Chidambaram, who spent the first day of his four-day visit to the US in New York, being briefed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department's intelligence and security units, said at a press briefing at the Indian embassy that New York was a priority 'in my list because I was keen to know how the NYPD worked in securing a mega city'.
For Home Minister Chidambaram, it was an opportunity to set the record straight and disabuse any misperception that the Home Ministry affidavit on Ishrat Jahan and three others could be used by the Gujarat government to vindicate itself from culpability in the alleged fake encounter case.
Congressman Joe Wilson, a conservative Republican from South Carolina, the erstwhile GOP co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, angrily shouted "You lie," stunning his fellow lawmakers, including his own Republican colleagues, and interrupting President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on his proposed health care reform.
The US government has expressed its dissatisfaction over the progress made by Sri Lanka in rehabilitating the war-hit Tamils living in detainee camps and in reconciliating with political parties of Tamils and Muslims in the country.
The decision by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to place India on its 'Watch List,' for what it said was "the government's largely inadequate response to protecting religious minorities," will not impact in any way on the growing US-India strategic partnership, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake has said.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake was asked pointedly by rediff.com to respond to a growing perception that Pakistan was hedging on punishing the terrorists behind the Mumbai terror attack and the US was backing off from applying too much pressure on Islamabad because of its strategic interests. Blake said, "First of all, let me say these are really a very complicated set of issues that are for India and Pakistan to resolve."
"The new sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat, is perhaps the most politically inclined head of the RSS since its founder Keshav Baliran Hedgewar some eight decades ago," says American expert Dr Walter Andersen.
"Of course, from a more general perspective, the Indian weapon programme has produced sufficiently good weapons -- they did go 'bang' at Pokhran II -- to provide a nuclear deterrent that only insane fools or idiots would ignore."
"Nations need to recognise higher education as the engine of economic growth and prosperity," says Dr Susan Aldridge, president, University of Maryland University College, US, Aziz Haniffa reports
The swine flu epidemic now sweeping India should give the government and the Medical Council of India the needed impetus to move rapidly on an initiative to train doctors in the treatment of infectious diseases, Dr Navin Shah has said.
The United States' nonproliferation lobby is apparently relishing the controversy ignited by erstwhile Defense and Research Development Organization scientist K Santhanam that the May 1998 Pokhran thermonuclear tests were not a full success implying that India needs to test again.
Aziz Haniffa reports on a business management programme the University of Maryland is offering Indian graduates.
Bruce Riedel, who spearheaded President Obama's strategic review of Afghanistan and Pakistan, spoke to rediff.com on Tuesday and said the Afghanistan elections played a huge role in maintaining credibility for the US, and that leaving the fight against Taliban abruptly would only mean victory for jihadism and a renewed nightmare for India.
The United States has said it is working with India to find a political solution in Sri Lanka now that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam "is now flat on its back having lost most of its leaders," but has no intention of putting pressure on New Delhi to change its policy toward Sri Lanka, which has been perceived by some Tamils to be favoring the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Even as tensions continue to simmer between New Delhi and Islamabad, Indian and Pakistani-Americans have come together to stage a play at the Kennedy Center to show that they can interact without the hang-ups of their respective countries.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances