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Biden signs landmark gun reforms law

The bill, called “The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act”, follows national outrage and frustration felt after killings of 10 African Americans in Buffalo, New York and 19 children at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas just 10 days apart in recent weeks, reports Yashwant Raj

US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a legislation that makes modest changes in the gun laws of the country but marks a significant step on reforms in decades.

“Nothing is going to fill that void in their hearts,” Biden said of survivors and relatives of gun violence victims. “But they lead the way so other families will not have the experience with pain and trauma that they have to live through.”

“Their message to us was to do something. How many times have you heard that? Just do something? For God’s sake, just do something. Well, today, we did,” he added.

The bill, called “The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act”, follows national outrage and frustration felt after killings of 10 African Americans in Buffalo, New York and 19 children at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas just 10 days apart in recent weeks.

Passed by the US Senate on Thursday and the House of Representatives on Friday, it expands background checks for prospective buyers between 18 and 21 � both the Buffalo and Uvalde shooters were 18, includes abusive dating partners in the list of those who could be prevented from buying guns, and, finally, it seeks to incentivise states to introduce red-flag laws that would allows law enforcement or relatives to prevent guns from falling in the hands of people who could harm either themselves or others.

The bill also seeks to pump in $15 billion into school safety and mental health care.

The bill was negotiated by 10 Republican and 10 Democratic Senators and passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan voting, as many Republicans � but not all � joined their Democratic colleagues to beak a decades-long logjam that prevented reforms; the last successful effort was in 1994 when assault weapons were banned.

College student Jennifer Estrada takes part in a rally for gun control and anti-racism, in El Paso of Texas, the United States. (Xinhua_Wang Ying_IANS)

“This vote shows that Senators can and will come together to find common ground on lifesaving issues,” Sandy Hook Promise, an advocacy formed by the parents of the children killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre of 2013, said in a statement after the Senate vote on Thursday. “It is not a choice between protecting our children and communities and preserving the Second Amendment. We can do both.”

“With this bipartisan package, we take the first steps to fight back on behalf of the American people, who desperately want new measures to keep communities safe in the high numbers in the polling,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the floor of the House on Friday. “To those who lacked the courage to join in this work, I say your political survival is insignificant compared to the survival of our children.”

Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the US Senate, had said: “This is the sweet spot… making America safer, especially for kids in school, without making our country one bit less free.”

He added: “I thought it was time to act, and if (Democrats) were willing to join with us and pass legislation that actually targeted the problem, which is school safety and mental health, why would we not want to do that?”

ALSO READ: US Supreme Court ends constitutional right to abortion

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-Top News Business USA

Biden warns inflation could last ‘for a while’, blames Putin

The consumer price index (CPI) in May rose 1 per cent from April after increasing 0.3 per cent in April, reports Asian Lite News

US President Joe Biden on Friday cautioned citizens that inflation could last “for a while” after data showed that politically sensitive price pressures unexpectedly accelerated in recent weeks, media reported.

During a Democratic fundraising event in Beverly Hills, Biden said: “We’re gonna live with this inflation for a while. It’s gonna come down gradually, but we’re going to live with it for a while.”

US consumer inflation in May surged 8.6 per cent from a year ago, indicating inflation remains elevated despite the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes, the US Labor Department reported.

“I understand Americans are anxious, and they’re anxious for a good reason,” Bloomberg quoted Biden as saying at the Port of Los Angeles.

“We’ve never seen anything like Putin’s tax on both food and gas,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But he added: “America can tackle inflation from a position of strength better than any country in the world.”

The consumer price index (CPI) in May rose 1 per cent from April after increasing 0.3 per cent in April, according to the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The May CPI surged 8.6 per cent from 2021, a larger increase compared with the 8.3-per cent growth in April, marking the third straight month of inflation over 8 per cent. The March figure was 8.5 per cent.

The May CPI was the largest 12-month increase since the period ending December 1981. Headline CPI has remained over 6 per cent year-on-year since October 2021, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although price growth has started to show signs of easing, the latest data is a stark reminder that the Fed has a long way ahead as it aims to bring elevated inflation under control.

