Rediff.com brings to you a collection of the most dramatic photographs from around the world in the last 24 hours
Jonah Blank, till recently policy director for South Asia on the majority staff of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said the Indian decision-making process "drives US policymakers crazy."
Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry has said that he would soon be introducing a legislation in the US Congress to triple the non-military aid to Pakistan to avert an economic meltdown.
"The recent arrests here in our own country trace back to Pakistan and trace back certainly in the case of Zazi, directly to an Al Qaeda-originated training camp and training programme. But finally and perhaps most chillingly the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power raises the stakes enormously," she said.
Speaking to media persons after the hearing where senior Bush Administration officials testified on the agreement, Dodd, asked the first question by rediff.com as to the bottom line vis-a-vis the possible approval of the deal by Congress by September 26, said, "The evidence in the past has been that there is a strong desire to reach agreement, and a clear understanding of the value and importance of this."
"I have tried to be a friend to India. But, as long as there is breath in me, I will never support the lifting of the Glenn amendment sanctions on India unless they abandon all nuclear ambitions."
However, the Democrats said they would not seek to block Rice's confirmation and predicted her approval within a matter of days.
The US move came after the Justice Department said that hackers working with the Chinese government targeted firms developing vaccines for the coronavirus and stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property and trade secrets from companies across the world.
US Agency for International Development Administrator Dr Rajiv Shah has been praised by US lawmakers for shepherding America's development efforts with the scarce resources available and alleviating poverty-stricken populations in Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of South Asia, and Haiti, which was devastated by a killer earthquake over two years ago.
The US has been in discussions with Pakistan but there has been not a 'sufficient amount of action' from it against terrorists.
China has been an aggressor against India along the Himalayan border, a top American diplomat nominated by President Joe Biden as his next envoy to Beijing has told lawmakers, stating that the US must hold the Chinese government accountable for failing to play by the rules.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was cornered by US forces in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora just months after 9/11 and could have been killed or captured, but the military top brass decided not to attack him with the massive force at their disposal, a Senate report says.
The Barack Obama administration apparently believes that Pakistan has discarded its use of ISI-sponsored terrorist groups to foment its strategic depth strategy vis-a-vis India in Afghanistan, and has told Congress that Pakistan has also re-deployed its troops from the Indian border to its border with Afghanistan to meet the internal terrorist threat it faces.
Lisa Curtis, erstwhile Central Intelligence Agency South Asia analyst and ex-senior Congressional staffer on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said that the arrest and findings from the investigation of Chicago-based Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative John Coleman Headley, has awakened US officials to the gravity of the threat of the LeT and other Pakistan-based terrorist groups.
Regional States will be worried that the US's nascent engagement with the Taliban behind the fig leaf of humanitarian aid enables the return of US intelligence personnel to Afghanistan, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The United States will help India and Pakistan "find a new way forward" only if they stop "pointing fingers at each other," a visiting top Senator said on Monday, even as Islamabad asserted that a "calm eastern border" is essential to focus on its war against terror in Afghanistan.
Dr Rajiv Shah, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to head the US Agency for International Development -- the country's top non-military foreign assistance programme -- has told US lawmakers that "the mission of USAID is my passion," and that "it is with enthusiasm and humility" that he seeks confirmation to lead the agency first established by President John F Kennedy in 1961
The United States has asserted that it stands with India against Chinese aggression as several lawmakers slammed China for choosing a People's Liberation Army soldier.
"We all can work toward a dual-goal, I would say a single dual-goal -- one is protect our environment, our planet earth. The second thing is to protect the human values -- compassion, friendliness, and cooperation," he said.
Influential world leaders on Thursday braced for a showdown at the G20 summit over an imminent US-led action against Syria, as United States President Barack Obama's plan to launch military strikes cleared the first hurdle with a key Senate committee narrowly approving it.
US Senators Joseph R Biden, Jr (Delaware Democrat), who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Richard Lugar (Indiana Republican), the committee's ranking member, unveiled landmark legislation Tuesday designed "to promote an enhanced strategic partnership with the people of Pakistan."
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that India, along with countries like China and Turkey, is taking steps to reduce its dependency on Iranian oil.
Rice argued that the re-positioning of American diplomats from Europe to India was indeed making a difference to foreign policy.
The United States vowed to build "strong partnerships" with India and other democratic nations to meet global challenges, like terrorism and nuclear proliferation, according to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.\n\n
A top Republican lawmaker has welcomed India signing a trade deal with Australia, and urged the Biden administration to enter into a similar arrangement with New Delhi that can advance Washington's strong economic agenda in the strategically vital Indo-Pacific region. "I'm pleased to see #Australia & #India sign a strong trade deal," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch said in a tweet. "The US needs to do the same and advance a strong economic agenda in the #IndoPacific. "The Biden Admin's failure to lead hurts US growth and our partnership in the region," Risch said in another tweet.
The US, he said, is working in the G-20 to help build consensus on long-term reforms that will provide the foundation for a more balanced, more stable global economy.
Foreign Service Officer Robert Orris Blake, Jr, who is currently the United States' Ambassador to Sri Lanka, before which he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in New Delhi from 2003 to 2006, is the top contender for the post of the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, currently held by diplomat Richard Boucher.
The United States administration on Wednesday sought to address public anger in Pakistan over an American official, who shot and killed two men, by saying that the department of justice will conduct a criminal investigation into the incident despite his diplomatic immunity.
China in a provocative move fielded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander of the (PLA), who was injured during the June 2020 clash in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, as a torchbearer for the Olympics Games Torch Relay, which led India to diplomatically boycott the opening ceremony of the games on Friday.
