Category: WASHINGTON

• Seattle

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.

Millet, the coarse and hearty cereal India has been pushing on the world, will make a glitzy first world splash at a state dinner US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are hosting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Thursday.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not then US President Barack Obama's first and automatic choice for his presidency's first state guest. Singh became one by a "process of elimination", according to a former official of the Obama administration, who did not wish to be identified.

More than 70 Democratic members of the US Congress on Tuesday urged President Joe Biden in a joint letter to raise "areas of concern" in his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

US President Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two minor charges related to tax evasion and admit to the facts of a gun charge, an agreement he has reached with the Department of Justice.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming state visit later this month, a bipartisan duo of senior US Senators known to be longtime friends of India have expressed disappointment that India "took a pass" on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and did not take a position behoving a major power.

This was the first time in US history that a former President is facing federal crime charges. He was charged in April in a case brought against him by New York state for payment of hush money to an adult film star who has claimed to have had an affair with Trump in 2005.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Tuesday said the upcoming state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give the two countries an opportunity to elevate their focus on commercial and strategic technology partnership in defense, clean energy, and medical supply chain.

The US has a "significant" defence partnership with India and "terrific cooperation" inside the Quad, the White House said ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit beginning June 22.

Blinken has inserted a new phrase into the narrative around the India-US relationship whose limits have been defined by New Delhi's pursuit of strategic autonomy, which is a foreign policy construct deployed by India to choose friends without committing itself to anything serious.

Ajay Banga, the World Bank's new President, called for the private sector to play a larger role to help emerging countries in their battle against climate change in his first interviews on Sunday.

The US Justice Department has charged former President Donald Trump with 37 counts in connection with his handling of classified documents from his presidency that he carried with him while leaving the White House at the end of his term in January 2021, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday.

Trump, who became the first former President in US history to face federal criminal charges, announced his indictment in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday.

The meeting was held here on Tuesday. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra led the India delegations and Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland and Undersecretary of Commerce Alan Estevez co-led the US side.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, the White House on Monday dismissed concerns about the health of democracy in India, saying it is vibrant and anybody who happens to go to New Delhi can see that for themselves.

US Congress leaders have invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of lawmakers during his upcoming state visit in June, setting him up to become the first Indian leader to this rare honor Washington D.C. affords to foreign leaders.

With the victory in Karnataka Assembly elections, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the grand old party will surprise everyone in the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections as there is a hidden undercurrent building within the country.