The central bank raised its target federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point from near zero in March, beginning its tightening cycle to curb the surging inflation. In May, the Fed increased the rate by half a percentage point and has signaled more half-point hikes going forward, stoking recession fears.

The so-called core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.6 per cent in May following a 0.6-per cent growth in April. Core CPI jumped 6 per cent over the last 12 months, after climbing 6.2 per cent in April.

The increase in prices was broad-based, with the indexes for shelter (which includes rents and homeownership costs), gasoline, and food being the largest contributors, according to the BLS report.

After declining in April, the energy index rose 3.9 per cent over the month with the gasoline index rising 4.1 per cent. The energy index rose 34.6 per cent over the last year, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending September 2005.

The food index, meanwhile, rose 1.2 per cent in May as the food at home index increased 1.4 per cent. The food index increased 10.1 per cent for the 12-months ending May, the first increase over 10 per cent since the period ending March 1981.

ALSO READ: Biden says Zelensky rejected US intel on Russian invasion

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-Top News Europe USA

Biden says Zelensky rejected US intel on Russian invasion

President Volodymyr Zelensky did not want to hear that Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine after inputs were collected by the US intelligence, US President Joe Biden said in a startling revelation.

“Nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating. But I knew we had data to sustain he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) was going to go in, off the border,” President Biden was quoted as saying in reports at a Democratic fundraiser in Washington.

“There was no doubt,” Biden said. “And Zelensky didn’t want to hear it.”

Although President Zelensky has inspired people with his leadership during the war, his preparation for the invasion — or lack thereof — has remained a controversial issue, AP reported.

Ahead of the start of the invasion, which Russia still calls a “special military operation”, on February 24, the US-led West had repeatedly warned about the military build up near the Ukraine border.

The Western leaders have repeatedly urged Putin for a de-escalation in tensions. However, the Russian President launched a surprise offensive, triggering shock worldwide.

Earlier on Friday, Kyiv expressed concerns that the West may lost interest if the conflict lingers, “The fatigue is growing, people want some kind of outcome (that is beneficial) for themselves, and we want (another) outcome for ourselves,” Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the country is losing upto 200 troops a day while fighting on the front line with Russian forces.

According to the aide Mykhaylo Podolyak, hundreds of Ukrainian troops are under relentless bombardment as Russian forces attempt to take control of the whole of th eastern Donbas region, the BBC reported on Friday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo: Instagram)

While reiterating that Ukraine still requires Western artillery, he said: “The Russian forces have thrown pretty much everything non-nuclear at the front and that includes heavy artillery, multiple rocket launch systems and aviation.”

Podolyak added that the “complete lack of parity” between the two rival armies was the reason for Ukraine’s heavy casualty rate.

“Our demands for artillery are not just some kind of whim, but an objective need when it comes to the situation on the battlefield,” the BBC quoted the aide as saying, who went on to add that Kiev needs 150-300 rocket launch systems to match Russia, which is a much higher number than it has received so far.

He also stressed that peace talks between Kiev and Moscow can resume if Russia surrendered the territory it has gained since it launched the invasion on February 24.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have concentrated their assault on the eastern city of Severodonetsk.

On Wednesday, President Zelensky said “the fate of the Donbas is being decided there” and officials said it has been reduced to rubble by intense Russian artillery and missile barrages.

ALSO READ: Russia holds Baltic drill amid NATO exercises

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-Top News USA

Biden to hold call with allies to discuss Ukraine

Washington has sent four planes loaded with security assistance to Ukraine over the weekend and made one more delivery on Monday, as per Psaki…reports Asian Lite News

US President Joe Biden will hold a call with allies to discuss the Ukraine crisis, including on how to coordinate on holding Russia accountable, according to the White House.

“The President will convene a secure video call with allies and partners to discuss our continued support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable as part of our close coordination,” it said in a statement.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will also take part in the video call with President Biden and other leaders, Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan Hirokazu Matsuno said on Tuesday.

