Four decades of federal evolution made India more secure, but coronavirus is reversing that. Modi's central government has tasted power again and is unlikely to give it up, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The first Indian-American US Congressman in 46 years, in an exclusive interview with rediff.com
With just hours to go before the United States presidential election all eyes are turning stateside as Donald Trump seeks a second term in the White House and Democratic candidate Joe Biden campaigns to become America's 46th president. If you're struggling to wrap your head around the presidential election and how it compares to India, which competing parties will be vying for the White House, and how a winner is selected, scroll on for a comprehensive guide that details all there is to know about the upcoming elections.
On June 23, in a huge blow to Indian IT professionals eyeing the US job market, the Trump administration suspended the H-1B visas along with other types of foreign work visas until the end of 2020 to protect American workers in a crucial election year.
Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera is confident of winning the SacramentoCounty seat after gaining more than 1,650 votes over his Republican opponent in the polls, with several thousand ballots still to be counted.
Congressman Jim McDermott, who represents Washington state -- who incidentally voted against the enabling legislation also known as the Hyde Act two years ago -- said, "The likelihood of Congress taking up the nuclear issue again before the end of the year is, it will be very difficult."
Posts on pro-Trump and far-right online networks have called for protest action on a number of dates, including armed demonstrations in cities across the country on January 17 and a march in Washington DC on inauguration day itself.
Though the Iraq war and the economic downturn have affected the popularity of the Republican Party, Harmeet Dhillon, candidate for the 13th Assembly District in California, is not unduly worried. "I am running for a local election, not for the United States Congress. International or national issues are not relevant," Dhillon, who is unopposed in the Republican Primary scheduled for June 3, said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, ended a day of constant talks with optimistic proclamations, as details leaked out of the pact they were negotiating.
Diplomatic and Congressional sources tell Rediff.com that for all intents and purposes, the F-16 sale is dead.
A senior Republican lawmaker has suggested that the US Congress "look at" passing the 123 Agreement for civil nuclear cooperation between New Delhi and Washington to give a fillip to the UPA government's efforts to pass it in Parliament.
The US government began a partial shutdown on Tuesday for the first time in 17 years.
As many as 1 million U.S. federal employees could face unpaid furloughs or payless paydays.
Haley, in her forthcoming memoir, has claimed that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House chief of staff John Kelly attempted to recruit her to undermine President Trump in an effort to "save the country," according to The Washington Post.
The executive order, which was signed by Trump on Thursday, prohibits certain purchases involving publicly traded securities or any securities that are derivative of or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities of any Communist Chinese military company.
President Barack Obama has vetoed the legislation that would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia.
Flynn appeared before a federal court on Friday morning to plead guilty after ex-FBI director Robert Mueller, who is investigating allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election as a special counsel, announced that Flynn was charged with "wilfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his conversations with Russia's then ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.
'There is no shortage of material for the Opposition to develop and deploy a campaign against the government.' 'Are we seeing signs that it exists? I confess that I do not see it,' says Aakar Patel.
"Debate is just an excuse, the real target of the RSS-BJP is social justice," Priyanka Gandhi said.
In a sight rarely seen in the United States senate, dozens of Democrat members shut down the House of Representatives to protest their chamber's lack of action on a legislation to stop gun sales to people on some terrorism watch lists.
The 113th United States Congress will have at least 19 women senators, the highest ever in the country's history.
You aren't dealing with a normal, civilised, law. The NDPS Act, in its preconditions for bail, and insistence on evidence of innocence rather than guilt, is worse than UAPA. Imagine yourself or your child at the other end of this, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Another UP MLA came out in support of Sadhana Singh, saying there was nothing wrong in her remarks.
Less than 50 hours left before the US has any money to pay its bill, a gloomy picture of default looms over the horizon of US history.
The billionaire real estate tycoon made that declaration during a noontime town hall TV taping in Wisconsin. However hours later, however, he insisted that he would only hope to see abortion-clinic doctors and other medical personnel prosecuted.
President Barack Obama on Friday cancelled his trip to Asia to attend two key summits due to the US government shutdown that entered its fourth day even as efforts to break the political standoff between Republicans and Democrats over the budget failed to make any headway.
President appealed to Congress to pass the budget while pushing Republicans to agree to hike the borrowing limit.
The order says "It is the policy of my administration to seek the prompt repeal" of the law.
However, incumbent Chief Minster Ashok Chavan said the Congress-NCP alliance will be looking at the Republican Party of India for possible outside support if it fell short of the majority mark.
"Fifteen years ago, I was leading the efforts to approve the historic civil nuclear deal with India. I said that if the US and India became closer friends and partners, then the world will be a safer place," Biden, who was vice-president in the Obama administration, said while addressing the Indian-American community on India's Independence Day.
India last month reacted angrily to Nepal showing the three areas as Nepalese territory in the new map and cautioned the country that saying such "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it. India has been maintaining that these three areas belong to it.
Ridiculing the 'overtures' by Bharatiya Janata Party and Republican Party of India leaders to bring Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray into the Sena-BJP-RPI alliance, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that is not what the people of Maharashtra want.
Iraq war veteran and Democrat Manan Trivedi tried his luck for the third time, but was trounced by Republican Ryan Costello, the Chester county commissioner for Pennsylvania's open seat in District 6
The Trump Administration plunged into another crisis on Thursday after reports surfaced that United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions met twice with Russian envoy to Washington during the presidential elections last year.
The US-India trade had doubled every five years and was approaching the $100 billion mark, since 2001, but it is still a low number.
While the DMK fears that the Congress with its poor strike rate will pull it down in the 2021 state elections, like it did five years ago, the ruling AIADMK is worried that the BJP may ultimately do a Bihar on it, relegating it to second place in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The National Security Agency lost its authority to collect the phone records of millions of Americans, thanks to a new reform measure Congress passed on Tuesday
Allen was ahead by 16 points in July and the Democrats did not even consider Webb a viable challenger, until Allen called an Indian-American, Shekar Sidarth, a volunteer in the Webb campaign, a 'macaca', considered a racial slur.
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