Category: WASHINGTON

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The decks are clear now for India to take the next steps in acquiring 31 MQ-9B SkyGuardian armed drones with ammunition with the lapse on Friday of the 30-day period for Congressional review of the deal.

US President Joe Biden has said that he expects a ceasefire to take effect in Gaza by next Monday (March 4) on the conclusion of negotiations to free Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

Trump did not name Haley in his victory speech on Saturday and talked about unity in the Republican party and restoring global respect for America, which is a theme that he taps often, along with shutting the border to migrants.

The US has hit Russia with 500 new sanctions on Friday over the death of jailed Opposition leader Aleksey Navalny and the ongoing war against Ukraine, with the goal of further constricting its energy earnings that fuel and sustain the war effort.

Several US lawmakers, from both sides of the aisle, have urged the Biden administration not to recognise election results of Pakistan until alleged irregularities are investigated, media reported.

US President Joe Biden kicked off his inevitable claim on the Democratic nomination for the president post with a win in the first of the party’s primaries held in South Carolina, a state that had changed the trajectory of his 2020 campaign.

Reiterating that its partnership with India is one of the most consequential relationships, the US has said it is working closely with the country on "most vital priorities".

The proposed sale of these SeaGuardian drones was among two big-ticket announcements by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in June. The other was the joint production of GE jet engines in India.

The lethal drone attack on Sunday in Jordan was the third hit in six months on the base known as Tower 22, highlighting a gap in US defences that the Pentagon is scrambling now to fill.

Iran has accused Israel of killing five of its military advisors in Syria capital Damascus in a missile strike on a building, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Keeping his Vice Presidential choice tightly under wraps, Republican frontrunner and former US President Donald Trump has ruled out Indian-American rival Nikki Haley as his running mate for 2024.

US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump have presented different narratives of January 6, 2021 Capitol riots with the veteran Democrat calling it the day "we nearly lost America" while the business tycoon termed it a "beautiful day".

Reacting to the news that Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows blocked Trump from the state's ballot because she alleged Trump violated the 14th Amendment through his actions on January 6, Axelrod told a media network : "I have very, very strong reservations about all of this."

US President Joe Biden has bypassed the Congress for the second time in a row this month to release $147.5 million in aid for military equipment as emergency arms sales to Israel to fight Hamas.

Putin has expressed privately the willingness to a ceasefire through intermediaries, The New York Times reported on Saturday citing two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin and American and international officials who have heard the message from Putin's envoys.

Speaking at the end-of-year press availability on Wednesday, Blinken said in the coming year, the US will continue to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" with those who share its vision for a "free, open, prosperous, and secure world".

The RNC reminded candidates they signed a pledge not to participate in debates like the one in Des Moines, which is not sanctioned by the national party, NBC said quoting a letter it obtained from the RNC.

US had hastened pouring arms and ammunition into Israel since the war-time visit of President Joe Biden to Tel Aviv with 45 cargo planes loaded with armaments dispatched to reach the strife torn country.

The US imposed the financial sanctions on ten members and financiers of Hamas, in the Middle East , particularly Sudan , including figures tied to a covert investment portfolio meant to benefit the militant group, UK's Independent reported. 

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that October 11 was the final receipt date for new cap-subject H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2024. 

One update from September 28 warned, based on multiple streams of intelligence, that the terror group Hamas was poised to escalate rocket-attacks across the border, CNN reported citing the sources as saying.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has confirmed that the Pentagon is moving an aircraft carrier, warships and jets to the eastern Mediterranean and will also give Israel additional equipment and ammunition in the wake of the Hamas attack on the Jewish state,

The US will provide munitions and equipment to Israel and boost American forces in the Middle East in response to the attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's top military adviser said Tehran supported the attacks by Hamas against Israel and would continue to back the Islamist fighters “until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem”, the media reported.

Republican Kevin McCarthy, who has been ousted as the Speaker of the US House of Representatives in a right-wing revolt for the first time ever in the country's history, has said that he will not run for the post again.