Frank J Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute of George Washington University, has told the United States Congress that the endemic corruption found in every level on India's law enforcement apparatus is a major impediment to India-US counterterrorism cooperation. Cilluffo said despite the plethora of anti-terrorism initiatives between Washington and Delhi, as well as a host of other mechanisms for cooperation, "a trust deficit encompasses ties".
Silence replaced the laughter at Rajesh Mirpuri's home when 9/11 took him a week before his birthday, finds George Joseph
The Department of Treasury has finally responded to a letter by a coalition of Indian-American organisations, led by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), but reiterated the Internal Revenue Service warning that there will be no extension of the August 31, 2011, deadline for the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative.
Though the IRS did not make any concessions, it was news to them that the community had so many complaints.
Even months after India decided to forego the United States bid for the fighter aircraft deal worth $11 billion, the Pentagon apparently is still smarting over this rejection, arguing that it was an enormous disappointment and that New Delhi by its action had lost out on some of the state-of-the art technology.
Antoinette Stephen, 27, was charged with first degree murder and other charges in the killing of Pakistani-American woman Nazish Noorani, 26, in Boonton, New Jersey on August 16.
A senior official in the Barack Obama administration has said that all contentious issues, including concern that Indian students are being duped by sham universities and colleges that have questionable credentials, would be on the table during the major United States-India Education Summit in October.
Asked by Frank Sesno, former CNN anchor who moderated the conversation, if the story that Pakistan handed over parts of the helicopter that went down in bin Laden's compound -- or gave access -- to the Chinesse before returning it to the US was true, United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta first started shifting uneasily in his seat and then started laughing and said, "this is a very complicated relationship with Pakistan."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pointed out that Washington's current difficulties with Islamabad are nothing new and a repeat of earlier disagreements.
Retired veteran diplomat Howard Schaffer, author of the acclaimed The Limits of Influence: America's Role in Kashmir, has said, "If the Inter-Services Directorate or some other organ of the Pakistan government has been footing the Kashmir American Council's bills, as seems so obvious, it is hard to conclude that they have been getting their money's worth."
Two more senior Indian American Obama administration officials have flown the coop.
About 70 Indian students at the University of Northern Virginia, which was raided last month by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcementthe investigative arm of the department of homeland securitymet with Ambassador Arun Kumar Singh, Charge d'Affaires at the Indian embassy in Washington D C who assured them that the government of India and the embassy will "continue with their efforts to try and ensure that the students at UNVA are not victimised in any way."
American Muslim organisations, including Indian American Muslim groups, have hailed New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie's staunch defence of his appointment of Sohail Mohammed as a Passaic County Superior Court judge. Christie called opponentsparticularly right wing conservativesof his nomination 'ignorant' and a bunch of 'crazies'.
The Blind Foundation of India's founding director Dr Manu Vora and many of the organisation's volunteers received the United States President's Volunteer Service Award. Vora and his wife Dr Nila Vora received the award for Lifetime Service given to those who do 4,000 hours of service.
The South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston won the 2011 Outstanding Program Award for its 'Know Your Rights' program at the North American South Asian Bar Association annual convention in Los Angeles.
Dr Rishi S Raj, chair, faculty senate, City College of New York, has been elected president, Society of Indian Academics in America.
Swapnil Jadhav, a graduate student from New York received the award for his project that could help replace the hazardous petroleum-based cleaners currently in use.
Indian American Republican South Carolina Governor Nimrata 'Nikki' Randhawa Haley, has absolutely no intention of responding to state Democrats who upon seizing a 10-year-old voter registration document, where she has listed her race as 'W' for white, have charged that she uses her Indian American heritage when its convenient.
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States Eklil Ahmad Hakimi has not ruled out the possibility of India training Afghanistan's security forces and national army sometime in the future if the necessity arises.
For the second consecutive day on Friday, several Indian journalists went to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre on 68th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan, New York, where Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has reportedly undergone a surgery