Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to the Congress on Wednesday that the administration had determined that the Defence of Marriage Act, which was passed by Congress in 1996, discriminated against gays and therefore could no longer be accepted as reasonable, the Guardian reports.
The incoming Obama administration on Tuesday declared that the Mumbai terror attacks threw up new challenges for American diplomacy. US Secretary of State designate Hillary Clinton listed the 26/11 strikes as among the six major new challenges for American leadership though diplomacy that has emerged since the November presidential elections.
Days after the toppling of the regime, the Egyptian military led government has asked the US and European Union to freeze the assets of top henchmen of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, but has remained mum on the bounty of the deposed president.
The incoming Barack Obama administration is likely to appoint veteran troubleshooter Richard C Holbrooke as a special envoy to Pakistan and India amid tensions in the sub-continent following the Mumbai terrorist strikes.
In a statement, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also described the government's strategy in dealing with the Chinese in Ladakh as 'DDLJ- Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify' and Jaishankar's remarks an implied cheap shot at former party chief Rahul Gandhi.
The Obama administration's point man for South Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake has assured that there will be deliverables from the first US-India Strategic Dialogue that will be held in Washington, DC, on June 2-3.
The Obama Administration has appointed Indian-American to a key IT position, making him head of an agency that facilitates the sharing and access of terrorism-related information within various wings of the US Government.
Is the Obama Administration concerned that the tiny Maldives could become a future base for the al Qaeda and/or other terrorist groups to conspire and launch their attacks against Washington and its South Asian allies?
Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the twin tower attacks, the US Travel Association also urged the Transportation and Security Administration to reduce the security screening wait time at major airports to less than 10 minutes.
Outgoing Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta on Monday alleged that Pakistan's attempt to modify the Harpoon missile posed a danger to India's interests. As per media reports, the Barack Obama administration has lodged a protest with the Pakistan government for illegally modifying United States-made missiles to expand its ability to hit land-based targets. Mehta said that US authorities are constantly being told that their aid to Pakistan is not used for self-defence.
The Pakistani administration is considering creating a new post to ensure that army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will continue to play a crucial role in the military establishment in Pakistan.
Intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden worked at the United States Embassy in India and took a course in "ethical hacking" in Delhi, about three years before he leaked the NSA's surveillance programmes that embarrassed the Obama administration.
Ambassador Islam A'Isi' Siddiqui -- who recently resigned from his position as chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the United States trade representative -- has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as senior adviser on Global Food Security.
An emotional Hillary Clinton took personal responsibility for the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed her Ambassador to Libya, as she answered questions from lawmakers during her much-awaited Congressional testimony over the September 11 incident.
The attack in Libya on September 11 this year by a heavily armed group took the US administration by surprise and claimed the lives of four Americans, including the US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
Stressing that a stable Pakistan is essential for a stable Afghanistan, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Wednesday, applauded the Obama administration's effort at re-balancing the US-Pak relationship.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Wednesday congratulated United States President Barack Obama on his re-election, saying he looks forward to working with him on global challenges including Syria and climate change.
Strongly condemning a series of terror attacks this week targeting Pakistani Shia Muslims, a US Congress-established body on religious freedom today asked the Obama Administration to impress upon Islamabad to ensure protection of minorities in the country.
Implementing the commitment of United States President Barack Obama to deepen Indo-US strategic ties, the White House has carved out a separate India Desk at its National Security Council.
Unless one is naive beyond redemption, it was clear from the beginning that the Obama Administration and its FBI were trying frantically to prevent the truth regarding Headley from coming out, writed B Raman.
A US military court sentenced American soldier Bradley Manning to 35 years of imprisonment for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to whistleblower website WikiLeaks, causing huge embarrassment to the Obama Administration.
Al Qaeda's new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri does not match his predecessor Osama bin Laden in his charisma nor does he have the slain leader's credentials, a top official of the Obama administration said on Thursday.
Learning lessons from the Mumbai terror strikes, the Obama administration has taken several steps in intelligence gathering and security infrastructure to thwart any similar attack on a major US city, according to a top official.
United States President Barack Obama is sending a team of officials led by Richard Holbrooke, his special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, to visit refugee camps housing lakhs of people who have been displaced by the military offensive in Swat and adjoining areas of the North Western Frontier Province. Holbrooke is expected to have a first hand assessment of the situation and then recommend how best the US can accelerate relief measures.
"This administration will work toward a world without nuclear weapons and we will continue to maintain a safe, secure, and effective deterrent as we proceed toward that goal," Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, said.
Senior diplomatic observers and administration sources have told rediff.com that in the weeks following the formation of the new Indian government, the Obama administration will press for India to resurrect the composite dialogue with Pakistan that lie comatose after the Mumbai terror attacks.
The Obama administration on Friday defended its move to secretly gather online telephone records of millions of Americans, saying it was done as part of effort to protect the nation from terrorist threat.
Accusing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse of abdicating his responsibility to save civilians in the restive north, Tamil Americans have asked United States President Barack Obama to send his forces to the strife-torn nation to save the lives of innocent people. "This is pure and simple genocide. We are asking the Obama administration to intervene to save the Tamils of Sri Lanka by sending its army there," they said.
Obama Administration's top diplomat for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who has already visited New Delhi twice to brief Indian leaders of President Obama's AfPak strategy, on Tuesday said that due to elections India had not gotten fully engaged in the regional approach that is an integral part of the US strategy.
The Indian American community has welcomed the re-election of United States President Barack Obama, who in his first term appointed a record number of community members to top administration posts.
Possible US envoy says India must get assurance against China.
The Indo-Pak border situation has "improved" but suspicions continue to run deeper between the two countries, according to influential US Senator John Kerry, who is a key foreign policy aide to President Barack Obama.
"During the Sharm el-Sheik conference, I emphasised President Obama's and my commitment to working to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," Clinton said who is on her first visit to the region in the capacity of Secretary of State.
'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.
The US gave a heads up to India, besides Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the leak of more than 90,000 classified US military documents on the war against terrorism, a senior administration official said.
US Trade Representative's office in early February asked India for WTO consultations on its national solar program, the Jawaharal Nehru National Solar Mission.
Obama said he wants to boost the use of natural gas in transportation
The Obama Administration has reiterated its strong commitment to the US-India civilian nuclear deal consummated during the tenure of the previous George W Bush Administration and said it's "embedded" in a broader strategic dialogue between Washington and New Delhi, but contended it's certainly not a template for negotiations with the likes of Iran.
Even as the Obama administration has started pushing for the ambitious goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons, United States' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the US would maintain its nuclear deterrence.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 16-1 to clear the 61-year-old former first lady's nomination as the top diplomat of the country.
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