“Participation of Prime Minister Kishida in this conversation is planned. We intend to express our firm position on the situation in Ukraine,” Matsuno said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday said that Biden has no plans to visit Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“There are no plans for the President to go,” Psaki said regarding the Biden administration’s plans to send a high-level US official to Kiev soon.

The US earlier had announced to provide Ukraine with an additional 800 million US dollars’ worth of military aid including heavy artillery as Washington anticipated a “wider assault” by Russia in eastern Ukraine.

Today, Washington has sent four planes loaded with security assistance to Ukraine over the weekend and made one more delivery on Monday, as per Psaki.

“There were four planes that arrived of military assistance over the course of the weekend, another one is supposed to arrive today if it hasn’t already from the US 800 million package the President announced,” Psaki said during a press briefing on Monday.

The United States remains the largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine among the 30 allies supporting the country.

Washington has committed more than USD 3.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. Approximately USD 2.6 billion of the total amount was approved since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine at the end on February, according to the Defense Department.

The US military assistance includes lethal weapons such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Javelin anti-armor systems, Howitzers and artillery rounds, Mi-17 helicopters, small arms and ammunition, drones, radar devices, among other equipment, according to Sputnik.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. In response, the West rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow, which includes airspace closures and restrictive measures targeting numerous Russian officials and entities, media and financial institutions.

Japan has sanctioned 499 Russian individuals, including top-level officials and businesspersons, nine banks and about 40 organizations. Moreover, 130 Russian entities were banned from exports of semiconductors, lasers, software, jet engines and oil refinery equipment. Japan has also banned the exports of luxury goods to Russia.

ALSO READ-Russia a terror sponsor? 

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Biden calls Putin ‘a butcher’

After initially looking to downplay a personal rivalry between himself and Putin, Biden has ramped up his rhetoric against Putin over the last 10 days, reports Asian Lite News

US President Joe Biden on Saturday called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “butcher” after meeting refugees in Warsaw, Poland, in an intense criticism of the Russian leader’s actions in Ukraine that have seen millions of refugees flee to the neighbouring countries, CNN reported.

During his visit, Biden was asked by reporters what seeing the Ukrainian refugees at Stadion Narodowy made him think of as he deals with Putin every day.

Biden responded: “He’s a butcher”, CNN reported.

After initially looking to downplay a personal rivalry between himself and Putin, Biden has ramped up his rhetoric against Putin over the last 10 days.

Last week, Biden for the first time called Putin a “war criminal” and then later referred to him as a “murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine”.

He has also called the Russian invasion of Ukraine “inhumane”, CNN reported.

Biden’s new insults further narrow the window of opportunity for improving Russian-American relations. This was stated by the press secretary of Putin, Dmitry Peskov, RT reported.

“Of course, such personal insults narrow the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current administration of the US. We must be aware of this,” he was quoted as saying.

Peskov noted that the leader of the state must remain sober.

ALSO READ: Ukraine War Hits Regional Equations

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-Top News Europe USA

Biden terms Putin ‘war criminal’

Biden’s remark did not go down well with Russia, which may further escalate diplomatic tensions amid the ongoing war….reports Asian Lite News

For the first time since Moscow waged its war on Kiev on February 24, US President Joe Biden called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” as the latter is “inflicting appalling devastation and horror on Ukraine”.

Biden made the remarks while responding to a reporter’s question at the White House on Wednesday, the BBC reported.

When the reporter asked the President is he was ready to call Putin a “war criminal”, Biden responded by saying: “Did you ask me whether I would tell ….? Oh, I think he is a war criminal.”

Later in a tweet, the American leader said: “Putin is inflicting appalling devastation and horror on Ukraine – bombing apartment buildings and maternity wards.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), we saw reports that Russian forces were holding hundreds of doctors and patients hostage. These are atrocities. It is an outrage to the world.”

Addressing reporters at the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden’s branding of Putin as a “war criminal” came as the US President “had been speaking from his heart and speaking from what he’s seen on television, which is barbaric actions by a brutal dictator, through his invasion of a foreign country”.

