Betting big on India's AI potential, Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday announced new subsea cable routes to boost AI connectivity between India and the US, alongside major skilling initiatives, including training 20 million public servants and supporting 11 million students
Tensions began soon after Indian authorities proposed flying the American black-box experts to a remote military facility, even as US officials intervened, citing safety and security risks.
Kwatra termed India's successful launch of an American communication satellite on Wednesday as a 'very important and big day' for partnership between Washington and New Delhi, saying it caps a series of achievements in 2025 in bilateral space cooperation between the countries.
The US Representative criticised the administration's new USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas, observing that Indians hold 70 per cent of these visas and saying the change directly harms workers who have long supported US innovation across technology, science and medicine.
Representatives Deborah Ross of North Carolina, Marc Veasey of Texas and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois introduced the resolution on Friday in the House of Representatives to terminate Trump's national emergency authorising tariffs of up to 50 per cent on imports from India, helping to restore Congress' constitutional authority over trade.
US lawmakers have urged President Donald Trump to reconsider his proclamation on H1-B visas, including the USD 100,000 fee, asserting that Indian nationals are central to American leadership in IT and AI, and the restrictions will negatively impact US-India ties.
'Immigrants have always been America's greatest strength, building prosperity, breakthroughs, and communities that enrich us all. Instead of embracing that strength, Trump is clamping down on every form of immigration, tearing families apart, destabilising businesses, and weakening our economy'
'Pakistan is an ally who gives the US access.' 'If we have a presence there, it puts us that much closer to China and puts our assets closer to China and Iran.'
'As one former Indian diplomat put it to me, Delhi has access to the White House, but Islamabad has access to Mar-a-Lago.'
Unveiling his launch day playlist, the Indian pilot revealed that he loves to listen to Shah Rukh Khan's Swades song Yuh Hi Chala Chal.
China has expressed its support for Russia's initiative to revive the Russia-India-China (RIC) troika, emphasizing its importance for regional and global security and stability.
The mission was originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29 but was put off multiple times when engineers detected a liquid oxygen leak in the boosters of the Falcon-9 rocket and NASA also detected leaks in the ageing Russian module of the ISS.
331,602 Indians are studying in the US, making India the 'top sender' of international students to America for the first time in 15 years, as it overtook China for the academic year 2023-2024.
'You can imagine for India what Shuks means not just to the billions of people in India but the entire Indian diaspora around the world.'
President Trump with his MAWA has unwittingly provided us this opportunity. Will PM Modi grasp this and leave a legacy of an ushered in scientific and technological revolution in India, asks Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Artificial Intelligence, innovation and next-generation technologies figured prominently during the high-stakes discussion between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House, as the two sides announced transformative measures, including the US-India TRUST initiative, roadmap on accelerating AI infrastructure and INDUS Innovation, to boost tech ties.
'Pakistan is no longer a front-burner issue for America.'
In a significant move, the United States on Wednesday removed restrictions on three Indian nuclear entities, over a week after National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced that Washington was finalising steps to 'remove' hurdles for civil nuclear partnership between Indian and American firms.
'The President-elect firmly believes we can avoid conflict with the Chinese Communist party because they need our markets.'
As the US gets tougher with visas, the prayers of US-bound devotees in India are getting more fervent, and their purse strings looser. Called Visa Hanuman temples (there are half a dozen all over India), some of them ask for a 'fee'.
Condolences have poured in from across the globe, including from the United States, Canada and Sri Lanka following the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The China threat continues to resonate in the strategic partnership between India and the USA, points out Rup Narayan Das.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh take the India-US defence relationship forward.
'One of the big findings is that younger men seem to have shifted towards the Republican Party.' 'In 2020, about 23% of younger men said they would vote Trump.' 'Now that number is 48%.' 'It is like a 25 point shift, and you don't actually see shifts that big in surveys.'
The US will help India set up a body similar to the Food and Drug Administration, to certify clinical trials for automatic acceptance in the US market
The National Science Foundationis an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health.
India scripted history as the ambitious third Moon mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) touched down on the Moon's south pole, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first nation to land on the uncharted surface.
Modi and Biden will have a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday before holding high-level talks.
The committee has also recommended highlighting 'Hindu victories' in various battles in the textbooks.
He is currently on a two-day swing to the crucial State of Iowa. On January 15, Iowa would kick off the 2024 Republican presidential primary season.
India and the United States, after sending their own respective spacecraft into Mars' orbit, have now agreed to cooperate on future explorations of the Red Planet, which America said will yield "tangible benefits" to both the countries and the world at large.
In a tribute, President Joe Biden called him a "born patriot", while Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hailed him as a thought-provoking global strategist.
Amid mass layoffs in the tech sector, the federal agency for immigration services has said it is wrong to assume that sacked workers holding the much-sought-after H-1B visas have to leave the country within 60 days, asserting they have multiple options to stay in the US. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
'While the US-Pakistan relationship has been stabilised, it's still mired in uncertainty.'
Only the future will tell if Modi can leave his mark on the Ukraine crisis. Nonetheless, it is both a challenge and an opportunity for India's diplomacy, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first-ever in-person meeting with President Joe Biden raised a number of issues involving the Indian community in America, including access for Indian professionals in the US and speaking about the H-1B visas, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said.
The Netherlands has emerged as India's fifth-largest export destination in 2021-22 (FY22), jumping from its 10th position a year ago. Exports to the fifth-largest economy in the European Union (EU) bolted 94 per cent to $12.5 billion in the financial year ended March 31. In FY22, the Netherlands surpassed Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, Germany, and Nepal to become India's largest export destination in the EU. Germany, which was earlier India's top European export destination (eighth position), has now dropped two ranks to 10th place.
Biden has reiterated America's support for India's permanent membership on a reformed UNSC and its entry into the NSG during his first in-person bilateral meeting with Modi at the White House.
In a pre-budget memorandum, submitted to the Union Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, the US India Business Council said it was concerned over the several recent policy initiatives of the Indian government in this regard.
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