PERSONS MAY 2010

PERSONS MAY 2010

• Germany's President Horst Koehler resigned after criticism of comments he made about the country's mission in Afghanistan. 
• S. Ramakrishnan, Director (Projects), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, has been appointed Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 
• Person of Indian Origin Dolar Amarshi Popat has been nominated by U.K Prime Minister David Cameron to the House of Lords. 
• The U.S government appointed Indian-American Kshemendra Paul to a key IT position, making him head of the Programme Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE) agency that facilitates the sharing and access of terrorism-related information within various wings of the U.S. government. 
• Neeraj Patil, a leading NRI doctor, has been elected Mayor of the Borough of Lambeth in London. 
• The 13-year-old Jordan Romero became the youngest climber of the tallest mountain in the world,Mount Everest. 
• Film personality Tapen Chattopadhyay(72), famous for his role as Goopi in Satyajit Ray's classic Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen (Goopi the singer Bagha the drummer), died of chronic pulmonary ailment in Kolkata. 
• Commander Dilip Donde became the first Indian to circumnavigate the world solo in the boat INSV (Indian Naval Sailing Vessel) Mhadei, covering about 21,600 nautical miles (38,880 km) under sail. 
• India-born Scot John Shepherd-Barron(84), inventor of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), died after a short illness in London. 
• Ratan Kumar Sinha, who is closely associated with the design and development of the country's first thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, will be the new director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). 
• The former Vice-President and three-time Chief Minister of Rajasthan in the past, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat died in Jaipur following cardiac arrest. 
• Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India. 
• The Centre decided to appoint Shantha Sinha as chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for the second term.
• Veteran actor Mac Mohan(71) who was part of blockbusters like Sholay, Zanjeer, Don, Majboor died of cancer .
• Shabana Mahmood, the Labour candidate for Birmingham Ladywood, in central England, and Yasmin Qureshi, Labour candidate for Bolton South East, in the north-west, became Britain's first women Muslim MPs.
• The former Union Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani, was elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
• Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as the President of Nigeria, hours after the death of incumbent Umaru Yar'Adua.
• Dr. Shah Faesal became the first from Kashmir to top the civil services examination 2009 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.
• Indian-origin professor Nitin Nohria has been appointed as the 10th Dean of the Harvard Business School (HBS) making him the first member from the community to occupy the post.
• Indian scientist Goverdhan Mehtahas been selected to be part of the 12-member committee to review the procedures of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has appointed Atul Khare of India as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.