“There is a legal process that continues to — is underway, continues to be underway at the State Department. That’s a process that they would have any updates on,” she added.

But Biden’s remark did not go down well with Russia, which may further escalate diplomatic tensions amid the ongoing war.

“We believe such rhetoric to be unacceptable and unforgivable on the part of the head of a state, whose bombs have killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world,” the BBC quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying to Russia’s state-run TASS News Agency.

ALSO READ: India in touch with France on Russia-Ukraine mediation

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-Top News USA

Biden to deliver State of the Union address on March 1

This year’s address would be Biden’s first formal State of the Union, when the president typically speaks about the past year’s accomplishments and the agenda for the coming year, reports Asian Lite News

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Joe Biden to deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1.

“Indeed, this past year has been historic: with the life-saving American Rescue Plan, once-in-a-century Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and, soon, the truly transformational Build Back Better Act,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Biden.

“In that spirit, I am writing to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 1, to share your vision of the State of the Union,” Pelosi wrote.

During his address to a joint session of Congress last April, Biden rolled out his administration’s top legislative priorities and touted the achievements in his first nearly 100 days in office, Xinhua news agency reported.

But this year’s address would be his first formal State of the Union, when the president typically speaks about the past year’s accomplishments and the agenda for the coming year.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with President Joe Biden (Photo: Twitter@SpeakerPelosi)

Over the past year, Biden signed a $1.9-trillion Covid-19 relief package and a roughly $1-trillion infrastructure investment bill. But his Build Back Better (BBB) agenda, a roughly $2-trillion social spending and climate bill, has hit a major roadblock in the Senate.

“Instead of abandoning BBB altogether, perhaps Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration will return in January and attempt to slim down the package while making all the policies that remain permanent,” said Michael Pugliese and Karl Vesely, economic analysts at Wells Fargo Securities.

“There is no hard procedural deadline for BBB on the horizon, but the first quarter of the year will probably determine whether it becomes law or not,” they noted.

Since the inauguration of former President Ronald Reagan in 1981, US presidents have not delivered the State of the Union the year they left office or were inaugurated, primarily because a president can’t really speak about the state of the country just a few weeks in office, according to local media.

ALSO READ: Biden blames Trump for Capitol riot

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Our democracy faces the gravest danger – by Dr Alon Ben-Meir

Unless the Republicans and Democrats put the nation above their party and personal interests, our democracy will face the gravest danger in more than a hundred years. Authoritarianism will creep in, leading to the collapse of American political institutions and the demise of our democracy as we know it, writes Dr Alon Ben-Meir

On January 6, Trump was planning to hold a press conference during which he was expected to repeat lies for the hundredth time that the election in 2020 was stolen, that the insurrection a year ago was actually peaceful, and that he – not Biden – is the duly-elected president. He canceled the press conference at the urging of the GOP and now is expected to instead spread these lies at his Arizona rally next week. He will, needless to say, remain true to himself and deny any wrongdoing and blame the Democrats for persistently undermining his presidency as well as for all the ills that face America today.

Trump is uniquely dangerous; he wants to solidify his absolute control over the Republican Party, rouse his followers, instill hatred of the Democrats, and of course raise enough money for his re-election campaign should he decide to run again. Moreover, the Arizona rally will be his first foray into the mid-term elections designed to rouse the rank-and-file of the Republican Party to recapture the House and the Senate as the forerunner to the 2024 election.

Supporters of then U.S. President Donald Trump gather near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 6, 2021. (Xinhua_Liu Jie)

The tragic aspect of the Trump phenomenon is that the elected leaders of the Republican Party continue to follow him religiously, regardless of the fact that he is corrupt, was defeated in re-election as an incumbent, was impeached twice, and faces several criminal charges. Indeed, no former president in American history has been able to maintain his grip on his party the way Trump has. And no Republican Party has abdicated its moral and constitutional responsibilities and willingly succumbed to a deranged egomaniac, misogynist, and habitual liar. How could this happen, and why? The answer is Trump’s and the Republicans’ voracious lust for power.

