Asian Lite News Archive

Category: USA News

  • Pakistan deplores CIA torture

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     Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemned the US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) torture of detainees and said steps taken for countering terrorism must be transparent. “Pakistan deplores the Senate report on CIA torture of detainees,” spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said. “It is a violation of international laws. Human rights laws must be respected,” Dawn online quoted Aslam as…

  • Richard Verma confirmed as US envoy to India

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    The US Senate has confirmed Richard Rahul Verma, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next American ambassador to India, making him the first Indian-American envoy in New Delhi. Verma, 46, a former key aide to then secretary of state Hillary Clinton, was approved by the Senate by a unanimous voice vote Tuesday, signifying the…

  • US Senate slams CIA for torture

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    By Arun Kumar  A scathing Senate report  slammed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for its “brutal” interrogations of terrorist detainees during the Bush era, saying they delivered no “ticking time bomb” information that prevented an attack. The majority report issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee also accused the spy agency of routinely misleading the White…

  • US racial profiling upsets South Asians

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    By Arun Kumar  Sikh, Muslim and South Asian Communities have expressed dismay over new guidelines that ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement officers but do not apply to screeners at airports or border checkpoints. The new guidelines announced by Attorney General Eric Holder Monday replace the 2003 Bush administration rules. They prohibit profiling based…

  • ‘Modi-Obama summit reignited business interest’

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      Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s summit meeting with US President Barack Obama in September signal a paradigm shift in bilateral ties? Was it a ground-breaking moment in Indo-US ties that had seen a slump over the years? Experts, including former diplomats, do not think it was a paradigm shift, but agree the visit was…

  • Man jailed for threatening Tulsi Gabbard

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      A US court has sentenced a New York man to 33 months in prison for making a series of threats against Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu member of the US House of Representatives. Aniruddha Sherbow, 44, had entered a plea of no contest on Feb 21 in the US District Court to two counts…

  • Protests continue in US over Garner’s death

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      Protests continued in the US over the death of several black men at the hands of the police and in New York preparations were being made for a huge demonstration next Saturday, media reported. Sunday was the fifth consecutive day of protests since last Wednesday, when a grand jury decided not to indict the…

  • Obama condemns killing of US photojournalist

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      US President Barack Obama Saturday denounced the killing of an American hostage in a second failed rescue operation in Yemen, vowing to bring the killers to justice. “The US strongly condemns the barbaric murder of Luke Somers at the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists during a rescue operation conducted by US forces in Yemen in…

  • NASA’s Orion success boosts Mars mission

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    The US space agency marked a major milestone on its mission to Mars as the Orion spacecraft completed its first voyage to space Friday – travelling farther than any spacecraft designed for astronauts has been in more than 40 years. “Today’s flight test of Orion is a huge step for NASA and a really critical…

  • US journalist Luke Somers killed in rescue bid

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    US journalist Luke Somers and another man held by al-Qaeda in Yemen have been killed by militants during a rescue attempt by US special forces. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the hostages were “murdered by… terrorists during the mission” reported BBC. He said there were “compelling reasons” to believe that Mr Somers’s life was…

  • Putin visit will not change Obama trip: US

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    By Arun Kumar   The US says “now is not the time for business as usual with Russia” but insists Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming India visit would not cast a shadow on President Barack Obama’s own trip in January. “Let’s wait and see what comes from the visit,” State Department spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters…

  • Ashton Carter named new US defense chief

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    By Arun Kumar   President Barack Obama  named Ashton Carter, a former Pentagon second-in command, who once described India as destined to be America’s security partner, as his new defense secretary in place of ousted Chuck Hagel. Announcing the nomination of the Rhodes Scholar, with a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University and a degree…

  • NRI scientist among four US science envoys

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    Professor Arun Majumdar from Stanford University is among four top scientists who have been appointed the science envoys of the US. An Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)- Bombay alumnus, Majumdar shares the honour with Peter Hotez, Jane Lubchenco and Geri Richmond. The four eminent scientists will serve as US envoys beginning January next year, said…

  • US to investigate into Eric Garner case

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      US Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the Department of Justice will launch an independent investigation to determine if there was a violation of civil rights in the case of Eric Garner, a black man who died at the hands of a policeman in New York. Just a few hours after the grand…

  • Indian growth story attracts Americans

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    Lured by the growth potential of the Indian market, the American Society for Metals (ASM) International, the world’s largest association dealing in metal-centric materials scientists and engineers, is for the first time hosting MET-14, an international conference on emerging materials and processes for industrial applications, in India. ASM is a very popular name worldwide with…

  • Mysterious NASA plane spotted

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    A mysterious NASA plane has been spotted in eastern Africa, leaving people curious whether it was on some secret mission. The broad-winged white plane named WB-57 was photographed by the satellite company Digital Globe in the Republic of Djibouti in September, ABC News reported. “I really cannot give you any of the details. You know…

  • Modi’s bureaucratic shakeup impress Obama

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    By Arun Kumar   US President Barack Obama is very much impressed with the way Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shaken up the bureaucratic inertia inside India to improve the business climate in the country. “India- Modi has impressed me so far with his willingness to shake up the bureaucratic inertia inside of India,” he…

