The first-ever Congressional Diwali celebration on Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening was a spectacular event by any measure, with the House of Representatives Rayburn Building lobby overflowing with over 500 members of the Indian American community, scores of United States lawmakers, administration officials and well-wishers ranging from leading American business and industry and policy wonks and think tank heads from some of Washington's premier institutions. Aziz Haniffa reports
The United States House of Representatives has authorised the commmissioning of a portrait of late Dalip Singh Saund, the first Indian-American ever elected to Congress.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has indicated that the Congress party is in alignment with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on major foreign policy issues like the relationship with the United States, no talks with Pakistan unless the flow of terrorism is stopped, concerns over extremist elements in Bangladesh and Israel.
A peek into the life of United States Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
'To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, You did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people's house.'
More than 25,000 National Guards have been deployed along with thousands of local police personnel and those from other security agencies. The area in and around Capitol Hill, a large part of Pennsylvania Avenue and the White House has been made out of bounds for the general public with eight-feet high iron barricades being erected.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed that he will pardon all peaceful January 6 protesters if he gets elected as the next United States president in 2024.
After being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, in his inaugural address, vowed to fight for the 'forgotten' Americans.
'Trump's disregard for norms and institutions could prove very costly for America's social fabric.'
The top Republican leadership in the United States has congratulated Narendra Modi on being nominated as the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, and has extended an invitation to address Congressional leaders and Indian Americans via satellite at the Capitol Hill.
Modi told US lawmakers, "I can understand the debate of ideas and ideology. But I am delighted to see you come together today, to celebrate the bond between the world's two great democracies -- India and the United States.
Trump will make his first court appearance in the case on Thursday in federal court in Washington, DC, as per the court filings.
The US of late has seen a rise in Hinduphobia which needs to be fought because there is no place for hatred in this country, Indian-American Congressman Shri Thanedar has said, as he joined a group of Hindu leaders and organisations seeking to fight this growing hate crime against the community.
Biden said America is in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China.
The former president will have two funerals -- a state funeral at the National Cathedral and a local funeral at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston.
Congressional caucuses are groups of members of the US Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives. Caucuses are formed as Congressional Member Organisations through the US House of Representatives and governed under the chamber's rules.
In its set of recommendations, the China Committee said that economic sanctions against China in case of an attack on Taiwan will be most effective if key allies such as G7, NATO, NATO+5, and Quad members join, and negotiating a joint response and broadcasting this message publicly have the added benefit of enhancing deterrence.
People mourned the deaths of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, while anti-gun protestors in Washington, DC demand gun safety legislation, following the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde.
"I spoke from this chamber one year ago, just days after Vladimir Putin unleashed his brutal war against Ukraine. A murderous assault, evoking images of the death and destruction Europe suffered in World War II," Biden said in his address to a Joint Session of the US Congress on Tuesday night.
The incidents come as pressure builds in the United States to rid the country of monuments associated with racism following massive demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis last month.
November 22, 2023 marks 60 years since US President John F Kennedy's assassination.
The spell that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast over US lawmakers nearly two months during his visit to the United States has still not worn off, as was manifest by the gushing nostalgia of the Modi magic by both Democratic and Republican party representatives at the Congressional Diwali celebration on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
"Trump failed our country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump is a chaos agent who is focused on himself, not the American people. Trump tried to destroy our democracy by lying about the election and inciting a violent mob to attack the Capitol," he said.
Members of the United States Congress break bread to celebrate the contributions of Sikh Americans. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports
The violence erupted after Trump supporters breached the Capitol and clashed with police on Wednesday, resulting in the death of four persons and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's election victory.
The provisions do not apply to Trump, "since he is no longer 'President,'" his lawyers say.
In these times, the sight of a public gathering of hundreds of people mostly without face masks is alarming. But that is exactly what is happening across the United States, as groups of Americans are taking to the streets in protest of lockdown orders aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19. Those taking to the streets say that the stringent measures restricting movement and businesses are unnecessarily hurting citizens.
The possibly first ever blocking of a head of a state by Facebook comes in the wake of the unprecedented storming of the United States Capitol by Trump's supporters on Wednesday and thus disrupting the constitutional process of counting and certification of the Electoral College votes of the presidential elections.
'ELECTION INTERFERENCE! NEVER SURRENDER!' Trump wrote while sharing the mug shot photo on X.
'Kamala likes south Indian food.' 'She likes a special rasam which her husband also likes, she likes coconut rice, she likes puri aloo...'
On Thursday, September 21, 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a second trip to Washington, DC since Russia invaded his country on February 24, 2022.
Appearing in a federal courthouse in downtown Washington, DC, Trump entered the not guilty plea before Indian-American judge Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya.
Thanks to the indefatigable perseverance of Congressman Joe Crowley, New York Democrat and a long-time and time-tested friend of India and the Indian American community, the United States Congress will celebrate it's first-ever Congressional Diwali celebration on October 29 at 6 pm at the Rayburn House Building foyer on the first floor.
The elaborate and lavish White House state dinner hosted for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by United States President Barack Obama in November, and the caliber of guests invited, was in part to acknowledge the extraordinary impact of Indian Americans in the US in every field of endeavour, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said.
Former United States Presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama -- among the famous faces at the swearing-in event of Joe Biden. US President Trump left the White House earlier and will also not attend Biden's inauguration. Take a look at who we caught at the event.
Gere accused China of 'cruelty, collective violence and persecution' of the Tibetan people, whom he said were repressed by a 'pervasive surveillance system.'
'For the first time since the War of 1812, the United States Capitol was breached today'
Their rematch, long anticipated, but hardly clamoured for, is broadly expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges.
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