
Usha Vance is the 4th person of South Asian descent to be part of the 2024 presidential campaign. Why that matters
CNN
Asian American political activists hope the increase in representation will correspond with a push to connect with a voting bloc that has long been overlooked.
Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar was filled with pride Monday night as Donald Trump made his highly anticipated announcement of who would be his running mate in the 2024 election. But it wasn’t Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s name alone that elicited the reaction for the founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition and the chair of the Hindu and Indian Coalition of the Republican National Committee. It was Vance’s wife, Usha, a 38-year-old Yale graduate and the daughter of Indian immigrants. “Hindus have come a long way,” Kumar said, noting the growth of their population and political power since he moved to the United States in the late ‘60s. “It’s about time,” he said, adding the Vances “are going to represent a new generation of Americans.” The 2024 presidential campaign has seen three politicians of South Asian descent vying for the White House: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy both competed during the Republican primaries, while Vice President Kamala Harris is running for a second term with President Joe Biden. On Tuesday night, both Haley and Ramaswamy are expected to throw their support behind the Trump-Vance ticket during prime-time speeches at the Republican National Convention.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