  • Ferguson protesters demand ‘meaningful reform’

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    Several US protest leaders said that nationwide demonstrations against a grand jury decision to not indict a white police officer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager would continue to grow, as they did not see “meaningful reform” in many areas. “We’re going to continue to take to the streets, we’re going to continue to…

  • US IT firms replicate India model

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    A leading Information Technology (IT) services company is using a programme developed in India to create jobs worldwide and train and place minority women in high-quality IT jobs in 10 cities across America. After its “impressive work” in India, Mexico and the US, Aliso Viejo, California-based UST Global, is planning to launch additional programmes in…

  • US plans to release more detainees from GITMO

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    The Pentagon is preparing to release more prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba, in the coming weeks, official sources in the US have revealed. According to officials, there would be more transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay in December, but details on their numbers or nationalities were not provided, The Wall Street…

  • Ferguson smoulders,protests spread across US

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      As night fell, Missouri state in Midwestern United States deployed more forces to quell violence in Ferguson after a grand jury failed to indict a white police officer in the August shooting of an unarmed black teenager. “We are bringing more resources to Ferguson and other parts of the region to prevent a repetition…

  • Ferguson erupts in violence after ruling

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    Violence erupted in the US city of Ferguson after the announcement that police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for shooting to death unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. Two police cars were set on fire Monday night and gunshots rang throughout the night as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. Chaos reigned…

  • Four NRI students picked as Rhodes scholars

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    Four Indian American students, Anisha Gururaj, Sai P. Gourisankar, Maya Krishnan and Abishek Kulshreshtha, are among 32 men and women chosen as 2015 Rhodes Scholars from the US. Considered the oldest and best known award for international study, Rhodes Scholarships provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford…

  • US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel to resign

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      US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will step down from his post after coming under pressure from President Barack Obama, The New York Times reported . The president is expected to announce Hagel’s resignation in a Rose Garden appearance Monday, the daily said, adding that the removal of Hagel – the sole Republican on his…

  • NASA’s flying saucer among the best

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    NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), a spacecraft that aims to facilitate the safe landing of future Mars missions, has earned a place in the the Popular Science magazine’s “Best Of What’s New” list. The NASA project, also known as the “flying saucer”, won the award in the aerospace category. “Landing safely on an alien planet…

  • Nisha Biswal headed to India

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      US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal is heading to India  ahead of President Barack Obama’s January visit to join India’s Republic Day parade as chief guest. The State Department announcement of Biswal’s trip to India “for internal consultations and bilateral meetings” came shortly after the White House announced Obama’s…

  • Indian techies lose out on Obama immigration plan

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    As President Barack Obama campaigned to sell his immigration plan to shield up to five million people from deportation and retain high-skilled immigrants, largely from India and China, analysts called it a mixed bag. Obama’s plan, according to the White House, “focuses on cracking down on illegal immigration at the border; deporting felons, not families;…

  • Obama accepts Modi invite for republic day

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      Signifying a renewal of the India-US strategic partnership, President Barack Obama has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to join India’s Republic Day celebrations as chief guest in January. “This visit will mark the first time a US president will have the honour of attending Republic Day, which commemorates the adoption of India’s constitution,”…

  • Obama awards science medal to NRI scientist

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    By Arun Kumar  US President Barack Obama awarded the National Medal of Science to Indian American scientist Thomas Kailath for his transformative contribution to science and technology. Kerala-born Stanford University Professor Kailath, 79, received the medal along with 18 of America’s top thinkers, discoverers, and innovators at a ceremony in the East Room of the…

  • Modi invites Obama to the 2015 R-Day

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    In a major sign of deepening India-US ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited US President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Jan 26, 2015 Republic Day parade. “This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over…invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest,”…

  • Obama overhauls immigration system

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    By Arun Kumar   Asserting his presidential authority, a defiant President Barack Obama resorted to unilateral executive action to fix America’s broken immigration system and protect five million illegal immigrants, including thousands from India, from deportation. In a prime time address to the nation from the East Room of the White House Thursday night, he rejected…

  • Obama all set for executive action on immigration

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    A defiant President Barack Obama is all set to take executive action to protect up to five million of about 11.2 million illegal immigrants, including about 450,000 from India, from deportation. Obama’s plans to announce unilateral action  to overhaul America’s “broken” immigration system puts him in confrontation with the Republicans who would take control of…

  • US lawmaker seeks faster visas for Indian doctors

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    By Arun Kumar    Ahead of President Barack Obama’s slated plans to take unilateral executive action to overhaul America’s “broken” immigration system, a Democratic lawmaker has introduced legislation to expedite visas for Indian and Pakistani physicians. The measure introduced Wednesday by Grace Meng, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would require Secretary of State…

  • US has 450,000 illegal immigrants from India

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    By Arun Kumar  As President Barack Obama mulls executive action to give relief from deportation to some of the 11.2 million illegal immigrants in the US, a new report said about 450,000 of them are from India. In fact, India is the fourth top source country of unauthorised immigrants after top-ranked Mexico, according to the…

