Indian-American engineer announces 2020 Congressional bid from New Jersey
New York: A 33-year-old Indian-American engineer has announced to challenge the Democratic senator from New Jersey in 2020.Hirsh Singh, known as a supporter of President Donald Trump, will seek the Republican nomination for the US Senate in 2020 against Cory Booker, according to the New Jersey Globe news website.
Booker has not yet announced if he will run for re-election, although a new law allows him to simultaneously run for president and re-election to the Senate.
Singh, an engineer from Atlantic County who works in the aerospace and defence industries, filed his campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday.
This will be his third bid for public office. He lost the Republican Party primaries for governor in 2017 and Congress in 2018."Booker has brought nothing to New Jersey. Having a US Senator who's not just resisting the president is critical," Singh said.
Singh is the first Republican to announce his intention to challenge Booker, who was re-elected by a 56 per cent to 42 per ent margin in 2014.
He was endorsed by Bill Palatucci, the Republican National Committeeman from New Jersey.Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson said Hirsh is bright, ambitious and extremely focused, Shore News Network reported.
"For as long as I have known him, he has been very interested in serving the community and being involved. He's capable of meeting the uphill challenge that lies ahead of him. Cory Booker is a national name with a lot of money, but Hirsh has a good understanding of what he has to do to win," Levinson said.
Somerset Chairman Al Gaburo said: "Hirsh is a good man who will bring real energy and passion to a United States Senate run. I'm glad he's putting himself forward at this critical time".
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Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
