The letter, to maintain the current policy of denying Narendra Modi a visa to the United States, was released just as the BJP president arrived in Washington DC for a round of meetings with US lawmakers. Aziz Haniffa reports
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned Pakistan of "damaging consequences" over multi-billion gas pipeline with Iran, saying Islamabad could face sanctions if it went ahead with the ambitious project.
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.
Putting Pakistan on notice, a Republican-majority Congressional panel has cleared a key bill that would slap strict restrictions on the United States aid to Islamabad for not doing enough in the war against terrorism.
Bera's revised statement, three days after he publicly announced to join the Caucus, is considered to allay concerns of the Indian Government that the newly-made Caucus in the United States carries some individuals and groups, who in the past had indulged in anti-India activities including the separatist Khalistan movement.
Senior United States lawmakers have demanded an inquiry into the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigations that brought to light the extramarital affair of former Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus, wanting to know when the top general's name popped up on FBI radar and whether national security was compromised.
Dr Ami Bera was on the cusp of creating history by becoming only the third Indian-American ever to be elected to the United States House of Representatives, as five others from the community bit the dust in the polls.
So far only two Indian-Americans have been elected to the US Congress. Dalip Singh Saund was the first Indian-American elected to the House of Representatives in 1950s, while Bobby Jindal, now the Louisiana governor, was the second one.
Identifying Lashkar-e-Tayiba as the most problematic of the terrorist groups inside Pakistan, a top United States intelligence official has warned that the outfit has the long-term potential to become like Hamas or Hezbollah.
A Congressional resolution has been introduced in the United States House of Representatives to recognise a Pakistani doctor, who helped Central Intelligence Agency trace Osama bin Laden, as an American hero.
The United States on Wednesday warned Pakistan of "damaging consequences" if it went ahead with the ambitious Iran-Pak gas pipeline, which would be against the global sanctions against Iran.
India can help mend the fractured relationship between United States and Pakistan, believes a ranking member of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Soon-to-be Indian American United States Congressman Dr Amerish 'Ami' Bera has appointed long-time Democratic and community activist and erstwhile Congressional staffer Mini Timmaraju as his chief of staff.Hyderabad-born and Texas-raised Timmaraju, 39, is currently the director of the Office of the President at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a former district director for US Congressman Nick Lampson of Texas.
A US congressional paper says the recent arrest of eleven men in Virginia, allegedly connected with the Lashkar, raises the prospects of a new terrorist threat in the US.
India Abroad's West Coast correspondent Ritu Jha reports there is nothing much to cheer about Indian Americans in the fray in California.
A Congressional Committee in its budgetary proposals for the year 2013 has prohibited economic and security assistance to Pakistan till it co-operates with the United States in the fight against terrorism and takes action against groups such as Haqqani Network, Taliban, Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
The United States is dealing with the Al Qaeda element on the Pakistan side of the border, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel conceded and acknowledged that its drone programme has been pretty successful.
Dr Ami Bera, the Indian American Democratic Party candidate from a Congressional seat in California, received a big boost to his electoral ambition as he was endorsed by former United States President Bill Clinton.
The Indian American Leadership Initiative, founded by political activist Varun Nikore a decade ago to promote Indian-American participation in the mainstream political process and to support the community's candidates at the local, state and national levels, formally launched its political action committee on Capitol Hill in September-end.
The United States House of Representatives on Thursday passed by unanimous consent House Resolution 775, a legislation condemning the horrific massacre that killed six Sikh worshippers and priests at a gurudwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on August 5.
United States Congressman Joe Crowley, who is the co-chair of Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, has launched a major effort among lawmakers asking the department of justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to track the hate crimes committed against Sikhs, Hindus and Arab Americans.
Identifying Islamic State terrorists as uniquely brutal, United States President Barack Obama has announced that the country will lead a broad coalition to roll back the threat posed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his militia.
Indian-American political leaders, contesting Congressional elections, are outraged at the remarks of "legitimate rape" by a United States lawmaker, which President Barack Obama had termed as offensive.
Pelosi and House Democrats had pressed Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump from office in the aftermath of the January 6 breach of the US Capitol by thousands of the president's loyalists.
"A Biden administration will be mostly positive for India," said Rick Rossow from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "I expect most positive areas of cooperation -- notably defence -- to be maintained," he said.
President Barack Obama last week paid rich tributes to the late Dalip Singh Saund -- the first Asian-American and Indian-American United States Congressman -- and described him as a trailblazer. Aziz Haniffa reports.
In a letter to Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Trump said he was determined that New Delhi had "not assured" the US that it would "provide equitable and reasonable access" to the markets of India.
Dr Ami Bera, California physician, who according to conventional wisdom is the only Indian American congressional candidate this time around among all of the community's aspirants who has a good chance of winning, received a major boost when former President Bill Clinton publicly endorsed him in a public rally at the University of California.
As the most powerful man on earth comes calling on India in November, Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC, that the US president is keen his visit transforms relations between the two democracies
A top United States intelligence official on Thursday said the attack on its consulate in Benghazi, in which US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed, was an act of terror.
"Pakistan must be dissuaded from using terrorism as a state policy, and part of the US engagement with Pakistan should be focused on that result," says Ed Royce, senior Republican lawmaker.
The only Indian American lawmaker in the United States Congress, Dr Amerish 'Ami' Bera, on Tuesday made his debut as a member of a Congressional Committee that has jurisdiction over matters pertaining to South Asia.
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.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that there is no basis for Pakistan to hold up Dr Shakeel Afridi, who helped the US in nabbing Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader. "I agree that there is no basis for holding Dr Afridi or any of his staff," Clinton said at a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said Islamabad wants to have "excellent relations with the United States" and said both countries along with Kabul need to be "on the same page" in efforts aimed at boosting national reconciliation and stability in war-torn Afghanistan.
Acknowledging the "strain" in United States-Pakistan relationship, a top US intelligence official has said that the internal situation in Pakistan is "fraught" and will take some time to get back to normalcy.
President Barack Obama dispatched three of his top officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, to the Capital Hill to make a convincing case for a Congressional ratification of the New STRAT treaty with Russia that proposes to reduces the nuclear stockpiles of the nations by one-third.
A Congressional advisory panel has urged the Obama administration to adopt tougher approach towards China given the "aggressive" and "assertive" nature of Beijing's economic and military power in recent years.
Getting ready to travel to the United States on a fellowship, blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng spoke to American lawmakers for the second time in a week and gave a detailed account of his alleged persecution and that of his family by Chinese authorities.
The Salahi couple, Tareq and Michaele, infuriated United States lawmakers as they refused to answer any of their questions and invoked their right to remain silent in their forced appearance before a Congressional committee. The celebrity-hounding couple from Virginia was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday and was questioned on the circumstances of their attending the White House State Dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 24.
