Fighter aircraft and a Black Hawk helicopter forced the Cessna, which had taken off from a Pensylvannia airport, to land at an airport in Frederick, Maryland, about 40 miles from Washington.
The president said he will be signing a number of executive orders over the next several days of the week.
Other Indian-origin personalities on the list are Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta, doctor and Executive Director of nonprofit Get Us PPE Shikha Gupta and founder of nonprofit Upsolve Rohan Pavuluri.
Observing that amazing things have happened over the last 10 years, the former US President Barack Obama on Friday said that all this could be accomplished because of the hope and believe that his country had in him.
Rediff.com brings to you a collection of the most dramatic photographs from around the world in the last 24 hours
A moment at a piano on the front lines in Ukraine, United States President Trump's State of the Union address and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking charge. This is the best of the week gone by.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, known for fiery retorts against the US, welcomed Biden's first moves to join the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organisation (WHO) which was trashed by Trump as a puppet of China over its conduct to deal with the COVID-19.
Whistle-blower Dinesh Thakur will speak on Made-in-India drugs at an event in Washington.
'Even if the BJP does not come to power, the system has changed.'
US President-elect Biden has a history of advocating on behalf of women in the US and around the world and the new team announcement is a continuation of that work.
Here are 10 images recapping the top events from the previous week.
There is a perception getting built inside the government that big technology companies -- a common term used for firms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon and the like - are becoming very powerful and present multiple threats to entire nations and their citizens today. The digital ecosystem is replete with CSAM (child sexual abuse material), fake news, drug trade, radicalisation, trolling among other social vices. Given the network effect that these platforms have, it is important to ensure that these platforms are not misused.
In a major milestone on Capitol Hill for the Sikh American community, a bi-partisan group of United States lawmakers led by California Democrat and Congresswoman Judy Chu and California Republican Congressman David Valadao on Wednesday announced the formation of an American Sikh Congressional Caucus in the US House of Representatives.
Two of the most feisty women activists on Capitol Hill, United States Senator Barbara Mikulski and US Representative Judy Chu, both Democrats representing Maryland and California, pledged at the National Federation of Indian American Association's Congressional reception that they would fight against the racial profiling of India Americans, Sikh Americans and Muslim Americans.
Modi, dressed in a white-coloured T-shirt and trousers along with a scarf, did the yoga asanas with ease, as he is a regular practitioner of the ancient form of exercise.
The nomination of Esper, who is currently serving as the Secretary of the army and previously served as a vice president for government relations at the Raytheon Company, comes days after Patrick Shanahan withdrew his nomination from the top Pentagon position.
Indian envoy to the United States Nirupama Rao scripts history by becoming the first ambasador to address a US state legislature. The Maryland house of delegates, which she addressed on Wednesday, was the first to be set up in the US, and predates even the Capitol in Washington, DC. Aziz Haniffa reports
The first-ever Diwali celebrations will be held at the United States Capitol this year, with the US lawmakers announcing to hold a Congressional reception for the festival of lights.
How do you rate PM Modi's speech at Capitol Hill?
Here's a presentation of some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by.
US President Barack Obama will keep his date with history on Monday as he will be sworn in for the second day in a row during a traditional public ceremony steeped in symbolism and watched by millions of Americans.
India can help mend the fractured relationship between United States and Pakistan, believes a ranking member of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.
It is also for the first time ever that so many Indian-Americans have been roped into a presidential administration ever before the inauguration. Biden, a Democrat, is still quite far away from filling all the positions in his administration.
'If the Biden-Harris team makes it to the White House, India's headaches will multiply,' observes Aditi Phadnis.
Foreign Policy takes a look at some of the most interesting oath-taking traditions from around the world.
The move by four US Congressmen to deny Narendra Modi a US visa is a disrespect to India's free and fair ballot and even its Supreme Court, says Aseem Shukla.
Actions of Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped track Osama bin Laden, have "seriously jeopardised" Pakistan's efforts to fight polio, the top Pakistani diplomat told US lawmakers.
The US has formed a panel to investigate the attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American officials.
Trump, 70, took the oath of office in front of about 800,000 people who braved chilly weather to gather on the National Mall in the center of the capital to celebrate the rank political outsider, who defied all odds to defeat political heavyweight Hillary Clinton in the November polls.
Victims of the Gujarat riots will not get any justice if Narendra Modi becomes India's prime minister, the wife of former Member of Parliament Ahsan Jafri, who was killed by a violent mob during the post-Godhra riots in Ahmedabad a decade ago, told United States lawmakers.
California Governor Edmund G Brown Jr has signed two bills to promote civil rights and religious freedom, following his remarks at the North American Punjabi Association's Peace and Unity rally at the State Capitol on September 8.
John Kerry, the veteran American politician and 2004 presidential candidate, has been sworn in as the United States secretary of state, replacing Hillary Clinton.
Mallika Sherawat talks politics, Obama, and films.
Barack H Obama was on Monday sworn-in as President of the United States for a second term. Here's the transcript of the speech he gave at Capitol Hill shortly after the swearing-in ceremony
In a rare show of solidarity, more than 20 top American lawmakers turned up for a Capitol Hill reception organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
B S Yeddyurappa's newly-launched Karnataka Janata Party is holding its national executive in Bengaluru.
'India should be aware that China will take full advantage of US domestic turmoil and reduced international prestige,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
A Sikh rights group in New York has submitted a petition to the Barack Obama administration seeking that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India be recognised as a 'genocide'. The Sikh Genocide Petition with 46,000 signatures, including 29,000 online, is the first petition of its kind to be submitted to the administration on the 1984 riots, in which a large number of Sikhs were killed, Sikh for Justice said in a statement.
An American apology for the November 26 air strike, in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed, would be helpful in reopening of ground lines of communications (GLOCs), a top Pakistani diplomat based in Washington has told US lawmakers.
In a highly emotional yet powerful testimony before a United States Senate Committee on Capitol Hill, Harpreet Singh Saini, the 18-year-old son of one of the victims of the Oak Creek gurudwara shooting, urged the US government to add a separate category for Sikh Americans on the form used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to gather data on hate crimes.
