Archive: The Week

President Trump signed two executive orders on August 6 seeking to limit birthright citizenship, five weeks after the Supreme Court rejected a broader attempt. The first excludes children born to members of foreign terrorist organizations and to certain foreign government employees such as accredited diplomats. The second withholds automatic citizenship where parents traveled to the United States to give birth. On June 30 the Court ruled 6 to 3 against the 2025 order, holding that birthright citizenship could not be redefined by executive action. Legal challenges over the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment are expected.

Source: NPR

The Federation of Indian Associations holds its 44th India Day Parade on August 16, marching down Madison Avenue under the theme Harmony in Heritage. Actor Pooja Hegde and cast members from Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah are set to headline.

Source: New York Latin Culture

Ranjeev Puri, the Michigan House Democratic leader from District 24, won his Democratic primary. Puri has led the House Democratic caucus since 2025.

Source: South Asian Times

Governor Maura Healey and the City of Boston have declared August 15 India Day ahead of India's Independence Day.

Source: Business Standard

The Department of War published a fifth tranche of unresolved Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena files at war.gov/UFO, part of the Trump administration's PURSUE disclosure program that began in May. The White House flagged case DOW-UAP-PR134, an unresolved report from a US Central Command electro-optical and infrared sensor aboard a military platform in the Middle East in 2025. The government labels these cases unresolved, meaning no determination was reached.

Source: U.S. Department of War

Roughly 7,300 Indian tech workers returned to India in the first half of 2026, against 15,100 across all of 2025 and 9,800 in 2024. Arrivals ran the other way, just over 9,100 professionals moved to the United States so far this year, against 21,200 in 2025. Staffing analysts expect returnees to outnumber departures before the year closes. Employers cite H-1B policy uncertainty, including the proposed $100,000 sponsorship fee. Returning workers are being rehired in India at lower salaries.

Source: The Federal

Researchers at Stanford and the Arc Institute, with collaborators at NVIDIA and UC Berkeley, used genome language models to design complete bacteriophage genomes from scratch. Of 302 candidates modeled on the natural phage PhiX174, 16 assembled into working viruses that infected and killed E. coli, several replicating far faster than the natural template, and a cocktail of them overcame bacteria that had grown resistant. The phages do not infect humans. The work, led by Brian Hie, published in Science on August 6. The authors and outside scientists flagged the biosecurity implications alongside the therapeutic promise.

Source: CNN

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, declaring that an armed attack on any one of the three is an attack on all. It was signed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and it brings together oil wealth, NATO's second-largest army, and a nuclear power. It extends the 2025 Saudi-Pakistan pact and lands during the Iran conflict.

Source: Al Jazeera

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on August 6. The two reviewed progress in the India-Israel Special Strategic Partnership and exchanged views on West Asia, with cooperation cited across trade, defense, technology, and agriculture. India and Israel concluded a second round of free-trade talks in July.

Source: ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the convocation ceremony at IIT Delhi on August 8, citing the institution's record in research and innovation. The IITs remain the single largest feeder of Indian talent into American technology, which places the address inside the same week's argument about where that talent now chooses to work.

Source: Press Information Bureau

Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth has become the first woman fighter pilot to complete the Fighter Combat Leader course at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment in Gwalior, the Indian Air Force's most selective combat qualification. The course runs roughly five months and takes about one in a hundred IAF fighter pilots. Kanth, an engineering graduate from Darbhanga in Bihar, was commissioned in June 2016 in India's first batch of women fighter pilots alongside Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh. She flies the Sukhoi-30MKI.

Source: The Week

LT Foods has named celebrity chef Ranveer Brar the brand ambassador for Daawat, its flagship basmati line, anchoring a new Daawat Delight campaign built around its flavor-absorption pitch. The campaign runs across television, digital, and social.

Source: Social Samosa

Comedian Zarna Garg appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on August 4, flying in around a sold-out international tour that opens with four London shows.

Source: NBC The Tonight Show

Freebowler, the Shark Tank-featured startup, hosts a free social on August 9 at Heavy Hitters Athletic Facility in Milwaukee, where anyone can face a real bowling machine. The event runs through gener8tor's gBETA program.

Source: Eventbrite

Pallavi Mukhija, a Jalandhar-born registered nurse now settled in Canada, was crowned Mrs Canada World 2026 at the July 25 pageant in Surrey, British Columbia. She works in long-term care and campaigns on senior mental health.

Source: The Tribune

The BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey, the largest Hindu temple outside India since its 2023 dedication, is opening a museum of interactive exhibits on Hindu history, teachings, and India's civilizational legacy.

Source: BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham

Nathan Thomas, 18, is recognized by Guinness World Records as the youngest professor on record, breaking a mark that had stood roughly 306 years. He teaches engineering at Miami Dade College, where he first enrolled at age 10 before earning electrical-engineering degrees at Florida International University. He now studies law at the University of Miami while teaching online.

Source: NBC News

Aziz Ansari headlines Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on October 15, his first show in the city.

Source: BrooklynVegan

Atifa Arshad drew attention at the London Spider-Man premiere in a black-and-crimson spiderweb sari designed by Rita Qaranbach, with jewels by Sokora.

Source: The Express Tribune

Rolling Stone India speaks with producers V.G. Jairam, V.G. Jaishankar, and Neale Murray on creating Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience, extending a tradition they have worked on for more than 15 years.

Source: Rolling Stone India

Utsav Sunil Kumar of Heritage High School in Frisco was one of five students on Team USA at the 2026 International Economics Olympiad in Shenzhen. In the first year the US competed in person, the team placed sixth of 52 in the international business case competition.

Source: New Jersey Stage

The Federation of Indian Associations says the Empire State Building will light in India's green, white, and orange at sundown on August 15 for the 80th Independence Day, alongside a Times Square flag hoisting. FIA has run the lighting with the building since 2014.

Source: India Currents

NY Dosas, the vegan South Indian cart run by Thiru Kumar in Washington Square Park since 2001, has crossed 50,000 followers on Instagram.

Source: Instagram

Singh Tower, a 30-story luxury residential building, has opened in Jersey City's Journal Square, with 115 condominiums and 87 rentals and views toward the Manhattan skyline.

Source: Jersey Digs