Biden picks retired Army general Lloyd Austin as first Black Pentagon chief
Washington, Dec 8: US President-elect Joe Biden has selected retired Army general Lloyd Austin to be the first African-American secretary of defense, according to media reports.
If confirmed by the Senate, the 67-year-old career military officer would be the first African-American to lead the Department of Defence.
The office of the President-elect did not confirm the news, but said Biden will announce additional members of his Cabinet before Christmas, including his nominee for Secretary of Defence and members of his economic and domestic cabinet before the end of this week.
Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin, once viewed as a long-shot candidate to be President-elect Joe Biden's defence secretary, has been chosen to lead the Pentagon, Politico reported on Monday.
Biden has selected retired Austin, the former commander of US Central Command, to be his secretary of defence, the CNN also reported, quoting a source familiar with the decision.
Biden's decision to pick Austin comes amidst increasing pressure from the African Americans to name one of them to the top four positions -- Secretary of State, Treasury Secretary, Defence Secretary and Attorney General, according to political observers.
Austin was the Commander of the US Central Command from 2013 to 2016. In this position, he closely interacted with the top Pakistani military leadership.
If nominated by Biden, he would be the second Defence Secretary after James Mattis in four years to require Congressional waiver to head the position. Mattis, a retired US Marine Corps general, served as the defence secretary from January 2017 through January 2019.
As per rules, a former member of the military should be out of uniform at least seven years before serving as defence secretary. The laws were meant to preserve the civilian nature of the Department of Defence.
Austin in 2012 also served as the first African-American vice chief of staff of the Army. A year later, he assumed charge of the US Central Command.
Austin retired from the Army in 2016.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
