US

December 20, 2024 9:05 PM

India raises security concerns over threats to ambassador Kwatra

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has raised concerns with the United States regarding threats issued against Indian Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra. The threats were reportedly made by US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, speaking at the weekly press briefing in New Delhi, stated that India addresses such matters with urgency. “Whenever such threats are issued, we bring them to the notice of the US government,” Jaiswal said....

December 20, 2024 4:08 PM

US to announce final package of new arms for Ukraine in coming days, sources say

The Biden administration will announce in the coming days its final Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package, using up the remaining funds set aside to buy new weapons for Ukraine, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The package includes air defense interceptors and artillery munitions, according to a third source, but the exact contents are expected when the package is announced in the coming days. The package will be worth about $1.2 billion, said the sources. Under USAI...

December 16, 2024 7:56 PM

297 antiquities to be returned to India from the US

The Indian Consulate General in New York has received custody of 297 antiquities that are set to be transported to India. A sanction order for the transportation has been issued, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, informed the Lok Sabha. The responsibility for protecting monuments, sites, and antiquities in India rests with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The ASI deploys regular watch and ward staff, along with private security personnel and the Central ...

December 12, 2024 8:43 PM

US sees Assad’s fall as chance to destroy Syria’s chemical arsenal ‘once and for all’

The United States sees the fall of Bashar al-Assad as an extraordinary chance to rid Syria "once and for all" of chemical weapons that killed or injured thousands of people in its civil war, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Washington will strongly back efforts by the global chemical weapons watchdog to eliminate Syria's chemical arsenal, Nicole Shampaine, U.S. ambassador to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, told Reuters in an interview ahead of a closed-door OPC...

November 6, 2024 4:18 PM

US likely to remain cautious about global commitments, EAM Jaishankar says

India’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that the U.S. election is unlikely to change the country’s trend towards caution about foreign commitments and Republican Donald Trump will likely be more articulate in that regard. Speaking at an event in Canberra as Americans were still casting votes, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar underlined what he called a long-term trend in U.S. policy. "Probably starting from (President Barack) Obama the U.S. has become much more cautious about its global commitme...

November 1, 2024 10:16 AM

US urges Israel to extend waiver on co-operation with Palestinian banks

Israel's decision for a month's waiver extension on co-operation between Israeli and Palestinian banks covered a "very short term" and would create "another looming crisis" by Nov. 30, the United States warned on Thursday. The remarks came after a spokesman for Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would sign the waiver to extend banks' co-operation for another month after the cabinet agreed. "The very short-term duration of this extension creates another looming crisis by Nov. 30,...

October 23, 2024 4:21 PM

Moon sample talks show space engagement by rivals US and China

NASA and Chinese officials are engaged in talks to let American scientists analyze rocks retrieved by China from the moon's far side, according to the head of the U.S. space agency, as Washington pursues improved communication with Beijing on issues involving space. China in June became the first country to collect rock samples from the permanently dark side of the moon's surface, a demonstration of its growing prowess in space. Chinese officials offered the material to the world's scientists f...

October 21, 2024 9:06 AM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lands in US after concluding Mexico visit

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, arrived in the United States and received a warm welcome at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday (local time). India's Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, and Consul General of India in New York, Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, welcomed Sitharaman, following her arrival from Mexico City. Notably, Sitharaman was in Mexico from October 17 to October 20, where she interacted with political and business leader...

October 17, 2024 8:52 AM

US says, ‘We are satisfied with India’s cooperation in investigation of assassination plot of Pannun’

The United States on Thursday said that the meeting with the Indian Inquiry Committee regarding the alleged foiled assassination plot of the US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was "productive" and America was "satisfied" with the cooperation. US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller expressed satisfaction with India's cooperation in the investigation. Regarding the alleged involvement of an Indian government official in the assassination plan of Pannun, Miller informed...

October 16, 2024 12:31 PM

Israeli strike rocks Beirut after US says it opposes scope of air assault

At least one Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs early on Wednesday morning, Reuters reported, hours after the U.S. said it opposed the scope of Israeli attacks in Beirut amid a rising death toll and fears of wider regional escalation. Reuters cited witnesses who reported hearing two blasts and observing plumes of smoke rising from two separate neighborhoods. The Israeli military has in recent weeks carried out strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, without adva...