  • Surveillance reform fails to advance in US Senate

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    The US Senate has blocked a move to put an end to the mass storage of telephone data by the National Security Agency (NSA), a measure that had the support of the White House and was a direct consequence of leaks by Edward Snowden. The controversial reform, called the USA Freedom Act, fell short by…

  • US aid worker beheaded by ISIS

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     A video has been circulating online purporting to show members of the Islamic State(IS) group beheading several Syrian soldiers and a US aid worker. The footage, released , showed the beheading of a captured American aid worker, Abdul-Rahman Kassig, and at least 12 people who IS said were Syrian pilots and officers in President Bashar…

  • Obama, Suu Kyi demand reforms in Myanmar

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      US President Barack Obama and Myanmarese opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi  demanded reforms in the Myanmar constitution to allow “free and transparent” elections for a fully representative democracy. Obama called for “inclusive” changes in the constitution before general elections scheduled for 2015. The constitution of Myanmar, once known as Burma,…

  • Nikki Haley in Chandigarh

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    South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley arrived in Chandigarh and met Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal  evening. During the meeting, Haley told Badal that South Carolina would support Punjab in establishing aero-space, pharma-sector, tourism and agro-processing industries. She highlighted how South Carolina had been able to create new jobs in aerospace and hospitality sectors.…

  • Obama denies US hand in Hong Kong

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    US President Barack Obama denied that his country has promoted the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which the official Chinese press has frequently attributed to foreign interference, in particular the US. “On the issue of Hong Kong, which did come up in our conversations, I was unequivocal in saying to President Xi that the US…

  • Obama, Xi discuss new type of bilateral ties

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    Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with US President Barack Obama, underscoring commitment to building a new type of major-country relations between the world’s two largest economies. ‘China would like to work with the United States to implement the principle of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, cooperation and common prosperity and make new type…

  • PJ: Greek gods, demigods and the quests

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    Vikas Datta in his weekly column  Bookends profiles The Percy Jackson series – Greek gods, demigods and quests in modern America Be it the exploits of Hercules, Perseus or Odysseus or their ilk, the warrior kings of the Indian mytho-religious ethos, the knights of King Arthur, Persian princes, Arabian chieftains (Hatim Tai) and merchants (Sindbad), Russian bogatyrs Dobrynya…

  • Military build-up in Ukraine concerns US

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    The US is “very concerned” by intensified fighting and rebels’ military build-up in eastern Ukraine, the White House said. “Any attempt by separatist forces to seize additional territory in eastern Ukraine would be a blatant violation of the Minsk agreements,” reported Xinhua citing a statement issued by Bernadette Meehan, spokesperson for White House’s National Security…

  • Nikki Haley off to India to attract investment

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    South Carolina’s Indian-American Governor Nikki Haley will lead a 10-day trade mission to India in November, hoping to attract more foreign investment and sell the state as a tourist destination The Nov 12-22 trip is intended to make a “first impression” that sells South Carolina as a tourism destination and a place to do business,…

  • Republican Congress may favour India

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    After the Republican victory in the US mid-term, Congress is likely to be more interested in doing more with India on security, energy, and foreign policy, according to an American expert on South Asia. But it’s also likely to be still concerned about trade barriers and temporary worker visas, wrote Alyssa Ayres, a former State…

  • FBI agents raid India baiter’s home

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      FBI agents searched the home of India baiter pro-Pakistan American diplomat Robin Raphel in October as part of a counter-intelligence investigation, according to media reports. Raphel was a senior adviser on Pakistan for the office of the special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan at the time of the raid. In that job, she was…

  • Obama wrote to Khamenei

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      US President Barack Obama has written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to express a “shared interest” in fighting the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq and Syria, a media report said here Thursday. The letter was sent in the middle of last month, in which the president tied potential cooperation on fighting…

  • Obama greets Sikhs on Guru Nanak Jayanti

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      US President Barack Obama has greeted “Sikh friends” around the world on the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, saying the first Sikh guru promoted Sikhism’s core principles of equality, diversity, compassion, and tolerance. “The Sikh American community enriches the United States every day with its embodiment of these values, which are shared not just…

  • The man who killed Bin Laden

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    This is a man who shot the world’s most wanted terrorist, revealed for the first time. Rob O’Neill, 38, was the US Navy SEAL who killed the man who masterminded and funded the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington reported Huffington Post. “People are asking if we are worried that ISIS will come…

  • Niraj Antani becomes youngest US lawmaker

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    At 23, Indian-American law student Niraj Antani, a Republican, will be one of America’s youngest lawmakers after being elected to the state House in Ohio in the mid-term elections. “I think the legislature should reflect the way the people look, so I believe my generation does deserve a voice to fight for my children or…

  • Obama swept under Republican wave

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    Swept under a Republican wave, US President Barack Obama  faced a tough road ahead in his final two years in office, with the opposition wresting back control of the Senate after eight years. Riding a wave of discontent with Obama and his policies, Republicans netted at least seven Senate contests, more than the six needed…