Category: WASHINGTON

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US President Joe Biden's visit to India for the upcoming G20 leaders' summit is on and he will be leaving for New Delhi on Thursday. Biden has tested negative for Covid-19 after First Lady Jill Biden tested positive.

Former US President Donald Trump surrendered at a county jail in Georgia in an alleged case of racketeering to overturn the outcome of the state's vote count in the 2020 presidential election.

From Vice President Kamala Harris to Ambassador Eric Garcetti, top American leaders congratulated India for the historic touchdown of Chandrayaan-3 on the southern polar region of the moon, calling it an 'incredible feat'.

The United States, which had helped in India's Chandrayan-3 mission and closely tracked its progress, joined the world in hailing the historic soft-landing of the Indian spacecraft on the moon’s South Pole surface on Wednesday.

“We have heard loud and clear that countries want us to step up our support in the face of the overlapping challenges they face,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on a news conference call, announcing President Biden’s visit.

Reiterating that India imposes high tariffs on American companies that manufacture motorcycles and cars, former US President Donald Trump has said he will slap reciprocal tax if voted to power in 2024.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined the banks for being unable to produce those “off-channel” employee communications going back to at least 2019.

Taking to Twitter, Michael Kugelman, a scholar of South Asian affairs at the Wilson Centre in Washington, posted: “Not long ago, Pakistan’s political crisis appeared to be easing a bit, with the government pledging to step down and make way for a caretaker to prepare for elections.” 

Jack Smith, the special prosecutor for this case and the one about Trump's mishandling of confidential papers, said announcing the charges, "The attack on our nation's capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy."

Indian-Americans and allies held protests in US states of California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts throughout the weekend to condemn the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur, which has left hundreds of people dead and thousands displaced.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slightly raised India's GDP projection for the current fiscal to 6.1 per cent from 5.9 per cent. However this projection by IMF is still lesser than the 6.5 per cent growth projected by RBI for 2023-24.

He also reiterated that the US “strongly condemns the reported acts of vandalism and attempted arson against” the consulate and, added: “Vandalism or violence against diplomatic facilities or foreign diplomats in the United States is a criminal offense”.

A bipartisan duo of US lawmakers has called upon the state department to ensure the safety of Indian diplomats and diplomatic missions in the aftermath of the second attack on the Indian mission in San Francisco.

Two men dressed in dark clothes walked up to the gate of the Indian consulate in San Francisco on July 2, poured some kind of inflammable liquid on it from a container and set it on fire in a stunning breach of security as the same facility was attacked earlier in March.

“The US strongly condemns the reported vandalism and attempted arson against the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on Saturday,” said Mathew Miller, state department spokesman, in a tweet late Monday.

US lawmakers, pushing a legislation that seeks to fast-track the sale of arms and weapons to India with the same speed as those meant for close allies, have stopped talking it up as a “NATO Plus” arrangement in a nod to New Delhi’s skittishness about being perceived as an ally.

In wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's high-profile visit, US President Joe Biden on Sunday categorised the New Delhi-Washington friendship among the "most consequential" in the world.

"We have had frank discussions over a whole host of issues, and I say this from experience that he is a 'suljhe hue anubhavi neta'," Modi said using a colloquial Hindi phrase that roughly translates to "he is a wise and experienced leader".

In a direct appeal to the US business community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said "this is the moment" to invest in India as both the Indian and the US governments have done everything to prepare -- "plough" -- the ground for them to come, play, and thrive.

The challenges posed by China to both India and the US were on the agenda for talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden, but the India leader's state visit was not about China, the White House National Security Council (NSC) Spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the third and final day of his visit to the US on Friday told US diplomats at the State Department that the "promise over the horizon", as Joe Biden as Vice President had described the bilateral relationship nine years ago, has become a "reality" today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden have announced a slew of defense and technology deals and initiatives that will give India ability to coproduce jet engines, armed SeaGuardian drones, a semiconductor assembly and testing facility and a shot at the Moon.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to allay concerns in the US Congress about India's position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine by reiterating his public and direct message to Russian President Vladimir Putin: that "this is not an era of war" but of dialogue and diplomacy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pushed back on criticism of his governments handling of religious minorities and dissent, saying "democracy is in our DNA, democracy is our spirit, democracy runs in our veins" and there is "no space" in India for any kind of discrimination.

Prime Minister Modi called the relationship between the two countries "instrumental in enhancing the strength of the whole world" at a time when the global order is taking a new shape.