A key United States Senate sub-committee has approved $1 billion aid to Pakistan for the fiscal year 2013. The $52.1 billion Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Bill for the year 2103 was passed by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, during its meeting on Tuesday.
United States President Barack Obama has nominated two veteran diplomats to be the US ambassadors to Afghanistan and Pakistan.Almost two months after the incumbents resigned, Obama nominated James B Cunningham as the new US Ambassador to Afghanistan and Richard G Olson as the new envoy to Pakistan.
United States lawmakers have questioned the inordinate delay in designating Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation; which top American officials believe is responsible for the recent attack on its Embassy in Kabul.
On Tuesday, August 2, 2022. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed a news conference at Department of Justice to announce that the DoK has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Idaho's new restrictive abortion law.
Donald Trump's exaggerated opinion of his dealmaking capacity can get him into trouble, observes R Sriram.
According to the first-ever index of security of nuclear materials, India is among the last just above Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.
From 2014 to 2017, Gupta served as the assistant attorney general for civil rights under President Barack Obama, where she advanced criminal justice reform, prosecuted hate crimes, protected voting rights and fought against discrimination.
With the US facing a double digit unemployment rate, Senator Russ Feingold in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Byron Dorgan, who are drafting such a legislation urged them to include strong and effective Buy American and domestic sourcing requirement in this legislation.
In a huge relief for H-1B visa holders, a White House-backed bipartisan deal has been unveiled under which automatic work authorisation would be granted to about 100,000 H-4 visa holders, who are spouses and children of a certain category of H-1B visa holders. The National Security Agreement that was announced on Sunday after long negotiations between the Republican and the Democratic leadership in the US Senate also provides a solution to about 250,000 aged-out children of H-1B visa holders. The move comes as good news for hundreds and thousands of Indian technology professionals who are waiting in a painstakingly long wait for a Green Card, in the absence of which their spouses cannot work and their aged-out children face the threat of deportation.
Yellen, 74, was confirmed by the Senate in a broad bipartisan support of 84-15 votes on Monday. Both the Democratic and the Republican parties have 50 members in the 100-seat Senate.
Before starting the prayer, Zed sprinkled Gangajal on the podium in keeping with Indian tradition. He also presented a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to Lieutenant Governor Diane D Denish before she introduced him to the Senate.
Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of newly sworn-in Vice President JD Vance, has made history as the first Indian-American and Hindu Second Lady of the United States. Usha, a lawyer and daughter of Indian immigrants, held the Bible during Vance's oath of office, signifying her role in supporting her husband's political journey. Her background and her husband's rise to the Vice Presidency highlight the growing political influence of Indian Americans and their increasing representation in national politics.
At a news conference that followed a United States Senate hearing on 'Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism,' representatives of several civil rights and interfaith organisations pledged to stand together to fight the unprecedented level of racial profiling, discrimination and hate violence against South Asians, Arab Americans, Sikhs and Muslims living in America ever since 9/11.
However, in the interview, speaking of US-India relations, Obama declared, "India is one of our most important allies in the world and will be increasing in importance as times goes on."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been asked to complete its investigation in a week, meaning the confirmation of Kavanaugh, 53, as Supreme Court judge would be delayed by at least a week.
Unites States President Barack Obama has said that he had both concession and victory speeches prepared for election night.
Seattle is not only the first American city to ban caste discrimination but is the first jurisdiction at any level globally outside South Asia to do so.
Cutting across party lines, leaders strongly condemned the attack on Trump while he was addressing an election rally in Butler, which is about 56 km north of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
In a scathing indictment of Pakistan for continuing to host terrorist safe havens within its borders, United States Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, took strong issue with senior Pentagon officials.
Iranian hackers shared unsolicited information they had stolen from former United States President Donald Trump's presidential campaign with people who were associated with President Joe Biden's campaign over the summer, CNN reported, citing federal law enforcement officials.
As the United States Senate prepared for a crucial hearing on the Indo-US nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the midst of another round of hectic lobbying with key lawmakers to secure Congress' approval of the pact before its session ends on September 26. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee' hearing later on Tuesday is seen as a positive sign in getting the endorsement of the Senate for the nuke deal.
Egged on by more than 160 venture capitalists, including several Indian Americans -- the majority of whom are from California's Silicon Valley -- United States Senators John F Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, and Richard Lugar, Indiana Republican, have introduced legislation to create jobs in America and increasing America's global competitiveness by helping immigrant entrepreneurs obtain US visas.
When I knocked on doors (while campaigning), Indian Americans talked more about politics in India -- and I had to tell them this was about elections in New Jersey.
Republican United States Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the founder and co-chair of the newly reconstituted US Senate India Caucus, believes that the Caucus is 'really unique' because "it's the only country caucus that I am aware in the Senate."Cornyn addressed the packed audience of Indian Americans community leaders from across the country.
Subramanyam's mother, who immigrated through Dulles Airport, watched her son being sworn-in on the Bhagavad Gita.
'Pakistan has received assurances that no dispensation in Afghanistan will be inimical to Pakistani interests and that Pakistan will have a say in the determination of the future of the region. India would definitely not be part of the new order if the US could help it.'
The United States Senate has unanimously approved the nomination of Leon Panetta, the Central Investigation Agency director, to be the next Pentagon chief. He would succeed Robert Gates, who is one of longest serving US Defence Secretary.
United States Senator John F Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in convening the nomination hearing of Nancy J Powell to be the next US ambassador to India, said, America's partnership with India "is without doubt one of the most significant partnerships in US foreign policy."
Bernie Sanders would join presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at an election rally in New Hampshireon Tuesday, the two campaigns said even though the Vermont senator has yet to endorse his former rival for the party nomination.
United States President Joe Biden, who is under intense scrutiny over his advanced age, on Thursday introduced Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) event and later at a solo press conference in Washington, DC mixed up the names of his vice president, Kamala Harris with the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
United States Senator Mark Warner, the democratic co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and India's restraint in the face of continuing terrorist attacks is nothing short of remarkable and keeping with the best traditions of India.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai urged United States Senators to secure strong American support for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in his efforts to free his country from extremism, according to a classified US diplomatic cable released by whistleblower website Wikileaks.
A Republican-backed measure to fund Trump's border wall failed in a 50-47 vote while Democratic measure that omitted the wall fell short in a 52-44 vote.
United States President Barack Obama faced stiff resistance from the opposition Republican senators and skepticism from his own Democrats, forcing the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to postpone the vote on military intervention in Syria.
Senator John Cornyn, Senate Majority Whip for the 114th Congress, in a letter to Obama, has said "it is ill-advised" to pursue any civil nuclear agreement with Pakistan.
"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.
It is the first time that Biden has made such a statement, adding that the weapons sent could also be used in the operation to target the population centres.
This measure to double the number of temporary visas to H-1B skilled-workers to 115,000 -- with an option of raising the cap 20 per cent more each year -- was buried in the Senate's giant 300-page Immigration Bill that got approved 12-6 on Tuesday.
Putin is keen on establishing a good personal rapport with Trump and anchor a meaningful US-Russia partnership, realistic enough to accept that Trump is as good an American president as Russia would ever get, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