ALSO READ: Biden’s disapproval now hits new high

The Republican Party has become a minority party and there is no circumstance under which the party can win nationally in a free and fair election. Demographically, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and other minorities currently represent more than 40 percent of the American population, and it is estimated that by 2045 they will become the majority, who largely vote for Democrats. Collectively, even at the present they can deny the Republican Party from ever capturing the White House again if they go out and vote en masse.

(Image via IANS)

The Republican Party faces two choices: one is to adapt to the changing demographic reality and develop socio-economic programs that respond to the needs of people of color (POC) without sacrificing much of their conservative ideology. This includes lowering taxes, particularly for those who earn less than $200,000 a year, immigration reform, which the Republican Party has long-acknowledged needs addressing and will help in outreach especially to Hispanic voters, and supporting minority small business owners with tax breaks and other financial incentives, which won’t incur further government spending.

The second choice is to prevent or make it extremely difficult for POC to exercise their right to vote through a variety of deplorable measures. One state after another is passing discriminatory rules, including gerrymandering districts on racial lines, restricting early voting, which disproportionately affects Black Americans who are more likely than any other ethnic or racial group to cast early ballots (whether in-person or by mail and absentee ballots), enacting voter ID laws even though voter impersonation fraud is exceedingly rare and those who don’t have valid ID are disproportionately POC, and empower state legislators to invert their own elections and manipulate the electoral college to their advantage.

Sadly, if not tragically, the Republican Party went for the latter option. Many Republicans simply believe that POC are illegitimate citizens and should not be able to vote and have the power, as they fear accurately or otherwise, to enact laws against whites, the way whites have enacted discriminatory laws against POC. America, from their perspective, was founded by white people, and the thought that the US is becoming browner every passing day scares them to the core. They needed a leader who is a bigot, shameless, and crude, with no scruples and no morals, but audacious—a performer with the ability to sway large audiences with his lies and sneering face. The Republicans need him to promote their agenda without fear of public repercussions, and he needs the party to satisfy his ego in order to exercise raw power, and also grant him its full support should he decide to run again.

We are still reeling from the violent storming of the Capitol on January 6 to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Trump, who incited his followers to attack the Capitol, was ready to shatter our democracy only to bask in his authoritarian impulse. What does that say about the Republican Party, which largely ignored or downplayed the insurrection in its determination to seize power and chose chaos and violence over voting, even at the expense of tearing our democratic institutions apart? How ironic and deeply troubling that 52 percent of Republicans say that the insurrectionists were trying to protect democracy.

ALSO READ: SPECIAL 2022: Bigger Crisis Awaits Biden in 2022

The most ominous note that must be repeated loud and clear is that the party under the leadership of Trump will incite violence should they fail to win the 2022 election, as anyone who carefully listens to the many utterances spewed by reckless Republicans leaders can discern with clarity. In that context, although Trump during his rally will not openly encourage his followers to resort to violence to undo the result of the election, the message to them will be loud and clear.

It is hard to exaggerate the transformation of the Republican Party since the rise of Trump in 2016, from a patriotic party that stood for democracy to a white supremacist party willing to destroy it only to stay in power. Many thousands of Republican leaders should follow the footsteps of Representative Liz Cheney, who stood up against Trump and in favor of the truth, and still rescue our democracy by accepting reality and being truthful with their followers.

The election of Biden gave the country hope of preserving our democracy and attending to the political and social malaise that swept the nation, especially during Trump’s tenure in the White House. But to address these ills, the Democrats must spare no effort to hold onto the House and Senate in the 2022 mid-term election, as these will be the most consequential in more than a century. Indeed, should the Republicans manage to recapture both chambers of Congress, our democracy will slide toward the precipice of disintegration while authoritarianism creeps in, and Biden’s agenda will be shattered.

The Democrats have their work cut out for them. They must rise in unison, which is bitterly still missing, stop short of nothing to strengthen voting rights, prevent the appointment of partisans to subvert the election, fight political corruption at every level, make political power decreasingly dependent on money, get out the vote, and eliminate the filibuster to pass the voting rights bill. Furthermore, they must hold accountable the traitors behind the insurrection on January 6, including Trump.

