United States President Barack Obama has acknowledged that the Central Investigation Agency had tortured suspects detained in the immediate aftermath of September, 11 terror attacks.
'Pakistan has to take responsibility and start cracking down on terrorists.'
Tired of the alleged "double game" being played by Islamabad, American lawmakers have announced to hold a Congressional hearing next week to discuss whether Pakistan is a "friend or foe" of the US in the war on terror.
United States President Barack Obama created another historic moment for the Indian American community Thursday by nominating Vince Girdhari Chhabria, 43, to become a federal judge on the US District Court for the Northern District of California. If confirmed, Chhabria will be the first person of South Asian descent to ever serve as an Article III judge in California's history.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Describing India's concerns as legitimate, a top United States official has said that there is no immediate danger of foreign fighters from Afghanistan moving towards the Indian border after 2014, when American troops leave the country.
The FBI chief also trashed President Donald Trump's allegation that his Trump Tower was wiretapped on the orders of his predecessor Barack Obama.
China has taken a position of non-acceptance and non-participation on the jurisdiction by the International Court of Arbitration in a case the Philippines has brought against China's claims to nearly all of the South China Sea, Abraham Denmark, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing.
Defence Secretary Mattis said he cannot certify that Islamabad has taken 'sufficient actions' against the dreaded Haqqani terror network.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday warned America and its allies against one-sided intervention in Syria, even as US said it not only risks losing friends but also credibility at the world stage if no military action is taken against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
"We should make it clear to Pakistan that any LeT attack upon our homeland, they will bear responsibility for that because of their close relationship between ISI and LeT," Congressman Peter King said during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.
'This is a historic juncture when the US is in great need of an alliance with India to strengthen its hands in the fierce struggle with China in the Asian theatre,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Balance is needed in selecting members for the proposed monetary policy committee, says Abheek Barua.
Flynn appeared before a federal court on Friday morning to plead guilty after ex-FBI director Robert Mueller, who is investigating allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election as a special counsel, announced that Flynn was charged with "wilfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his conversations with Russia's then ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.
'The Senators were playing safe, not angering either the pro-India lobby or the pro-Pakistan lobby, but perhaps more importantly, the military-industrial complex -- the most powerful lobby of all -- which the majority of Senators are beholden to in terms of largesse to their campaign coffers.'
In his first tweet after election results started coming in US President Trump claimed success. "Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!".
"I was pushed onto the bed and Brett (Kavanaugh) got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding his hips into me...Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes...I believed he was going to rape me," she said.
Lobbying on the Hill is time consuming and cumbersome, but very effective to influence US government policies, asserts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy in Washington, DC after the 1998 nuclear tests and during the Kargil War.
'The diplomat's arrest has led to a major diplomatic spat, the likes of which I have not seen in my nearly three decades of covering the US-India relationship, says Aziz Haniffa. 'The knee-jerk reaction by the powers-that-be in Delhi was myopic to say the least.'
Making nuclear exemptions for India, says Senator Edward Markey, 'only infuriates Pakistan and leads them to further increase their own nuclear capacities.'
As 2018 draws to a close and the white noise of 24-hour news cycles and Twitter storms fade into the background, it is already clear that history will remember only a handful of those people, each of whom has taught us something about ourselves and the rapidly changing world in which we live.
Experts believe that the incident, which US President Donald Trump termed as an "act of pure evil", is unlikely to bridge the bitter differences between the pro- and anti-gun control law lobbies in the country.
Two US warships fired at least 50 cruise missiles at the Ash Shai'rat airfield in Homs province in western Syria, from where the US administration believes Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad fired the chemical weapons against his own people, media reports said.
VW is under pressure to identify those responsible, to say how vehicles with illegal software will be fixed.
'It is very important for Indian Americans to understand that we need to have as many seats at the table as we can get. I am going to see to it that I am going to get there," Kumar Barve, the longest-serving Indian-American legislator in America, tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, newly elected co-chair of the influential Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, discusses her vision for US-India ties with Rediff.com's Monali Sarkar.
White House said Trump strongly believed that protecting environment and 'promoting our economy are not mutually exclusive goals'.
'Presidents may come and go, but America will go on forever,' an American business leader tells Ambassador T P Sreenivasan in New York.
'It is vital we should form an international coalition against ISIS, because their brutality and the use of the Internet for jihadist activities is a reminder that the entire world community has to be in this together,' US Congressman Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview ahead of Prime Minister Modi's visit.
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.
'This speech is going to be more of a punishment. I spoke too much this afternoon' A tireless Prime Minister Narendra Modi left over 700 notable luminaries in peals of laughter with his quick wit and sense of humour during a dinner and reception hosted by Indian Ambassador Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the Taj-owned, The Pierre Hotel. In the presence of the who's who of desi Americans and US lawmakers, Modi once again thanked the Indian-Americans for their contributions and discussed his plans of developing India and the ties he hopes to nurture with America. Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com presents a sneak-peak into the festive, grand dinner.
The West has always preferred a timid, half intelligent and a dependent India rather than a decisively independent and self-reliant one. A pliable Indian leadership suits the West best, says Tarun Vijay.
Immediately after India launched its surgical strikes, sources said, it had informed the US of its action.
'Headley's testimony indicates to what extent the Pakistan government and its proxies can go to destroy not only Indian scientific talent but also international expertise.'
Hindu-American Congresswon Tulsi Gabbard coasts to a rollicking re-election victory in in Hawaii's 2nd District
'India is no longer the India of the '70s and the '80s.' 'It's a large country with the fastest growing economy.' 'In working with India, you just can't go and humiliate the nation publicly.' USIBC President Mukesh Aghi tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com about how he advises American companies to do business with India, what he thinks of Modi's government and the way forward for the India-US relationship.