The President-elect also announced the nomination of former Secretary of State John Kerry as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the first such official to sit on the national security council.
The Summit for Democracy seems to have done more harm than good, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
"After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refused to send another generation of America's sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago," US President Joe Biden.
United States President Joe Biden has said that the Senate's acquittal of his predecessor Donald Trump for inciting a mob to storm the Capitol on January 6 was a reminder that democracy was 'fragile' and every American had a duty to defend the truth.
In the weeks between his phenomenal electoral victory and swearing-in as the 47th president of the United States, the world got a preview of what a second Donald Trump presidency will entail -- both for itself and America.
The US is not going to be able to mount a concerted 'Western strategy' against China or Russia in the present international milieu, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Chinese experts estimate that the new US administration is 'at the crossroads of how to re-manage and control' Sino-American differences and strategic divergences and Biden's bottom line is that the US would have 'extreme competition with China, but won't allow competition to develop into conflict',' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Both statesmen possess a cultivated pugnacious style which they keep in reserve and can at will bring into play, and despite the mutual distrust in Russian-American relations, they are proponents of detente, quintessentially, who take their mission deadly seriously, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The 77-year-old former US vice president will become the 46th president of the United States, CNN reported, after a victory in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
'The policies announced by his administration are implemented faster.'
In a sign of the growing political prominence of Hindus in America, the Trump and Biden campaigns are wooing this religious minority community like never before. Hinduism is the fourth largest faith in the US, representing approximately one per cent of the US population in 2016.
The Modi government has been put on notice.'Will it buckle under such pressure? These are times when the moral fibre of the leadership makes all the difference, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Biden, while not ruling out the meeting Putin at G20 meet, said that there are conditions attached.
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"In 47 years, Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks. He will never change, just words!" Trump tweeted his first reaction to Biden's acceptance speech on Thursday.
'I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing ..., which is just brutality, half the children of Ukraine.'
The 78-year-old veteran Democratic leader's Twitter account @PresElectBiden transformed into @POTUS after he took the oath of office at the West Front of the US Capitol as the 46th President of the United States in a historic but scaled down ceremony under the unprecedented security umbrella of thousands of security personnel.
Biden and Harris along with their families attended Mass at The Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle. They were joined by bipartisan congressional leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senator and JCCIC Chair Amy Klobuchar.
The Congress on Wednesday expressed sadness over 'pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated' while being deported from the United States and recalled that America had to express regret over the treatment meted out to India diplomat Devyani Khobragade in 2013 after the then United Progressive Alliance government retaliated sharply.
Following the election that brought Joe Biden to power, Trump alleged fraud in the voting process and challenged the outcome in courts which rejected his claims.
China on Wednesday announced military drills around Taiwan, days after United States President Joe Biden said Washington would intervene militarily if Beijing tried to reunify with the island by force.
On Sunday, the media reports emerged with footage allegedly taken in the town of Bucha near Kyiv with a number of bodies of dead people lying on the road.
Calling the military's seizure of power in Myanmar a 'direct assault' on its transition to democracy, United States President Joe Biden on Monday threatened to slap new sanctions on the country after the junta detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other political leaders.
Major American media outlets started calling Biden the winner after it became clear that he has taken a major lead against Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the battleground State of Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral college votes, making him cross the benchmark of the 270 electoral college votes.
Biden welcomed Prime Minister Modi at the Summit and said "it is wonderful to see you again in person".
Harris, 59, is mostly likely to be the presidential nominee of the Democratic party now that she has been endorsed by President Joe Biden, who announced on Sunday that he will not seek re-election, as well as other top party leaders including former president Bill Clinton.
The US is alarmed and appalled by reports of security authorities responding to university students' peaceful protests with violence and mass arrests.
India and the US will sit together in the next couple of weeks to decide on the nature of the proposed trade agreement and finalise its broad contours, a senior official said on Monday. During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, India and the US announced to more than double the two-way commerce to $500 billion by 2030 and negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025.
'If the criminal or civil charges are deemed unworthy or defective, Trump's new justice department and SEC can withdraw the criminal and civil cases.'
Among those released were the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmashev. This was part of multi-country deal with Russia.
'She's been a terrific advocate for women's rights in recent months and her prosecutor's background will really help her challenge Trump in a forceful way that Biden could not,' notes Sree Sreenivasan.
In response to another question, he ruled out calling Putin. "No," he said.
The US president-elect twisted his ankle on Saturday when he slipped while playing with Major, one of his two German shepherd.
The Indian economy is expected to be "a little weaker" in 2025 despite steady global growth, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva has said. Georgieva also said she expects quite a lot of uncertainty in the world this year mainly around the trade policy of the US. In her annual media roundtable with a group of reporters on Friday, she said global growth is expected to be steady in 2025, but with regional divergence.
The bilateral and Quad summits, in which Prime Minister Modi played a significant role, has sent the right message to China, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
During the virtual meet, Biden and Modi will discuss cooperation on a range of issues, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, countering the climate crisis, strengthening the global economy, and upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
United States President-elect Donald Trump opened up about the viral moment between him and former President Barack Obama, acknowledging the seemingly warm interaction that was captured during the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, Politico reported.
The US president took part in an Inspection of the Guard of Honor and then joined the queen and first lady to watch a military march. Afterwards, the three went into the queen's apartment for tea, The Hill noted.
'It will be normal, regular, everyday politics whether you like it or not.' That's what this country needs,' a New Yorker tells Payal Singh Mohanka.