Democrats and the millions of law-abiding Republicans should sound the alarm before it’s too late, and never waver to preserve and protect America’s 244-year-old democracy that served as a beacon of hope and freedom to the global community.

(Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.)

ALSO READ: Biden blames Trump for Capitol riot

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-Top News PAKISTAN USA

Pakistan humiliated by futile attempts to get phone call from Biden

Foreign Office was of the opinion that the matter of phone call should be dropped, but this view was not taken into consideration and Pakistan’s efforts to establish contact between Biden and Imran Khan continued, the report said

Pakistan’s unsuccessful efforts to convince the Americans for a phone call from US President Joe Biden have humiliated the country at the international level, Friday Times reported.

After Biden was sworn-in in January this year, no contact was established between him and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, as is the diplomatic tradition.

Pakistani officials made attempts at the diplomatic level to establish this contact, but the efforts remained futile. The US reportedly was conveyed the message that Imran Khan was ready to initiate the phone call, but American officials still remained unmoved, the report said.

US President Joe Biden (Twitter@POTUS)

The Pakistan government and its establishments were told by the country’s Foreign Office that Pakistan was in touch with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, intelligence authorities and other US officials, which meant Biden’s reluctance to call Imran Khan did not make much of a difference.

The Foreign Office was of the opinion that the matter of phone call should be dropped, but this view was not taken into consideration and Pakistan’s efforts to establish contact between Biden and Imran Khan continued, the report said.

Sources at the Pakistan Foreign Office said that the last attempt it made to get Biden to talk to Imran Khan was in March this year. All efforts thereafter made in this regard were the establishment’s initiative, the report said.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman meets with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Last week, a four-member delegation of the US Congress had met Imran Khan. The Pakistan Foreign Office had strongly advised the Prime Minister not to mention the phone call issue during the meeting.

However, sources said that efforts towards securing a phone call from the US President continue despite the Foreign Office’s position against it, the report said.

ALSO READ: Pakistan Raps West For Boycotting Winter Olympics in China

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Indian-origin Gautam Raghavan elevated to key WH post

Gautam Raghavan was the first employee hired by Biden’s Transition Team and served as the deputy head of presidential appointments, reports Asian Lite News

Catherine Russel, head of the White House personnel office, has been appointed Executive Director of Unicef and Indian-origin Gautam Raghavan will be her replacement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Thursday that he was appointing Russel to head the UN arm devoted to the welfare of children, and almost simultaneously US President Joe Biden appointed Raghavan to succeed her at the White House.

Russel follows another American, Henrietta Fore, who became the head of Unicef in 2018 and quit this year.

The job of Unicef head has traditionally gone to Americans, whose government is the largest contributor to the organisation. (In 2020, Washington provided $801 million of the $7 billion contributions it received.)

Raghavan was Russel’s Deputy at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel which is in charge of vetting and recruiting political appointees to about 4,000 jobs that are not career civil service positions.

Biden said that his appointment will ensure a “seamless transition that will enable us to continue building a federal workforce that is efficient, effective, dependable, and diverse”.

Raghavan was the first employee hired by Biden’s Transition Team and served as the deputy head of presidential appointments, according to the White House.

From there he went on to become deputy director of the personnel office with the title of deputy assistant to the President.

The Stanford University graduate was born in India and grew up in Seattle.

He is openly gay, and according to the White House “he lives with his husband and their daughter in Washington”.

He worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement as liaison to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community as well as the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the administration of former President Barack Obama.

Gautam Raghavan
Gautam Raghavan (Image Credit: Twitter)

He has been an adviser to the Biden Foundation.

His resume includes a stint as the chief of staff for Pramila Jayapal, the Indian-origin Democratic member of the House of Representatives who is the chair of the leftist group of lawmakers known as the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

In her long political and administrative career, Russell has been the US Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, associate deputy attorney general and an adviser on women’s issues to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

ALSO READ: Biden urges world leaders to safeguard democracy