An influential United States Senator has demanded a federal investigation into whether Indian-American Nikki Halley, the governor of South Carolina, exploited taxpayer dollars for political purposes. Senator Tom Harkin, in a letter to Daniel R Levinson, the inspector general of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, urged to "examine whether the state of South Carolina met the requirements of federal law in spending its exchange planning grant".
Dandekar is a former Iowa legislator representing the Marion area in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009 and in the Iowa Senate from 2009 to 2011.
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Seeking to energise his second term, US President Obama on Tuesday said he will issue an executive order to raise the minimum wage for government contract workers to $10.10 an hour, a step which he argued would help reduce poverty in the country.
'My grandfather was a poor farmer who fought for democracy and freedom in India and who could have never dreamed that his grandson would have the opportunity to sit before you today and be considered for the position of Surgeon General,' Dr Murthy told a US Senate Committee
'I would urge my Indian friends to look at how significant the overall support was.'
In a stellar performance, Indian American US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy took on one critic after another at the Senate confirmation hearing. Aziz Haniffa reports.
For a start this award has a history of having less to do with actual contributions and more to do with some part of a larger agenda. Some pretty dubious people have received this. Many more were patently undeserving, says Mohan Guruswamy.
Kailash Satyarthi, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, in front of packed crowd made a rousing speech asking every person to come together and set our children free. He honoured those who came before him and also said that he accepted this honour on behalf of all the martyrs and activists in India. Here's the transcript of his moving acceptance speech.
Read the full transcript of President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday at the US Capitol in Washington.
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