Buoyed by a ceasefire deal negotiated by Pakistan in 2007, the Al Qaeda has rebuilt some of its pre-September 11 capabilities, leading to major spike in attacks within the country and neighbouring Afghanistan, the United States State Department's latest annual terrorism report says. The ceasefire negotiated by Pakistan in 2007 gave Al Qaeda leaders "greater mobility and ability to conduct training and operational planning, particularly those targeting Western Europe," it said
US avoids comment on Manmohan Singh's nuke statement in Parliament.
The training was in technical and practical aspects of dealing with cyber crime and cyber terrorism in the programme.\n
Musharraf's statement backs US claims on N Korea's nuke plans
In moves that may benefit Indians applying for business visas to visit America, the United States State Department and Department of Homeland have announced a number of steps to expedite the processing time for visas.
US States Department spokesperson Mark Toner said he could not agree that nobody knew about human rights violations in PoK before Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the same.
President Maithripala Sirisena's new Cabinet was also sworn in and Rajapaksa was named the new minister of finance and economic affairs.
This is not the first time IFS officer Devyani Khobragade has found herself under the scanner, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
'Only my friends know how I live here in Manhattan, saving every penny... Life in New York has not been not easy for me,' Devyani Khobragade told friends and colleagues.
The US state department has reportedly given a final nod to Pakistan's request for military hardware
Fighting sex trafficking and forced labour became Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat's life mission. The winner of the US State Department's 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes Award speaks to Rediff.com
'Dr Khobragade is now a Counsellor without any specific work responsibility at the PMI. There is not going to be any work for her at the mission at least for now. This is an interim measure to help her so she can get diplomatic immunity and get over this situation.'
Neither Barack Obama or John F Kerry were involved in the decision for Ambassador Nancy Powell to meet Narendra Modi. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
'Poverty-stricken and drought-affected families in Bundelkhand and Marathawada are selling their children for as little as a few hundred rupees.'
'As Mumbai showed, and the Nairobi Westgate Mall attack reinforced, "guerrilla-style terrorism" has increasingly become the method-of-choice for terrorist groups,' says terrorism expert David Kilcullen.
'Who in Pakistan was intending to carry out one of the most grievous acts of international terrorism just a few months ago?' Former CIA official Bruce Riedel reveals how the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the ISI planned the attack on the Indian consulate in the Afghan city of Herat in May to take Indian diplomats hostage and disrupt Narendra Modi's swearing-in.
Denouncing India's attempts to get Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade full diplomatic immunity, United States law enforcement officials warn that it will set a terrible precedent. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
'This arrest was totally unnecessary and disproportionate to the gravity of charges. What was truly required was a more measured and calculated approach, keeping in mind the strain such an action could cause to the growing bilateral relationship between these two great nations.' Indian-American organisations condemn Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's arrest.
Devyani Khobragade, deputy consul general at the Indian consulate in New York, was arrested on charges that she allegedly presented fraudulent documents to the United States State Department in support of a visa application for an Indian national employed as a babysitter and housekeeper at her home in Manhattan.
When diplomat Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was indicted by a grand jury on January 9, she had full diplomatic immunity and the proceedings against her should have been dismissed, Daniel N Arshack, her attorney told the court.
'If at all,' says Suhasini Haidar, Foreign Affairs Editor, CNN-IBN, 'Devyani Khobragade is to avoid facing a full trial, the process of that negotiation must start immediately, for which the current acrimonious atmosphere must be improved. It is no more than the US was willing to do for Raymond Davis; the Italian government for its sailors; and India for Captain Sunil James and Vijayan in Togo. Devyani Khobragade is not accused of charges anywhere as serious they were, and whether Preet Bharara's office recognises it or not, she is a diplomat who represents a proud country that has taken the insult to her as a personal insult to the country.'
Prashant Lingam and Aruna Kappagantula are changing the way houses are being built in India.
'If there's one administration that would be likely to put the squeeze on Pakistan, it's the Trump administration.' 'This is an administration that views terrorists as a black and white issue (kill them all, no questions asked), and will have little patience for Pakistan's selective policy toward terrorism.'
'The US-India relationship is in a different league altogether,' Obama administration officials tell Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in Washington, DC.
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