New York-based advocacy group Center for Inquiry had said they had helped her relocate from India following threats by radicals.
Spicer will continue to be in his position through August.
It would be a huge achievement if the new administration manages a successful transition to some sense of domestic and international normalcy in these frantic times marked by the pandemic and rise of illiberal regimes across the world, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
George Joseph
The US authorities are checking people's social media accounts for their political views before allowing them into the country after the recent travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump on people from seven predominantly Muslim nations, a media report said.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 13 images.
The protest was carried out ahead of Monday's opening of a month-long conference of parties to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Modi's friend, billionaire Gautam Adani, called Sardesai and delivered a personal message from the prime minister.
Tibetan refugees in India face a bleak future, says Greg C Bruno.
Images of the events that shaped the world last week.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 10 images.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Ravin Gandhi wrote an op-ed for CNBC following Trump's Charlottesville remarks but was quickly trolled and racially abused by readers.
Ajit Balakrishnan on how the Web could return to its original egalitarian goals.
This week's collection of unbelievably unusual images from across the world.
'Foreign exchange is being squandered.' 'Every top star is given tickets for his spouse, children, parents, ayahs, bodyguards, friends, friends of friends...' 'I've heard stars are even given shopping money.' 'Who is paying for all this?'
Hers was one of some 3,200 same-sex marriages that have been performed since February 12, when Mayor Gavin Newsom launched a constitutional challenge to the ban on gay and lesbian nuptials in California.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States recognises -- as have Israeli courts -- the legal conclusions relating to individual settlements must depend on an assessment of specific facts and circumstances on the ground.
'I like to challenge myself. Competing against players much younger than me is something that I want to keep doing,' says Chess Legend Viswanathan Anand
Here's a collection of some of the best photos, taken last week, from around the globe.
In further retaliatory steps over the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade, India has asked the United States to "discontinue" commercial activities being undertaken from its embassy premises in New Delhi by January 16.
The Deputy High Commissioner was summoned by Joint Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs Rudrendra Tandon in South Block and delivered a strong diplomatic message, sources said.
Workers' outfits staged a rally outside the Indian Consulate in New York to show support for Sangeeta Richard, whose allegations of low wages and exploitation led to the Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade. George Joseph reports
Was she the right choice for the magazine's 10th anniversary cover?
The protestors converged across the street from the world body's headquarters to condemn atrocities and human rights violations by Pakistan just as Sharif was addressing the General Debate of the General Assembly.
'When you are returning your award you are commenting on the country and not the government.' 'Can we actually say that a vast majority of Indians have become communal? The data shows actually no. That is not true.' 'In religious terms India has a lot to teach the world because we are genuinely liberal, but in gender terms we have to learn lot from the West. In gender terms, we are terrible.'
This is probably for the first time that curfew is in place on the day of Eid festival ever since militancy broke out in the state in 1990.
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Victims decry Ministry of External Affairs' 'vengeful' decision to stop them from leaving the country if they have a 'T' visa (Trafficking category) affixed on their passports. George Joseph/Rediff.com reports
'When all the facts are known, if they ever are, it will likely turn out that both Ms Khobragade and Ms Richard might have been at fault and so too might both governments be faulted, the US for a needlessly aggressive approach in the first place and India for its ham-handed response in the early stages of the affair,' says Rupa Subramanya.
The Congress has approached a United States court in New York seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Sikh rights group over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, saying American courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction over the case.
Indian agencies have been engaged in countering Pakistani cyber-attacks on social media platforms for a very long time. But just like the fight against the coronavirus, only through the active participation of ordinary citizens that this war on fake news can be won, suggets Colonel S Dinny (retd).
