team were at the Threat Screening Center this weekend. "One of the first things we did when I was sworn in as Director was to strengthen the TSC's focus on border security, in addition to growing threats abroad. Our team has done tremendous work in this area," Kash Patel wrote as he asked people to apply for FBI jobs.Kash Patel accused of attending nightclubs more than FBI headquarters, using FBI jets for private tripsThere's an overall dissatisfaction towards […]

[ad_1] Representative Image (AI-generated) Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital have agreed to a $750 million settlement of hundreds of sexual abuse claims by patients of disgraced and imprisoned former gynecologist Robert Hadden, bringing total legal payouts in civil cases involving the ex-doctor to over $1 billion, according to the plaintiffs' lawyer. Hadden, now 66, was accused of molesting patients during a decades-long career at prestigious New York City hospitals including Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian. He was convicted by a jury in 2023 of federal sex crime charges and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. The new settlements, approved by a Manhattan judge Monday, come in 576 legal cases against the Ivy League school, the hospital and others over the abuse by Hadden, plaintiffs' attorney Anthony T DiPietro said. "This victory is not just for […]

[ad_1] Filmmaker Mira Nair's son Zohran Mamdani is emerging as a strong contender for the NYC mayoral poll. Kamala Harris's step-daughter Ella Emhoff has officially endorsed Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor. “I’m passing the phone to the next mayor of New York City who’s going to make New York happier, healthier and more affordable,” she said in a “pass the phone” social media trend video before the camera turned to Mamdani.“Grateful for Ella Emhoff’s support in our fight to make New York City more affordable,” Mamdani posted.Who is Indian-American Zohran Mamdani, son of filmmaker Mira Nair?33-year-old Mamdani has an Indian connection like Ella Emhoff's mother Kamala Harris. Mamdani is the son of Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Indian-born Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani. Mira Nair met Mahmood in 1989 in Uganda when Nair was doing the […]

[ad_1] Friedrich Merz was elected as Germany’s new chancellor on Tuesday after winning the second round of voting, just hours after his unprecedented failure to secure a majority in the first ballot. His initial defeat was historic, marking the first time in post-war Germany that a chancellor candidate failed to win in the first round. The conservative leader had been widely expected to win smoothly and become Germany’s 10th chancellor since World War II.In the second round, Merz got 325 votes out of 630, enough to win a clear majority, while 289 voted against him.Despite the initial setback, analysts still believed Merz would become chancellor. “Merz will most likely still be elected as chancellor in the end,” said Holger Schmieding of Berenberg Bank. “But even so, the unprecedented failure to be elected in the first round would still be a […]

[ad_1] Pro-Palestine protesters occupied a building partially funded by Boeing at the University of Washington Monday. The University of Washington witnessed a major protest leading to the arrest of over two dozen pro-Palestinian protestersafter they occupied an engineering building of the university, partially funded by Boeing, demanding that the university sever its ties with Boeing, as it is supplying weapons used in Gaza.Videos of masked protesters vandalizing the campus are viral.Victor Balta, a spokesperson for the university, said the occupation of the engineering building began after the building closed at 5 pm. “Individuals who mostly covered their faces blocked access to two streets outside the building, blocked entrances and exits to the building and ignited fires in two dumpsters on a street outside,” Balta said in a statement to CNN.Protesters demanded renaming the engineering building after a teenage engineering student […]

[ad_1] Michelle Obama said she takes therapy to prepare herself for a new phase in her life. Former first lady Michelle Obamaadmitted to having been taking therapy to help her tune up for the next phase of her life. he admission came amid speculations over her troubled marriage with former president Barack Obama, though Michelle put the speculations to rest.Then, what's this next phase? Speaking with Jay Shetty, Michelle Obama said that she's transitioning into an empty nester with both her daughters -- Sasha and Malia -- finding their own lives.Michelle Obama has been appearing on several podcasts, including her own, that she does with her brother Craig Robinson -- following a mysterious spell of absence from public life. She missed Jimmy Carter's funeral and then the inauguration of President Donald Trump -- only to fuel speculations that she and […]

[ad_1] German soldiers carry the small coffins with the remains of fallen German soldiers of WWII to the grave during a funeral service at a memorial site for fallen soldiers in Halbe, Germany (Image: AP) 80 years have passed since the second World War came to an end. However, the search for the bodies of fallen soldiers continues. Much work remains to identify the deceased and inform any surviving family members.Last week, in a forest near Berlin, the remains of 107 fallen German soldiers were cremated respectfully with rituals. Hundreds of villagers and relatives looked on as soldiers who died in one of the last big World War II battles, fighting for Hitler’s army, were finally laid to rest.The remains of German soldiers are still being found across Europe in forests, fields and beneath old farmland. Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge (German […]

[ad_1] Relatives of Venezuelan migrants in the US who were flown to a prison in El Salvador by the US government who alleged they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, protest outside of the United Nations building in Caracas, Venezuela (Image: AP) WASHINGTON: US intelligence agencies rejected a claim by President Donald Trump used to justify the deportation of more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador, according to a declassified memo released on Monday.The memo by the National Intelligence Council, dated April 7, shows US spy agencies do not believe Trump's claims that the Tren de Aragua (TDA) criminal gang is linked to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government.Trump had used an obscure wartime law -- the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) -- to deport people he alleged were members of the TDA to a maximum security prison in […]