Colorado-based Indian American businessman Vinai Thummalapally, who raised funds for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign, on Wednesday said he was proud to be nominated as the first Indian American to serve as United States' envoy to Belize.Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the confirmation hearing, Obama's nominee to the Central American state said he would work to strengthen US interests in Belize, if confirmed.
The massive US civilian aid flowing into Pakistan would be squandered or stolen, a powerful American Senator has said, arguing that rampant corruption in that country would make effective aid distribution a challenge.
Ruling out sending American troops to Pakistan to assist the country's offensive against Taliban, Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee today said Islamabad would have to develop a "homegrown" policy to fight extremists.
Curtis, who was the lead panellist at a conference at The Brookings Institution titled, The US-India Nuclear Agreement: Expectations and Consequences,' said, "During the Bush Administration, US officials broke the habit of viewing India solely through the India-Pakistan lens. Washington developed a greater appreciation for the Indian democratic miracle and viewed our shared democratic principles as the bedrock for a broader strategic partnership."
President Barack Obama has nominated Rahul 'Richard' Verma, currently a partner with the top-notch international law firm in Washington,DC -- Steptoe & Johnson LLP -- as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, and sources told Rediff India Abroad that considering that he has been a much respected Congressional staffer, his confirmation process before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the coming weeks would be a shoo-in.
Puneet Talwar, one of the most respected Middle East policy specialists in administration and Congressional circles, has been nominated by United States President Barack Obama to a senior State Department position.
Opposition members hit out at the government for the introduction of the bill in a 'hurry' and 'without any consultation with stakeholders'.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday offered to enhance cooperation with India in the field of intelligence to avert attacks like the Pune blast that could 'further the agenda of terrorists' who were holding the bilateral ties 'hostage.'
Powerful United States senator John Kerry asked Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to present before India Pakistan's plan of action for fighting terrorism if it was "really serious" in resuming Indo-Pak dialogue, but the Premier expressed concern that the public would not support the idea.
Disengagement from the LAC will remain a chimera because China has given enough indications that the PLA will not move back any more. China has even deployed drones to monitor and deny any patrolling by Indian troops even in the buffer zones which are all in Indian Territory, explains Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
The US Senate has unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution introduced by Senators Bob Casey, Pennsylvania Democrat and George Voinovich, Ohio Republican -- both members of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- condemning the terrorists attacks in Mumbai and applauding India's restraint so far as it investigates the attacks.
The rise of BRIC countries represents a fundamental shift in global economy and the developing world needs a legitimate seat at the table so that shared challenges are better addressed, a powerful US Senator has said.
Munter, confirmed by the US Senate last week, would replace Anne Paterson in Islamabad.
The US stepped up pressure on Pakistan to get access to disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan, accused of proliferating nuke technologies to Iran and North Korea, for questioning.
"We have been very clear with the Indians, should India test, as it has agreed not to do, or should India in any way violate the IAEA safeguards agreements to which it would be adhering, the deal, from our point of view, would, at that point, be off," Burns pointed out.
The New York Times report that Pakistan illegally modified the Harpoon anti-ship missile provided by the United States apparently to bolster its conventional weaponry against India, has embarrassed the Obama administration and Senators John F Kerry and Richard Lugarjust as Washington is poised to provide Islamabad with a massive economic and military largesse of $ 7.5 billion over five years
Christine Fair, an expert on Pakistan-based Jihadi groups, has predicted that even if there is an India-Pakistan rapprochement and a resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio, it will not result in Pakistan reining in these strategic assets that are invaluable to it to wage it proxy wars against India.
Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said "India's rhetoric was as strident as we ever heard China's, so we need to build a climate partnership with India, too; working from the same principles, but respecting the massive differences."
Should we not be creating roles in India for the talented, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Appearing before the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tim J Roemer, a former Congressman from Indiana, told US lawmakers in response to a question that Kashmir is a 'sensitive and delicate' issue.
The committee adopted the measure by 12-9 vote with one Republican, Senator Chuck Hagel, breaking ranks to join the 11 Democrats on the panel in approving the resolution.
One bill provides $60.8 billion for Ukraine, with over 80 percent of it for helping Kyiv amid its ongoing war with Russia, including replenishing supplies of US made weapons and ammunition.
'If that occurs, the world will be safer,' says Senator Joseph Biden.
The United States looks forward to enhancing strategic partnership with India and is likely to make some announcements on it 'fairly soon'. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his confirmation hearing, Robert Blake told American Senators that Obama is committed to strengthening the existing strategic partnership between the two countries. "President Obama has said that the United States sees India as a global power," he said.
Software czar Bill Gates engaged in a large number of social projects in India, has told US lawmakers that the northern parts of the India face difficult challenges.
Manisha Singh, an erstwhile senior staffer of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former political appointee during the George Bush Administration, has landed a top job as the executive director of the Barer Institute based at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle.
Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry said on Wednesday that Pakistan has become the "ground zero of terrorism" and "security threat" to the United States.
This would make him the highest-ranking Indian American ever in the US Department of State. Over a month ago, Verma was appointed as one of the leads of the Agency Review Team overseeing the US Department of Defence for President-elect Barack Obama's Transition.
United States vice president-elect Joe Biden will lead a bipartisan Congressional delegation on a visit to Southwest Asia before he takes office alongside Barack Obama on January 20. For security reasons, details of the trip and the countries to be visited have not been released. Biden would be accompanied by Senator John Kerry, the former Democratic Presidential candidate and the incoming Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Pakistan is bigger than Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Korea combined. There's 156 million people. They have 24 to 55 nuclear weapons. They have not only the bomb, the thermonuclear device, they have the missile that can couple with the bomb, and it can fly all the way to the Mediterranean.
The Pentagon does not believe that the shaky civilian government of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will be deposed by a military coup anytime soon.United States' Central Command Commander General David Petraeus assured the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that "as one who's been in Pakistan, and had a lot of conversations with military leaders as well as the civilian leadership, I actually don't think that the current challenges imperil civilian rule,".
Burns was responding to the opening remarks by Senator John F Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, who said it was imperative that the United States "...must consider Pakistan's relationship with India, especially when it comes to Kashmir."
The nonproliferation lobby is not happy at all with Congressman Howard Berman's bill, which he introduced in the House of Representatives on September 25. Nonproliferation activists feel that their strongest advocate, who had been critical of the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement, has let them down by capitulating to the Bush administration with a piece of legislation, which is a clone of the measure that was approved two days earlier by the Senate Foreign Relat
Ties between Pakistan's ISI and Taliban remain troubling for the United States and this relationship should be "fixed", a top US senator has said.
"In terms of India, in terms of South Asia, you cannot find a more knowledgeable person than Joe Biden. And indeed, right now, the Biden-Lugar legislation on Pakistan is the most important piece of legislation in terms of foreign policy on the Hill. It's trying to reorient our foreign policy toward that country to make it more comprehensive -- not just one that was individual-based and transactional as it was before."
Gandhi will now be seen in two upcoming OTT series -- Hansal Mehta's Gandhi, starring Pratik Gandhi in the title role, and Freedom at Midnight by Nikkhil Advani.
Marking a historic trip to Myanmar, a senior United States lawmaker on Saturday met pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi as well as the country's military ruler Than Shew and secured the release of an American, who had been jailed for secretly visiting the residence of the detained leader. Democrat Senator Jim Webb became the first senior US official to meet the reclusive Myanmar general in the capital Naypyidaw.
IT and interest rate-sensitive bank, realty, and auto stocks ended with sharp gains.
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