Explore Business Standard
The US has temporarily suspended foreign assistance to Pakistan for re-evaluation following an executive order issued by President Donald Trump, according to a media report on Tuesday. This move has instantly stopped a number of important United States Agency For International Development (USAID) projects in Pakistan, including the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), which is the flagship programme to promote cultural heritage preservation and protection, the Geo News reported. According to the US embassy here, the AFCP fund "helps protect historic buildings, archaeological sites, museum collections, and traditional cultural expressions like indigenous languages and crafts around the world". Quoting an unnamed official at the US Consulate in Karachi, the report said the US has paused Pakistan's foreign assistance for re-evaluation as per the executive order issued by Trump. Five projects related to the energy sector have also come to a halt as a result of this decisi
The long pending demand for a US Consulate in Bengaluru will become a reality on January 17. The Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya made an announcement in this regard. "My dear Bengaluru, It's official. The US Consulate is opening on January 17th," the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) national president said in a post on 'X'. He hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for making it possible. To convey his gratitude, the 34-year-old MP offered Mysore Pak to Jaishankar. "It's been made possible only and only because of PM @narendramodi and EAM @DrSJaishankar's efforts. What better way to thank our EAM than with our own Mysuru Pak!" Surya added. It has been a long-pending demand for a US Consulate in Bengaluru for hassle-free Visas. Till now, people have been travelling to Chennai or Hyderabad for a US visa.
Consul General of the United States of America in Mumbai, Mike Hankey, on Friday said the US and India can forge "different types of partnerships", and noted that there are possibilities of cooperation in electric vehicle manufacturing and green energy sectors. Talking to reporters in Goa during his visit to the state, he said the supply chain of lithium ion batteries required for electric vehicles (EVs) is reliant only on China, adding that no supply will be strong and resilient if it relies on a single point. During his visit to the coastal state, Hankey met several stakeholders, including the industry experts under Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) initiative. He said that during the interaction (with industry experts), he was particularly impressed with what some of the electronics industry and green power industry firms are looking forward to doing. "I see some opportunities for collaboration between counterparts that are doing really advanced work on the US side and the
In a major setback to Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, who is sought by India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that he is extraditable to India under the extradition treaty between the two countries. The (India US Extradition) Treaty permits Rana's extradition, the court said in its ruling on August 15. Ruling on an appeal filed by Rana, a panel of judges of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court in the Central District of California's denial of his habeas corpus petition challenging a magistrate judge's certification of his as extraditable to India for his alleged participation in terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Under the limited scope of habeas review of an extradition order, the panel held that Rana's alleged offense fell within the terms of the extradition treaty between the United States and India, which included a Non Bis in Idem (double jeopardy) ..
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged activists on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian debate to turn the heat down after the US Consulate in Sydney was vandalised on Monday. CCTV footage showed a person wearing a dark hoodie using a small sledgehammer to smash nine holes in the reinforced glass windows of the building in North Sydney after 3 am, a police statement said. Two inverted red triangles, seen by many as a symbol of Palestinian resistance, were also painted on the front of the building. Albanese urged people to have respectful political debate and discourse. People are traumatised by what is going on in the Middle East, particularly those with relatives in either Israel or in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Albanese told reporters. And I just say, again, reiterate my call to turn the heat down and measures such as painting the US consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is, of course, a crime to damage property, Albanes